The MUS Lower School Blog

Academic enhancing meds just the next step?

Are smart drugs simply a natural step in our drive for continued improvement? Yup. It's about that simple, according to some. “Better-working brains produce things of more lasting value than longer home runs,” says Stanford's Henry Greely when comparing brain meds to athletic use of steroids. He supports "cognitive enhancements" in this month's Atlantic Monthly, just one provocative issue among many in their "Brave Thinkers" article. Given what the street reports concerning the occasional pill swapping behavior of some motivated college students, the discussion is worth our serious investigation. 

When I got my first cell phone...

If you are thinkng about what the right age is for Junior to get his cell phone, assuming that he is one of the few remaining students in the Lower School who does not already have one, then consider what the Yoders have to say.

Sola lingua bona est lingua mortua.

Latin instructor Marilyn Reinhardt's boys repose.

Are the boys too soft?

Modern (boys) are wimps. Well, that's what Peter McAllister claims in his new book Manthropology. Just as an aside, the Social Studies classes are going to present the subject to the lads, sure to encourage robust debate. On the heels of recent popular cultural discussions such as people should spend one hour in reality for every hour dedicated to Virtual Reality (with particular reference to watching sports or playing video games more than exercising, for example) it will be interesting to see what the students deduce from McAllister's challenge. 

 

To struggle is human

Now here's some encouragement: Life = Risk. I suggest this link as a reminder that our boys will surely fail and fail again before their eventual blooming... and some failures are of little immediate consequence while other failures seem to be "devastating" in the short term. I write "devastating" because that would be a word I would hear from a parent where a more appropriately descriptive grouping of words would be my preference.

For example, let's say that Junior aims to achieve either a certain academic recognition or athletic accomplishment. For various reasons, as a result of comparative immaturity or lack of talent or accumulated lack of organization or some comparative deficit of emotional maturity among his peers, Junior fails. We adults know it will happen at some point, and we all know from very specific examples in our own lives that we not only survived our failures, but also we may have experienced some needed motivation either to altar course or to dig in deeper. Either way, rarely were we "devastated." Seriously disappointed? Sure. Sad/mad/angry/confused? Sure. Needing someone to understand us, wanting someone to console us? No question. Devastated? In the vast majority of cases, no. As Mr. Shelton might say, "For one to be 'Devastated' means one is 'ruined.' To describe appropriately failing, or underachieving or disappointed, one should never substitute a synonym more fittingly applied to a situation resulting in overwhelming chaos and/or desolation." He would say something like that, and he would say it rather dispassionately. He would be correct, according to Mr. Merriam-Webster, whom I consulted for this tidy illustration.  

Let's watch carefully over the lives of these boys during the tumultuous years of Middle School-age because by now we should well know the ultimate value that set backs and disappointments bring. One of our jobs as adults is to put the drama in proper perspective, not adding fuel to the fire. While some of the famous personalities in the video may have been discouraged by their adult mentors, some may even have felt humiliated, we teachers and coaches and parents should be encouraged to apply honesty accompanied by compassion, offering new opportunities where old ones have run their course and constructive direction where more effort must be invested. 

Passing down, making connections

Boys play Toe-In on the Randolph Walkway just outside of the Springfield Foyer. Here, John Kakales intercepts a pass from Emerick Lester, thus giving his teammate Azeez Shata and him offensive possession. In the background with severed head, Will Hays laments his fate and prepares to go on defense with Emerick.

Toe-In is a fraternal game of skill, touch, and discipline created with little fanfare simply as a means to pass the time, quite literally, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville somewhere along the beginning of the celebrated Jake Butcher Administration. Some enterprising young men took advantage of their tax dollars by enlisting some recreational benefit amidst the public walkway easement separating the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house from the community space along the right field line of the Tennessee baseball field, the geographical ground zero of Toe-In. The game gradually moved its way westward as SAE alumni children matriculated at MUS. These boys pictured here perpetuate the noble competition, unwittingly standing on the shoulders of Toe-In titans Steve Hergenrader ('77), Richard Scharff ('80), Eddie Murphey ('81), William Halliday ('82), and Allen Halliday ('85) just to name a few.

To save and invest

This comes in from the June 18 New York Times:

Rhodes College in Memphis economizes — and gives students work experience — by hiring students in 25 professional staff positions, saving $725,000 a year. And the College of Wooster in Ohio is trying to hold on to financially struggling students, and their tuition dollars, by offering minimum-wage summer jobs in its “WooCorps,” which has almost 200 students painting rooms, landscaping and growing vegetables this summer. WooCorps students will get an extra $1,000 in their financial aid packages — and help the college complete more maintenance projects than usual.

That's just a sampling of some good thinking on the part of small colleges across the United States as they adjust to financial realities. MUS, a not-for-profit, tuition-based institution, functions along similar lines as these college institutions. We receive no federal or state funding, and as dollars are more limited, we must be more cautious and more thoughtful of our budget.

Sounds like there is limited blood on the tracks with these small college cutbacks from what I read. I've long thought that MUS could enact more student engagement benefiting maintenance as students could reasonably police their own messes more. Four years ago in the Lower School, we began a weekly dining room lunch clean-up crew assigned by homerooms and rotated throughout the year. We built on that by initiating Campus Beautification, maintaining the same lunch responsibilities and adding to each study hall period a before and after walk-around, policing the halls and stalls. While we don't claim any cost savings yet, we at least have the boys in a position to grow alert to their surroundings, initiating some platform where they experience responsibility for their messes. Hopefully, the campus looks cleaner as well.

As the boys invest time and energy into contributing to maintenance, we think the real investment is towards their gradual emotional intelligence as they have some liturgy to break the middle-school narcissism that comes naturally with this age. Too often, they think only of themselves. We're partially to blame as we assign individual homework and record individual marks per student. We expect each boy to keep up with his own stuff, to lan his work and to work his plan It's easy to see why they can act somewhat neurotic and self-absorbed. Campus Beautification aims to break into that temptation and encourage a team ethos during the academic day. The duality is something they must learn to navigate as they mature. If we put some dollar savings into the mix for their understanding, that could be a worthy project.

ROSEMOND: Stone Age ways still apply to kids

ROSEMOND: Stone Age ways still apply to kids - Washington Times Shared via AddThis : I read this article this morning, and I tried this sharing application for the posting. Glad it worked.

As many of us are about to spend some time in airports over the next few weeks, I thougt that the end of this Rosemond piece resonated in particular. It's application extends beyond his specific example to all of us parents with school-age kids. 

We are with whom we run

Patrick Kuhse changed his group of friends a while back. He's a business-ethics consultant, and MUS Director of Communications Vicki Tyler sent me one of Kuhse's articles with the thought that students may be interested in some of his ideas.

One segment particularly caught my eye, and it is for parents as much as it could be for our boys. He writes:

"I read this statement the other day and it got my full attention: "We are the sum average of the five people we spend the most time with on a regular basis." In my talks, I often comment on how careful I am about who I spend time with and call a close friend. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way. In looking back, I realize that I was the average of five people who were probably not the best role models. No more. Be careful about who is in your inner circle of trusted advisors."

That's great advice for all of us, particularly young people. We at school hope to foster a community mojo whereby each class is a faithful representation of the school's mission, but that doesn't mean that all individuals are best suited to be cobbled into an intimate group of friends. Parents see this early on, but kids don't always recognize the direct influences that they individually both give and receive in a group. Iron should sharpen iron.

Small groups become complex because they're comprised of people who are complex themselves. Certain formulas of groupings encourage particular results, and the addition or subtraction of a few players makes a significant difference in the group's character. In the early teenage years, boys will experiment with various formulas of friend groups, and I think the exercise is both natural and necessary and sometimes can be unpredictable. While it may pain adults to see the process, I think that they understand the importance of the dynamic interplay. For one, our children are not us. Therefore, they may be attracted to a different circle of friends than what we expected. In my experience, the large majority of parents know this and act appropriately on the unique stage their children set, so to speak. It can be encouraging to witness. That said, families are unique, and multiple factors play into what group of friends kids choose. Our own adult lives reveal changing seasons of differing running groups throughout the years.

Our boys have to experience for themselves what good friends are, and I am of the mind that parents should seek the necessary watchfulness over their children allowing for constructive intervention where necessary. This is balanced with the wisdom of butting out of the details, encouraging the process of their children making suitable friends so that the players of the group find healthful, moral chemistry in their midst. Easy to say, hard to do. However, at MUS, I find the diversity and quality of boys and their families to be exceptional... good hunting grounds for friend finding.

Finance class?

High School students should learn finance. That's what New Jersey lawmakers want to see in their public schools. Independent schools are no different in matriculating their students who graduate ignorant of personal finances. Maybe as the leadership institution we advertise ourselves to be we should offer a senior math class, or at least a seminar series, that presents the details of what will be necessary for the responsible handling of personal finances while away in college? It sure would have helped me.

Thanks to Mr. Bruce Ryan ('80) for sending in the article for discussion.