Moving forward

Perhaps the one thing America can agree upon is that we are generally happy the election is over. After many months of divisiveness, we are now at a period where there is some healing – or at least a willingness - to move forward. On Wednesday morning, I felt compelled to make a few comments to our Upper School assembly, and I thought I would share the cliff note version in my blog this week.

First, after any election there are elated people and disappointed people. My expectation was that the range of emotions on our campus was probably quite similar to the range across the country. As we processed the results as a community, I reminded the faculty and students that our focus needed to be on dialogue rather than debate, and inquiry and listening that came from a place of curiosity rather than hostility. In a year when many would agree our candidates were flawed, we should gain perspective knowing that there will be many smart and committed people steering our government through an intricate web of checks and balances. Whomever we elected, it would likely not be as fantastic nor as disappointing as we might initially think. On a personal level, I shared my view that a few weeks ago I committed to judging our next president based on his or her performance in office rather than their respective performance during the campaign. I think a certain degree of openness is important for all of us at these moments.

With that said, my most important message was that our values at Berwick do not change on account of the election, and our students should take great comfort in that. Among these values and efforts is our work in being the most inclusive school we can be through continued work in cultural competency and social emotional understanding. This work is not political, and although I did not say it quite this explicitly to the students, we would never waver based on some growing swell of concern surrounding “political correctness.” We are in the business of giving our graduates the skills to be leaders, but our community has the right to shape what that ultimate vision of leadership should look like.

Finally, our students need to see how much their action and active participation in democracy matters. None of us should sit on the sidelines in these conversations, and our world needs people who can bridge divides rather than foster them.  I closed by offering what a great model Peter Lassey and his American Politics class had been in running a mock election in our community. As is often the case at Berwick, when we follow the lead of our students….good things seem to happen.