On our website we post ten foundational premises that provide the philosophical footing for everything we do at Veritas Varsity. The first of these stresses the need for education to address the "whole" child, his or her mind, soul, body, and spirit. Another way of stating this would be that effective education has to reach out and grab the attention of the teen being educated, connecting with them on several levels. This is the old relevancy argument that kids throw in the faces of their teachers on a fairly regular basis when they ask, "why do we have to study this?" As annoying as that question is, it's certainly a fair one and one for which teachers must have a meaningful answer.
Perhaps like us you've discovered that there isn't one pat answer to the question though. It is a continuous, daily process to discover meaning in what we teach our students -- meaning, not just for us, but more importantly, meaning for them. How do we connect, not just with our students' minds, but with their hearts as well (their soul and spirit, in other words)? How do we make what we study not just relevant (though that alone is a worthy goal), but significant, interesting, challenging, maybe even life-changing? I'm interested in your thoughts on this because it should be obvious that if I had a formula to follow by way of answering this question I could become a very rich man very quickly. But that in itself is an important part of the answer -- there is no pat answer.
I'm convinced, however, of how NOT to connect with our students: 1) by sticking to the text (or the test, if we're in a state that uses minimum competency testing to determine the quality of what we do in the classroom), and 2) by staying in the building (the facility, the plant, the campus, you know -- the school!). A significant part of the answer to this problem of relevancy is to get the kids' (and their teachers') noses out of their textbooks and bodies out of their classrooms and into the "real" world, connecting with real people (not just teachers) in real places (not just schools) and in real situations (not just canned lectures or presentations). There is no question that every once in a while an "aha" moment of discovery and connecting the dots happens in the classroom, but learning, like serious conversations with our kids, can't be scheduled or planned, rather it happens in the context of living life. Let me give a few examples from this past semester in getting our kids off campus and into their worlds.
In September we took our first of many college campus tours. Our goal at Veritas is to begin exposing our students to various campuses around the state and across the country early and often to encourage and inform their decision-making processes related to the next step in their educational careers. This September we visited Sul Ross State University. The tour was not particularly professional or smoothe, yet several of our students were so impressed with what they witnessed in person that they are seriously considering this West Texas campus for their college choice. I saw eyes widen and heard voices filled with excitement as question after question was asked about college life in this small, somewhat remote part of the state.
In October, on our semester trip to the east coast, students saw hillsides filled with trees that actually turn colors before falling to the ground! I heard more exclamations of wonder and amazement at the vibrancy and variety of color than I would have thought teens capable of making! On that same trip I saw this group of teens gather in their congressman's office (Chet Edwards, District 17 in Texas) and listen attentively to his plea to them to become active participants in their democracy. A week later, while debriefing the trip at least one student said her most memorable moment was Chet's admonition to learn to disagree with one's fellow citizens while remaining respectful of their right to reach different conclusions on matters of importance. That may be the single most important principle in participating in democracy, yet it probably would never have been learned from a text or a teacher sitting in a classroom.
In November we took the students to a From the Top (public radio) performance of young musicians at Baylor University. These musicians, all under age 18, were not just talented, but served as life lessons for the importance of practice and hard work to make your dreams come true. Meeting them in person after the concert was an eye-opener, too, as our students got to see that these were kids just like them -- talented, yes, but kids nonetheless. Who's to say that one of Veritas' own can't be just as successful at some future date if they work hard enough to make it happen?!
From participating in a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory in Ft. Davis, Texas to playing in the snow on top of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, from visiting an amateaur photographer in Waco, Texas to seeing the homeless on the streets of Washington, DC, from sitting in on famous authors' lectures in Austin, Texas (Texas Book Festival in October) to sitting in Congressman Edwards' office in DC, from the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum in Washington, DC, our students have had numerous "aha" moments during the past four months, all made possible because we did not confine our "learning" to textbooks or classrooms. Indeed, although our academic regimen has been fairly impressive, much of what our students will carry with them into adulthood by way of memories has nothing at all to do with that regimen, but everything to do with what we introduced them to in the real world.
