Making the right course requests for 2019-20

2/19/2019

Upper School curriculum nights, the unofficial kick off of the course selection process, happen next week. How do you know which course requests are best for your child? If you search the internet, you will find more advice than you need. A recent op-ed in The New York Times by Thomas Friedman suggested that studying computer science and the U.S. Constitution often results in success in college and life. The comment section lit up. For many – including this reader – the piece was an over-simplification of a very complicated issue: how best to prepare our children for college and life.

The really important kind of learning right now is best summed up in the words of Lawrence Summers, a former president of Harvard University: "I think, increasingly, anything you learn is going to become obsolete within a decade, and so the most important kind of learning is about how to learn." At Ransom Everglades, we believe deeply in the exposure to different disciplines, inter-disciplinary work, Harkness discussions, lots of reading and writing, and autonomous research.

We also believe in a core curriculum that has stood the test of time, and we are in good company. At least two of the colleges in the top 10 “hardest to get into” (according to yet another article, this one from CBS News), Columbia and University of Chicago, hold tight to a core curriculum that has been required of generations of undergraduates. From Columbia’s website: “The Core Curriculum is the set of common courses required of all undergraduates and considered the necessary general education for students, irrespective of their choice in major … The habits of mind developed in the Core cultivate a critical and creative intellectual capacity that students employ long after college, in the pursuit and the fulfillment of meaningful lives.” Similar words from Chicago, “Stemming from UChicago’s commitment to relentless learning through determined questioning, challenging of assumptions, and intellectual debate, the Core teaches undergraduates how to think and approach problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives.”

During their four years in the high school, RE students move through a required curriculum, a core, into a curriculum with more choices. The choices the students make ultimately have as much to do with the rigor of their curriculum as with their passions and preferences. If a student is contemplating engineering—and actually thinks he will like engineering, he or she needs to make sure the curriculum includes high-level mathematics and science. If the student is thinking about art and design, thought should be given to courses that help to create a portfolio. As an institution, we do not prioritize STEM field courses over courses in the humanities. In response to Mr. Friedman’s story, I can’t resist mentioning that all of our students are exposed to the U.S. Constitution (a full unit in U.S. History) and computer science, but the point is this: in the first years, the required courses strike a balance; in the junior and senior years the students can move toward prioritization but not specialization.

Our course request process is comprehensive; adults are involved with the students every step of the way. Discussion about courses begins in the classroom and in advisory. Once students submit their requests, class deans, the head of the Upper School and the college counselors become involved in the review of the requests. Academic departments meet to determine placement. My colleagues put a lot of time into helping our students select courses that are appropriate in rigor and appealing in content.

Your children also need you in this process. As RE alumna Pamela Druckerman ’87 wrote in a Feb. 7 opinion piece in The New York Times: They need you to be authoritative but not authoritarian. Druckerman made a case for the authoritative parent (not to be confused with a helicopter parent) who "uses reasoning to persuade kids to do things that are good for them.” Authoritative parents produce kids who are independent and good at problem solving; helicoptering does not. Don’t be helicopter parents; let them lead the process. Ask them questions; feel them out. They always benefit from your wisdom and finesse, patiently explaining to them where you think they will be successful and where you think they will find fulfillment. Insist that they push and challenge themselves—within reason. Make sure that they carve out time for meaningful extracurricular activities that round out their lives and that will ultimately make them more interesting candidates in the college process. And perhaps most importantly, help them identify their real interests.

We have heard countless times from the college admission officers who visit our campus each year that their colleges want authentic students driven by passion, not a desire to look good on their college applications. They want students who choose courses thoughtfully, not because they are trying to satisfy some presumed – and often incorrect – admission checklist. They want students who push themselves, of course, but they also want those who look at course selection as an opportunity to broaden their knowledge in areas that excite them.

Encourage your students to feel excited, not troubled, by the course request process ahead. And please join us the evenings of February 25 (for parents of juniors and seniors) and February 26 (parents of freshmen and sophomores) for your chance to learn more about our courses and curriculum, and how they can set your child up for success next year, in college and beyond.

Penny Townsend
Head of School

Back

RE founder Paul Ransom, circa 1903

Making the right course requests for 2019-20

Middle School

Upper School