At noon, I drove across the Pali to the State Speech and Debate Tournament where several of our students were competing. This was my first time seeing our students compete at States, and I was really surprised by the challenges they faced with confidence. It is a high-pressure environment when you are given a position to defend on a foreign policy topic only moments before you must stand to defend it. Also, lengthy and meticulously-rehearsed speeches were animated with expression, emotion, body language, and sometimes singing. I was thoroughly impressed!
That was when I more fully realized, and said to the teacher and principal present, "We're asking our students to do what I didn’t have to do.” My high school experience never called on me to publically debate, nor did I present a paper or give a speech of the same caliber as our students at the Symposium. I went to one of the best public schools in all of California, I never had to think on my feet and deliver such a speech in public until well into college.
Just as soon as I made my comment, someone promptly replied, “Yeah, and think about what we had them doing last weekend with the Biathlon.” Sure enough, I never did that in high school either! I did swim and play water polo, but I never had to run three miles (although the Navy took care of that a few years later).
Then I thought about a few other upcoming events.
- Fine Arts Night.I never took an art class at school, nor could I create the level of artistry that even our Elementary students are producing.
- Sing four-part harmony.I think our school had a choir, but learning to sing and sing in parts was definitely not part of our curriculum for all students.
- Thesis Presentations.On19 and 20 May, our seniors will be presenting and defending their thesis for 40 minutes, and to a level that I didn’t face until my Master’s thesis.
The Latin term for the object of this kind of education is Homo Universalis (no, I didn’t take Latin either), more commonly referred to as Renaissance man. In the 1990's we talked about being "well-rounded" and now we talk about "multiple intelligences." Or, we can call it being well-prepared to confidently engage an increasingly complex world with wisdom and eloquence. That is the aim of a TCS education.
Then I thought about a few other upcoming events.
In Christ,
Stephen Sprague
Headmaster