Election Reflections From Charlie Spencer, Former Head of School

For the last seventeen years, which contained four presidential elections, I have always been at the Center School in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the big day. This year, I was working from home instead, wrapping up my “handover” period (feverishly filing, finalizing documentation, looping in stakeholders about the next phase of our school’s leadership). But let me tell you, I thought about you and our students from the voting booth, to my sofa watching Maddow, and as I stared bereft from my window the day after. Like many of you, I had flashes of the last time Trump won; how a devastated and ashen dad sobbed into my shoulder the morning after. I remembered our substantial contingent of pink hat wearers marching and chanting together in Boston.

Lauren and Amanda kindly gave me some space in the Bulletin today to offer my condolences to us all, and to share some wishes for us too. There is so much swirling in our heads, I know. Some of us are obsessively scrolling, others have gone cold turkey, ruthlessly silencing our social media apps. My friends abroad have been sending sympathy messages and invitations to come live with them. But wherever our adult heads are at, we are all trying to be strong for the kids. We may, however, also be arguing about what that looks like. What do we do for them right now? Luckily, at the Center School we anticipated how hard this period would be back in August. You may remember that I wrote in a previous Bulletin about the teachers’ discussions, and their resolutions, about the elections. In a nutshell, we decided that the most important thing was to ask ourselves whether what we were teaching was “for the children.” Meaning, remembering not to push our own agendas to make ourselves feel better. Rather, we should focus on centering our students’ intellectual, social, and emotional needs.

Consequently, the first Center School Field Day was born: a solution for the day after the election. I hope that current families saw the heartening video Lauren made, showing the whole school in community, in nature, interacting joyfully, centering the children, as we promised ourselves we would. But that’s not all of course. There is so much more to be done. We also promised ourselves we would facilitate authentic opportunities for students of all ages to engage with the questions, “What do I care about? What are my values?” At the end of the day, building that muscle, that core, is what will inform our future. And here’s the thing: telling kids what to think, or what to worry about, steeping them in our political rhetoric isn’t the way. My wish for us is to really model, teach, and structure the education of our children around their curiosity. How do wars really start? What is a vaccine anyway? What plants grow well in a drought? Why do people argue about health insurance? Why do some people have fancy houses and some not have houses at all? (Watch this space for the Mups’ Greenfield Game, which they play in Theme. They learn by doing, all about the economy of their town. It’s a terrific example of progressive education.)

The other day, I was reading a piece, bumped to the top of the New Yorker’s website for obvious reasons. It was by Elizabeth Kolbert, Science and Nature reporter, and it was about how human beings form opinions. More specifically, it was about how humans double down on their opinions even when proven wrong. Most interestingly, the article highlights studies that show how much humanity has to lose when it leans into this instinct. We discount and forgo science for the dopamine hit we receive from having our own treasured opinions validated. This article actually made me laugh out loud at how flawed we humans are. It also left me with a profound awareness of our frailty: how hard it is to overcome that without teaching ourselves (actually it’s probably too late for us), our kids, to look at the nuances of an issue, lead from a place of NOT KNOWING and of genuinely wanting to collect information and ideas different from our own, in order to grow and, ultimately, make things better for more people.

So, my wish involves a shout out to Lauren for her recent piece on resiliency. If kids build that muscle, they will surely persevere through a math proof or the scientific method, and they will learn to deepen their ideas, while bringing others along, for the sake of our humanity. For the sake of us all. My wish is an appreciation for what Andy wrote here last week about building friendship and “connectivity.” What makes this person tick? How are my friends’ thoughts formed and connected to my own? What if we don’t agree? And my wish leans into Amanda’s message last week, acknowledging the tenderness of us all during this crisis of Democracy and our need for community at such a precarious time.

In Kolbert’s article, she refers to a study where people were asked to express how strong their opinion was on a political issue (they nailed it!) and then, as a second step, they had to explain the impact this issue would actually have in real terms. They struggled with this part. As we look ahead at the bleak picture, where’s the hope? What’s our job? Let’s share a wish: that we may help our children get plenty of practice forming, interrogating, and adapting their viewpoints; that their journey is full of deep learning, epiphanies, and shared ideas that can garner cooperation, instead of destroying our world. Yeah. I am dreaming big. Have you met these kids?

And send it into the world,

Charlie Spencer

Head of School 2009-2024, Mups Teacher 2007-2009, Alumni Parent (forever)