Values Education

The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once had a discussion with a man who argued that children should not be given any religious training, but should be free to choose their own faith when they were old enough to decide for themselves. Coleridge later invited him into his garden. It seems our Mr Coleridge was a great poet but not a great gardener. “Do you call this a garden?” the visitor asked. “There are nothing but weeds here!”

“Well, you see,” Coleridge replied, “I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way. I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself.”

Source: Reported in Daily Walk, March 28, 1992

If we change the words "religious training" to "values education" this quote illustrates what can happen in schools where values and the skills of empathy, compassion and mediation are not dealt with consistently and systematically  throughout. How often do we hear that high schools are like a jungle? In Nova Scotia today, the challenge of dealing with children and adults who do not have these skills is magnified with the rise of social media. Every day we read in the papers about bullying in schools, and the sometimes tragic results that can occur when it is disseminated and compounded through Facebook or texting.

Halifax Independent School is a religiously non-religious community. No religious holidays are celebrated, unless in a range of celebrations as a part of a comparative religion unit. Although children are not discouraged from sharing their beliefs or from asking questions about another's religion, they are reminded that not everyone shares the same beliefs. The diversity of religion within the school population, as well as diversity of cultures, is celebrated, and treated the same way as children are encouraged to treat differences in personality or height - with respect and appreciation.

From the earliest age, children are taught to respect each other's beliefs, their feelings, their privacy and their bodies. This type of Values Education is taught both explicitly in classroom discussions, and implicitly through example and modelling. Specific language is taught to give children the tools to tell each other when they feel that boundaries are being breached. "I don't like it when you..." "I feel hurt/sad when you....." " When you grab that from me, I feel..." The idea that every human being is a whole being deserving of our respect is modelled constantly by the teachers and older children through emphasis on positive comments and separating the behaviour from the person. Children are taught through example that when they misbehave, it is their behaviour that is being castigated, not them,  and the basic respect for them never wavers. The expectation is that they will behave in the same way to their peers. 

Perhaps one of the strengths of HIS is the way in which interpersonal relationships are at the very heart of the school culture and curriculum....not only are there many opportunities within the school year, week and day for teaching and talking about such issues, but the adults behave in ways that reinforce them. One of the most fundamental ways that this happens is the fact that no one in the school uses a title...all teachers, administrators and parents are known by all by their first names. Many visitors to the school look askance at this practice and ask, "How do you maintain the respect of students for their teachers if they are calling them by their first names?" The answer is simple: in a culture where everyone is respected, regardless of status, titles are not necessary; in fact they promote the idea that there is a hierarchy of respect and that adults are more worthy of it than children.  This does not take away from the teacher's authority and role as keeper of the rules. The smallest child is granted as much respect as the Headteacher, and is entitled to be listened to with the same attention. However, it is clear that age, experience and training do give some weight to one's opinions, so that when teachers do give an opinion in Meeting, it is sometimes considered the "last word". One  teacher who demanded to be called, "Miss A.", found  that the title did not garner her  respect; in fact the opposite was the case.  

It sometimes happens that a child may see  part-time, younger staff members (often university students hired as lunch monitors) as lower on the hierarchy than regular teachers. These children may  believe, mistakenly, that lunch monitors do not need to be heeded; that if a lunch monitor asks a child to stop doing something that is against the rules, they can be disregarded. Much discussion ensues about the role of adults in the school to keep children safe, and help them navigate through any social problems they may have; it is made very clear that lunch monitors play that role, and deserve respect accordingly.

It is recognized that social problems between children, and sometimes between children and adults will occur, and when they do they are dealt with seriously. The school policy called "Solving Children's Social Problems" covers both what is traditionally called classroom discipline, and issues between children, and is referred to whenever necessary.  This chapter will show how Values Education and the importance of human relationships are two central pillars of the philosophy at H.I.S., and how they are implemented.


Sally and Amir are chasing each other around the play structure. They seem to be having fun, but suddenly shrieks are heard and they are observed locked in battle: Sally is clutching Amir's coat, while he is attempting to wrest a stick from her hands. The playground monitor separates the two, asks them to cool down and calls over Graeme, an older boy wearing a blue sash. 
"Do you need a Peer Mediator?" he asks the two. Sally nods slowly, while Amir, still crying, kicks the gravel with his foot. The monitor melts away, while Graeme leads to the children to a quiet corner. He asks Amir, "Are you willing to try to work this out?" 
This time Amir, wiping the tears from his face, says reluctantly, "Okay." 
Graeme asks Sally if she would like to tell what happened. "We were playing Lost in Space, and I was the Spaceship commander and we were fighting aliens.I had the magic light sabre..."
"But I had it first!" interrupted Amir.
"Remember the rules of mediation: no interrupting!" Graeme said.
"But I am the Commander!"interjected Sally, "It is my job to protect the spaceship! I was just zapping the aliens with the light sabre, and Amir started trying to grab it from me. So I ran away."
Graeme: "Okay, so how did you feel when that happened?"
Sally: "Really bad."
Graeme: "Now, Amir, it is your turn to tell what happened."
Amir: "Well, like Sally said, except that I got the stick from the bushes and I had it. Then when the aliens attacked, she just grabbed it from me and said that she had to fight the aliens because she is the Commander."
Graeme: How did that make you feel?
Amir: I was really mad!
Graeme: So it sounds like you both feel pretty bad about this!  Sally, can you think of anything you could have done differently?
Sally: Well, I guess I could have asked Amir for the stick.
Graeme: Amir? What could you have done differently?
Amir: I guess I didn't need to try grab it from her.
Graeme: Okay, how do you think you could solve this problem?
Amir: Well, sorry Sally. How about you get the stick to fight the aliens, and then it will be my turn to be the Commander, and I can have the stick?
Sally: Okay. I'm sorry I just grabbed the stick. That sounds like a good idea.
Graeme: Are you both okay with Amir's idea?
Amir and Sally: Yes. Can we go play now?
Graeme: Here's the stick, Sally. Good mediation, you two!
Amir and Sally scamper off

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will always hurt me"

making up rules

Excluding

property rights - snow forts

soccer, 4-square - cheating

lying 

stealing

Meeting

Peer Mediators

A Garden of Children

When the grey, rainy days of March start eating away at the snow, and glimpses of brown earth and grass start appearing, my hunger to get outside in the garden becomes overwhelming, and I find myself sometimes raking away at frozen ground with frozen hands, desperately searching for signs of life. Tiny green shoots of ground elder give me a stab of happiness, even though I know that in a few months I will be waging war with these same shoots. Usually, after this first session in the garden, I vow to wait until I can work the soil a bit, until the first tiny leaves are unfolding on the bushes and until the points of various perennials are pushing through, before getting out again.

In the meantime, I dream and plan and try to visualize the next stage of my garden. I order bulbs from Vesey's, visit the seed store to discuss organic fertilizers for the tiny patch of shady lawn and when the rain takes a break, get out with my secaturs  and start cutting back on the shrubs that are threatening to take over. It is as I clip away at the unruly growth, allowing the shape of the bush to emerge, that the similarity between my approach to gardening and to educating children suggests itself. I think about what all children (and gardens) need to flourish....lots of love, healthy food and stimulation (sun, water and nutrients) in a safe environment.  But they also, like gardens, need gentle guidance to encourage them to discover their own capacities and inner strengths while acknowledging and working on their weaknesses.

As I look back at the development of my teaching philosophy, I think how it parallels the development of this garden that I have been privileged to tend for the past 13 years. As the garden has matured over the years, so have the children that I have been teaching and so has my teaching approach . Each year my garden surprises me with the juxtaposition of colours and shapes, as do my students.

So here's a description of my gardening style:
Although when I moved into my house, I spent a fair amount of time planning the bare bones of the garden (and even engaged a garden designer for a brief time), my approach to planning since then has been characterized by a lot of mooning around in the springtime dreaming, punctuated by numerous visits to nurseries where I often buy things on impulse. Serendipitous finds come from plant exchanges, gifts from friends and sometimes "volunteers" which appear unbidden in the springtime.  I make sure that my soil is good, enriched with bone meal, manure and compost, but my one experience with the scientific method (a $4 soil-testing kit) resulted in my not applying lime when I should have, and has not been repeated.

I prune carefully and religiously, but sometimes have to push myself to do the really hard pruning  required by roses and other shrubs. When I do, I find myself amply rewarded, so I am getting better at it with time. I weed enthusiastically, but perhaps not regularly enough, and I am always looking for ways to minimize the weeding (mulch, close planting etc). I enjoy exposing sensitive plants to the sun and air, rooting out the creepers and weeds that threaten to choke them.

I love watering the garden in the evenings during a dry spell, and often imagine the plants sucking in the moisture as children soak in knowledge.

Sometimes, plants self-seed, and show up in places they are not supposed to. I have a hard time pulling them up, so my garden may have bachelor's buttons growing in the middle of the patio, or forget-me-nots in the lawn. I don't allow all of them, but generally, I love the random effect. And since I don't always plan every last detail, there are other surprises in the garden that show up as the season goes on -  unplanned groupings of colours and shapes that complement each other or a shady nook surrounded by ferns and white hydrangeas that is very inviting on a hot day.

Generally, my garden is a slightly overgrown tumult of colours and greenery, a place where birds, cats and children play together (usually without grief) and where people can socialize on a warm summer evening. It is a source of delight as it grows and fills in. Each plant or bush has its place, and its season to shine, and all are loved in spite of their spikes or thorns. I like to think that my classroom, and indeed HIS, parallels this garden:  the underlying planning is there, but it is never so rigid as to disallow the spontaneous happenings and discoveries that create excitement and a love of learning; "sensitive plants" are given extra care, while the "weeds" of distraction or whatever else is choking them are pulled up; there is lots of cross-fertilization of ideas as teachers, parents and children talk to each other.  My classroom is a slightly eccentric, but stimulating place, in which children thrive with a combination of enrichment, love and encouragement, with a little bit of judicious pruning thrown in from time to time.




The trend in education in North America in recent years, lead by a drive to standardize and make schools more "accountable" has resulted in more testing which in turn creates an atmosphere in which the "right" answer is paramount. An environment where students and teachers alike are  under pressure to perform to a set standard, and where there are real, life altering consequences for failure,  is not conducive to experimentation, spontanaiety or creativity...indeed the type of garden it would create would be