Knowing

When my daughter was little, she told us that she knew Santa was real — thanks to the inadvertent price tag on the nail polish in her stocking — because we couldn’t have gone to CVS after she went to bed the night before. The appeal of a magical and generous man in red led her to mold the evidence to support the story she wanted to embrace. “Knowing” something at a young age is a small independent act that unleashes and nourishes uninhibited curiosity while the world unfolds. Slip into any Lower School classroom and you will see it in all its glory. Our youngest will surround you, sharing their writing, their pictures, and their discoveries with such glee that your day will improve instantly.

There is a magical moment when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Last week I experienced its beginning stages firsthand when a kindergartner pointed out that I had missed an exclamation point at the end of a sentence — apparently I had not inflected enough. "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" deserved to be read with more passion! The profound event of learning to decode language and all of its symbols propels our students’ ability to learn independently and with others. They become learners in the very best sense, creating room for curiosity and courage to flourish.

It’s gotten a lot easier to know stuff these days, but I worry that we too easily conflate knowing with understanding. With Google and other search engines at our fingertips, we can tap a few keys for answers without expending much intellectual capital or tapping our tenacity. Our misplaced confidence undercuts the very habits of mind that great educational institutions instill.

Poly’s mission speaks to a “community of learning dedicated to the principles of academic excellence.” With these words guiding us, we challenge collections of uncontested information and embrace the thrilling rigor of inquiry, debate, and deliberation in our classrooms and throughout the campus. Honoring this covenant that binds us, our students’ confidence springs from an impressive work ethic and a willingness to listen and learn from others. Knowing ourselves and what we value is important, but we become who we really are when our knowledge is challenged and true learning frames our perspective.

JWB
 
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