What messages do we send when we bring the students with the highest GPAs up on the stage each year? We tell them that the most important thing is achieving more (academically) than their classmates. We tell them that even though “collaboration” is perhaps one of the school values, in the end, it is every person for themselves. We tell them that individuals achieve on their own, not through the support of family, friends, and community. We tell them that indeed it IS all about the grade.
How do we let students know that school is about more than grades? How do we let them know that WHO they are is more important than their grades?
How do we honor ACTION in the world toward better lives for people, animals and the planet, which requires many different types of knowledge, more than accumulation of points in a competitive race for jobs that we hope will provide some stability in this rapidly changing world?
What if we knew that everyone would be cared for? Could we stop the race?
