| Alumni Perspective |
"Now Is the Time
to Teach _______?"
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '33, Historian
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| Schlesinger |
I retired from teaching some years ago, but I just think it's terribly important to know American history and to understand our ability to surmount crises far worse than this, such as the Civil War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. That was the most dangerous moment in history, when two powers had the technological capacity to blow up the world.
Life consists of a succession of tragedy. The way this tragedy differs is that it has created a greater sense of personal vulnerability. With Pearl Harbor, we knew who the enemy was. The target was not innocent civilians, but our Pacific fleet. Between the twin towers and anthrax, our sense of personal vulnerability has been heightened. |
|
Now Is the
Time to Teach
| Teachers, students and alumni reflect on the
search for meaning and perspective in the wake of the terrorist attacks and the new world
in which we find ourselves. |
With a history almost as long as the nation's,
Phillips Exeter Academy has borne witness to the country's most momentous historical times.
Together, Academy faculty and students have experienced wars fought with cannons and those
fought with nuclear bombs, the abolition of slavery and the advances of the Civil Rights
movement, the rise of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall. While it's too early
to tell what this particular time in our history will mean, we know that the attacks of
September 11 and their still-unfolding aftermath have made this a fall term unlike any other.
As history teacher Jack Herney remarked on September 14, when the entire school community
gathered in Love Gym to observe the nation's Day of Prayer and Remembrance, "Perhaps it is
helpful to remember that the story of human history records many moments such as this. . . .
Yet this moment is also unique because this moment belongs to us." To better understand this
unique time on campus, we asked a selected group of faculty and students-some of those who
have been engaging in discussion of these events at their Harkness tables, as well as in
the Assembly Hall, at dinner tables and in dorms-to reflect on this moment, a moment that
resides between event and historical understanding.
What does it mean to be a teacher at a time like this, when, as Principal Ty Tingley
has remarked, "the lessons are hard ones and we don't have all the answers"? In the
current climate, is teaching different in any way than it has been before?
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| Schubart |
Richard Schubart, Chair, History Department: What's different is that everything is
heightened. All the different roles of a teacher-facilitator, adviser, instructor, monitors
of students' cares and concerns-have greater emphasis in the present atmosphere. Because
we're a residential school, because our students come to us from 26 foreign countries and
we've got this extraordinary diversity of religions and cultures and ethnicities represented,
we have an obligation to take good care of each other. To safeguard the community from any
prejudice or discrimination, which in a time of national crisis can be too easily let loose.
Thomas Ramsey, Religion: About a year ago, David Brooks wrote an article called
"The Organization Kid," examining students at Princeton and how organized they are,
how they walk around with Palm Pilots scheduling everything, even time to meet with
friends. Their lives are completely absorbed in details of taking the next steps.
Brooks now says that since September 11, he would write a completely different article.
Kids on college campuses today are sitting for hours in the lunchroom engaged in heated
debates.
What I find most interesting is Brooks' observation that teachers, who generally bring a
Vietnam War perspective to this issue, are listening more to their students. I think that's
true. I have the sense that some of the perspective I bring from growing up during the
Vietnam War era is no longer entirely relevant-even when it comes to the ethics of war,
because we're dealing with a terrorist enemy whom we can't really name. Even the status
of our declaration of war-have we declared war? We've declared war on terrorism, but is
that nation against nation? The attacks themselves were inarticulate. What were they after?
Who are they attacking? Why are they attacking?
So I guess I'm doing what David Brooks says college professors are doing, which is
listening to my students more. Their questions are great. So is their sense of terrorism
and how it works, how it fits or doesn't fit into traditional ways of looking at war and
the "just war" tradition.
For PEA Seniors,
Now Is the Time
Students discuss what it's like to watch history being made.
In the New York Times Magazine, Judith Shulevitz wrote about the desire for "collective
purpose," describing what she called "the thrill" of seeing everyday concerns fade into the
background when we are suddenly part of an important time in history. How do you respond to
this?
Olga Gorodetsky '02:
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| Gorodetsky |
The fact that it is such an important time in history makes me regret
anything that I might have missed in these days. I want to be able to describe this to my
children with a full understanding of it, to remember it all. I put a lot of pressure on
myself to put it all into memory. What's happened resounds with so much meaning that I feel
I should be writing about all of it, but the day doesn't have enough hours for me to put all
my feelings down on paper. I've been trying as much as I can to structure all the paper
topics that we've been assigned to give my reaction.
Michael Katz '02:
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| Katz |
There is an electricity that I haven't ever felt before.
When you drive out on the street, you see "United We Stand" signs in every restaurant and
cars painted red, white and blue. It is a thrill to be a part of it. It makes you wonder
what it was like after World War II. It gives me insight into what people have felt throughout
different generations. I don't like the word "thrill" because it sounds like you're glorifying
it, but it does drive home that this is a very important time in history that people are going
to talk about and analyze throughout the century.
Iman Azzi '02:
This is the first time I realized that being Arab made you a
little different from the rest of the people. When I was asked to participate in the school's
service of prayer and remembrance because I am Arab, and they wanted some perspective on Islam
to be involved-it was the first time I felt that culture really played a role in who I am.
Cerin Lindgrensavage '02:
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| Lindgrensavage |
Yes, there's an enormous amount of change, and there is
a certain "thrill" associated with that, but change comes with an enormous amount of risk.
I'm not a guy. I won't have to sign a draft card, but my classmates will.
Continued on next page.
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