Future World Leaders Come Together at The Winchendon School

The following is an article that I wrote for The Gardner News. The was printed on Friday October 24.

Each morning we are greeted with daunting headlines:

• World Leaders to Meet This Week to Address Economic Crisis
• 10,000 Leaders from Around the World Gather in Bali to Discuss Climate Change
• Leaders Come Together to Address Hunger and Poverty in Africa

The bigger the challenge, the more likely it is that the solution will only be found through discussions among representatives from many different countries. There are few major issues today that can be successfully addressed in a roomful of people all speaking the same language, dressed the same, or sharing the same skin color or country of origin.

Furthermore, today's secondary school students are going to graduate from college into a world where they are likely to be collaborating with colleagues from all over the world whether it be working to solve a major problem or to just conduct business each day. Our goal as secondary school educators must be to do all that we can to prepare our students for this dynamic world that Thomas Friedman so accurately describes in his latest book Hot, Flat and Crowded, the follow up to his highly acclaimed The World Is Flat published in 2005.

The Winchendon School is a microcosm of this emerging global community. Within our population of students and faculty, some thirty different countries are represented. Kids and adults are as likely to be greeting each other in Mandarin, Polish or Portuguese as in English. Whether in math class, on the soccer field, doing laundry, or working on a community service project in the region, the students, teachers and coaches are learning how to communicate, how to work with each other, and how to respect and embrace their differences.

Sometimes this multi-cultural collaboration happens in the funniest ways or at the oddest times. Recently I was sitting at breakfast with students from Turkey, China, The Netherlands, and Lithuania, and the conversation suddenly migrated from the state of our own economies to the recent reluctance of the Netherlands to support Turkey's bid to join the European Union. There was some initial tense discussion before the boys started really listening to each other's position. We all came away from the table better informed and respectful of alternative viewpoints. And this all went on outside the classroom with a group of teens before 7:30 AM!

These are the kinds of opportunities that students and adults have at The Winchendon School every day. I recently watched a boy from Brazil working with a girl from South Korea to support each other's candidacy for our Student Council. Three weeks ago, groups of students from many countries coaxed and cheered each other up Mt. Monadnock. For many, it was the first time on such a summit bid, and despite some discomfort, they helped each other get there and cheered when they succeeded.

There are also the more formal opportunities in the classroom or in advisee groups in which every student and faculty member participates in small group discussions on global issues each week. And nothing makes it as "real" as when roommates with different customs and backgrounds learn how to live well together. We share rooms, meals, classrooms, and playing fields, and in doing so we learn from each other very day. I am fortunate to be as much a student of my students as I am a teacher or administrator.

So, as we struggle to make sense of the current economic challenges, think about solutions to global hunger or disease, manage global warming, or work to create peace in the Middle East, we can have confidence that there are students right here in Winchendon, MA, gaining the skills and confidence to tackle these issues in the coming years. As an additional benefit, Winchendon students will have friends from around the globe when they graduate and enter college to further prepare for their future careers, and they will have had a lot of fun along the way.