Lower School Mission Statement (continued)

As children learn the mechanics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, for example, they are acquiring what are called academic skills; and when they are taught new information in a specific subject area and memorize facts, they are increasing their academic knowledge base. This is the style of instruction traditionally associated with schooling. There is, however, another aspect of learning that is less widely understood and fostered even though, ultimately, it is more important. We call this component intellectual activity, for it is based on experiences that exercise a child’s evolving ability to think.

Materials made available to children for intellectual activities are those that tap the child’s natural curiosity. We describe these materials as open-ended or extensional, because they have inherent qualities for change and reconfiguration, can be used in many forms and in many ways, are challenging at all levels of experience and knowledge, and they invite children’s individual stamp of creation. Sand, water, clay, wood, fabric, paper, and blocks are examples. When investigation is supported with tools, their possibilities are virtually limitless. Items such as pulleys, incline planes, levers, wheels, magnets, measuring instruments, and magnifiers help children study and transform raw materials physically or in their imagination.

Experiences with these materials, frequently dismissed as “just play,” are those that allow children to seek answers to their own “Why?” and “What would happen if?” questions. They encourage children to be active learners who observe their natural and social world thoughtfully, learn to describe and classify their perceptions, pose questions and form hypotheses, test their ideas, reflect, draw conclusions, and solve problems. In short, children work as scientists or artist do – seeking an ever more adequate understanding of their world. In teacher-directed, academic study, children learn what the teacher believes to be true and answer the teacher’s questions. In an environment prepared to support intellectual activity, children can raise and answer their own questions as well. This heuristic process helps children come to trust their own ability to generate knowledge, in contrast to receiving it solely from adults or from books.

Play that is an end in itself is also an important component of our program. It is the “work” of childhood and, as such, we value and support it as much as formal study. Healthy, happy children play spontaneously and tirelessly when given the opportunity and, through play, they learn from everything. Typically, however, our culture treats play and study as mutually exclusive domains when, in fact, they synergistically reinforce one another in necessary and powerful ways. In the process of playing, principles about the physical and social world are discovered serendipitously, in a manner that no formal curriculum can replicate; and these serendipitous events build a perceptual foundation for grasping principles on a conceptual level. Play is the “independent study” of the younger children, and the concrete complement of the older children’s more abstract work. And of course, play is important simply because it is a strong, natural human need that can only be forcefully denied. We choose to honor, not oppose, children’s healthy needs and interests.

Because we wish our children to become self-governors, at Sparhawk School children are given the opportunity to take an active role in managing their own lives and their school. All issues affecting life at school, such as rules, responsibilities, and sanctions, are discussed at meetings where each member of the school community, child and adult alike, participates. Over time, the limits of normal childhood egocentricity are learned as children interact in a rational social context, and come to understand, value, and internalize the reasonable expectations of their culture. Participation in school management enhances cooperation because it empowers children and vests them with responsibility, a trust that most children wish to merit. Where children share in decision-making, they have little reason to rebel. Where children have legitimate power, they learn its judicious use. Where children have personal freedom, they learn to respect the rights of others.

Ours is a program, then, that honors children, values inquiry, encourages exploration, allows for innovation, and celebrates ideas. Children in our school gain skills that allow them to be self-initiating, self-directing learners, as well as joyful, responsible, and independent beings. Above all, this is the measure of our success.