PEA Discusses Goodness: All-Faculty Meeting, Assemblies Evaluate Community Values

“What is goodness?”While students across campus enjoyed a class-free day yesterday, faculty members discussed this question and its implications at a Harkness-style meeting, piggybacking off a series of Assembly discussions held Oct. 3 by religion instructor Russell Weatherspoon and continued by the Student Council Oct 7.English instructor Ellen Wolff thought the meetings proved useful though it also showed that faculty are far from coming up with any answers. “It was a very productive morning, well worth the time spent. What the meetings confirmed for me: that there are many arenas in which ‘goodness’ can happen more frequently and substantively than it does now;” she said, “that members of the faculty are far from having clear answers to the question of how to help ‘goodness’ permeate the culture of our school; that while it’s important to talk about “goodness” it’s also important to ‘just do it.’ I’d welcome the opportunity for staff, students and faculty to work together to imagine next steps.”During Wednesday’s meeting, faculty discussed a number of handouts, including fellow faculty members’ writings pertaining to goodness, then proceeded to discuss aspects of it Harkness-style. Topics of discussion included student behavior in the absence of faculty, whether faculty are sufficiently educated in adolescent psychology and the relationship of Harkness teaching to goodness. Other topics included the relationship and distinctions between politeness and goodness, the need for doing chores around the dorm and the possibility of a work service requirement, as well as discussion of ethics and goodness in English classes. As displayed through its debate across campus, views of goodness vary, and the Academy is attempting to find an answer to this important question.English intern Claire Abisalih ‘07 commented on the large array of topics covered. “Everyone today had such valuable and varied input, and I think the fact that every unique point and every question seemed vital to the discussion is an indication of just how big, broad and fundamental this question of goodness really is,” she said. “Some of the questions I am left mulling over, though, are whether goodness is demonstrated through actions or whether it is more of a mindset behind each and every decision we make; whether goodness can be singularly defined by a community or is inherently subjective; and finally whether goodness can be explicitly taught or whether it is something that is picked up by way of example, observation and lived experience?”Many students, at the Harkness assemblies and around campus, have criticized the culture of competition and “coldness” in Exeter, believing that this culture opposes goodness. Upper Audrey DeGuerrera believes that the Academy needs to work as a community rather than individuals. “To me, goodness means investing in your community and working for others so that you can all reap the benefits,” she said. “ I think we need to start working on making Exeter less of a cold institution and more of a supporting family, as well as reminding each student to broaden their focus and to come together.”Upper Emma Kim agreed with this, adding that the competitive nature of students is a large issue. “Competition isn't about everyone getting to the same level. It's about one person coming out on top as the best. That is not non sibi. A little bit of competition can push everyone to do a little bit better, but I think our competition can be about very negative things,” she said.Kim continued, stating that students become competitive about pointless things like having the least amount sleep or being the busiest.Upper Rebecca Ju, who also believes competition is the main issue, also described what goodness at Exeter should truly mean. “I think goodness means setting that view [of competition] aside and realizing that we're all going through Exeter together. Our classmate's aren't people we have to beat out for a spot in college, they are our friends and the people who make Harkness and Exeter as amazing as it is,” she said.Kim believed that its the small gestures that can greatly improve the relationships between students. “We can greet each other in genuine ways. I agree that a greeting on the path can easily make someone's day better. A short conversation in which you take the time to hear about how someone's day is going can make them feel important. We just need to remember that we are a community,” she said.As for faculty, views on goodness are relatively undecided.“To this point the faculty, administration and students are still considering how to understand or define goodness in the present context,” Weatherspoon said.However, faculty are interested in discussing goodness and its relevance in the community. “As Ms. Brownback mentioned, the faculty expressed interest in discussing the meaning and application of goodness during the strategic planning process,” Weatherspoon continued.History instructor Giorgio Secondi also answered similarly to Weatherspoon, believing that goodness is a difficult concept to define. “[‘What is goodness?’] is one of the questions that the faculty day and the Assembly about goodness are designed to help us wrestle with. There is no simple answer—different people have different views. We hope that our discussions will help us all develop a better understanding of this idea,” he said.Contrasting to some students’ thoughts, Secondi did believe, though, that Exeter’s community and student interactions at this time are in a good state. “It’s probably fair to say that, on the one hand, many believe that we’re a better community than many others they have been part of—one in which people are often more thoughtful about how they interact with each other,” he said.Secondi focused more on the faculty’s role in assisting students in understanding goodness. “On the other hand, there is a sense that, as a faculty, we need to figure out whether and how we can do more to model and teach goodness,” he continued.Faculty, though, did think Wednesday’s meeting on strategic planning helped to clarify goodness and its relationship to faculty.History instructor William Jordan thought the meeting brought questions up surrounding goodness and its origin within the school. “Overall, my feeling of it was that the meeting was a really nice opportunity to think about our mission at the school. The deed of gift has knowledge and goodness—we’re good at teaching knowledge and judging it—like in science we know what’s a good experiment and what’s a bad experiment, we can put a grade on it. But we have no idea how to teach goodness. We know about ‘the golden rule,’ and good manners, but after that it gets hard to define,” he said.Jordan also thought an important distinction was made in the meeting between actions and thoughts. “In my small group, a good distinction was made on goodness as an action, like when you help a person cross the street, or at Exeter, we had community life day and service projects, or even Mr. Smith and his idea of making people do chores in the dorm. There’s a difference between actions and thoughts. Ms. Brownback said that actions are an important thing, but it’s also important to have a good attitude, having empathy, being able to listen, being peaceful and a reflective person. That attitude of goodness is important, and for me that was a very helpful distinction. We have these conversations and people say things that help you think about the topic in different ways,” he said.Newer faculty appreciated the opportunity that the meeting gave them to see how Exeter has changed over the years and how it will continue to change in the future.“I was glad to have been part of these conversations, as they have given me insight into the culture of the school, changes in the past few decades, and the possibility for actionable and positive progress.” she said. “From what I understand, we will continue to explore the integration of goodness into our curriculum, athletics, dormitory, advisory program and service as these meetings continue, and I look forward to hearing from students on the matter as we move forward,” English instructor Ah-Young Song said.Though the meeting helped to clarify “goodness” a little more, faculty do plan to hold more meetings in the future to discuss issues on campus such as goodness with the hopes that improvements can be made.Despite arguments and disagreements on what “goodness” is, what is clear, though, is that both students and faculty find the unification of the entire Exeter community key in improving the school as a whole. As DeGuerrera said, “We are Exeter, and it's about time we start acting like it.”