Does Harkness Really Work?
By ISABEL EVANS ‘27
Harkness. That is, the method of teaching our school is notorious for—implementing conversation into all classes, not stopping at humanities, but adding it into math and science. Harkness is meant to teach students how to be empathetic and considerate towards others while instilling confidence and advocacy. Supposedly, this unique method of teaching is meant to improve a student’s real-world skills.
However, we’ve all walked into a classroom of new people and sat down at the oval table, only to be hammered by Harkness warriors or to struggle to get our opinions in. When you leave that classroom, you have to ask, did that term of Harkness work? Did it achieve all the goals and points outlined in large font on the Phillips Exeter Academy website?
When you discuss in class and do what you think is a good job of participating throughout the term only to get a B+ in Harkness, do comments and feedback help you improve? Some may say yes, and others may strongly disagree. I’m arguing for the former, as I believe that if given the correct instruction and respond to it accordingly, you will succeed in Harkness. That may seem like a lot of ifs, but ignoring the ifs doesn’t allow you to succeed outside of the classroom. It doesn’t enable you to become the insightful, confident person in any room.
In many studies and books, like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (a study on successful individuals and the correlation of personality, wealth, and other factors), it is shown that, in the evergrowing society of success, the world is coming to prefer those who are self-confident and outgoing, often referred to as an extrovert. But I beg to ask, do you need to be an extrovert to fit those criteria? That is one of Harkness’s main goals, to adapt a person to be open-minded, resilient, and self-assured. Some people are “naturals” at Harkness while others are people who struggle with sharing. Personally, I struggled in my first Harkness classes, which stemmed from unfamiliarity with my classmates, causing a lack of self-confidence in my points. As I grew more familiar with my classmates and was pushed out of my comfort zone, I was able to share more while feeling more confident in what I was saying.
Some of the major problems with Harkness are rooted in scheduling and the competitiveness of grades. If everyone wants an A, they’re going to participate for an A, and that is one of the biggest causes of Harkness warriors—people who do a lot, sometimes too much, to get a good Harkness grade. Similarly, this competition may also be a problem due to time constraints. As teachers track discussions, it often is hard to make very good points when you have so little speaking time. Another problem is that most times, your success depends on the teacher. Some teachers want discussion questions, some teachers want statements, and others may control the discussion, limiting talking time or cutting into the discussion. This is why adaptability is key to being successful because we naturally change classes very frequently.
I think receiving proper feedback, and listening to it, or having one-on-one conversations with teachers can help a lot. Being able to gauge what your teacher thinks you need to do better is very important, and that’s done best through communication. It’s also important to be able to be open to other people’s points. Being respectful to those around the table is extremely important to not seem dismissive. It is also important to include others. If someone is trying to get into the conversation, give them enough space to do so. Learning these skills and applying them will help a lot with group conversations, meetings, simply talking to another person, etc. By using the skills learned at the Harkness table, you can improve life in the future as the world is beginning to lean toward self-confident people or people who have learned to excel at Harkness.
Overall, Harkness, when taught and applied correctly, can be extremely useful not only in class but in the future when looking for jobs, or going to a meeting. Once you master the Harkness table, you can talk to virtually anyone, anywhere. All it takes is one’s willingness to work hard and improve.
