A challenge to Gunn

So we have done it again

Here we are in this beautiful part of the world

We have beautiful children

And it takes a village to raise a child

Where was the village?

The high school years when the child becomes an adult

Four short years

Their bodies change

Their minds grow

They blossom – if we give them time and space

Hormones surge through their bodies

Emotions gather strength

They hardly know themselves at times

These are the vulnerable years

So what do we do?

We offer a great education at Gunn – on our terms

We have some great teachers who try to engage the minds and tend the blossoming

Four years for children to discover their passion in this life and feel their way onto the great stage

And what do we do?

We overlay this precious time with a competitive horse race - get the best grades – get into the best college – follow the herd - lead the herd – DO NOT FAIL

So, young person, your circadian rhythms change – and you need more sleep after midnight – you are not at your best in the early morning - so who cares - get out of bed – get into class – perform, perform, perform

So start school at 10 am

Look at the college world – PSAT GPA SAT - the alphabet that will determine your future – work for it, work for it, work for it –

Pressure, pressure, pressure

And some of them say “I can’t take this any more”

Others take it and succeed – but at what price?

We buy into the whole system – we push our beloved children through the sausage machine

And yet another ends up under a train

IT IS TIME TO STOP AND SCREAM

IT IS TIME TO SAY NO MORE

So I challenge you Gunn

Change to a system of pass/fail - no more grades

(But the children won’t work – they won’t feel the whip on their back – they will become lazy)

They will work in order to learn what they are interested in – they will find their passion – they will flourish

Throw out the set curriculum

Let the children, as they become adults, choose what they want to study – offer a great smorgasbord of teachers and subjects - and if some subjects/teachers have no followers – get rid of them

Look at the pressure cooker system that destroys our children – look it straight in the eye and say NO MORE

What do you mean destroys our children – look at the beautiful young adults graduating and tell me we have destroyed them?

No, thank God, we have not destroyed them all – most of them are tougher than we think – they survive what we do to them - and we do a lot of great things - BUT we could do so much more – and if we took on this challenge we would see our children blossom as never before

Change the focus

Focus on our children as they become adults

Focus on their needs – what they need to blossom

Focus on offering education and enlightenment that delights these precious pupils

Focus on supporting them through the tough times - easing the pressures – holding still while they gather steam for the next spurt

Teach them cooperation instead of competition

Teach them compassion not judgment

Teach them the great joy of learning

Teach them the importance of now

Look at now

Stop looking at the future and letting some distant and unknown entity evaluate our beloved children

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So what about Harvard and Stanford and UC and ,,,,and…and…

They will be begging for the sort of young adults we will send into the world -

We have a choir - Look at and listen to that choir - get the CD if you have not heard them – get it anyway and listen again –

Look what our children can accomplish – without grades - without points for the sausage makers -

Do you get it?

Val Blanchette

Mother and grandmother of Gunn students