News

Informing Civil Discourse

In my opening talk this fall, I expressed faith that our students have the dispositions to do what seems near impossible in our broader society: engage with one another around difficult topics with kindness and curiosity. This fall, I have seen that happening, even outside the classroom, where students are tentatively but steadily moving beyond the reticence that had set in last year.

To move us further down that path, we have designed our all-school meeting program this year to help inform the conversations our students are having. Shortly before the election, BU history professor Dr. Bruce Schulman talked about several key presidential elections in the 20th century with the goal of helping us all understand how we have landed with this particular flavor of two-party election in 2024. We then welcomed Dr. Nancy Harrowitz, the Director of BU’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Students, and Dr. Mohammad Zaman, the Director of BU’s Center on Forced Displacement. They shared their experiences leading university-wide working groups last year on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia respectively, as well as their opinions on campus climates nationally in the wake of October 7. Just this week, BU professor Dr. Tim Longman, one of the world’s leading authorities on the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, unpacked that tragic period of history. He also walked our students through the origins of the term “genocide,” the definition in the UN Convention, and how it might or might not apply to recent events in Ukraine and Gaza. Later this winter, Dr. Veronika Wirtz from BU’s School of Public Health will join us to talk about her research about misinformation on TikTok, specifically related to the marketing of Ozempic, but with applicability to many areas. And there are some other pieces in the works. This is all a supplement to the deep work our students do with their teachers in class, particularly in history, where several of our offerings are meant to create a factual context for understanding today’s world.

We owe it to our students to give them what they are unlikely to get from social media and echo-chamber news sources: thoughtful, reliable context to empower them to form their own opinions and test them against others’.

Lunch with Students

As I do every year, I’ve been hosting lunches this fall in my office with groups of seniors. I’ll do the same with juniors in the winter and then with all 9th and 10th grade advisory groups in the spring. On any given day, you can smell the Raising Cane’s chicken tenders, Chipotle burritos, and Otto pizza down the hall.

There is no agenda for the meetings. I’ll often ask how things are going to get a pulse check. The most fun part is when students start asking me questions – about how we do admissions, how the budget works, our relationship with BU, how we choose ASM speakers, how the curriculum changes, how financial aid works, where the school is going. The time flies by. Their curiosity comes through, but there’s more than that. They really care about their school. They feel a sense of pride and ownership. And they have good ideas. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Relationships Unlock Learning

Part of my routine each week is popping into three or four classes. I sit off to the side – usually quietly, but sometimes I can’t help but join the fun. Those visits allow me to commend our extraordinary teachers and get a better feel for the students’ day-to-day experience.

Those visits are also a good reminder of how important relationships are to learning. There’s a common aphorism that students don’t learn from people they don’t like. While I might quibble with the phrasing and choose to substitute “like” for respect, admire, and trust, it does hint at a series of findings from decades of research about how kids learn best. Feeling seen, known, and loved by your teacher opens the door to learning. It creates a sense of emotional comfort and belonging. It allows students to make mistakes, admit what they don’t know, and ask for help without shame or fear of being discovered. In those classrooms, teachers can set high expectations and students want to meet them. Teachers can share their passion for a subject, and students get swept up in that passion. David Brooks wrote about these ideas in his 2019 New York Times opinion piece titled “Students Learn from People They Love.”

Just this fall, I saw so many ways teachers create that environment at BUA. I heard a classics teacher share a story of feeling particularly challenged in graduate school and the associated worry about underperforming – a moment of vulnerability that invited students to do the same. I observed an art teacher walking around from student to student offering one-on-one coaching – saying just enough to help the students take the next step and giving them the tools and confidence to do it themselves. I heard a science teacher share a fun childhood story to illustrate a tricky molecular concept. A music teacher in chorus riffing on the way that Spanish composers broke rules and the associated music-theory niceties. A math teacher offering, “You guys came up with a neat approach I hadn’t thought of.” A classics teacher making a Star Wars joke about Tataouine and its multiple suns to shed light on (sorry) the singular vs. plural ending to a noun.

I could go on. As Thanksgiving approaches, please join me in thanking our teachers for being the people our students deserve.

Being Yourself

On Thursday night, we held one of my favorite new BUA traditions. The South Asian Students Association hosted our second-annual Garba in celebration of Navratri. The word garba refers both to a communal circle dance originating in Gujurat and – as in our case – an event where that dance takes place.

It was a beautiful evening. Students of South Asian descent arrived in traditional attire, and many of them brought their families. They were excited to celebrate together, but just as excited to share their cultural heritage with their BUA friends from all backgrounds. They taught their peers several variations of the dances. In no time at all, several dozen students, parents, and teachers were up on their feet dancing, smiling, and learning from each other. I was struck and grateful to be part of a community where the South Asian students feel so comfortable bringing this important part of their lives to school. I was equally grateful to see so many students and adults with no previous experience in this style of dance get up and give it a try. They all seemed free to be themselves. The garba captured so much of what is special about this community. Looking forward to next year!

BU Connections

Earlier this week, we hosted our BU-BUA Connections event – a fun evening gathering of BUA current parents, parents of alumni, and prospective BUA families who teach and work at the University. The evening gave me a chance to thank this cohort for all the ways they enrich our students’ experience. Many of them teach BUA students in their University classes. One professor told me that his first impression of BUA came from teaching a BUA student in a master’s level economics course. He was puzzled that a 16-year-old was the strongest contributor in the bunch and felt like he just had to learn more about BUA! We hear stories like that all the time.

These families help out in so many other ways. They hire BUA students as researchers in their labs. They advise senior theses. They speak at our school meetings and suggest other great colleagues to do the same. They open the doors for our kids to engage with departments and interdisciplinary institutes up and down Commonwealth Avenue – like the Software & Application Innovation Lab and EPIC (BU’s 15,000 square-foot makerspace), both of which are now part of our 10th-grade seminar program. And they spread the word about BUA with colleagues across the University. We are a much stronger school for their partnership.