What’s Happening at Bement
One of the most treasured traditions of the ninth grade year at Bement is the “Ninth Grade Board” project. Each ninth grade student spends months working with Mrs. Gaudette, one of Bement’s visual arts teachers, to create a unique, abstract self-portrait that features representations of each student’s past, present, and future. Composed of a variety of media, each project is constructed on a square board and features both two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements.
Last week, ninth graders displayed their finished projects at an opening in the Barn. Parents, caregivers, faculty, staff, and fellow students visited and learned about each Board and the process to create it. Their work is astonishing both in terms of the depth of introspection and imaginative reach on display. If you missed the opening, come visit Bement and see our ninth graders’ work on display in the Dining Hall and in the Arts Wing hallway.
What I’m Reading, and/or Watching, and/or Listening To
I am currently wrapping up Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Revenge of the Tipping Point. The section that most arrested my attention centered around the immune system of cheetahs and the idea of monocultures. (Leave it to Gladwell to artfully connect such an esoteric topic to a broader idea about dominant narratives and monocultures.) Individual cheetahs are genetically homogenous compared to most mammals; in other words, there is little genetic difference between any two modern cheetahs even if they come from vastly separate coalitions (the name for a group of cheetahs–who knew?). As a result, as a species they are vulnerable to illnesses that other, more genetically diverse animals would have more resilience to. For example: a plane full of human beings with one active case of COVID-19 may only see that illness spread to half a dozen or ten other individuals, while if that same plane were full of cheetahs and the right germ were introduced, every cheetah could quickly become ill.
Gladwell presented this example in a section about what he calls “overstories,” the dominant narratives that can take over groupthink in certain populations. He connects cheetahs’ lack of genetic diversity to an affluent suburb where adolescents faced a mental health crisis, which researchers suggest was due, in part, to a dominant set of social expectations for high achieving teenagers. He uses the agricultural term “monoculture” to link these ideas, and it made me think of how competitive, selective independent schools develop cultures of their own.
Generally speaking, monocultures in schools promote fragility while more diverse “polycultures” promote resilience, just as in the case of our vulnerable cheetah friends. Particularly when it comes to student wellbeing, schools must pay attention to those potentially dominant cultural forces to ensure there are many culturally viable ways to be part of the Bement community. For instance, if students come to believe that there are only a handful of “acceptable” next schools to attend, or a singular form of the “ideal” Bement student, or only a small number of ways to dress in order to fit in, the pressure to conform becomes a risk to their wellbeing, self-assurance, and overall development.
I’m proud of the variety of paths to excellence and achievement that exist at Bement. We are fortunate to have a wide-ranging list of next schools that our students attend after Bement, and the proliferation of student clubs and extracurriculars over the last several years is an indicator of the many ways that individual passions and curiosities are nurtured at Bement. These are signs of a healthy, diverse student culture where all young people can find purchase and optimize their learning and growth as part of a vibrant community.
What Else Is on My Mind
The news recently has featured reporting about international students studying at American colleges and universities having their student visas revoked and their status as students canceled. While these reports are accurate and worrisome, they have involved college-aged students almost exclusively, and there haven’t been reports of similar occurrences affecting students in junior boarding schools. We at Bement are monitoring this evolving situation closely, and we are both working with our professional networks through The Association of Boarding Schools, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the Junior Boarding School Association to fully understand how changes to immigration policies may affect our students and families.
The Bement School is committed to providing a safe and welcoming learning environment for students from all over the world. We continue to work closely with our representatives from the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure that students who are admitted to a course of study at Bement are granted access to pursue that education. Bement has long been a school where local and global come together to create community and live and learn together as a family, and we are determined to preserve that tradition.