The kids and I watched Order of the Phoenix last night and I mused a bit on previous posts. I think we can all agree to accept Noah's ideas as, at the very least, a point of departure (if not a point of arrival as well). What we need to fill in are some definitions.
Need Number One: A Mission Statement.
We have been brandishing terms like "true charterian" and "charterian spirit." It would behoove us to turn this into a mission statement. Here is a poorly and quickly written mock up of the mission statement.
The house system at ECHS exists to create opportunities for edifying bonds between and among students and faculty, to foster student mentoring, to facilitate and improve discipline, and to perpetuate the Charterian spirit: a spirit of loyalty, creativity, respect, intellectual achievement, self-discipline, and .....
I chose rather vague and soft words here for the purpose of your feedback. Please note, I was never a big fan of mission statements and have always prided myself on making fun of them. Now, as I consider myself among the founders (though the least important one) of this system, I can see the efficacy. It is like a thesis in an essay or a science experiment.
Now, to bring it back to Harry. We haven't defined the characteristics of these houses--which should in some way address the mission statement--and will determine, to a small extent, the teacher leadership. I have taken the liberty of grabbing quotes from the first Harry Potter novel--little poems summarizing the houses. I have provided, though I know you can do this better than I, a little interpretation of the characteristics and how we can adapt them to our purposes.
House One:
"Here you are in Slytherin,
Where you'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends."
Obviously, the only things we can encourage here are loyalty (real friends) and problem solving skills--two parts of the mission statement I proposed.
House Two:
"You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
There daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart"
Bravery--courage to break the norm and be yourself: I could sign off on that. Chivalry is obviously referring to a tradition of good manners, a learned sense of propriety.
House Three:
"Here in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind."
This would be the intellectual house (why is Hermione NOT a Ravenclaw?) and this focus on academics is PURE Charter. Given a subjective vote, I'd throw some top students into this house with the "jocks and cheerleaders" and let the former raise the focus of the latter.
House Four:
"You belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid to toil."
Hard work? Loyalty? Honesty? Sounds like we should all be Hufflepuffs.
Obviously, we have a ways to go. I have a lot of fun joking about sorting hats and coming up with silly names for the houses--oddly, I didn't see a place for sarcasm or flippancy among our core values--but writing this post has shown me how incredibly valuable this system can be for the Charter community.
1. We can set down in concrete terms what it is we stand for and what it is we value.
2. All houses will have the purpose of developing and expressing ALL of these values.
3. Each unique house will have a different emphasis within these values.
Let's suppose we settle on four or eight values. Each house can emphasize one or two of these values. As the values are interdependent, the other values will develop.
I await your response.
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7 comments:
Mel,
Just a favor to ask--could you adjust the colors on the main page of the post, especially the part that's in gray?
I also think that a mission statement is necessary; and I like what you have here. I also really like the idea of having all Houses develop all values, but that each one would have its own emphasis; which is exactly what I was thinking about, but had not gotten to posting yet. I sort of alluded to it in my response to Jackie about House names, in another thread, with my idea of Latin mottos. (Normally, I'd not really be all that in favor of using Latin, because it can make things sound so pompous...but I kind of think that works in this context.)
Anyway, we can all be glad you beat me to it, since I would have written at least ten times as much as you.
As a potential list of eight values (some of them overlap, but all of them are supposed to be present anyway), I offer:
knowledge
fairness
citizenship
loyalty
creativity
respect
self-discipline
perseverance
(The first four happen to match up to my Latin suggestion.)
On a totally side issue, the Sorting Hat seriously considered putting Hermione in Ravenclaw; but it takes the whole person into account, not just the most obvious aspects; and because it saw her personal bravery and profound sense of fairness (chivalry, loosely) as well as her intellect, it put her in Gryffindor. However I must admit that one of my favorite things the Sorting Hat did was to put Neville Longbottom in Gryffindor; because it saw what he could become, given the chance--not just what he was at the time. Along those lines, I personally wouldn't have any problem with putting the jock-and-cheerleader types intentionally into the Ravenclaw-esque House.
In vino veritas!! Whatever house I'm in gets either that motto or this one: "Illegitimi non Carborundum"
Anyway - I also concur that a mission statement is necessary.
Are we saying that the eight values listed there are going to be split up between four different houses as the focuses of those houses? I'm confused...
I'm for "uva uvam videndo varia fit." (This was misappropriated in Lonesome Dove as
"vivendo.") Rough translation: a grape ripens when it sees another grape. There was a movement when I was at San Diego State to change our motto (which I don't recall) to the Latin phrase meaning "humbly seeking mediocrity."
At any rate, the way I see it is that ALL house members sign off on ALL of the mission and each house is to especially focus on one or two virtues. The virtues are so inter-related that it would be difficult to foster a couple without fostering all.
So no one has to hunt for the comment where I posted this the first time:
"I was thinking of perhaps adopting a Latin motto for the organization, and that each of the Houses could have a single one of the four words as its own motto:
Veritas, equitas, fidelitas, civitas.
Essentially, for those who don't know Latin or don't want to go to an online translator like I did: truth (knowledge), justice (fairness), loyalty, citizenship."
I like the idea of a single-word motto for each House, and then putting them all together to make the motto for the whole shebang.
Further, if we were to go with those eight virtues, I propose the following pairings to focus on. At first glance, these pairings seemed to be the most complementary; or at least, the second one in each pair seems, to me, to be something you'd most want to make sure you had in addition to the first one, to counter the extremes to which having only the first one might lead a person. (For example, a person who put undue emphasis on knowledge could easily, if unchecked, arrive at a point where he or she did not respect those who had not attained the same level of knowledge.)
knowledge--respect
fairness--perseverance
citizenship--creativity
loyalty--self-discipline
Life certainly has a way of humbling us sometimes, especially in the "I'll never" category: Mel with his quite excellent base for a mission statement; me with assisting to form these Houses (I HATED Girl Scouts - there, I said it); the rest of you may ponder your own twisted paths to this present location...
Yeah, we need a mission statement. Let's just keep it short so we can remember it. And, Mel, the words you used are not vague or soft, they are significant and inspiring. Using anything less will be a joke and a waste of time.
I'm nowhere near to being an HP expert, but I seem to recall that Hogwarts and its Houses were very old. Their traditions had developed over time. Even importing an English castle for the clubhouse won't do the trick. We cannot create tradition, or force growth of House characteristics, in one or two semesters. Let's pause for a moment to ponder the garden imagery, gents. We plant the seeds, then time does its work.
Possibly the most important "seeds" will be the motto for each House. The motto will set the tone for the House, form a meaningful link to the other Houses, and contribute to the overall significance of the House System as a whole.
After reading all of your ideas, I have some proposals of my own (but you already knew that). Some I have had in mind, some are modifications of what appears above.
My basic belief is that no one House should have "knowledge" or "intellect" as part of its motto. That concept should be part of the motto for the entire system, which I'll get to in a few lines. I think that we should stick to characteristics that any student can aspire to and develop. Otherwise, the "knowledge" house will be seen as elitist in very short order, and future waitresses will be too intimidated to join the "smart House." (By the way, great commentary on that article, too, Mel.)
During the fall semester last year, I presented a quote by TS Eliot for the honors American Govt class to discuss, and I think it's germane to our work here: "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" With the information firehoses we deal with every day, this idea is more relevant than ever. But - it's much too long for a motto. To boil it down, "From knowledge, wisdom." In Latin, it's something like, "E Doctrina Sapientia." (I'm not a Latin expert, either.) This way, ALL of the Houses come under the aegis of high academic expectations. My motto is just one example. There are hundreds more out there.
Now, to the individual House mottos. I like the idea of two per House, and of putting them into Latin because it sounds classy, Latin words have layers of meaning, and knowing a little Latin is good for you. (Although, JP, I must say: "vino" and "illegitimi"?! And you seem like such a NICE Catholic boy...)
I propose that we use tandem words that have a yang/ying balance to them. This is similar to Noah's example of complementary concepts. Besides knowledge, I also deleted citizenship (hey, I teach govt and this does NOT inspire me). My examples are drawn from the seven heavenly virtues and seven virtues of bushido (which was new to me).
Courage - Kindness
Audacia - Humanitas
Rectitude(good judgment) - Humility
Uidicium - Humilitas
Perseverance - Creativity
Instancia - Varietas (variety)
Loyalty - Fairness
Fidelitas - Equitas
Each pairing exhibits not exactly opposite ideas, but perhaps a base virtue plus its fruit or idealized goal. These types of pairings indicate progress in character development and the complexity of human nature.
These one or two word markers for each House could be just the beginning. As a way to get students to "buy in," we could have a contest during the first semester in which students within each House use these words to create a longer motto, some pep rally type cheers, or even password phrases (in English or Latin). Lots of possibilities for student involvement once the basics are established.
Silly me! I turned to the local bookstore and the generosity of a good friend to supply me with books to read while I'm out of town next month. But with all of the mystery, suspense, fantasy, etc., cooking on this blog I probably won't get much outside reading done. But ain't we got fun?
Jackie,
I absolutely love it! (Except I think it's iudicium, no?)
This is exactly what I wanted, but hadn't gotten there yet, and I knew it. I wasn't sold on my own words; for some of the same reasons you bring up. (Knowledge belongs to all of the Houses; and what I mean by "citizenship" is really a synthesis of all of the virtues.) I just had the basic idea, and that I liked it being in Latin. But I love basing it on the seven heavenly virtues and on Bushido. Brilliant, and I'm really excited. I read your post, and it was exactly what I was trying to piece together!
We may, of course, change the details a bit, but I cast my vote for your basic concept.
Mel and his mission statements...you and your Scouts...and I have always had an aversion--if not a downright loathing--for pomp and ritual and anything that smacks of tradition for no sake other than tradition, and here I am talking about Houses that I envision creating traditions and rituals and, dare I say it, even some pomp.
I won't speak for Jackie or Mel, but for me, there are very specific purposes for what we are trying to do; and I guess I don't oppose pomp with a purpose. (How's that for a motto?) Maybe our various cynicisms can actually help us here; maybe they can help keep us honest and on track.
Anyway, I stand behind these suggestions for House motto-words.
Noah, thanks for correcting my spelling. I'm glad that you like some of the ideas. Maybe we should take another look at the "only at Charter" slogan. It would probably sound impressive in Latin, too...
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