February 17, 2012Volume 3 Issue 12

Calendar

Saturday, March 3

I once worked in a school where they hold an assembly twice a year where anyone with a certain grade point average would be asked to stand, come forward, and receive a certificate. This happens in the Middle and the Upper Schools and there is a great deal of fanfare. The odd thing is that typically there are just too many people receiving this accolade. It becomes unruly and awkward to have everyone advancing for the photo opportunity leaving an embarrassed and strikingly small minority left seated trying to feel invisible because they already feel marginalized.

 

It always struck me that has little to do with Honor. At least nothing to do with ‘Honor’ in its old sense, in the sense of the Ancient Regime, where the term has the connotations of exclusivity. The original concept has in its very definition the idea that for some to be honored, the majority would not. Imagine if tomorrow everyone in the armed forces were given the Congressional Medal of Honor. It would cease to carry the weight of recognition.

 

In our society we are often caught between two values that we want to embrace, even though they are mutually exclusive a lot of the time. The first position says that everyone is equal and we should not place significant value on one group of people over and above another. This has been the very powerful and compelling engine that has driven much of the Civil Rights movement in this country, for example. The second point-of-view holds that we are each unique and special, that we must celebrate our individuality in order to affirm our own identity. There is a tension here because we are being told that we are all equal even though we are all unique. I believe both perspectives to be true and affirm much of the good that has come from each. But what happens in a situation like an honor roll as described above where we want to affirm the excellence of a few and at the same time we want to continue to acknowledge the equality of everyone?

 

Clearly when we are talking about equality in these situations, there are two different meanings of the word. When it comes to fundamental worth, dignity, and the way we regard all humankind, we are indeed all equal. This is something that we will affirm in very powerful ways during our Diversity Conference next week. With some fundamental premises in place about impartiality, we will examine questions of difference. On the other hand, when we are talking about our talents and passions, there is quite a significant bit of disparity and we are also celebrating this in amazing ways during the Diversity Conference.

 

Many of you might be familiar with the short story by Kurt Vonnegut entitled 'Harrison Bergeron'. In this futuristic tale, Vonnegut gives us a great example of taking the notion of equality to the inane extreme. He describes a society where everyone truly is equal and no one would even dream of having a ceremony to 'honor' a few above the many. In fact, the term 'honor' becomes synonymous with 'evil'. If you are beautiful, you are forced to hide behind a mask. If you are intelligent, you are fitted with a device that interrupts your thoughts every few seconds so that you cannot possibly create a unique thought or imagine something remarkable. If you are graceful, you are lumbered with heavy chains and weights. All these handicaps level the playing field. Is the result equality? Yes, on one level—but to the utter devastation of anything good, beautiful, and true in society. The brilliant point Vonnegut makes is that in order for there to be excellence, some must use their gifts to shine. Some must be freed to run passionately after that which makes them unique.

 

In our schools, we should always embrace this uniqueness. We are, after all, individuals. But like Vonnegut, I don't think we can truly exercise the gifts we have unless we are in a community. In the school community these two philosophies intertwine—we can celebrate the individual and in doing so also affirm the value of all. Our Diversity Conference, which offers many different stages to highlight the talents and diverse questions we have as a community, is a remarkable example of this.

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View Finder Film Series continues 

Viewfinder Film Series: Great films on the topic of Sustainability

Friday, February 24
6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Vollum Humanities Building

US and MS students will love I Am, a documentary attempting to address the question: what is wrong with our world and what can we do about it?  from director Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty)

View Trailers here