Word of the Week Archives
Community – Connection – Challenging Success
Dear Brandeis community,
This bronchial virus that has been making its unpleasant way through the community (and the Glass household, alas) has finally landed on my unlucky head, and I write this morning from bed. But I am taking a cue from our youngest, Lucia, who is full of the light of her name and smiling ear to ear even as she coughs and drips her way through the day. So, with that spirit in mind, I wanted to share three standout moments from the week we’ve shared at Brandeis.
- The Book Fair. Let me begin with great appreciation for the leadership of Jane Froyd and Robin Braun Belinsky, our intrepid co-chairs of this annual celebration of reading and community. There’s a lot that goes into an event like the book fair, and gathering the collective energy of so many people is an effort worthy of our gratitude. When you see Jane and Robin around campus, please join me in thanking them! This year’s event was brilliant, with a rollicking, joyful spirit that even the day’s wild and stormy weather couldn’t put a damper on. While I was chained to my desk at the haiku hut and so missed several of the main events, including the Mazel Tov Cocktails, every parent and child that passed through the gym was grinning, and I saw more than a few arms full of books, gifts, and student crafts. It’s one of my favorite events in our community calendar, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s afternoon of books, bouncing, and bands.
- Our Visit to KZV Armenian School. Many of you saw my note a few weeks back, about the efforts our faculty and student leadership had made in standing in solidarity with KZV Armenian School in the wake of the hate crimes against Armenian schools in Los Angeles. The student leadership down at KZV invited our students for lunch, and to publicly thank them for standing with their community in a challenging moment. In a beautiful moment of connection, our student leadership gave KZV the Armenian flag that we flew in our courtyard, and we all enjoyed lunch together in their cafeteria. I understand there are plans in the works to invite the two middle school groups to each other’s dances, so stay tuned for ongoing bridge building!
- The College Admissions Scandal. Much ink has been spilled over this crisis of conscience on the part of many wealthy members of our society. I’ll end this week with the best I’ve seen, which comes from Challenge Success, whose co-founder Dr. Denise Pope (a dear friend of mine, and someone we’ve brought to campus to speak to parents in the past) has been making the media rounds this week:
Many of you shared your outrage and sadness about [this week’s] breaking news regarding parents engaging in bribery to help get their students into selective colleges. Let's make sure this news serves as a wake-up call and a teachable moment for parents, students, and schools. Our society’s overemphasis on where you go to school is misplaced and detrimental to the well-being of our students. As Challenge Success Co-Founder Dr. Denise Pope shared on CNN yesterday, this "cheat or be cheated mentality" is far too prevalent. It is a symptom of bigger issues our students face like overload, stress, and a narrow definition of success.
Challenge Success Research Associate Paul Franz wrote a thoughtful reaction to this news that can be used to talk with students and families in your community. Here are a few key takeaways:
- Higher education does serve as a way for students to improve their lots in life, but the name of the school a student attends—or its admit rate—does not make the difference.
- What you do in college matters more than where you go to college.
- We need to address the current "cheat or be cheated mentality" and growing crisis of students not getting enough sleep, suffering from physical and mental health problems, of using drugs to self-medicate, or staying up too late to study or finish their homework.
- We can do better for our students. If our definition of success costs us the health, well-being, engagement, and emotional development of our children, or our own personal ethics, we should reconsider that definition.
Here’s to a definition of success—and of a full, meaningful life—that holds our own personal ethics as central to the project, rather than an obstacle to it!
Wishing you all weekends full of community, connection, ethical decision making, and good health, my friends.
Warmly,
Dan
