NMH Magazine : Winter 2008

Leading Lines

The Heart of the Matter

What drew me to NMH and inspires me in my work as new dean of faculty is an idea that Gary Partenheimer, chair of the religious studies department, shared in a meeting recently: “We believe in educating the whole person, and we talk about education for the head, the hand, and the heart—but let it be the heart that distinguishes people in this place.” Amen to that.

The head In getting to know the school, I’ve made a practice of taking “learning walks” with department chairs. One morning I saw four classes in an hour: Students practiced Spanish vocabulary, solved for X and graphed a function, discussed older people’s sex lives, and parsed a complicated paragraph in a biology textbook.

In these classes I saw teachers connecting with students and academic content in complicated, meaningful ways. I’m reminded of an idea expressed by David Hawkins in a 1974 essay entitled “I, Thou, It,” which argues that a student’s relationship with academic material is deeply mediated by the relationship between student and teacher. In essence, the three form a triangular base for powerful learning.

The hand As a teenager, I painted houses, built docks, and split firewood in the summer. Through this hard physical work, I discovered my own strength and the joy of doing a simple task well. Here at NMH, I see students making the same discoveries.

In September, I took a walk through the raspberry patch with farm director Richard Odman. Two students worked on opposite sides of the rows, picking raspberries for sale and for the dining hall, eating as they went. Other students brushed horses in the barn.

Another afternoon, on a “learning ride” in a golf cart, I visited 15 sports practices with athletics director Tom Pratt. I watched faculty members Susan Kennedy and Laura Christiansen teaching the thirds field hockey team how to dribble the ball in traffic using the flat side of the stick. I saw (and heard!) Jim Vollinger scrimmaging with his JV girls soccer team, crowing with delight at an elegant chip shot and a sweet, fast-crossing pass.

Arriving early mornings in Holbrook Hall, I come across students cleaning the building before the school day begins. They remind me of myself all those summers ago—and they remind me that hard work is a central value in this community.

The heart On one of my first days at NMH, Assistant Head of School Charlie Tierney and I helped Jing Liu, a newly arrived Chinese teacher, move into her campus apartment. When Jing expressed surprise that two administrators would do heavy lifting in hot July weather, I laughed it off—it’s just what we do. Others have shown me similar small kindnesses in my first months here, and I’m grateful to work in a place that cares about relationships as much as performance.

I close with this anecdote because NMH distinctively puts the heart at the core of our education. Simply producing students who can perform at very high levels—students with accomplished heads and hands—is not enough. Indeed, that kind of star performer turns out selfish and unhappy if her heart is not as fully developed as her intellectual and physical gifts. Most important to me is that we distinguish ourselves by inspiring and teaching our students and each other to put head, heart, and hands to work in service of a better world.

Hugh Silbaugh is a former principal of the upper school at Milton Academy and worked at the Putney School as assistant director for nine years. A longtime English teacher, Silbaugh is teaching modern comparative literature at NMH this semester.

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