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Gordon Hight ’94
Upper School Director
In the Upper School, wisdom, service and honor are visible in the programs in which our students take part and in the products that result from their active participation in these programs. When young men and women leave the Upper School and, as a result, leave Darlington, it is our hope that they depart with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of themselves and the world in which they live. In light of these goals, the programs in place in the Upper School seek especially to cultivate the independent learning skills of each of our students, to encourage the use of these skills in the sorts of collaborative settings that the “real world” will present, and finally to place every student’s thoughts and actions in the context of his ethical and moral responsibilities to the world.
Our teachers are dedicated to the child-centered classroom, and they share in the vital mission of providing the best experience for every student who enters their classes. “Wisdom more than Knowledge” takes shape in the Upper School most particularly in our school’s Learning Center, where learning specialists, teachers and students partner to strengthen strengths and weaknesses using the dynamic template of the Schools Attuned philosophies and approaches. Whether they are teaming to create dynamic projects on the digestive or excretory systems, partnering with each other to make Calculus come alive, or simply marveling at the literary talents of Joyce or Eliot, students in the Upper School at Darlington work together to understand the wonders of the world of knowledge around them and to share that understanding across a variety of contexts and communities.
Finally, and most importantly, we place all of this individuality and creativity into the vital contexts of moral and ethical citizenship and leadership. If our academic mission is summed up in the part of our motto that says, “Wisdom more than Knowledge,” then our ethical foundation is rooted in both “Service beyond Self” and “Honor above Everything.” A significant charge of the most recent strategic plan is to expand and deepen our in-school and out-of-school community service and community leadership opportunities, and we work actively with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, the Open Door Children’s Home and the Boys & Girls Club to realize this part of our mission every day. In the areas of honor, integrity and personal leadership, students and faculty serve alongside one another on the most significant committees of the school, adjudicating matters of discipline and honor as equal partners. In addition there are student-led chapel services and assemblies, a student-support team for friends in need, and a Chapel Advisory Committee – all groups with significant and authentic voices in the life of the school.
So, what is the Upper School at Darlington all about? The educational gurus among us might answer this question by responding that our Upper School is all about “synthesis” – the combination of individual interests, communal responsibilities and ethical absolutes. Or, perhaps, they would say that we are all about “balance” – the delicate equipoise of head, heart and soul or of intellect, passion and faith. If, however, you were to ask Upper School students what grades 9-12 at Darlington are all about, they might just say one word: discovery. Students in the Upper School truly do spend four years discovering their intellectual, emotional and moral potential – potential that will serve as the foundation upon which they will build the rest of their lives.
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