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What Makes Harkness Tick This year the faculty has devoted a significant amount of time to an on-going series of conversations about teaching. These conversations began before the start of school and have involved outside speakers and creative activities. Such conversations are especially necessary at Exeter because of our distinctive pedagogy. We teach around the Harkness table and as all who know Exeter know, this method of teaching is as exciting and effective as it is unusual and demanding. We have been doing a good deal of study of our method of instruction at the Academy of late, with the intent of improving our skill as instructors. Last year, for example, a small group of faculty visited classes in every discipline and mapped the interactions that occurred across the Harkness table. Such diagrams are the verbal equivalent of those time-exposures we see of urban scenes where the streets become ribbons of light. The patterns of discussion reveal distinct differences in the various disciplines: a great class in physics may look quite different from a great class in history. Diagramming classroom interactions is but one of the ways we can dissect what happens in a Harkness discussion. This research helps us understand how we might improve as instructors and better explain our methods to those who want to borrow a good idea. And there are many who seek to replicate Harkness teaching in their own schools. Last year, three schools sent teams to the Academy to observe us teach and talk to faculty about how we organize our classes. This summer we will sponsor the first Exeter Humanities Institute, a program dedicated to help teachers from all over the United States develop instructional material for use in discussion-based teaching in their own schools. In this way we hope to share the style of instruction that has flourished at Exeter for the past 70 years and learn from those who have translated these methods into other educational settings. As I have participated in this research and our conversations about teaching this fall, I have been irripressed time and again by the efficiency of Harkness instruction and its power in giving young people useful tools to live and learn in our rapidly changing world. I have also noted that a great deal of the power of our discussions results from the acceptance of our way of teaching and the energy which our students bring to the Harkness table. Not long ago a student who was visiting my home with his dorm for a study break gave me some insight into why this happens. This student's prior school had adopted Harknessstyle teaching in a number of classes, had sent a group to visit Exeter and had even purchased authentic Harkness tables. He told me that he had visited his old school recently, and when I asked him how the Harkness program was going he replied, "They say they're doing Harkness but it isn't really Harkness. The kids don't know that they're in charge of the discussion. They don't care enough. They want the teacher to teach them." An aluninus pointed out to me at a recent alumni event that this was the sense of obligation which accompanies the opportunity of the Harkness table.While Harkness discussions provide the opportunity to wheel freely through a topic and pursue what is important and interesting, they also carry the burden of individual preparation, lest such discussion be meaningless. In addition to the remarkable tradition of "respecting the pupil" through Harkness discussion, Exonians know that freedom is worthless without preparation and commitment to learning. Harkness teaching means that the students must accept great responsibility for their learning, and with that responsibility comes great maturity and insight.
— Tyler C. Tingley '48, '64 (Hon.), P'99 |
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