Comptroller Peter Franchot

Gunston was visited today by our state Comptroller, Mr. Peter Franchot, who spoke with our students about the duties of the comptroller's office, the importance of financial literacy, and his own background and entry into politics.  He also provided us a proclamation that honored our 100-years of existence.  Here are some excerpts from my introduction of him:

"Sixteen billion dollars.  This is how much Maryland collects each year in state and local tax revenue, and it is the amount of money that our speaker today oversees: sixteen billion dollars. The role of Comptroller is one of the four statewide elected offices in Maryland, the other three being Governor/Lt. Governor, U.S. Senator, and Attorney General, so it is one of the most important positions in our state.  

In addition to overseeing the collection of taxes, auditing taxpayers for compliance, handling delinquent tax collection, and enforcing license and unclaimed property laws, the Comptroller also oversees the information technology services that are critical to the daily operation of most state agencies. Acting as Maryland's chief accountant, the Comptroller pays the state's bills, maintains its books, prepares financial reports, and pays state employees.  It is a an enormous job of extraordinary complexity and responsibility.

Our Speaker today, Mr. Peter Franchot, was elected Maryland's 33rd Comptroller in 2006.  Throughout his career, he has been a strong advocate for education, health care, transportation and environmental protection initiatives.  As a member of the powerful Board of Public Works and Vice-Chair of the State Retirement and Pension System of Maryland, Franchot has worked tirelessly to keep Maryland competitive in the knowledge-based economy, create a climate of economic equality and opportunity, and protect Maryland's parks, waterways and open spaces.

As a generation, you are living through the worst financial crisis in nearly eighty years, and there is little indication that the crisis will be resolved quickly.  A few days ago, in honor of 40 years of its Op-Ed page, the New York Times published some of the most important editorials written over the past four decades.  In an editorial from last year written by the famous financial journalist Michael Lewis, he wrote:

Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We’ve been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing. 

In the editorial, Lewis goes on to explain the full extent of the Bernard Madoff scandal, which many of you know was the Ponzi scheme that robbed thousands of people of their life savings, and which has served as the symbol of the financial recklessness which precipitated this scandal.  About that scandal, Lewis writes:

The Madoff scandal echoes a deeper absence inside our financial system, which has been undermined not merely by bad behavior but by the lack of checks and balances to discourage it. “Greed” doesn’t cut it as a satisfying explanation for the current financial crisis. Greed was necessary but insufficient; in any case, we are as likely to eliminate greed from our national character as we are lust and envy.

Many of you in this audience today will someday enter the noble calling of public service, where you will be responsible for maintaining these checks and balances.  Now more than ever, we need public servants who will be responsible and ethical stewards of the public welfare, especially our financial welfare.  Today we have the honor of welcoming one such public servant: Mr. Peter Franchot."

September Community Letter

Dear Gunston Community:

To read the September Community Letter, please click on this link: community letter.

Regards,

John

Off the bookshelf: "NurtureShock" by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Don't ever tell your kids that they're smart.  Certain types of praise can be damaging.  Modern young people sleep almost an hour less than their peers did thirty years ago, and their IQ's are suffering for it.  96% of high school students lie to their parents, regularly.  Trying to make your child "colorblind" can actually make them less racially tolerant.  Watching Sesame Street can make a child more aggressive than if they watched Power Rangers.

Above are some of the conclusions in "NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children", an engaging work of non-fiction that seeks to summarize some of the counter-intuitive research on child-rearing that has emerged from the fields of psychology, sociology, and anthropology.  I was particularly struck by the chapter on praise and labelling students with the tag of "smart".  In the book, they show compelling examples of how this label can create a psychologically crippling response when the child is faced with challenges that seem initially to be beyond their capacities.  The authors' conclusion is that parents should focus their praise much more on effort and determination, and that this praise should be specific to processes rather than general.  Thus, instead of saying "You played a great game," a child is more likely to have positive efforts reinforced by a comment like: "I like the way you shared the ball, and played aggressively on defense."

Overall, it was a fascinating and interesting read, and I recommend it.

An update on our rowing program

This year we have nearly thirty students on our rowing team, and this week we secured the services of two additional crew coaches.  The simple result is that, instead of an intermittent rotation, every student can now spend time on the water every day, and I have attached the letter explaining the changes:  

The Gunston Faculty: Episode I

Early Saturday morning on my way to the gym, I stopped in the front of the Academic Building to check on the progress of the new water well that is being drilled on our campus.  Who did I find there?  Mr. Everdell.  As the drill progressed into ever-deeper layers of earth, Mr. Everdell was gleefully collecting samples to share with his science classes on Monday.

Also, congratulations to the Gunston girls soccer team for their big 1-0 win against Salisbury School on Friday.  With less than five minutes to play, Senior Laura Wood juked the defender and bent a twelve yarder to the high left corner of the net.

Gunston and Technology: A New Frontier

During the final two days of faculty meetings, the entire Gunston faculty worked with an educational technology consultant who began the process of training us to use our new Macintosh computers.  In this most recent technological upgrade, Macs have been installed in each teacher's classroom, as well as in our student computer lab.  We have completed a major upgrade of our technology infrastructure, and the next few months will see the deployment of a laptop cart for classroom use, additional SmartBoards, and the expansion of the school's wireless capacity.

It's important to note that as Gunston begins to significantly enhance its technological capacity, we will not be pursuing technology simply for its own sake, but rather as a tool to powerfully enhance the learning process.  Several weeks ago, I heard an interview on NPR's program Fresh Air with Matt Richtel, who covers technology and telecommunications for the New York Times, and he used a powerful metaphor to describe the role of technology in our lives:

"Just as food nourishes us and we need it for life, so too — in the 21st century and the modern age — we need technology. You cannot survive without the communication tools; the productivity tools are essential," he says. "And yet, food has pros and cons to it. We know that some food is Twinkies and some food is Brussels sprouts. And we know that if we overeat, it causes problems. Similarly, after 20 years of glorifying technology as if all computers were good and all use of it was good, science is beginning to embrace the idea that some technology is Twinkies and some technology is Brussels sprouts."

I won't be using the "sprouts" image too often with our students, but we will be moving ahead in a steady and thoughtful manner as we seek to incorporate some of the extraordinary tools, programs, and solutions that significantly enhance the learning experience, making it much more interactive and multi-modal.  One of my favorite programs is called "Inspiration", a mind-mapping and outlining program that allows the user to develop ideas in a non-linear fashion, and to convert them into clear and concise arguments.

The school year is upon us!

Although school has not officially started, Tuesday afternoon felt like the first "real" day of the school year.  The campus was buzzing with students and parents in the afternoon as our boys' soccer team and girls field hockey teams took on Holly Grove in the opening game of the year.  The athletic fields looked great, but the day was hot and steamy--to the point where the referees made the teams take mandatory water breaks--and both teams fought hard against tough opponents.

What made the afternoon truly special, however, was the "tailgate" party after the games held on the lawn next to the Middleton building, organized by our families.  Our ravenous student-athletes made quick work of the subs, drinks, and desserts, and it was wonderful to see both students and parents began the process of getting reconnected after this particularly hot summer.