Letter from the Head of School

"Discernment: keenness of insight and judgment"

During a portion of spring break, I had the privilege of spending several days in a remote place on the Gulf Coast where there are wide open spaces, beautiful beaches, emerald green water, and abundant wildlife. It's a quiet place, removed from our fast-paced, information-filled, technology-driven world—a place where one can avoid being ambushed by the busyness of the day-to-day. And as I spent that time in a place with no fax machine, no computer, no e-mail, no television with several hundred channels, no big daily newspapers, I became aware of how relieved I felt to be away for a time from the pressure that such a constant flood of information can create.

Now, I'm certainly not advocating turning back the clock on progress, for there are plenty of advantages to our modern technological wonders, and I'm glad to have all those resources at my disposal. Having some quiet and reflective time, though, enables one to realize more fully that dealing with such huge amounts of information creates a need for us all, young people and adults alike, to be more discerning human beings—more careful about our interpretation of things, more cautious about what we are willing to believe. We must be willing to search for the meaning and relevance behind all the information at our command and not simply be clobbered by the information itself.

In my 32 years of schoolwork, I have come to believe that discernment is one of the most important skills we can teach young people today. What defines a discerning person? I think a discerning person will notice the details of things; she will see the fine details that can make huge differences, like a slight shift in someone's tone of voice, or a gesture, a gladness in the eyes, a shift of emphasis, a change of color in the sky. She knows that the world sometimes can turn on molehills and that tempests can blow in teapots. She also knows the opposite can be true.

An insightful person will notice the difference between things. He sees the difference, for instance, between what is real and just talk; between what is important and what is trivial; between what needs doing now and what can wait for another day; between what is truthful and honest, and what is disingenuous or even blatantly dishonest.

A discriminating person will see the connections between things as well. She notices the links between what happened last week and what's happening today; she sees that someone's odd behavior today may somehow be connected to that nasty thing someone said or did to her yesterday. She understands that her choices of a year ago are connected to the responsibility for those choices today.

A person of judgment will also begin to see things that go on beneath the surfaces: he will see hints of how a person is truly feeling behind the façade of a smile; he can tell you what a subtle movie is really about without having to read the reviews; he knows when a book is worth reading, even if it's not a best seller.
As Mercersburg continues a new phase of strategic planning, such discernment will be critically important to the creation and execution of that plan. We will need to focus on what needs to be done now at our school and what can wait until another time. We will need to weigh carefully the value of certain initiatives over others as we assess our available resources and prioritize the abundant good ideas for strengthening this already great school. And we will need to be ever vigilant that the goals and objectives that are decided upon reinforce and underpin the mission of the school. I feel sure that Mercersburg will respond appropriately to this challenge and that the final strategic plan will be characterized by great discernment; such has been the history of this good place.

Douglas Hale