Associate Head of School

Notes from Wilson Felter 

Walking into a room full of students running a Quaker Meeting for Business is one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve had in my ten years as a Quaker educator. I have always appreciated the manner in which Quakers run meetings: the reflective silence, the expectant waiting for wisdom, the feeling that all viewpoints are invited and heard, and the connection to the outcome when it is arrived through a sense of the meeting. Of course, there are the frustrations as well, such as the time it takes for a decision to be made, the way in which a small group can block momentum, and the sense of impatience that overwhelms you when you realize the group has been talking about an issue for an hour with no perceived progress.

It is enlightening to see how middle school students experience these gratifying and frustrating moments. It is new for them. They are not bogged down by any previous experiences. They make mistakes, learn from them and laugh about them, and so much is revealed about the group in the meeting.

When I arrived at this particular Meeting for Business, the clerk was trying to reflect the sense of the meeting to the group on an issue raised by a group of students. This group wanted to change the school policy regarding early morning drop-off. Some students wanted the option of going indoors everyday, not just on bad weather days, others said the policy worked just fine, and thought changing it would create supervision problems for teachers.

The clerk tried repeatedly to gain a sense of the meeting by stating it to the group and, each time, was thwarted. Finally, the clerk stated, “Does anyone have a problem with our Middle School creating a small committee to work out these problems and report back to the group?” The group fell into one of those unplanned and reflective silences that often occur after a resonating truth echoes through the room. The group agreed, a committee was formed and reported at the following meeting. Eventually, all agreed that no change was necessary.

Like many of our peer Quaker schools, we have created a student government called TORCH (Togetherness, Open-mindedness, Respect, Compassion, and Heart) in which students learn to communicate effectively, make group decisions, experience the value of including divergent perspectives, and begin to understand how to feel the energy, direction, or spirit of a group. Our student leaders are nominated and selected through Quaker practice and they run class meetings and whole school meetings as Meetings for Worship with a Concern for Business. All students learn about terms like sense of the meeting, consensus, continuing revelation, and more.

This clerk learned how to sense the energy of the group and propose a solution with which everyone in the room could unite. There was no prompting by teachers, no handbook from which the student learned the skill, and although this clerk had experienced some training, this decision was largely made on feel. Perhaps, most impressive was the fact that throughout the entire meeting, our clerk recognized that the power existed in the group, not in the clerk, a hard lesson for adult and student leaders alike.

Providing real-life experiences is a key component of a Quaker curriculum. Along with our thematic classroom curriculum, based on the testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality, our student government is designed to give our students a real taste of what it feels like to participate in, and for some, lead a community decision. Along the way, we hope that our students will transfer these important communication skills into their daily lives. As one of co-clerk put it in his 2007 graduation speech, “Greene Street Friends has taught me that all voices should be heard.”