Connections Quarterly Spring 2016 - Environment | Page 26

C AN INDEPENDENT SCHOO L S R E MA I N R E L E VA N T ?

Continued from page 5
Supportive strategies:
6. Support experiential learning, including service-learning and place-based education. This will
facilitate the development of critical competencies.
7. Develop opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Interdisciplinary and systems
thinking will ultimately be required to find solutions to our most complex societal challenges.7
8. Question prevailing assumptions about college admissions and talk to parents and students
about it. What do colleges actually want? Research indicates that schools can be bolder and more
innovative about what and how they teach without compromising their students’ chances of
getting into good colleges. 8
9. Resist the hegemony of sports over other valuable extracurricular experiences, including community and environmental service work, student groups, field trips, independent projects, etc.

Daring to Lead
There is a charter school in Chicago called The Academy for Global Citizenship. The founders
are paving a way because they feel the world depends on it. It is an International Baccalaureate
Primary Years Program school with an emphasis on international education and a commitment
to environmental stewardship that includes green classrooms, curriculum integration, renewable
energy, sustainable operations, and healthy nutrition.9 In September 2015, the National Wildlife
Federation recognized the Academy as among the top ten Eco-Schools in America.10
The only way independent schools will venture beyond campus greening to sustainability in
teaching and learning is when they begin to see that it’s necessary both for their own long-term
survival and for the survival of our species. Among the greatest characteristics of independent
schools is their ability to be counter-cultural, to question mainstream assumptions, and when
necessary, reject them. This essay suggests a counter-cultural path that may be both prescient
and imperative. l

Wynn Calder is co-director of the University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, and is also
director of Sustainable Schools, LLC, where he consults with K-12 schools, colleges and
universities to build environmental literacy and sustainability into strategic planning,
teaching and institutional practice. Wynn has been principal consultant on sustainability
with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) since 2003.

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