Dear Editor,
Aurora-Vesper day should be retired from the Upper School. My purpose in saying so is not to be controversial. Rather it is my observation that the day doesn’t seem to fulfill much purpose and assuredly has costs associated with it.
I’ve heard students describe the day with disparaging remarks. When I compare Aurora-Vesper Day to Spirit Week and Haverford/AIS weekend, Aurora-Vesper Day pales. How strange that we split our community down the middle in a largely arbitrary way and then believe we do this to “bring us together.”
Bringing the campus at large together is a worthy goal, but we can find better ways to do it. Some already exist: Michelle’s Miles, the bonfire before the holidays, the pep rally, and other Spirit week activities.
There are many times when nonacademic or extra-academic activities encroach on the standard academic schedule. Often these are legitimate and unavoidable. They include early dismissal for sports, artistic performances, college visits, field trips for other classes, health seminars, outside speakers, days of service, fire drills, and a miscellany of other reasons. It’s hard to point a finger at one of these since they are each important and a part of the EA experience. Nonetheless, their cumulative effect is to put a crunch on class-time. This creates a duty to examine each of them to make sure they are valuable enough to warrant sacrificing instructional time.
I submit that Aurora-Vesper day fails under that scrutiny. Clearly there will be students who will come to the defense of that day. I admit there will be a few who would prefer any event to being in class. But when I think about how that afternoon is spent, how little is gained, and how much is lost, students’ deprecating descriptions of the event seem charitable. As a teacher I find the timing regrettable too. The interruption to the flow of school comes at the wrong time.
Let’s do away with this day and keep watch for other nonessential or worn-out occasions that cause us to lose class time. Our academic pursuits must rank first.
Sincerely,
Tom Goebeler