ASM Director Mr. Wayne Rutherford gave a truly inspiring speech this yesterday to the delegates of the ECOSOC Committee, sharing his thoughts on a topic they will be debating tomorrow: providing quality education in a time of physical distancing. Mr. Rutherford has been working tirelessly towards this very goal throughout the past year, in a time in which the learning environment drastically changed at ASM and all around the globe.
Mr. Rutherford by Aidyn Despiau-Vazquez
Some key takeaways from his speech included the idea of upkeeping communication and interaction among students and teachers, but most importantly, making sure that a school, whether it's online or in person, remains a safe space for the entire community.
After his speech, delegates were given the opportunity to ask their own questions to the director, and one student took the opportunity, not to ask a question, but to give her thanks to Mr. Rutherford. Bahar Hassantash is new to ASM this year, and despite being in a new country, surrounded by people she didn’t know, she found that the ASM community had been welcoming and supportive throughout her transition. Though Bahar has been studying online, just like all other upper school students at ASM, she has not lost that sense of belonging and comfort that she had experienced the first few months of in person school at ASM, and Mr. Rutherford as well as the entire ASM staff and administration, are to thank for that.
Q: What is ASM doing to ensure that new students are comfortable within the school’s environment?
A: Mr. Rutherford was quick to recognize the interviewers sensitivity towards new students who might feel disconnected from their peers due to the restrictions enforced upon them. He observes that one of the greatest challenges was the assigned seating at lunch, which ignited contrasting reactions within parents, but similar ones within students who believed that it was an opportunity for new students to “meet new people” and start “making conversations.” Mr. Rutherford concluded the anecdote by stating that “over the course of ten months, if this is what has to happen, you are going to have relationships with a whole new group of students.”. ASM provides new students with excellent integrated programs like the student ambassadors, the housing systems in the HS, whose virtual success allowed for the discovery of internet features which can be used in the future. This allowed the community “to expand time, and get people feeling connected with new students and communities earlier.”
Q: How was the ASM community’s approach towards virtual education?
A: “Different individuals have had different experiences. We’ve tried to be sensitive to the different situations people live in.” This was stated by Mr. Rutherford initially, who followed by embracing the circumstances experienced by new single teachers, for which “school, and their classes, and their kids, became the primary lifeline and that was really hard. As much as we tried to do things, like having virtual staff meetings, I think it was very very difficult to compensate for the lost social connection.” Mr. Rutherford mentioned that many students and teachers lived through the pandemic in significantly different ways. In terms of teaching he mentioned that “teachers were great and extremely flexible to find things that would work.” Of course, throughout the pandemic, the faculty took through measures to address how teachers and students were feeling, although he stated “the personal social emotional side would have been something that we could pay attention to sooner, if we had to do this again.”
Q: How will the educational system develop or change in the future due to the pandemic?
A: “It's tough to make generalizations given how different the educational experience for kids in different countries, different neighborhoods of the same city are, in terms of funding, Wi-Fi and access to devices. It’s been one of the largest revealed inequalities, that would even allow kids to engage in online learning. I think and hope that there will be continued efforts to ensure that that playing field is levelled and the kids have access to technology that will keep them learning. Schools have been called upon to think more about social emotional learning of students, their welfare, and how important the social aspect of school is, the connectivity you could make in school.” Mr. Rutherford then expresses his interest in observing the influence of ‘hyper-scheduling’ in the students’ life throughout the pandemic.
Q: What are the lessons you hope the delegates will learn from this conference?
A: Mr. Rutherford mentioned that there are several lessons that are to be learned from debating and MUN in general. Some of the ones he mentioned are “leadership, communication skills and the confidence you come out of this with”, which are all really important lessons he deems to be crucial for success later on in life. As a closing statement, he told us that he hope that we all “come out of this empowered, feeling capable and successful”, knowing that we can make the things that we “cherished in a different form”, still happen in a new one.
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