Bubble Wrap Academy

At the Institute for New Heads this summer, many of the presentations involved some elements of cautionary tales about lawsuits borne of students getting injured: the monkey bars were too this or that, these policies were too loosey-goosey, etc. It became a bit of a running joke, to the point that my cohort group wrote a modest proposal in which we would band together to form a new school, Bubble Wrap Academy. Imagine the hushed voice-over:

At Bubble Wrap Academy, risk mitigation is our highest educational priority. Not only do we not allow horseplay or running in the halls, we don’t allow any movement whatsoever. When students enter the school, they are literally bubble-wrapped, head to toe, and then laid gently on the floor in a darkened room. Rather than go from class to class—just imagine the dangers of the hallways—teachers will come to them, whispering their lessons in the ears of the students. One blink for “I Got It!”, two for “Can You Go Over That Again?”

Obviously, there is a level at which “mitigating risk” is completely reasonable. We don’t want students getting needlessly hurt or attempting things for which they’re patently unready. However, we learn best through experience, and we experience best by trying new things—and that means taking risks.

To this end, we’ve gone straight to our thoughtful faculty and asked three of them to talk about the ways they encourage risk-taking, how they facilitate it, and what it means for students. I hope you will take the time to listen to each of their podcast segments. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser to whet your appetite.

How does risk-taking show up at Harley?

Check out our three-part podcast series.

See you soon!

Larry