On Fit and Fitness at The Galloway School

What comes to mind when one considers the word “fit?” To fit in; a good fit guarantees comfort (If the shoe fits, wear it.); one size fits all; physical and mental fitness; survival of the fittest.

Charles Darwin is often quoted as follows: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.” Although these exact words never appear in Darwin’s writing, we think we know what he means; hence, the resonance and durability of this misquote.

How does “the Galloway Way” relate to Darwinian (or any other rendition of) fitness? John Elliott Galloway often spoke about the inextricability of mind, body, and spirit; about how a fit body augments clarity of thought, and how a spiritual nature completes a whole person. Does the putative Darwinian interpretation of fitness – i.e., adaptability to change – relate to the philosophy of Mr. Galloway and of The Galloway School? Is the school, itself, fit?

A school, such as The Galloway School, that allows individual teachers and individual students to decide on important components of their own teaching or learning develops maximum – optimal – adaptability. We who teach at Galloway are free to interpret our specific curricula as we choose (within a broad framework of Georgia and national standards); we can focus on what we are most passionate about and what we know best; we can make our teaching topical and relevant; we can seize the teachable moment. Students at Galloway have considerable freedom in the way they engage with their own educational process. They may choose many of the courses they take or subjects they study (although more choices exist for seniors than for five year-olds). Upper Learning students may, in effect, select a major – humanities, arts, math-science, technology – and pursue it to breadths and depths unavailable at less progressive schools. Or they may sample from the full array of courses of study and participate, as well, in drama, sports, music and visual arts, or student leadership and governance. Students graduate from Galloway with diverse cognitive and social skill sets along with a capacity for handling choice and change in practiced, systematic, and growth-promoting ways. One of the most important skills Galloway graduates possess is a well-developed capacity for working in social groups. Group work and group dynamics are very important at Galloway.

Over its forty year history, The Galloway School has evolved; adapted to changes in educational practice and in society at large. Galloway is certainly surviving – even thriving – in a competitive private school environment. As such, Galloway is a fit school that survives without compromising its core culture.

“Fit” from another perspective suggests congruence with sociocultural mores. The Galloway School is a diverse community that is tolerant of – even celebratory of – a wide range of co-cultures, types, and individual adaptive patterns. Because of its complex ecology, Galloway provides niches into which most individual students can comfortably fit, for fit implies comfort. Comfort and fit are both reciprocal and dynamic (in the analogy of the shoe: a shoe that fits is comfortable and becomes more so with the passage of time; yet, as the well-fitting shoe changes – fits better and better – it alters the foot in subtle ways; this is a feedback loop*).

A student new to Galloway undergoes a period of adaptation to the culture of the school. To be even marginally successful, he or she must quickly learn the approaches, habits, and quirks of seven or eight adults (teachers, principals, advisors, counselors) and enter into a reciprocal relationship (i.e., craft a fit) with those individuals. Simultaneously, the new student must cast about for a cadre of friends with whom he or she can fit in. To the adolescent, the fitting in with peers is more immediately important than fitting in with the academic culture, hence, there is often a lag phase in the scholarly performance for students new to the Galloway community. Students find their new friends within (and between) all the micro-cultures that exist in a school: cultures that relate to music tastes and/or music performance skills; athletic interests and skills; broad academic content interests (“I’m not a math person.” “I’m into drama.” “I want to go to Georgia Tech.” “Art is my thing.” “I am a reader.”); and a variety of other co-cultural domains such as pop culture(s), sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, ethnicity. Personality (introversion versus extraversion; openness; neuroticism; risk-taking; temperament and energy level) also affects and predicts the niche(s) a student comes to occupy at The Galloway School.

The Galloway School is a rich, ecologically complex, synergistic environment in which children and young adults can become who they are. It is a place where all of the people that comprise its community can find a place to relate, to learn, to grow and adapt.

* Extremely tangential footnote (to a blog post filled with tangents): students at The Galloway School often report that the only school rules are “behave yourself, try… and wear shoes.”