This past Friday I had the honor of giving the keynote presentation for this year's National Honor Society inductees at my alma mater at St. John's Prep in Collegeville, Minnesota. Because the four tenets of NHS are scholarship, service, leadership and character, I chose to incorporate elements of 2004 book, Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons of Lewis & Clark's Daring Westward Adventure, into my remarks.
One theme I emphasized was how multi-disciplinary (in an academic sense) Lewis and Clark were before venturing out into the unknown. Among other things, they studied botany, medicine, celestial navigation, and logistics. They also interviewed a great many other pioneers and explorers about their experiences on the then western edge of America. In short, Lewis & Clark were true "Renaissance men."
After my remarks, I and the entire student body were listening to a wonderful piece by the school orchestra when suddenly the performance was rudely interupted by a classroom bell. It struck me at that moment that if schools want their students to think and act in a multi-disciplinary — or better yet interdisciplinary — manner, than they need to get rid of bells.
Bells may have been fine in the 19th and 20th century but in today's complex and constantly changing world they set up unnecessary barriers and impose a false sense of structure upon how the world really works. Kids — and adults — need to see the connections between things and how different fields of study can seamlessly blend into and compliment one another.
Schools won't be able to do this with bells ringing every 45 minutes. It's time we un-ring and unlearn the bell.
