“In Pursuit of Truths” from The Exeter Bulletin, Fall 2009

The fall Bulletin is online

“What is Harkness?”
Few questions are tossed around more often at Exeter, but a single definitive method never surfaces among the answers. Common ideas about great truths, and about teaching, have been shattered in the years since Edward Harkness first expressed his hope that “each student would feel encouraged to speak up.” Since then, the role of the individual student perspective has been significantly elevated in the humanities classroom—some would say placed at the center. There is no fixed body of knowledge that must be or even can be conveyed, and few of our short lists of essential texts would match up. The ideas of “lux” and “veritas” often seem like quaint relics, sometimes even dangerous ones.

Read the full article by Kathy Brownback, chair of the Religion Department, who explores Harkness in the humanities with several of her colleagues.

Also in this issue…

In his first Opening Assembly speech, Principal Tom Hassan reflects upon the Deed of Gifts’ prerequisites for principal instructor and what teaching students “the great end and real business of living” might mean.

Exeter’s girls varsity crew captures silver at nationals, and one rower brings home gold from the world championships.

In “Table Talk,” Jon Sawyer ’70 discusses his Emmy Award-winning nonprofit, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which brings media coverage to underreported global issues like food insecurity, women and children in crisis, and HIV/AIDS.   

Plus, the Grainger Observatory, Phillips Fellowship Program and Anja S. Greer Conference celebrate milestones and an insider’s look at two of Exeter’s summer programs. See the full list of stories in the fall issue...