Environment (Physical and Intellectual) Informing Culture

For our leadership class this week we read a selection from Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. The selection that we read had to do with circumstance and environment impacting behavior. Gladwell used the story of the renovation of the New York City Subway system as an example. Basically, when it is clean and free of graffiti, and people aren't skipping fairs, crime goes down. Gladwell points to research that suggests that despite our sense that personality, or even an individual's lived life experiences-- how they were raised-- is central in determining how people act, that environment and circumstance trumps all. He goes so far as to write:

"A child is better off in a good neighborhood and a troubled family than he or she is in a troubled neighborhood with a good family." p. 167-168

As a parent, this is both terrifying and a little heartening. It is a notion that I have heard before from proponents of boarding schools. Surround your kids with amazing people in a great environment, and the children will thrive. It makes sense that if important values are truly lived in the community, they will impact the behavior of people. This reminds me of seeing a headmaster stop and pick up gum wrappers walking across campus. What an important message that type of behavior sends to members of the community, particularly the students.

I am wondering how can this insight be applied to the intellectual environment in a school. We also read a selection from Shaping School Culture by Deal and Peterson. They offered an examination of the power of ritual, ceremony and symbolism in school culture. They explored the notion of "living logos"-- leaders who represent values or meaning by their actions in their work. "The symbolism of intellectual engagement" manifests itself as leaders who read and engage with the research in their field, philosophy, or education in general, and then share their thinking. Doesn't this serve a similar function to painting subway trains and picking up trash on campus? If school leaders foster an environment of continual learning by modeling that themselves, they create a what Gladwell might call a "circumstance" of intellectual engagement. It seems plausible that then this would have a positive impact on student learning.

(Photo Credit: Me! With my groovy new machine. Columbia Campus, a clean, nice place to learn.)