Our fifth graders are finalizing the libretto for their mini-operatic production, conducted through Saint David's year-long collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. The story is a hero's journey, set on Mount Olympus, that ultimately celebrates peace and brotherhood over war. Recently, as a group of our boys worked in the "Writer's Room" with professionals Michael Littig and Tom Cabannis, they were also learning the importance of collaboration, particularly of respecting each other's differing ideas.
This is one way to build empathy.
While sympathy involves a common feeling between people, empathy requires the capacity to stand in an other's shoes, to perceive the world from unfamiliar, sometimes uncomfortable perspectives. It is easy to respect those who think, believe, and value the same things we do. An empathetic person is able to respect those who think, believe, and value something different.
We recognize that it is vital for our boys to develop empathy, partly because we live in an interconnected world that necessitates interaction with all peoples, but more importantly because it is at the essence of what it means to be a good man. At Saint David's, empathy is implicit in the first sentence of the school's mission, with its call for "deliberate moral introspection."
We can help cultivate empathy in many ways: in faculty and staff modeling it in their words and actions, through the many experiences the boys have outside of the classroom to interact with others in a variety of environments, in opportunities for role playing scenarios, in our service projects, and of course, through the study of literature and participation in the performing arts.
The Writer's Workshop boys were doing it, each boy feeling valued and validated by the open-minded, positive "yes, and" and "what about?" feedback of their peers.
