Why do we educate? My vision for education, especially during these formative years is to provide an opportunity for our young students’ brains to be developed in full range. All their synapses and neurons are constantly connecting because of the enriched curriculum at Soundview School, including the development of social and emotional intelligences.

As the world is becoming more complex and competitive, it is crucial for our children to develop solid transdisciplinary academic skills that go beyond mechanical and traditional academic skills.

What skill sets should we teach so that our students feel confident to be successful when they enter the workplace in ten or fifteen years from now?

The world is already complex. It is drastically and constantly changing. We must respond to these changes in our education to prepare our students for tomorrow.

Through Soundview’s International Baccalaureate curriculum, Positive Discipline model, and our extensive arts program, our students are prepared to think critically, reflect thoughtfully, act responsibly and express creatively.

We invite you to come and visit our beautiful campus. There is no better way to learn about our internationally renowned academic program that regularly incorporates fine arts, music, drama and Singapore Math. We encourage you to make an appointment for a tour and to bring us your questions.

Inae Piercy
Founder and Head of School


February 2010 Letter from Mrs. Piercy

Dear parents,

I hope you had a chance to enjoy these beautiful days with your family during the break. The following letter is my reflection from our peace and conflict workshop. I also attached the final resolution that the students delivered to President Obama and Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton.

During February 4th and 5th, forty-six middle school students from Hyla, Evergreen and Soundview School spent two full days participating in an “Intellectual Outward Bound” exercise focused on the complexities of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. They learned that it’s not about winning but compromising, and that negotiation takes time and tenacity to understand another’s point of view… all of which can be very frustrating work.

In the beginning of the workshop, Mr. Carl Hobert, the founder and executive director of Axis of Hope, asked the students what party they sided with. He then proceeded to assign students to groups based on their answers, placing them on a side that opposed what they originally claimed to have favored.

The students, who became the representatives of the five groups involved in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as well as the Quartet (US/EC/Russia/UN), along with two neutral mediators, engaged in a peace negotiation process through role-play. The groups were the Progressives, Moderate Palestinians, Arab Extremists, Israeli Right Wing Supporters, Moderate Israelis, the United States/Quartet and Mediators. The students were given instructions for their roles. They watched a documentary on the Middle East Peace Talks at Camp David which took place on July 25, 2000 between Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat, hosted by President Clinton. As they watched the documentary, the students were challenged to pay attention to body language, vocabulary, and other important issues.

Afterwards, the groups two by two got together and began negotiating the three important issues: Security, Education and Healthcare in Jerusalem. They also talked about sovereignty vs. custodianship over Jerusalem.  The groups were given 20 minutes during each negotiation round to come up with a resolution for the three issues. At the conclusion of each negotiation, each group shared their solutions.

In the early stages of their negotiations, students were primarily interested in talking about their own situations and needs, ignoring the opposing positions and failing to focus on the goal of a common resolution. They argued a lot to win their point of views, and then realized that they could not come up with any resolutions this way. When the time was up, there was very little to show. After the third round of negotiations and after they watched more of the documentary and learned about all sides of the story, they started to listen to each other.

On the second day, the students were exposed to the human side of the conflict. Stories were told by similarly aged Palestinians as to why they became suicide bombers. Students started to understand the deeply rooted conflicts and the eye-for-an-eye mentality of extremists. Lots of innocent people were killing and being killed. Our students began to realize how frustrating and complex these issues were. The negotiations became more intense. Some of the students were very passionate for what they believed in.

To further complicate matters, every so often there were news flashes from different sources read to them stating that elementary schools were bombed by Israelis and many people were dead, or that Palestinian suicide bombers killed many Israelis, etc.  

After two long days of intense learning and negotiations without any breaks, the students finally delivered a thoughtful resolution.

Middle school-aged students are very capable of thinking deeply and understanding complex and difficult issues, if adults are willing to guide them and challenge them. I was worried that they might lose interest because they were not given any breaks, had to work through lunch, and the subject matter was so intense. This adult worry stems from not trusting our students’ potential. The tasks were difficult, complex and frustrating. Students were tired but they never gave up or lost interest. We always have to remember that too much coddling of our youth might not be the way to help them develop their maximum intellectual and emotional capacity and disciplined mind. Building tenacity, perseverance and character takes intentional discipline. 

The workshop leader, Mr. Carl Hobert, was an excellent teacher and facilitator; however, the students were genuinely interested in solving complex and messy problems. This is where these middle school students thrived. At this critical age, they are beginning to understand meta-cognition and the abstract. They are emotionally intense and they want to tackle intellectually and emotionally intense subjects that connect to real life issues. Try to remember your middle school years. There are so many problems in middle schools around the country. You wonder why.

They have learned many important life skills during this two full day workshop that they can take with them for the rest of their lives. They learned that when you negotiate, you should know everything about the other side and that it may take many days and hours before you reach any resolutions. You have to listen well and watch for body language. You learn to put yourself into other people’s shoes. Mr. Hobert challenged the students to think, pay attention to details and analyze the situation throughout the workshop.

We are very happy to announce that Mr. Hobert has accepted our invitation to come back to Soundview to lead another workshop next year. We are very excited for the opportunity for our students to continue to learn more about peace negotiation and connect with the real world and its ongoing, complex problems. Our students will tackle the issues of Rwanda next year.

This kind of education is multi-layered learning that is relevant and real to our students. Soundview students are very fortunate to receive extremely enriched education that lays a solid foundation for life. On top of developing academic skills, all throughout the early childhood and elementary years, we teach them to think, reflect and apply their knowledge. Our middle school students were able to sustain and engage throughout this intense intellectual exercise because they were trained and disciplined all along to think critically and deeply through their elementary years.

As you are deciding your children’s education, please consider all these aspects of discipline. Soundview’s education is engineered through preschool to 8th grade with the final outcome in mind. Interrupting this sequential and spiral curriculum framework through your children’s educational journey is not helpful for their long term development.

Our children are growing up in a completely different world and their future is going to be very different than the way we grew up. The demands of skill sets vary a great deal more than the skills that used to be valued. It is our job as adults to see the future and prepare our students with the right tools.

If you would like to discuss your children’s education with me personally, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. Our children grow very fast and this is such a critical time for their development that will affect them throughout their lives.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your children’s educational journey. 

Sincerely,

Inae Piercy