Golf Drives, the Human Drive, and MacLane Poetry

A number of years ago, Jeff Sluman, already on the professional golf tour for seven or eight years, won the Tucson Classic Golf Tournament. The win was barely mentioned in the newspapers because Sluman was not yet well known and the Tucson Tournament was over-shadowed by other competitions.

Most impressive to me, however, is that Sluman won after shooting the highest score of any of the competing pros on the opening day of the competition. That is, he finished the first of four days in dead last position. After that inauspicious beginning, Sluman triumphed, incredibly, by stringing together three strong days of lower scores than anyone else.

It would've been understandable if, after play​ing​ badly the first day, ​this​ relatively win​less​ professional had given up. But he did​ not​. ​At the time I knew​ nothing of his personality​ ​but I applauded​ his diligence and optimism. I​n this​ age of multi-million-dollar athlete slam-​dunking​ in each others​'​ faces, Sl​uman's​ example of quiet, businesslike tenacity represents a role model to make parents and teachers cry with happiness.

Aldou​​s Huxley is quoted as saying, ​"P​erhaps the greatest result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the things you have to do when they ought to be done whether you like it or not." Huxley's sentiment reminds us that although joy, inspiration, and shared happiness ​are​ the fruits of good education, none of these c​an​ be cultivated without a good dose of old-fashion​ed​ hard work.

Today's children are confronted with cultural messages that teach all too frequently th​at​ pleasure is found in the immediate, and so if we are to help our young people avoid an ethic of shallow and ephemeral happiness, we must help students discipline themselves to postpone gratification. Often the greatest boost ​to​ self-confidence and the greatest self development in a young person's life​ are when a​ student conf​ronts​ a challenge she or he thought overwhelming and discovers that she or he is, after all, able to achieve more than anticipated.

In the coming days, we will see those lessons in action as Country School students participate in the 60th Anniversary MacLane Poetry Recitation, our school's oldest tradition. As we do each year, we will hear from students who have chosen astoundingly ambitious poems — some that are hard to remember and some that are hard to understand — and they will astonish us with the sophistication of their delivery and their commitment to the poet's words.

At the same time, we will hear from children who are not fond of public speaking and who don't enjoy the limelight, and yet they, too, will commit to their poem, going beyond what we — and even they — thought possible.

And then there will inevitably be a Sluman-type scenario, one of those events that really moves a teacher. The child who, in 1st Grade, was terrified to stand up on stage and recite her poem in front of an audience, is now a 5th Grader. She rises to her feet in front of the crowd, opens her mouth to recite, and we see that she has discovered her voice.

In anticipation of the diligence and tenacity that I know we will see in the coming days, I share this video, created by a Country School parent a few years back. It is playful, but its message is serious and worth celebrating.

A second video, created by a reporter from The New London Day a few years ago, also has some important messages. Listen for Alexandra near the end of the video, when she explains why she selected the poem she did. By Louise Driscoll, it is called Hold Fast to Your Dreams.

Huxley and Sluman remind us — as, in fact, do our children — that as parents and teachers, perhaps the most significant and the most crucial challenge we face is fostering ​in​ young people an appreciation for the quiet rewards found​ in​ diligence, tenacity, and commitment. We also hope, as Sluman most certainly must have, that they have fun!