Hey...
December 3, 2003

Here are the notes (minutes?) of our meeting this past Wednesday. Thanks to all of you for your openness and your willingness to discuss. We have a meeting on Dec 16 with the whole Foundational Documents committee, and as a small group, we will meet again in January.

Some of our initial reactions to the Grad at Grad:
  • It�s too wordy. It needs a bit more editing and consolidating some of the language.
  • The document is intended as an aid for �self-study�. In other words, it seems to be a type of communal examen.
  • The ideals listed in the document are �life ideals� versus a statement about the �product� the SLUH machine is meant to churn out.
  • We need to try to incorporate this document more into the life of the school. How to do this? (prayer services, freshman theology, etc.)
  • Under the section �Loving�, when the document talks about becoming aware of our prejudices, perhaps we should add �sexual orientation� and �gender� to the list of things on which not to be discriminated.
  • Despite the opposition that such a change might stir up, this document is meant to be challenging. The growth proposed by the document could never NOT be painful.
  • Under �Skills and Attitudes�, do we have structures in place to support the kids who have an exceptionally hard time with the work load?
  • Perhaps this document should be (seriously) used whenever we as a school discuss our 7 period day, student work load, etc. Are we really exercising cura personalis?
  • If we use this document as a means of self study or an examination of consciousness, the question we face is, �Are we even free enough to begin a communal self-examination?�
  • The document is fine, but we�re the problem! We get so attached to the way we�ve always done things that we really aren�t free enough to let this document inform our way of proceeding.
  • Are we turning out students with large amounts of knowledge, or critical thinkers??

At this point, we are anticipating 3 more meetings beginning in January. There are three tasks ahead of us...
  1. Spend some time as a group going through the document editing it and cleaning it up, making it less wordy.
  2. Take a meeting to discuss the �signs of the times�, in other words, asking ourselves, �What is the world like in which our students live?� Does the Grad at Grad still apply to that world or has the world changed since the document was first written? (Look at the JSEA stuff in the binder Matt Sciuto gave us... there is a great reflection on the world and society).
  3. Take a meeting to brainstorm some ideas for how this document can be implemented. Perhaps bring parents and/or students into the process.
The only other thing we talked about doing was writing up a formal proposal to add the words �sexual orientation� and �gender� to the LOVING section of the document. Perhaps we can do this when we meet to discuss #1 above.

Thanks again, y�all!

Brian Christopher, SJ
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