Take the Sun Away – Maybe They’ll Notice!

Take the Sun Away – Maybe They’ll Notice!

Last year, immediately after the solar eclipse, I received this email from a headmaster in Vermont. I was stunned by the impact of the experience on his virtual-life-only students: 

I just got back from a school trip. I took my whole middle school to the Canadian border to see the total solar eclipse. (I intended to take the High school too, but we did not have the chaperones.) It was transformative for those students. Students who had hard, Internet baked shells inoculating them against wonder were suddenly converted to the true, good, and beautiful.  

I had a parent come into school the next day saying he cannot believe the transformation his son underwent. The boy came to the eclipse trip wearing a T-shirt that said, “I went outside once but the graphics were pretty lame.” Suddenly, this week we saw a kid who used to not interact with others during recess, now playing basketball with this peers! He now talks in class. He now says he “gets it”.  He isn’t the only “convert” – many other students are now more interested in classical education.  

But since the next Vermont eclipse is May 2078, teachers are asking what we can do between now and then to awaken that kind of wonder in the young, deadened souls being sent to us by late TS who have conceded the attention of their children to the digital cave.  Nature is full of wonders for those who are willing to open their eyes.  Hopefully, this success will give us greater hope against this Digital Cave.

Peter Orlowski, St. Michael School, Battleboro, Vermont

In this article, Peter shares how they more regularly use lunar eclipses to awaken the minds of their students.