Kindness In Motion – the super-power of truly great schools

Murray Williams|Published 1 year ago

A child, Bethany Williams, 10, soaks up the sunset during a photoshoot at Lourensford Estate, a famed world of wonder and one of the most photographed and filmed locations in Africa. Dream scene....

An exquisite calm prevails at one of the jewels of the Helderberg, Morgenster estate − framing the valley’s guardian peaks, in both darkness and delight, in tranquil symmetry.

What makes a school truly outstanding?

We were poring over various surveys, gathered feedback from parents and pupils.

All the usual performance indicators were there – academic marks, sports results, school ratings, all that.

And then this remark appeared: “The teachers are kind.” It stopped me in my tracks.

This simple, soft, elegant observation, amidst the jostle of hard metrics, seemed more important than the rest. In a league of its own.

I recalled a quote: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind,” wrote the Harvard-educated US Henry James more than 100 years ago.

A second thought hit me: If teachers are to be consistently kind – how could one build a tangible strategy to ensure this takes place?

As a hard-core deliverable, just as structured as guaranteeing literacy and numeracy?

And then the blindingly obvious struck me:

For teachers to be kind, they first need to receive: Kindness, too…

If one follows this thread of logic, then:

Building a culture and practice, of treating teachers with kindness, must be one of the most critically-important pillars of managing schools…

The ultimate impact: ensuring children receive kindness, and go to “learn what they live”, and practice this super-power, their whole lives through. Too.

But what is kindness? A basic search produces this:

“Kindess [ˈkʌɪn(d)nəs] NOUN: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate”

A bit of further digging, reveals:

Strongest matches: affection, altruism, benevolence, cordiality, courtesy, decency, forbearance, gentleness, good will, goodness, grace, graciousness, hospitality, humanity, patience, solicitude, sweetness, sympathy, tenderness, tolerance, understanding, unselfishness

Strong matches: amiability, beneficence, charity, clemency, consideration, delicacy, heart, helpfulness, indulgence, kindliness, magnanimity, mildness, philanthropy, serviceability, solicitousness, tact, thoughtfulness

That’s a lot of words, a lot of ideas. It’ll be pretty hard to do all that.

But, we can try. One step at a time.

One could call this strategy: Kindness In Motion.

Or, just: KIM.

(RIP, to the kindest of us all: February 27, 2021)

Here’s that poem, by Dorothy Law Nolte:

Children Learn What They Live

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.

If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and others.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.