Expansion of Human Intelligence


We are moving into an age when our beliefs about intelligence are not only expanding but also mutating. We are in the process of reintegrating what we had separated and pulled apart through the ever-expanding knowledge of human capacity. We are “rediscovering” that the whole human system is teeming with intelligence and that the brain does not contain the whole of human intelligence. All intelligences and their loci are intricately and intimately related—are dynamic, with infinite possibilities. We are learning through social and biological sciences and technology the full extent and spectrum of human capacity to learn and create. . .


Senior Capstone

Sojourn

Hanna wanted to go across the pond. Since she was ten years old, London had been her dream destination. Hanna held onto her dream for eight years. When she got older she worked and saved money. Then she saw her chance—the Capstone. It would not be a trip, but a test. This was not the kind of test that could be written on paper. It would be a journey of a lifetime, a “coming of age” rite of passage. For Hanna, the journey must have the romance and intrigue of a foreign land, across the ocean, on another continent, and in a world-class city she had never seen before. Most of all, it had to be taken alone. Going solo was the essential part of the test.

I felt both a charge of excitement and a pang of fear when Hanna proposed a solo journey for her Capstone. Hanna referred to her solo journey as a sojourn in order to create an old world mystique around it and to deflect any suggestion that she was merely traveling for her Capstone. The sojourn was her chance to extricate from peers, school, and family, and be alone with Hanna. It was a time to go inward and think about her future without interruption and to refresh and awaken her senses in a foreign land.

Wow! A dream Capstone—something the senior always wanted to do but never had the chance, excuse, permission, or support to do. I could barely contain myself. What better use of a Capstone than to fulfill a dream? I had no idea that Hanna had such a dream, nor did I have a clue that she had the nerve to follow through. Foreign travel was not common for students living in rural Maine. I had students who were not familiar with the city of Portland, less than an hour away, nor Boston, only two and a half hours away.

For starters, I ran a quick feasibility study on Hanna’s idea for her Capstone. First up was the preliminary clearance question. “Do you have your parents’ approval?” (The parent consent form was signed and I spoke with her father for verification.) “Do you have the resources?” (She had a job and was saving.) “Have you traveled abroad before? (Once, on a school trip.) Why alone?” I even went into “mother mode,” feeling protective and issuing caution. “You are a beautiful young woman; there are safety issues here.” Hanna took great pleasure in my uneasiness. She had been successful in rattling me. She delighted in dangling her Capstone in front of my face just to see the reaction again. What power!

Who to get for a mentor? I knew plenty of people who travel abroad to far-flung countries and continents, but I did not know any solo travelers, least of all young women. I was really stumped. This rattled me even more because I had a knack for helping seniors find mentors—against the odds in a rural community in central Maine—but this time I was at a loss. Even an all-district e-mail produced nothing.

Hanna playfully teased me, “Well, without a mentor, I guess I won’t be able to go, but if I do, I won’t meet the requirement for a mentor and you’ll have to fail me.” Now her tease felt somewhat mocking. Hanna continued to press. “A high school senior successfully travels abroad for ten days alone and comes back to talk about it but she fails her Capstone because the requirements were not met. Sounds like a news story to me,” Hanna chided. Other students joined in the fun and warned, “If anything happens to Hanna on her “sooojourrrn,” that will be it for the Capstone, Mrs. Aronson—over and out!” . . .


The Capstone as a Standout


The shared facilitation of Senior Capstones both within the school and out in the community and the authentic assessment of students’ abilities and capacities make the Capstone a standout in education. It is the combination of the student-centered, interdisciplinary, and experiential approach to education together with the shared facilitation and authentic assessment that makes the Senior Capstone an exemplar in education that is a fit for students of the twenty-first century. . .