Relationships and Uncertainty Matter Most: David Brooks in the New Yorker on Educational Excellence | Connected Principals

Relationships and Uncertainty Matter Most: David Brooks in the New Yorker on Educational Excellence | Connected Principals

Relationships and Uncertainty Matter Most: David Brooks in the New Yorker on Educational Excellence

by Jonathan Martin

David Brooks is an old faithful for me, an inspiration for his ability to bring wisdom and broader understanding to the daily events of our time, and to draw from our society trends of larger sociological or even philosophical significance. I don’t always agree with him, often I don’t, but I am nearly always intrigued by what he has to say. If you haven’t read his recent piece in the New Yorker, Social Animal, How the New Science of Human Nature Can Help Make Sense of a Life, stop reading this post and go read it now!

In the piece, there is a small subsection of particular interest to educators; Brooks draws upon his wide reading of recently published research in social psychology, happiness pyschology, and human development to articulate a vision of effective secondary education, and in doing so, he offers two strong assertions about