On Friday, February 2nd, 8th graders embarked on their first Life Worth Living workshop, facilitated by Dr. Matthew Croasmun, Director of the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, and Unquowa faculty, Eric Snow and Ariel Warshaw. This workshop is part of our Life Worth Living ethics series, which includes 3 full morning workshops, and 5 sessions during Advisory. Prior to this first 3-hour morning program, students had explored elements of their own identity through reflection and guided conversations in Advisory, and then considered how societal perceptions influence their identity and desires.

We kicked off the workshop with a team-building exercise that asked the students to consider an element of their identity, and then pass a skein of yarn to a classmate to do the same. The result? A web of yarn that connected each of us to one another – there were lots of knots, some areas with more or less slack, and places we needed to repair. This served to symbolize our interconnectedness with one another, and how we can overcome challenges within ourselves and between each other. We concluded this exercise by cutting the yarn and tying a piece around our wrists, as a reminder of these lessons.

Dr. Croasmun then shared what brought him to consider, “What is really worth wanting in life?” This opened up to a larger conversation with the 8th graders around the question: “What are things people want?” They brainstormed dozens of responses – money, success, happiness, fame, health – and then considered which of these are “means” versus “ends.” Is money the ultimate goal? Or is it a means to achieve something deeper or more worth wanting, like happiness or security? We finished this portion of the workshop by learning about “The 7 Levels of Why”, which pushed students to ask “why?” from their wants, to delve deeper into their own motivations and desires.

We spent the last part of our workshop engaged in a Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD). Three simultaneous conversations were held and facilitated by Dr. Croasmun, Eric Snow, and Ariel Warshaw. The students in each group opened the conversation by responding to the question, “What does responsibility mean to you?” Then, 8th graders unpacked the following: “Who determines what is worth wanting in life? Why? To whom am I responsible? To whom are we responsible?” Their responses were incredible – nuanced, deep, full of contradictions at times, and beautifully, imperfectly human.

We finished our workshop by looking at a few philosophical responses to these questions, looking at perspectives from Confucius (responsibility to parents), Asad Tarsinn (responsibility to God or a higher power), and Henry Taylor (responsibility to self).

We will continue to build on the theme of responsibility and the question, “What does good life look like?” over the coming weeks. As 8th graders begin to make decisions around and prepare for high school, the topics we explore will be integral to their thinking around what they truly want and who they truly are. We can’t wait to continue learning and growing with them in this process!