Learning to Live with Questions

Some of the most important work we do as educators begins when there is no right answer.

This fall, our students began a new kind of academic experience at Davidson Day. Ethics Lab, created and facilitated by Head of Middle & Upper School Andrew Griffith, asks students to do something that is both increasingly difficult and increasingly essential: slow down, examine a complicated question from multiple perspectives, and learn how to think carefully when certainty is not available.

The purpose was not to lead students toward a particular conclusion. It was to give them the intellectual tools to wrestle seriously with the question. Students read closely, evaluate evidence, consider competing values, listen to one another, and confront the limits of their own certainty. In doing so, they began learning something more important than an answer. They began learning how to deliberate.

That distinction matters.

If we are serious about preparing students to be world- and work-ready, and to thrive at the best colleges and universities, our responsibility extends beyond teaching students how to solve problems. We must also prepare them to determine which problems are worth solving, what values should guide their decisions, and what responsibilities accompany knowledge and power. The world our students are entering will ask them to make consequential decisions in circumstances where the evidence may be incomplete, the stakes may be high, and reasonable people may disagree.

Technical knowledge alone will not be enough.

Our students will encounter questions about artificial intelligence, biotechnology, privacy, authorship, human agency, business, leadership, and the changing nature of work. The challenge will not simply be knowing what can be done. It will be deciding what should be done, and having the courage and humility to examine that decision with others.

That is the work of Ethics Lab.

Just as importantly, it is a reflection of who we want to be as a school. We live in a moment that often rewards certainty before understanding, reaction before reflection, and winning an argument before genuinely considering another perspective. We want something different for our students. We want them to be comfortable with complexity. We want them to ask better questions, listen with genuine curiosity, and remain open to changing their minds when evidence or thoughtful reflection requires it.

The first Ethics Lab was intentionally designed as a “learn how” experience. Students were not simply exploring the ethics of human genome editing. They were learning the habits that will shape future Ethics Labs, their Capstone work, and, ultimately, their lives as thinkers and citizens. The most important measure of the experience may not be what students concluded about genome editing, but whether they began to recognize what makes a difficult conversation productive.

What helped us listen? What made genuine deliberation difficult? When did a question open the conversation, and when did a response close it down? Did anyone become less certain as the conversation continued? What should we carry forward?

Those are not merely classroom questions. They are questions about how we want our students to move through the world.

Our CORE values give this work a natural home. Courage asks students to speak even when their thinking is still developing and to remain open when challenged. Ownership asks them to take responsibility for their ideas and their impact on others. Resilience asks them to stay with a difficult question after the first answer proves insufficient. Empathy asks them to understand another person’s reasoning even when they ultimately disagree.

This work also deepens what we mean by our Diploma Distinctions. These experiences are not simply opportunities for students to take more advanced courses. They are opportunities to pursue sustained inquiry, immerse themselves in areas of genuine interest, conduct original research, and consider the responsibilities that come with expertise. Whether students are pursuing STEMM, Business and Civic Engagement, or Global Studies, knowledge becomes more meaningful when it is joined with judgment.

That is why Ethics Lab belongs in the heart of our academic program. It reflects our commitment to knowing students deeply, challenging them meaningfully, and inspiring them to use what they learn with purpose. It is another expression of the kind of education we are building through Moving Forward, Together.

I am grateful to Andrew Griffith for imagining this work and to the faculty who are helping bring it to life. Creating a space where students can wrestle with difficult questions requires preparation, trust, and a willingness to resist the temptation to make learning too tidy. That is precisely why it matters.

I invite our families to take a closer look at the work our students are doing. Read the Ethics Lab #1 Guide. Sit with the questions. Ask your child what they think, and then ask them why. More importantly, ask what might change their mind. Those conversations around the dinner table are an extension of the classroom, and they are part of how we build a community that values thoughtful disagreement, genuine curiosity, and the courage to keep learning.

Read the Davidson Day Ethics Lab #1 Guide.

Because ultimately, we are not preparing students simply to enter college. We are preparing them to enter a world that will ask more of them.

The measure of a successful Ethics Lab is not whether our students agree. It is whether they think more carefully, listen more generously, speak more precisely, and leave with better questions than the ones they brought in.

That is not simply preparation for college. It is preparation for a life of purpose.