The York Prep community congratulates the capable and inspired editors, writers, artists, photographers, designers, and staff members of Genesis as well as advisors Ms. Leah Umansky and Ms. Anna Martens.

Contributions to the York Prep Scholarship Foundation in Honor of Neal Neuhaus would be appreciated and can be sent to: York Prep School, 40 W. 68th St., New York, NY 10023.

Why these memories of significant events fade while other events of less significance remain is one of the mysteries of brain chemistry. I have a copy of the speech I made that night, but I cannot remember giving it. It was not a good speech. I did not have the self-confidence then to give the kind of speech I made at last year’s graduation (Headmaster’s Thoughts, June 2011). There was little innovation in my words; I thanked everyone there and talked about the Scholarship Foundation. At least I did talk about two of our students whose lives, I suggested, had been changed by the Foundation’s support. Had I not given details of their lives, the speech would have gone down as boringly ordinary.

Which, I think, is the point of this month’s “thoughts.” Because I write this monthly blog (and this is the start of the eighth year I have done so), I have found here a vehicle to launch out and get away from the usual mundane stuff that heads of schools say. Not many of my thoughts really do take off from the limits of the norm, but I am proud of my thoughts about the singing Sikh taxi driver (Headmaster’s Thoughts, February 2006) or the advocacy of National Clown Nose Day (Headmaster’s Thoughts, November 2006). Writing this blog has allowed me the freedom to be a curmudgeon, attempt to write humor, and just sound off. Without it, I am not sure I would have developed the “why not?” attitude to break away from the stifling politically correct barriers that heads of schools normally set around themselves.

During December’s annual holiday party, the faculty gave Jayme and me a gift (as is custom) and accompanied that with a small amusing dialogue about us between two faculty members. I had not thought of a reply but reply I had to, and so off I took. It was not boring and caused amusement (if I say so myself). I doubt if I would have been able to do it without having learned to trust myself in going “off subject” in these thoughts.

Although few people read these “thoughts,” the number of readers is not the point. The truth is that I write these narcissistically for myself. Soon, you will receive our annual newsletter. I will write the opening page, and it will be what you expect a head of school to write. Nothing wrong with that, but if that is all any head wrote, you really would have no idea of who they were, no idea of their “voice” or whether they were empty as people. You can at least judge from these “thoughts” about the emptiness of yours truly, and I can use this opportunity to freely and openly write about subjects that are not in the list of “what Heads of Schools should say.”

I have not found it difficult to stay fresh and passionate in this job. Recently, there was a three-day conference of Heads of Schools at which one of the panels discussed how to survive the stress of being the head of a school for ten years. I did not make it to that panel. I literally ran away from the conference after three hours. They served dinner, and then I was out of there. If they were going to make an issue of being head for ten years, how could I participate when this is my forty-third year? It was a pretty stiff crowd; they needed to write “out of the box” blogs.

So if, as Paul Simon sang, I am “still crazy after all these years,” this blog writing has certainly helped. In my high school, we used to start each meal with the following grace: “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make me truly grateful.” I feel I should adapt that to these writing pieces: “For the release of feelings the Headmaster’s Thoughts give me, may the Lord make me truly grateful.”

Is there anything you would like to have done that you didn’t? How were your classes? Did you make friends and try new things? Are you more engaged in current affairs and our community? Think about how your writing skills improved, your speaking voice, your ability to solve problems. If you’re feeling especially motivated, take your thoughts down.  Then, enjoy your break. Enjoy the cold and the spirit of the season. When you come back you’ll remember what you thought about before you left and feel inspired to grow with the new year.

Happy Holidays from York Prep!

What the class has become–and this is a work in progress that has changed every year for many years–is an increasing attempt to get students to debate each other on the choices they might make in difficult and, admittedly, strange situations. I do try to present a historical curriculum of ethical philosophy, but that only provides the backdrop to the sort of questions that noted philosopher Philippa Foot first posed at Oxford when I was there. She asked: “What would you do if faced with a downhill runaway trolley that left unchecked would kill five people, and you had the choice to divert the trolley onto a siding by pulling a switch, thus ensuring the death of only the one person on that siding?”

Trolleyology, or quandary ethics, as this type of dilemma is called, assumed more reality after 9/11. Would you shoot down hijacked planes heading for Manhattan before you knew (although probably you could make a very intelligent guess) where or what they intended to hit? This is an intellectual exercise that keeps on giving. It (for just one of many examples) morphs into arenas like “Spelunkology”, which asks whether you would blow up a fat man who has blocked your exit from a cave where you and your friends are trapped as the water rises. (You conveniently have with you a stick of dynamite.) You can use Trolleyology as a jumping off point to debate basic questions about redistribution of wealth. Is it permissible to take from the rich and give to the poor?

Along the way, there have been many recorded legal cases to discuss with the students. My favorite is Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a Victorian case in England in which starving sailors on a shipwrecked lifeboat ate the cabin boy to survive. There is a line in the trial transcript which, describing their eventual rescue, actually reads: “After breakfast, a sail was sighted on the horizon.” One wonders what part of the cabin boy constituted breakfast.

Dr. Foot, back in the day, asked: “What if the only way to stop that runaway trolley and save the five people was by pushing a fat man off a bridge onto the trolley tracks (and to his certain death)?” To the queasy who did not like the idea of physically pushing someone, she gave the option of the fat man sitting on a trap door which dropped him when you pressed a button. I could go on with different scenarios but similar dilemmas.

Trolleyology, in the end, leads to the most fundamental questions about family, discrimination, and medical choices. The great Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Appiah wrote: “Being deluged with trolley problems is one of the professional hazards of modern moral philosophy.” Certainly, the multiplicity of dilemmas on Trolleyology can lead to boisterous discussions among the students. The seniors seem to divide into groups–the libertarians, the utilitarians, the liberals, and the “I think this but I don’t know why” group. Since there are never right or wrong answers to most questions in Ethics, I frequently feel like a ringmaster as students argue in debates that are only stopped by the end of the period (and, which I hope, continue among the class members when I am not there.)

One of the main objectives of the course is to try to get students to think creatively (or, to use a most common cliché, to “think out of the box”) and to consider issues that they have never had to think about before. There is some method in this madness, because the “old” days of one career for life may be a thing of the past for many of our students. The reality is that just when today’s young thinkers have learned one set of skills, they may need to switch jobs, learn a whole new skill set, and (here is the point) face totally new problems. Technological advances promote new career paths as they render others obsolete.

I am lucky that this is a terrific senior class, most of whom are not afraid to speak up in front of their peers. If I had to generalize, I would say that they are more conservative than my cohort was at their age. They seem to (back to my Latin quote about my vanity) enjoy arguing about difficult problems, which augurs well for their futures. They challenge each other–and me–with vigor and intelligence, and they keep me on my toes as they perform intellectual gymnastics to further their arguments.

So, a man walks into a doctor’s office where there happen to be five patients in desperate need of different organs due to some strange trolley accident. The man, who is in perfect health, wants a flu shot, but if the doctor cuts him up he could save all of his five patients. What to do?

York Prep families brought delicious foods from their cultural heritage to the table. Dishes from many countries around the world illustrated our school diversity, as well as the cooking prowess of the members of our school community.

In addition to the food, performances inspired by a broad range of traditions were enjoyed by everyone. The Upper school students were especially involved, volunteering community service hours in order to make the gym festival-ready.

Thanks to all the cooks, singers, performers, volunteers and families who exemplify a strong international community.