On January 9, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the Harwood Harkness Leadership class will be hosting a Socrates Cafe. It will be an open community dialogue aiming to answer the central question of “How do we live today and still respect the past?”
The Harkness method of discussion, created at the Philips Exeter School of New Hampshire, emphasizes student-led dialogues. “Everyone’s equal instead of the teacher leading the discussion,” one Harwood Harkness student said. The class, as they put it, is “not normal:” there’s no homework and no stress about exams. Rather, the students practice “soft skills” such as active listening, referencing the text, and asking questions.
The Socrates Cafe, which takes place at the end of the semester, is the culminating event of the class and a chance for the students to show their skills. They also get the chance to facilitate a discussion, which they have been practicing both in and outside of class.
Students in the class have presented to the Harwood middle schoolers, hosted Harkness students from Champlain Valley Union High School, and presented at a teacher conference to hone their facilitation and public speaking skills. The goal, advisor Adam Sargent said, is to have “high-quality Harkness discussions in here that we can also take outside of the classroom.”
The students have been preparing for the cafe for about two weeks, per their approximations, “We’re figuring out how to use these skills outside of class,” one student said. They voted on the central question as a group, choosing from several similar options. They are responsible for advertising the event, creating Front Porch Forum and Instagram posts, hanging up posters around the school, and each student has to invite at least six people.
The event will be held in the Harwood library. Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, contact Adam Sargent at
