Country School Students Practice Empathy

A community of learners, the faculty and staff regularly discuss the school’s culture, and at the core of these discussions is Responsive Classroom, an educational approach associated with higher student achievement and improved school climate. One aspect of this program is the school’s five-year rotation of CARES (Cooperation, Assertion, Respect and Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-control). This year, PreSchool through 8th Grade students will place special emphasis on the theme of Empathy.

Recently 5th Graders read A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, a novel based on a true story that involves two characters, Salva (a real person) and Nya (a fictitious character), living in South Sudan at different times. Nya’s walks twice a day, every day, to a pond to get water for her family, but since the pond is so far away from her home, she has no time for anything else. Ultimately, Salva rescues the village by building a well there.

Practicing empathy by walking in Nya’s shoes, 5th Grade students and teachers filled 20 one-gallon jugs of water and walked a little over one mile, a shorter distance than Nya’s trek, on The Country School’s campus and the adjacent Blue Trail. At the end of their journey, the students reflected on the difficulty of the task, acknowledged taking clean water for granted, and recognized the importance of clean water, especially during this time of COVID-19. This unconventional lesson, intended to go beyond the pages of their summer reading, will last these students a lifetime.

Founded in 1955, The Country School serves students in PreSchool-Grade 8 on its 23-acre campus in Madison. The Country School honors students’ creativity, sense of wonder, and intellectual curiosity. The school’s integrated curriculum aligns rigorous academics with a commitment to character and leadership development. Learn more and register for our Virtual Open House on October 26 at www.thecountryschool.org.