Photo courtesy of Harry Phillips, included on Esquire.com

The McCallie Culinary Club was the recent focus of Esquire.com’s “Eat Like A Man” blog. In hindsight, the match seems a matter of fate. What place more suited to know what it is to eat like a man than the Land of the Fourth Meal*?

Harry Phillips, a senior day student and one of the four founding members of the club, wrote a great piece summarizing McCallie’s place in the Esquire landscape:

At an all-male prep school, there is a heavy emphasis on academics, sports, and the arts, but learning how to cook (whether it be for ourselves, our families, or even a date every now and then) was left out of our curriculum. We recruited a team of athletes, artists, actors, and aspiring chefs, and coined a motto for the McCallie Culinary Club: “We Stew, We Brew, We Grill, We Chill.” With a copy of the Eat Like A Man cookbook as our bible, and McCallie’s on-campus kitchen as our cathedral, we have taken the student body by storm.

…

Although our clubs are only allotted about 45 minutes a week, we have had incredible success in almost every category of cooking. Our faculty’s willingness to provide guidance and fresh ingredients from on-campus gardens, coupled with a generous grant from our student leadership organization, has given us the opportunity to create everything from guacamole to bread pudding to our most recent meal, steak tacos. The interest we’ve sparked within our community is exciting, but our journey has only just begun. We have our eyes on a multitude of Eat Like a Man recipes for the remainder of the semester, and plan on hosting a cookout before a sporting event with our cross-town rivals to raise a little money. As for the four of us who founded the Culinary Club, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a satisfied look on the faces of a student body that includes young men from all over America and even different parts of the world.

We coined a motto for the McCallie Culinary Club: “We Stew, We Brew, We Grill, We Chill.”

Also included in the action was English teacher and McCallie’s resident poet Kemmer Anderson, but to read it, you’ll need to go check out the Esquire blog for yourself!

* — Fourth Meal, McCallie dining hall’s every-evening post-study hall offering, has been a staple of the McCallie student culinary habits for over a decade, long before places like Taco Bell bragged of such a thing.

For the last 15 years on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving, my son and I have put up a star on the side of the hill right below our home on campus.  I am sure most of you have seen it.  It is quite a tedious task as we build it from scratch and work very hard to make it as “geometrically sound” as possible.

This year we must have started over at least a half a dozen times.  We just had to get it as close to perfect as possible.  My wife finally came out of the house and informed us that it was “close enough” and that we should be satisfied.  Finally, on the seventh try, as it was getting dark, we nailed it!

Looking back on the experience, I realize that it was not a desire for perfection that drove us to keep trying.  It was that fact that we were having fun working together on the star and, without either one of us admitting it, we didn’t want the job to be finished.

Most of the good times in our lives are not so much about what we are doing, but more about the people we are with.  I was really sad when the football season came to an end, because I enjoyed being out there with the guys on the team every afternoon.  Believe it or not, I am usually ready to come back to school after a long break for the same reason.

Men, in this season of the year when there are so many things to do, keep in mind that it is more about the people than the place or event.

Field Notes From This Year’s Application Season
(The New York Times, December 8 )
“To get an on-the-ground glimpse of this year’s admissions cycle, The Choice reached out this week to a handful of college counselors across the country to hear what trends they had been observing.
While our survey was unscientific, it brought into focus some themes, including increased applicant interest in public colleges – both in and out of state – and an apparent rise in the number of students who have been filing applications early this year, sometimes at the prodding of the colleges themselves.
As Kelly Sortino, director of college counseling at Crystal Springs Uplands School, a private school near San Francisco, wrote in an e-mail…”

Bad Online Behavior Jeopardizes Students’ College Plans
(Education Week, December 8 )
The number of college-admissions officials using social-networking sites to learn more about applicants quadrupled over the past year.

Web Tutors Become Stars Far From Classroom
(The New York Times, December 11)
(London, England) — “Not that long ago Salman Khan thought YouTube was only “for cats playing the piano. No place for serious mathematics.” With more than 3.5 million students watching his educational videos every month, the founder of Khan Academy has long since changed his mind.
While living in Boston Mr. Khan began the online academy as a way of tutoring his cousins in New Orleans in mathematics. It has grown exponentially, helped by hordes of grateful parents whose dim memories of algebra or trigonometry are not enough to help with their children’s homework. While Khan Academy is the most widely known, there are a host of similar Web sites aimed at students and teachers.

Reading and Math is Stifling Curriculum, Say Teachers
(EducationNews.org, December 10)
“As federal and state policymakers prepare to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era comes to a close, new research by Common Core shows that two-thirds of public school teachers believe that a concentration on English and mathematics within the curriculum has forced focus away from other core academic subjects, such as social studies, science, foreign languages, and the arts.”

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Phone: A Case for Writing Things Out
(Fast Company, December 4)
There’s all kinds of advice across the web about when to use which app for each small thing that needs doing. But the advocates for using paper to complete certain tasks are not so loud (you can’t hear them typing, among other things). Yet a Forrester Research survey of business professionals found that 87 percent of them supplement gadgets with paper productivity, and 47 percent thought their personal and company efficiency would improve with better note-taking.

Athletic Trainers Suggest How to Prevent Sudden Death in Youth Sports
(Education Week, December 6)
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association released a first-of-its-kind position statement today on sudden death in youth sports, combining 10 older position statements from the organization into one 14-page document.

Youth Sexting Not All That Common, Reports Find
(Education Week, December 6)
Illegal actions involving sexting befall a relatively small number of youth Internet users nationally, according to two reports from the University of New Hampshire. But the reports focus on transmission of videos and pictures, and don’t address sexually explicit text-based messages that might also be sent via smartphone, computer, or other electronic communication.

Would You Kill One Person to Save Five Others?
(Futurity, December 6)
A new study suggests a vast majority of people are willing to violate a moral rule if it means minimizing harm, in this case letting one person die to save five others.

Why Does the SAT Endure?
(The New York Times, December 4)
“If, as critics claim, the test can be gamed, why are the scores still so meaningful to college admissions officials, and does the SAT put students who can’t afford to take prep classes at a disadvantage?”

Introversion: The Often Forgotten Factor
(SENGifted.org, November 2003… shared by an introverted faculty member)
Introverts are different from extraverts and this difference is very difficult for the extravert to understand because they do not operate in that fashion. And because they do not understand it, many continually try to help the introvert become more social, more gregarious, more outgoing, and have more fun from the extravert perspective. Such is the situation of the introvert, a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population

Income and Gender Gap in College Attainment Widens
(Education Week, December 6)
Your odds of going to college and finishing are much greater if you are a woman and from a family with money. While not particularly a news flash to many, a study by University of Michigan researchers traces these trends back more than 70 years and documents growing gaps in attainment by income and gender.

Helping Teens Manage Sleep
(Education Week, November 28)
As I bumped into friends with college-age kids home over the long weekend, I found myself asking them if their children were exhausted. Many were. Others might have been tired, but still found time to go out with their high school friends to the wee hours of the morning much to their parents’ chagrin.

Giving Boys a Love of Reading
(Huffington Post, November 18)
Boys are different when it comes to reading. Which doesn’t mean that some boys don’t devour books from day one, and girls who never find the joy. But, overall, by their senior year of high school boys have fallen nearly 20 points behind their female peers in reading, says Pam Allyn, author of Pam Allyn’s Best Books for Boys, among other reading titles.

How About Better Parents?
(Thomas Friedman, New York Times, November 19)
There’s no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student’s achievement, and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers. But here’s what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents.

The Science of Sarcasm? Yeah, Right
(Smithsonianmag.com, November 14)
How do humans separate sarcasm from sincerity? Research on the subject is leading to insights about how the mind works. Really.

My Teacher Is an App
(Wall Street Journal, November 12)
More kids than ever before are attending school from their living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. The result: A radical rethinking of how education works.

Soda Bans in Schools Have Limited Impact
(The New York Times, November 7, via NAIS)
“State laws that ban soda in schools — but not other sweetened beverages — have virtually no impact on the amount of sugary drinks middle school students buy and consume at school, a new study shows.”

College Application Essay as Haiku? For Some, 500 Words Aren’t Enough
(The New York Times, October 28 via NAIS)
The only problem with Penn’s writing was the math: It was 650 words, outside the 250- to 500-word range re-established by the Common Application this spring — after a four-year experiment with no upper limit — but only now being grappled with as deadlines for early admissions approach next week.
“I just had to chop down all the emotion,” Penn said.
Unlike other parts of the application, which, in its online version, cuts students off midword if they exceed character limits, the personal statement will not be truncated, raising the question in school corridors: Does 500 really mean 500?
In a word, no. In two words, kind of.

School, drug speaker clash over ties to teen
(The Pioneer Press, October 28)
When the Blake School learned about thousands of text messages a well-known drug-and-alcohol educator had exchanged with a student, it fired him. When it learned he invited the girl to his Minneapolis hotel room days after she turned 18, the school filed for a restraining order.

In trimming school budgets, more officials turn to a four-day week
(The Washington Post, October 28)
Pressed for dollars, a growing number of public schools are doing what many educators once considered unimaginable: eliminating an entire school day each week. At least 292 school districts nationwide have a four-day week, according to a Washington Post survey, more than double the 120 estimated two years ago.

Envisioning University of Future, in Person or Online
(The New York Times, October 23)
Will the university of the future be bigger — or smaller? Are college campuses still cradles of revolt — or merely marginal spectators to the Arab Spring? Should students expect to be trained for the job market — or is it more important to learn how to think?
Fortunately, the organizers of the “Reinventing Higher Education” conference held here last week didn’t try to force the participants to come to any consensus. Instead, Santiago Iñiguez, the conference host and president of IE University here, seemed to relish his role as provocateur-in-chief, predicting that tuition fees would continue to rise, while the duration of academic programs would shrink.

Screen Time Higher Than Ever for Children
(The New York Times, October 25)
Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday. The report also documents for the first time an emerging “app gap” in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms.

Article Makes Case for the Academic Value of Extracurriculars
Activities at school beyond the classroom like sports, drama club, yearbook, and jazz band are worth protecting in tight fiscal times, contends a new article. “…a growing body of research says there is a link between after-school activities and graduating from high school, going to college, and becoming a responsible citizen.”
Education Week “Curriculum Matters” blog, October 12

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Responding to Criticism of Single-Sex Schools
Dr. Katherine Windsor, head of Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut, offered a strong and informative response to a recent New York Times article focused on new data questioning the validity and value of single-sex education. While her observations focus more heavily on girls, much of her information and data offer plenty of defense for any single-sex educational environment.
Porters.org web page, September 25

ALSO:
– Single Sex School Debate Back in the News — Education Week “Why Boys Fail” blog, October 13

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Top Students — Especially Boys — Suffer in High School Transition
According to a recent study by the Fordham Institute, a large number of America’s highest-performing middle school students regress during high school, and boys are especially vulnerable to this “9th Grade Bulge” effect. “Every casualty among this group is a loss in potential human capital.” One explanation offered: No Child Left Behind in public schools rewards on “leveling” student achievement, improving low-performers while neglecting high achievers.
US News & World Report, September 21

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Too Many Tests, Not Enough Term Papers
A Washington Post blog focuses attention on the parent of students in Connecticut public schools. She has a junior and a sophomore who “have yet to be assigned a writing assignment longer than three pages.” She writes, “‘Covering content,’ copious amounts of it, is not learning. It is a lot of work, but it is mind-numbing. It certainly does not render a student ‘college-ready.’”
Washington Post “The Answer Sheet” blog, October 1

ALSO:
– Dan Rather Reports “Bad Score” (vide0), September 15
– Are Top Students Getting Short Shrift? — New York Times “Room for Debate” blog, October 2

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Quality Homework: A Smart Idea
Annie Murphy Paul: “The studying that middle school and high school students do after the dismissal bell rings is either an unreasonable burden or a crucial activity that needs beefing up. Which is it? Do American students have too much homework or too little? Neither, I’d say. We ought to be asking a different question altogether.”
New York Times, September 10

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Budget Cuts Hit Hard In Schools, Hurts Students
“According to a report released today by the Campaign for America’s Future, evidence suggests that cuts to education funding are leading to cutbacks from early childhood education programs, increases in class sizes and termination of art, music, physical education and other elective subjects. Special programs are also being cut… including… Advanced Placement courses, extracurricular activities and special academic programs for science, foreign language and technology.”
HuffingtonPost – Education, October 13

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A piece this week in New York Magazine entitled “The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright” is eye-opening and depressing, and the author was interviewed yesterday on “Morning Joe.” (Warning: The author is a 20-something in New York writing about 20-somethings; ergo, her article contains numerous expletives.)

Forty-five percent of young adults (ages 16-29) are currently unemployed, the highest percentage since World War II, according to the article. If you are a current college student, consider your roommate. Statistically speaking, one of you won’t have a job — possibly for years — after you graduate, but you’ll likely have plenty of debt.

This is the environment into which this current generation of students must trudge, and there is a lot of (understandable) hand-wringing about the parent/educator part in it.

On the show, Author Noreen Malone offered some powerful observations about being a 20-somthing in the 21st Century:

“These are people who worked very very hard all throughout high school and college, invested a serious amount of time and money — they have a crushing burden of debt. They really bought into the idea that if you work hard and work for your chances, it will eventually pay off. And all of a sudden it looks like, OK, it’s not going to pay off now, and it’s not going to pay off in the future, which is pretty alarming.”

Joe Scarbrough offered this observation:

“We are talking about middle class, upper middle class, and elite kids, who grew up with just about everything in the ’90s, went to some of the best schools. The kids that weren’t getting jobs in the ’90s may have gone to community college or no college at all. Now you have kids graduating from Ivy League schools who can’t find jobs.”

In other words, many of those struggling are the products of high-quality, independent school educations, students who did remarkably well in both high school and college. These students didn’t necessarily expect a free ride so much as they assumed they would have the opportunity to at least get in line to buy a ticket.

These students didn’t necessarily expect a free ride so much as they assumed they would have the opportunity to at least get in line to buy a ticket.

Another younger commentator at the table offered this:

“I will say the word ‘entitled.’ I think a lot — in our generation — feel a sense of entitlement. We have been handed things when we were children that our parents could never take for granted. And we’ve gotten good educations. I know some people, actually, who put off going into the job market because they couldn’t find the job they wanted and instead have gone to a law school, and in the process they end up getting more and more debt that they have to pay off. A lot of that is what you see with ‘Occupy Wall Street.’ They have been handed this dream of what my life would look like, and now I’m saddled with debt, and who do I have to blame for it?”

Ms. Malone’s conclusion, especially regarding the “Occupy Wall Street” movement (if it can be called that).

“That’s a characteristic of our generation. If you look at the protest movement… what we want is a chance to show up and  put on a suit and a tie. That’s not a radical thing. That’s not what they were protesting against in the ’60s, and I think that’s pretty telling.“

For other fascinating education-related articles and links, be sure to check out The Daily Riff!

In College Transition, Life Changes for Siblings Left Behind

More College Officials Learn About Applicants From Facebook
The number of admissions officials using Facebook to evaluate applicants has quadrupled in the past year, although the number is still less than 1/4 of all college admissions officers surveyed. The number, however, will almost certainly continue to rise, making cavalier use of social media increasingly problematic for ambitious teens.
USA Today, September 22

ALSO:
– McCallie college guidance counselor Jeff Kurtzman was interviewed on the topic by the Chattanooga Times Free Press

College Experience by Gender
Seemingly endless theories abound on why women get better grades and advance through the ranks of undergraduate and post-graduate education more successfully than men. Here is a bit of point-counterpoint on some of the issues at hand.
Richard Whitmire’s “Why Boys Fail” blog at EducationWeek, October 4

Are Men Finished?
In a modern, post-industrial economy that seems better suited to women than men, many are wondering if men have been permanently left behind. Education and employment statistics point to a clear and growing dominance in women’s status at home and in the workplace. Are men primed for a comeback or have the old rules changed for good? (The side arguing for the women won the debate handily.)
IntelligenceSquared Debates, September 20

ALSO:
– NPR provides an audio-only link to the debate
– “The End of Men” – Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2010

Gender Earnings Gap Narrows
Women’s earnings have fallen during the recession, but not nearly as precipitously as men’s. Is it because women didn’t have as far to fall?
New York Times, September 30

Thank you. Just thought you’d like to know that this is the same McCallie necktie I wore in 1976. Now if I could only say the same about my blue blazer.

A few weeks ago I received an email from the Alumni office’s Mitzi Smith, asking me to contact her. Being a sports writer, I assumed she wanted to know the latest on Georgia football coach Mark Richt’s shaky job security, since she’s a UGA grad and huge Bulldog fan. (By the way, Mitzi, your Dawgs are leading Ole Miss 24-7 near the end of the first half.)

But she instead asked if I would briefly address today’s luncheon on what it means to be a McCallie alumnus.

After making sure she understood that I’m a writer, not a speaker, I was assured that the school didn’t expect Shakespeare or the Gettysburg Address.

“Then you probably won’t be disappointed,” I replied.

However, this past Monday Mitzi also informed me that I would be the first alum in McCallie’s 106-year history to take on this assignment. And if you fail, she said gently, you might be the last. Talk about pressure.

Still, it is with great pride that I stand before you today, mostly because it is a tremendous honor to represent my class on the occasion of our 35th reunion.

Ah, 1976, our nation’s bicentennial, which has caused many of us to forever view ourselves as the Spirit of ’76.

After all, this was the summer of endless fireworks, tall ships in the harbors, and an Olympic gold medal winning performance by our U.S. men’s basketball team, which was coached by North Carolina legend Dean Smith, who also just happens to be the father of our class’s Scott Smith.

Praise without criticism is a lack of real interest, and the McCallie faculty has never been accused of that, either during our time as students or, in many cases, for the rest of our lives.

Thirty-five years later, Scott and his wife Kelli are seated a few feet from me, at least partly because their son Brian is a McCallie junior, one of 19 sons from our class to follow in their father’s footsteps. That’s surely as good an example as any of how much the class of ’76 enjoyed and appreciated its time here.

Of course, every alum gathered in this magnificent dining hall believes that his class is the best or most unique. And that’s as it should be.

But I would humbly argue that on at least three important points, our class stands alone.

For starters, we were the last to graduate from the old buildings — North, Middle and South Halls.

Maybe McCallie picked that moment on the school’s timeline as a way to honor us, or maybe it chose that demolition and reconstruction as a way to put our class behind it, but we’re a part of history either way.

So, too, are the four state sports championships we won as seniors — baseball, swimming, tennis and wrestling all adding trophies to the Blue Tornado hardware collection.

Finally, we’re the class that spawned the “E-team,” that infamous gang of 11 who decided to dump a little Tidy-Bowl into the Girls Preparatory School fountain late one evening, then leave a pointed message written in blue food dye for GPS’s few misguided Baylor supporters.

Headmaster Spencer McCallie III — who came to power our junior year — didn’t necessarily find humor in that exercise. He sentenced the group to an extended stay in E-class and more than a few bullring laps. But it certainly added to our legacy.

Ironically, those old buildings, though full of charm, history and memories, were also an initial obstacle to me coming here.

In the spring of 1974, my parents were pretty much fed up with me and with good reason. Having moved from my hometown of Hopkinsville, Ky., (population 24,000), to Birmingham, Ala., in junior high, I had done nothing but whine about that uprooting ever since.

In a last-ditch effort to appease me, they asked if I would consider boarding school. A few weeks later, in one of the most serendipitous moments of my life, I ran into an old friend from Hoptown while standing on Disneyworld’s Main Street during spring break. He was now going to McCallie and said I should, too.

Three weeks later, on a Tuesday, my parents and I took a tour of the campus and met with administrators. The grass was calf-high that day, the dorms and academic buildings a bit disheveled, the food mediocre.

My mother — the world’s biggest cleanliness freak — turned to my father as we headed home and said, “I don’t know if I can send my son here.”

My father replied, “Don’t judge this school by its looks. Judge it by what they do here, and they do great things inside these walls.”

Three days later I was riding a Greyhound bus back to Chattanooga for something called McCallie Weekend. Magically, the grounds looked like Augusta National, we were served shrimp and steak for Saturday dinner and Whirlwind enchanted us inside the Chapel.

I was hooked.

Two springs later, I designed the posters and backdrop for Whirlwind. Thirty-five years later, my mother — who went to work two years earlier than she had planned in order to cover the cost of McCallie as well as the money she had intended to earn for college tuition for my sister and me — still contributes to the Sustaining Fund.

But to return to point — and Mitzi, my editors should have told you I sometimes detour from the intended subject — what DOES it mean to be a McCallie grad?

On a casual level, it’s feeling that pride swell in your chest at the same time a smile crosses your face as you see our current students rig PVC pipes to their cars or trucks and pull giant bed sheets painted with big, blue Ms through town on reunion weekends such as this.

It’s understanding that nationally-known figures such as Ted Turner, Olan Mills, Pat Robertson, Howard Baker and Bill Brock all walked this campus before our class.

It’s knowing that Robertson’s son, Gordon, who pretty much dominates the 700 Club television time his father once ruled, was a classmate.

It’s seeing Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham’s latest opus on the best-seller list and knowing he’s a McCallie grad, class of 1987, which always gets me to thinking, nobody that young can be that smart, but he is.

It’s knowing my South Hutch roommate and fellow prefect Houston Hunt — possibly the nicest and best person I’ve ever known — is one of McCallie’s newest board members.

It’s also our class’s Zach Wamp — once our day student council president — serving eight terms in the U.S. Congress before an unsuccessful run for governor last year. (A sidenote: I was the boarding council president opposite Zach. Apparently you can only advance your political career so far by promising later curfews and more television time to underclassmen.)

On a far more personal note, for the Spirit of ’76, it’s Klein Time. Bobby Klein was still one of our best and brightest when last we gathered here five years ago. Arriving from his adult home of Port St. Lucie, Fla., he brought his wonderful wife Susie and charming sons Ethan and Peyton along for the weekend, the four of them cheering another McCallie football victory over Baylor inside Finley Stadium.

And, yes, Peyton is named for who you think he is.

But less than two years later on Memorial Day of 2008, Bobby Klein drowned off the coast of Florida while performing the single most heroic act in the history of our class. His sons caught in a violent undertow, Bobby swam out to save them. The boys survived, Bobby did not.

In our collective grief, our class’s chief cheerleader, Rusty Scott, decided we should gather for lunch at least once a month to honor Bobby’s memory. We’d call it Klein Time. Sometimes it’s four or five of us. Sometimes 12 or 14, but it’s now lasted more than three years, which seems remarkable to all who hear of it.

As our class celebrated Reunion No. 30 five years ago, our Paul Gamble asked the question, “What did McCallie do to make us love it so?’

There are as many answers to that question as there are McCallie grads, for no two people will view their time here quite the same.

But Spirit of ‘76er Joe McFalls provided one reason a couple of nights ago at our Thursday night class party. His daughter Kaycee is currently in the Honors College at Alabama after graduating near the top of her class at a highly-respected private high school in that state.

But she rarely enjoyed her time there because her outstanding academic work was never praised nearly as much as the school’s athletes.

Always, it means never having to say you’re sorry about your alma mater. Not once has anyone who’s considering sending a son here asked me about my experience that I haven’t said, “It’s the best thing you’ll ever do for your son. It’s the best money you’ll ever spend. You’ll never regret it.”

Said Joe, “That’s one thing I always remember about McCallie. Yes, the athletes were recognized, but Spence the Third would lead the same cheers for the Math team or the Debate team. If you did something well, the school always saluted you for it.”

And when you fell short, they always called you on it.

One of the best days of my life here was when Skinny Jimmy Henderson gave me a perfect grade on the first 500-word theme I wrote for his composition class.

Conversely, one of the worst days was when Cleve Latham — who began his remarkable Creative Writing class during our senior year — gave me a low C for a lame story I wrote about feeling like a three-legged chicken after a particularly embarrassing moment in my life.

Praise without criticism is a lack of real interest, and the McCallie faculty has never been accused of that, either during our time as students or, in many cases, for the rest of our lives.

Or don’t you think it’s somewhat remarkable that our class’s Rob Taylor still grills steaks at least once a month with retired faculty giants such as Miles McNiff and Steve George, who is expected to drop by our class party tonight.

What does it mean to be a McCallie alum?

It means any time you come to a home football game, you’ll see Rusty working the chain gang, still willing and ready to do anything for the Blue Tornado.

On these wonderful reunion weekends, it also means our own Groovy Greg Goodwin, in all his sartorial splendor — including, in his words, “My Arts and Crafts Gators hat, complete with orange and blue plumes” — creating good-time memories we’ll never forget.

Always, it means never having to say you’re sorry about your alma mater. Not once has anyone who’s considering sending a son here asked me about my experience that I haven’t said, “It’s the best thing you’ll ever do for your son. It’s the best money you’ll ever spend. You’ll never regret it.”

Everyone in this room can probably agree these are difficult times on all fronts. To walk through any “Big Box” department store is to see a nation adrift, seemingly on the verge of drowning in a septic sea of super-sized fries, maxed-out credit cards, tattoos, reality TV, divide-to-conquer politics, lottery tickets, video games and Internet sleaze.

To slightly alter a line from Animal House, it’s as if the masses have adopted the motto, “Yes, I’m fat, lazy and stupid. What’s it to you?”

But not here. To enter this campus is to return to a world where our school’s four cornerstones — Honor, Truth, Duty and “Man’s Chief End is to Glorify God and to Enjoy Him Forever” — remain unbreakable and unshakeable.

Yes, we’ve changed, as all things must to survive. We now offer Chinese as not just a menu choice in this dining hall, but also as a language. We’ve gone decidedly green. We’re about to have almost as many boarders as day students.

But on the big points, the things that shape our character and our values, McCallie remains stubbornly — and thankfully — steadfast to its ideals and standards.

Or as my wife has noted on more than one occasion, “You can always tell the McCallie boys in church. They’re the ones with the perfect manners and imperfect hair.”

Two years ago, my mother-in-law having treated my wife, two young daughters and me to a week at Disneyworld, I ushered them to the exact spot on Main Street where my childhood friend first told me about this grand school.

“This is the spot that changed my life,” I said.

And that, for me anyway, is what it most means to be a McCallie alumnus.

Mr. Wiedmer, a veteran reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, was one of two alumni speakers at this year’s Reunion Weekend.

This January marks the 105th anniversary of the Honor Code at McCallie.

In January 1906, the two McCallie founders decided that they wanted an Honor Code at their brand new school similar to the one at the University of Virginia, where James Park McCallie had attended. For them, personal honor was absolutely crucial for the development of a McCallie man.

For over 10 decades, the Honor Code has been part of the very core of our school. It is, in fact, one of our oldest traditions. Our alumni always comment that the three things they remember most fondly about their time at McCallie are the friendships with fellow students, the relationships they formed with their teachers, and the Honor Code.

I challenge each and every one of us to do our part to make McCallie extraordinary in this area. You’ve heard me say many times that just because we have an honor code in place does not make us honorable people. Signing the Book of Honor does not make us honorable people.

There will always be another test, another homework, another paper to pull up your grade. But you will NOT have too many chances to earn back someone’s trust if you have lost it.

Acting with honor and integrity is a choice we have to make every single day. Both students and adults alike. And it is not always an easy choice to make, because there are definitely consequences when we make mistakes. There are a thousand scenarios you could find yourself in every single day where you have to make a decision about whether or not to act honorably, and it would be very easy or tempting to make a bad choice: you get swamped with work, you run out of time, you’re worried about your grade, you don’t want to fail a quiz that you didn’t study for, you’ve got to turn in that paper before you get a late penalty, you don’t want to ask your teacher for help or for an extension, you don’t want to get the marks or the demerits.

It is all about choices.

But even though you might not believe it, it is always better to take a late penalty or to get an “F” on a quiz or a test or to take the demerits or turn the paper in late than to commit an honor violation. You always have a choice to do the right thing. It may not be the easy thing to do or the popular thing to do, but you can always choose to maintain your integrity. Never be afraid to ask a teacher for help, or for more time, to come clean, or to stand up for what you know is right – no matter what the consequences.

Even though grades are important, they are not nearly as important as your integrity. You can always improve your grades. There will always be another test, another homework, another paper to pull up your grade. But you will NOT have too many chances to earn back someone’s trust if you have lost it. This is true everywhere – whether you are in high school, college or you are an adult in your professional life.

In the long run, very few people truly care what grades you got in high school. But they will care immensely if they feel they can’t trust you. Never underestimate the power your integrity can hold.

Please understand, I am not perfect; none of us is perfect. It’s not about never making a mistake. It’s about making good choices – difficult choices perhaps – but good choices because they make us better people. People we can be proud of, in a school we can be proud of.

I’d like to close my portion of the presentation with this Bible verse from Zechariah 8:16: “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this, declares the Lord.”

When you act with integrity, you are not just respecting our Honor Code, you are honoring yourselves and God as well. Good luck this year, do your best, and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.

Jim Carlone is a 1988 graduate of McCallie School and a graduate of Kenyon College. He was named the 2002 Kio-Kio Distinguished Teacher and has been a long-time advisor to the student Senate.

The following speech was delivered to the entire school body on Monday, August 22, at Convocation 2011.

Some say, “Change is the only constant,” and we certainly see that on a regular basis.

This past spring, I acquired a “smart phone.” I am amazed at what it can do. I suspect that an overwhelming number of you have one as well and are even better acquainted than I am with its capabilities. I can phone, text, email, manage my appointments, access the internet, read books, get news updates and weather forecasts, get directions, listen to music, and watch videos. As you know, the list of applications is extensive. Many are free and some of them even have educational potential.

Both the range of information that is available to me and the ease with which it can be accessed are truly impressive. An example: when I was studying astronomy, I had to review star charts in detail, to memorize hundreds of names, and then to position those charts in just the correct way against just the right night sky.

With my phone I can achieve the same result simply by pointing it toward the sky, even at noon. It does the rest. I don’t need to spend hours reading, researching, and memorizing. I can retrieve the same information at the speed of an app. Does my smart phone make me smarter?

Interesting question. It appears to, but if all of us have the same app, then how has the playing field changed? In a world where every individual may have the equivalent of a research library in his pocket and can find answers with virtually no effort, what does it mean to be an educated person? In the face of this phenomenal trajectory of technological change, what skills are required? What attitudes? What behaviors? More significantly, what should your focus be today and in the days ahead? To attempt an answer to these questions, I’ll ask another one: what can a “smart” phone really do and not do?

1. It can answer a million questions, but it cannot tell you which ones are worth asking,
2. It can connect you with a social network, but it cannot show you how to build relationships or inspire you to reach out to those in need,
3. It can help with spelling and grammar, but it cannot decide what important things you need to say,
4. It can help you design a graphic or notate a song, but it cannot provide you with the vision,
5. It can provide terabytes of information, but it cannot tell you which information is valid or particularly useful in solving a problem,
6. It can run countless scenarios, but it cannot make moral decisions.

Becoming an educated person is and always has been more than acquiring and retrieving information. In any journey, the direction and the destination are more important than the vehicle. Information helps us get there, and valid information can be a critical safeguard against a false step but, by itself, it does not determine where those steps will lead. An educated person knows how to set a course. An educated person thinks critically and creatively. An educated person analyzes problems and crafts solutions. An educated person learns to ask relevant questions. An educated person learns to set goals and develops the persistence required to reach them. An educated person understands the importance of others in achieving success. And an educated person has a sense of the larger picture and how the pieces fit together.

Technology can serve you well on this journey. It can help you achieve goals but it cannot decide which goals are worth pursuing. You must choose those.

At this time of year, it is always important to be clear about your direction and your goals. I am sure that you have personal ones, but I hope that you also share many of the goals that McCallie has for you.

We, of course, want you to be educated, but honestly we want more than that. We want you to be capable, committed, and morally courageous, to become men who make a positive difference in your world. We want you to strive for excellence, to live honorably, to act responsibly, to seek intellectual and spiritual truth, and to help others. Since 1905, the changes in technology have been dramatic…from cars and planes to microchips and modems to the internet and cellular phones to 4g and tablets.

Technology has changed but our educational goals for you have not. Then as now, achieving those goals will take time, effort, persistence, and the support of classmates and teachers. I am confident that there are no easy apps for these.

But I am also confident that we will achieve them together… by discussion and debate, by challenging each other to be our best, by offering encouragement or a hand when someone stumbles.

Our phones may be smart; we will need to be smarter… and in the end, with God’s help, we may even become wise.

Have a great day… and a great year.