While sitting through a blocked English 10 Honors class, a Harkness Discussion began. Harkness is a discussion method in which students lead the discussion around a roundtable, while the teacher observes and remains silent on the outside.  This particular talk was about the text Siddhartha, concerning Siddhartha’s values as a parent. Since a common feature of Harkness is connecting the text to your personal life, students started making connections to how Siddhartha is as a parent in relation to their own parents.

One thing that was revealed during that discussion was how open everyone was to each other sitting at that “round” table (a key component of Harkness is the roundtable, with everyone facing one another). Everyone was given equal opportunities to share what they wanted. Everything that was shared, no matter the gravity, was heard without judgment or ridicule. The experience made me realize the kind of community that the Harkness-style discussion builds.

The Harkness Discussion method was founded by Edward Harkness, a philanthropist in the early 20th century, and the method entails the use of a roundtable, about 10-15 students, and a student-led discussion with little to no teacher intervention (forcing students to take the lead). One student creates a “map” or diagram of how the discussion flows and writes down the main points, along with suggestions for improvement. The teacher (who is outside of the circle) generally takes notes and helps the conversation get back on track if necessary.

So why is Harkness so important in this day and age?  With an increasing number of students dealing with loneliness, anxiety, and depression, the discussion style is becoming more necessary to have open conversations like the one we had in Honors English, and the Harkness style can provide an outlet for them.

One thing that most of the books we cover in high school have in common is the discussion of deep, human themes. For example, Gilgamesh, with the main theme of companionship, and Hamilton which grapples with loss. Thanks to the Harkness, the English 10 Honors class was able to dive deep into these texts, due to the nature of a discussion point-of-views that students may have not individually have originally considered.

English 10 Honors and AP English Language teacher Mr. David Johnson, who builds his class around Harkness, believes the system has benefitted his class.

“Both as a student and as a teacher, my favorite learning experiences have occurred during engaging, interesting, and robust conversations,” Johnson said.

Two summers ago, Johnson attended Phillips Exeter Academy for the Exeter Humanities Institute program in New Hampshire, an experience that showed him more of the importance of Harkness.

“I realized that I had only scratched the surface of Harkness’s,” Johnson said.  “I came back with an even greater vision for and commitment to learning around the table. In my experience,

Harkness discussions are primarily student-led which allows students to be more involved and figure things out on their own without the help of a teacher.

“Less of me and more of my students is always a good thing,” Johnson said.

Johnson believes that the main things students learn at the table are listening, trusting, finding their voice, disagreeing, challenging, changing their minds, and understanding new perspectives. This allows them to build a community and share their ideas.

“Around the table, each class becomes its own community.” said Johnson “Often, it feels like family.”

AP Language student, junior Julie Harris, believes the Harkness has benefitted her in class.

“It opens up ideas that I previously did not consider on the topic.”