Welcome honored guests, parents, family, relatives, friends, faculty and graduates.
Last week I met with a group of high school sophomores who had graduated from the Day School just two years ago. They had just finished their finals and realized they had managed to navigate successfully the world of high school, which they told me was way harder than Upper School at SF Day. I asked them what they remembered about their time here that was helpful and should be preserved. The first thing they mentioned was the 8th grade seminar classes and how well they had learned to write. Right away in freshman year they were asked to write a thesis statement and a coherent essay defending the thesis with evidence from the text! Sound familiar to you? It should. They remarked that some of their classmates at high school didn’t know what a thesis statement was, and had to struggle. Of course everyone eventually learned how to compose a thesis statement and write an essay, but the Day School students were very well prepared.
The next memory they mentioned was how all their Lower School teachers had always told them “Everyone at SF Day was a winner.” They laughed, of course, realizing now – that they are in high school and so old and experienced – that everyone is not always a winner. They each told me what happened the first time in high school that they got a C on a test or paper. It was quite a shock! They described the difficult feelings and their sense of disorientation. But all of them managed to find a way to learn from the experience, work through the devastating feelings, and advocate for themselves. They attributed some of that ability to bounce back from a surprising bad grade to what their teachers said to them starting in kindergarten.
One reason they were able to find a way to survive the failure – yes, getting that first C is felt as a dramatic failure – was what their Lower School teachers had nurtured in them. By telling them, “Everyone at SF Day is a winner,” they learned that they were all worthy, all had capabilities, and could all succeed. The sense of self-worth and self-confidence that was learned has stayed with them all these years later and helped nurture the resilience they needed when they encountered that first setback. Yes, it was much more a temporary setback than a permanent failure.
When SF Day teachers first formulated the cultural belief that “Everyone at SF Day is a winner,” they were connecting to the folk wisdom that understood how believing in yourself was a powerful force. They were not aware of the recent research on brain plasticity. That research has – once and for all – proven the falsity of the old believe that your intelligence is fixed – You are either smart or not so smart. – and that you inherit your intelligence from your parents and their genetic pool. Many research studies have shown that with sustained effort and guided practice you can accomplish much more than you thought you could. A great coach or teacher can help you learn what you thought was way beyond your ability. You really are not limited in what you can accomplish. Just because you do not succeed quickly and easily the first time you try something does not mean you cannot learn it.
Earlier this year a group of students gave a presentation to the Board of Trustees about their study of the brain. They had learned that they could grow neurons and increase their ability to learn. As they were leaving the library where the Board was meeting, I asked one of the students why we were teaching them about how the brain works. She paused for a moment, and then said, “I don’t have to worry that I have inherited by parents dumb brain.” I replied, “Exactly!”
Recent brain research about one of the most powerful forces in medicine, the placebo effect, proves again how you can control your brain. First, what is the placebo effect?
It’s the improvement in health that some patients experience because of the feeling that they are receiving medical care, when they are actually not receiving any medicine. A classic example comes from drug trials. Suppose patients are randomly divided into three groups: those who get no treatment, those who get the drug that’s being tested, and those who get the placebo treatment — typically a pill that looks and tastes like the drug, but doesn’t contain it, or any other active ingredient.
The idea is that the “no treatment” group shows how many people would have gotten better by themselves; the “placebo” group shows any effect of participating in medical rituals (like taking pills); the “drug” group shows any effect of the drug over and above the effect of medical rituals. Simple.
The problem is that humans are not machines, and emotions are not abstractions. Hope and expectation, anxiety and fear, trust and suspicion — these cause physiological changes in the brain that can interact with drugs, changing their effects.
This is even true for a drug like morphine. Yes, it’s a powerful painkiller. But it’s far more powerful if a doctor marches in, tells you he’s going to give you morphine, and injects you, than it is if it is administered secretly by a hidden machine.
Placebo treatments are more powerful if your doctor believes in them. They are also more powerful if the doctor tells you so and you believe the doctor. In one study, for example, patients who had just come out of surgery were given a saline infusion, and — whenever they asked for it — a strong pain killer. When the patients were told by a doctor in a white coat with a firm and authoritative voice that the saline infusion was a powerful painkiller, the patients asked for the real pain killer hardly at all.
When the researchers did a brain scan of the patients getting the saline infusion and compared it other patients in a similar situation after surgery, they noticed that the brains of the patients taking only the saline looked like the brains of the patients who had been in pain but were feeling much better after taking the pain killer. The brains of patients who not taken the pain killer and were clearly suffering looked very different. Believing in your doctor and believing you were being taken care of, resulted in less pain and changes in the brains. Amazing.
Imagine you are about to take a very difficult test at the end of your first semester in high school. In one case the teacher says she knows you know very well and is worried that you will not do very well on the test. In another case, the teacher – who also knows you very well – says she is confident you will do really well on the test. Research shows that in most cases you will do much better in the second situation. What your teachers communicate to you and what you believe about yourself can have a large influence in how you perform, either positively or negatively.
However, you are not just a passive brain to be influenced by your teachers or doctors. You can learn to be your own placebo effect. When you know that confidence in yourself can make a difference; when you practice techniques to focus your energy and calm your anxiety; you can be that doctor or teacher who says, “I know you will do well on this test.” You can create the neuro-chemical reactions in your brain that enable you to succeed.
This is my message to you – as you leave the world where everyone is a winner – remember what your parents, teachers and coaches said to you when they were encouraging you. Be your own placebo. Remember how confident you felt when you believed in what they were saying. Take charge of your brain. Hear their voices, re-create their encouragement, and you will be able to overcome setbacks and accomplish even more than you might imagine.
Thank you and Congratulations
By the powers vested in my by the Board of Trustees, on behalf of the faculty of the San Francisco Day School, I certify that you have met the qualifications for graduation and have earned the diploma of the San Francisco Day School. Ms. Clark, please call the names of the graduates.
