Hillsdale Academy receives high marks

By Josh Newhook

Digital Editor

Elementary and middle school students at Hillsdale Academy ranked in the 99th percentile in a national test for the 14th consecutive year.

The Iowa Assessments

Exam, formerly called the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or ITBC, is administered in both public schools and private schools. Since first administering the exam in 1994, the Academy has ranked in the 90th percentile or above every year.

“You get this score when you take all grades K-8 combined as a building and compare it to the national norm of other K-8 buildings,” Headmaster Mike Roberts said.

Roberts said private independent schools are not required to take standardized tests by law.

“When the state of Michigan is doing testing for their public school students, we can opt-in or optout of that,” he said. “The nice thing about that is we can control the amount of classroom time versus the testing time we have.”

Nevertheless, Roberts said the Academy uses the test to prepare students for college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT. The test also provides the school with a way to judge how students are doing overall.

“We also like to have some data every year to get an assessment of how our students are doing, how we are doing as a classroom, and how we are doing as a school. It is just one of the pieces of evidence to hold our school accountable,” he said.

Julie Budd, who has taught 8th grade math, history, literature, and language arts at the Academy for 23 years, said the test has remained basically unchanged for as long as she has been there.

“It is that very reason that we like it as a measurement tool: it tests basic skills, and it has been consistent over the years,” Budd said.

Budd said that while many schools spend a lot of time changing their curriculum to prepare for testing, the Academy never has.

“The strength of our classical curriculum is that it concentrates on teaching students to read well, write clearly, and think deeply,” she said. “Our core classes focus on literature, grammar, composition, history, science, and math, which prepare them well naturally for a test that measures what they know in each of these areas.”

Budd said her students have always done well on this test.

“Our curriculum has always comprised the traditional subjects that provide

According to Carlson, a typical disagreement in today’s society devolves into one of two extremes: either we stop talking to the person because we care too much about the issue, or we start screaming at each other because we lose our patience. In both situations, neither the screamer nor silent retreater treats the other person with respect or compassion.

“Communicate to the other person that you care about them and that you want to find the truth of things rather than hanging on to what you currently hold is the truth,” Carlson said.

Striving to figure out the truth together is one of the most important steps to disagreeing well, according to Carlson. Most people in today’s society identify with a team such as a political party or movement, Carlson said. If someone doesn’t agree with their team, they feel unheard.

“Disagreeing becomes competitive instead of pursuing truth together,”

Carlson said.

As soon as two people join the same team, the love of truth can give way to open-mindedness, Carlson said.

“What I mean by open-mindedness is believing a thing only if there is good evidence for that thing and continuing to believe in that thing only if it is true,” Carlson said. Without open mindedness, a person can fall into defensiveness, according to Carlson.

Fighting confirmation bias, the tendency to only look at evidence that supports one’s own beliefs, is an important step in disagreeing well, according to Carlson.

“Intentionally look for true things and good points that the other side makes because even the stupidest person you’ve ever met will say some true things,” Carlson said.

People should question evidence that supports their views, Carlson said.

“Look for what’s bad about it,” Carlson said. “There are really bad arguments for true conclusions, and if you don’t question them, you will start making arguments that are legitimately horrible.”

The second step of disagreeing well is loving the people you disagree with by engaging in conversations with good faith, according to Carlson.

“By good faith, I mean approaching the dialogue with a genuine desire to pursue the truth together,” Carlson said. “I think people feel that if they accept any common ground, if they say, ‘yeah, you might be right about that,’ they will fail to convince them,” Carlson said.

Accepting common ground and engaging in conversions helps break down dividing walls, according to Carlson.

“People can’t be convinced if they feel like they’re being attacked,” Carlson said.

Pursuing clarity is the final step to disagreeing well. It is important to clearly understand what another person thinks and clarify what you think.

“Clarity is a very helpful means to pursue the goal of caring for truth and people,” Carlson said.

Carlson said the best way to clearly understand the other person is to be an active listener.

“Direct all of your mental energy to understanding what this person is saying, rather than to how you’re going to respond,” Carlson said.

Senior Andrew Davidson said he enjoyed the practicality of Carlson’s talk.

“I loved this lecture,” Davidson said, “I think that it was a lot more practical than any philosophy talk I’ve ever been to. It’s about finding knowledge together, and that starts with what she describes as common ground, humanity, good faith, and assumptions.”

Professor of Philosophy Ian Church said Carlson pointed out key themes of the Western philosophical tradition.

“These goals of seeking truth in love and clarity are at the heart of the academic enterprise and at the heart of the human experience,” Church said. “We have to care about truth, and we have to do it in love.”