Why Do Milton Students Write Their Names on Harkness Tables?
By SERENA FERNANDOPULLE ‘19
The main focal points, both physically and pedagogically, in Milton English, science, and history classrooms are the Harkness tables. These tables are places for insightful discussion, but if you slouch in your chair far enough for your eyes to reach under the table, you will see a ring of names etched into the wood underneath. As the end of senior year approaches for many, and we are told to leave a “legacy” behind, is writing your name on a Harkness table a way to do that?
Most students, according to a survey sent out to the Upper School student, fell into one of two categories of why they wrote their name into a table. The first group of people did it to physically, and figuratively, leave their mark at Milton. One student remarked that they wanted “to leave a mark. [They] see names from kids from the past and feel the need to leave a bit of [themselves] on there too.” Another, similarly said that “[they] saw people from years before, recognized some of the names, and wanted to be a part of it.” Around half of the responses received were along these lines of leaving a legacy behind so that a future student sitting in the same seat years later could see their name. One student elaborated on why leaving a legacy was important to them, stating that because they go to “a school where most kids are outspoken and are happy to share and very publically leave their mark on Milton everyday it is a way for [them] too to leave [their] mark. It is also a constant reminder that [they] will get through whatever class [they’re] trying to get through because everyone else who has written their names down got through it.”
The second most popular reason why students write their names on Harkness tables, according to my survey, was boredom. One student said that they “only do it when [they are] bored in class,” and another that “if [they are] bored [they will] doodle random things or write [their] name and if [they] don't have paper [they will] just do it on the desk.” Even though this viewpoint was popular, it was often tagged onto the end of a response that started with describing how they wanted to leave a legacy, the first category of reasons.
Faculty also had an opinion on the writing of names on the Harkness tables in their classrooms. One faculty member said that “as long as they write on the edge, not the top, it's grand. Especially with a motto (as long as it's not a mean sentiment),” while another said “please don't write your name on my table! First, I worry about what else gets written on a table once students start writing names; removing unpleasant messages takes a lot of effort and money, resources that could be better spent elsewhere. Secondly, writing your name on a table seems unattractively self-centered; I think that's the phase that we teachers are supposed to help you teenagers move on from.” A faculty member that responded to my survey summed up these two viewpoints well, saying that “on the one hand, [faculty members] like that students feel invested in their spot at the learning table, and that they want to remember [the experience] via a visual symbol. On the other hand, writing on those tables makes [the tables] seem sloppy and degraded, and it disrespects the investments that people have made in these central learning tools.”
The Harkness table is a tool that bridges the gap between students and teachers, it creates an intimate learning environment unique to many schools. Some students write their names as a way to say “I was here, and I survived” while others might have done it out of boredom. Faculty members seem split in their opinions, acknowledging both the yearning of students to leave something behind and the vandalism and destruction of resources this tradition causes. If you wrote your name on a Harkness table, come visit Milton again in ten years and see if you can still find it, and if you think you made the right decision.
Image Courtesy of Google Images