World Wisdom Project

Photo Credits: Ashank Singh

Overview

Students read, hold conversations and write about sayings, poems and spiritual texts from a choice sampling of world wisdom literature from a range of traditions. Traditions include but are not limited to Sufi, Old and New Testaments, Taoist, Zen, Hindu, and tribal African.
The sampling of traditional readings is rounded out by a selection of songs, poems, films and nonfiction texts from contemporary African – American, Latin-American, Asian-American and other cultures, so that most if not all students’ cultures or backgrounds are represented.
In a series of community interviews, students interview members of three generations to gain perspectives and conversation skills they will use later in the project and through the year.
The project’s driving question is whether or not and in what ways traditional sources of wisdom can guide us to deal with challenges we face today as individuals and as a world. This is the topic of the project’s culminating essay.
The project occupies all of our first quarter.

Consider a broad set of perspectives that diverse cultures across time have identified as wisdom, some of it rarely considered in school
Assess the capacity of traditional and contemporary wisdom sources to help us deal with challenges we face today, particularly challenges they face as teenagers
Interview members of three generations to gain perspectives on:
- their own generation’s identity–the forces shaping it, its unique strengths and needs, how it compares and contrasts with other generations, and how they might contribute as a generation
- the nature and usefulness of wisdom today
- the wisdom of government actions
Gain exposure to current national and global challenges, and assess whether leaders demonstrate wisdom in their actions
Use the project’s readings and conversations to develop skills of argument, crafting essays in which they develop analyses of whether or not and in what ways particular wisdom perspectives are useful today, particularly to teenagers
See “Sample Wisdom Project Essays.”

A safe way to begin their year of self-discovery: by exploring wisdom traditions from a range of world religious and cultural perspectives, and assessing the usefulness of these traditions today.
An opportunity to connect with and potentially benefit from one or more wisdom traditions they find useful or inspiring today.
A chance to (re-)identify with their own religious, cultural or ethnic traditions as represented in our study.
Academic support—in launching their sophomore journey for self- knowledge, they can make significant gains in academic reading, writing, and conversation skills.

Promotes deeper engagement in learning
Creates comfortable access to spiritual topics
Invites students to a refreshingly rare conversation in our current culture
Allows teens to access treasures of world culture
Provides a glimpse at similar insights from cultures on opposite ends of the earth, and different time periods, with no knowledge of one another’s cultures
Enables literary analysis with a deeper purpose
Enables students to practice using discernment in weighing degrees and kinds of wisdom in literature and life
Meets teenagers’ developmental needs to explore and form healthy identities, and pursue increasing autonomy with wisdom
Deeper engagement in learning can mean more commitment to developing academic skills
Wisdom is a prerequisite for climate and pandemic survival.

READING STANDARDS
Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

SPEAKING AND LISTENING STANDARDS
Comprehension & Collaboration

WRITING STANDARDS
Text Types & Purposes

Production & Distribution of Writing

Research

Range of Writing
Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas