On joy

If there is one thing you remember from your Kantian philosophy class in college (and there might not be :) ), it’s probably the distinction between means and ends. Kant argued that people should never be thought of as means to getting something else, but as an end in itself. People should be valued and appreciated because people deserve that, not because someone is a means to achieving something you want. You should be nice to your friend because he is your friend, not because he might get you a job at his company next year.

While hard-core philosophy and joyful kindergarten classrooms don’t have much in common, the distinction between means and ends is important to how we think about joy at KPEA. Joy is one of our five school values and creating a joyful learning and teaching environment is one of our big goals as a school. We want students, teachers, families, visitors, and supporters to be happy when they are in the building. As our KPEA student culture vision says:

• Students are having fun. They smile and laugh as a regular part of any lesson. 
• Teachers  are having fun. They smile and laugh as a regular part of any lesson.
• When you walk into a classroom at KPEA, it feels calm, comfortable, and happy. You want to pull up a chair and make yourself at home.

So joy is important. People should be happy. Got it. Point made, right? Well, not totally, because I’m going to argue too often in education we talk about joy as a means and not as an end in itself.   

Joy is good because kids will be more engaged by a task they like doing. Joy is good because happy students will misbehave less. Joy is good because happy students will be more likely to persist through challenging times and work. Joy is good because happy students will be less likely to drop out, transfer schools, or be absent. Joy is good because happy teachers will be more effective and are less likely to want to work somewhere else. All of these things are 100% true and super important. But looking at joy only like this reduces it to purely means to get to some other end.

But joy should be an end too. 6 year olds should get chance each day to sing Justin Bieber really loudly. They should jump rope, hula hoop, and hopscotch. Early elementary students should play games where they try to make their partner laugh by making the craziest face possible. They should act out “Going on a Bear Hunt” and scream their heads off when they find the “bear” hiding in the cave. Kids should do the “Batman” celebration after working hard at math centers, complete with putting on their Batman mask, getting in the Batmobile, and singing the Batman TV show jingle. They should get to build the tallest block tower they possibly can. They should be engaged in joyful activities because having fun is fun! Joy is not just a means, it’s an end too.  

I would argue that pure, unadulterated joy is important for any age, but it’s vital for an early elementary school. Kids need to work hard. They need to learn through engaging, fun lessons and centers. But they need to just have fun for fun’s sake too.