Cookies is a longstanding program at Parker. The “Cookies” program is named after our school’s first principal Flora J. Cooke who strongly believed in shared and new learning experiences. In the year 2000, students came up with the idea to create community-centered courses designed by students to teach other students. It was approved by the administration and has continued as a very unique part of Parker’s curriculum ever since.
Parker’s mission calls on us as students to think and act as empathetic citizens in a diverse democratic society, and the Cookies program followed that by bringing new perspectives into our society and beyond the classroom. Our progressive philosophy brings up the idea that by engaging in Cookies, students are actively learning from one another, exploring new perspectives, taking ownership of their education, and connecting it with the real world.
In the past couple of years, after the Coronavirus pandemic, and with the new eight-day cycle schedule, Cookies haven’t really found their place in the calendar. Since its founding in 2000, Cookies has been held over a span of multiple days, but this year it was cut down to one due to “scheduling issues.” The Curriculum Committee tried to bring back Cookies and make it more relevant, but in reality, it just felt like a way to change things up to make it so only the heads of clubs/affinities were able to propose a Cookie class. These programs are also supposed to be aligned with the mission of the club/affinity groups. Limiting it to only clubs and affinity groups helps keep the topics relevant instead of anyone proposing an idea and it being disorganized. While I feel that this gives Cookies more of a centralized focus, it also limits other students’ voices.
Because it’s restricted to only the heads being able to propose a Cookie, it limits other students from having a variety of options to choose from. For me, when I was looking through the Cookie booklet, I felt that it was hard to find something that intrigued me. I found something, but the classes didn’t feel very diverse. The option for classes felt more connected to affinity groups than it did to topics that expanded. From the perspective of someone who doesn’t participate in an affinity group, it felt that most of the topics were centered there.. I had the sense that if I joined a Cookie that was led by an affinity group, I would be the only one who was not in the group. Even though most of the Cookies led by affinity groups welcomed the entire Upper School student body, I questioned whether being in the minority would lead me to not feel a sense of inclusion. I also felt not being part of some of these clubs would make me feel left out and lost. This is because, lots of times, these clubs begin during the year and have consistent members that are engaged.
Overall, I think that this new version of the Cookies program helps provide a structure for the curriculum, but it also feels more confined. While it lets the heads of clubs and affinities propose ideas of their choosing, it silences other students’ voices. Parker’s philosophy calls on us as students to “speak in our own voices,” and with this new format of the Cookies program, now it’s hard for us students to speak up to create new learning opportunities that we can share with others.
