Tyler Caldwell, Institute Director
Phillips Exeter Academy
Having grown up on a school campus in Middletown, Delaware, Tyler returned to boarding school life when he joined the Phillips Exeter faculty in 2011 as an English teacher. He teaches all levels of English, but he recently has focused on 9th grade English and senior electives that include Herman Melville, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Fictions of Finance. Outside of teaching English, Tyler serves as the 9th Grade Program Coordinator, he is dorm head of Main Street Hall, and he has coached crew, boys’ soccer, and girls’ lacrosse. He has a bachelor's in English from Harvard.
"Most of the scientific drawings have been taken from the stranded fish; and these are about as correct as a drawing of a wrecked ship…any way you look at it, you must needs conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last”(Chapter 55). Throughout Moby Dick, Ishmael questions the ability of the artist to portray the whale through illustration; he refers to his own novel as a “draught of a draught” (Chapter 32). So, too, might we consider this lesson in light of a Harkness discussion. No template exists; attempts to apply a rigid formula might leave the group “wrecked.” Rather, it is more effective to approach each day, each group of students with a fresh perspective. Just as Ishmael separates the whale into smaller, digestible bits such as the head, the spout, or the tail, the teacher might frame the readings and, at times, the discussion. Ultimately, though, it is vital to allow the students time and space to be intellectually curious and experimental in order to engage in the process of learning. Melville allows Ishmael to revise his initial interpretations of Queequeg and of the world; what Ishmael originally sees as a coffin becomes the life buoy that saves him during the sinking of the Pequod. There might be times when the students flounder; those discussions might feel akin to the moment Tashtego falls into the sinking whale’s head. As helpless as those moments might feel at the time, I work to equip my students with the tools, the energy, the mindset of Queequeg, who dives into the water to rescue his comrade. Those difficult moments can be the most enlightening, rewarding. No single artist might be able to capture the leviathan in all of its glory, but perhaps a group of artists or intelligent young minds can."