Category: character education

Does artistic talent come naturally?  Are some students born with special innate talents or can talent be cultivated?

In Venezuela the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra believes talent can be cultivated.  This amazing system of education is called “El Sistema.”   This thirty-year-old program has made classical musicians out of a million and a half young Venezuelans, and transformed the lives of these underprivileged and at risk youths in the process.  Almost every major orchestra around the world has members who began in El Sistema. 

The concept for El Sistema looks at talent in a different way, it doesn’t take those from the gifted pool and gives them enrichment, enrichment is for everyone.  In this brilliantly conceived system music is literacy, it is a daily devotion that is filled with joy.   Exposure to music is not the low standard ad hoc program that most US schools currently have.  El Sistema takes everything students learn and rolls it all into one endeavor.  Music is rhythm, it’s motion, it’s coordination, it’s balance, it’s counting, it’s reading, it’s a social system and it’s a physics experiment.   The concept recognizes that talent exists in everyone, but it must be cultivated and nurtured to blossom.

If this simple philosophy were used as the standard in all schools imagine the possibility for achievement.  The children in the Venezuelan orchestra believe in their own ability to become great musicians, even given the improbable circumstances of their poverty.  If all students grew in the belief that they are capable to learn and master difficult concepts and skills schools would be challenged not with how to teach low achievers but with how to provide more enrichment.

This might sound like the ravings of some wild-eyed optimist but remember who the members of this orchestra are, they are children used to running bare-footed and dirty, they are children who come to school hungry.    Schools must increase their stock in optimists, in those who find joy in teaching and recognize children’s ability to greatness.

Anyone who has ever planted a garden knows the single most important ingredient is the soil, cultivating and enriching the soil gives many rewards.   A rich soil can withstand extremes of temperature and compensate for what’s lacking.   This same principle applies to everything.  Begin the journey in education early by enriching the mind.  Start with pre-school  give children music and art in abundance.  Continue this and  give children a chance to find joy and see their work not as boring drills and practices but a devotion to becoming better.  

Have you ever been surprised with an unexpected kindness?  There was a recent story of an older man who regularly jogged some remote roads in the hills of southern California.   His biggest fear was of an attack by a mountain lion but since he rarely strayed into the denser areas so he was not worried.  One particular day as he jogged he heard the loud blare of a car radio and the lyrics of a rap song.  The beat of the music got closer and closer.  This man had encountered rude drivers in the past but the noise and the approaching speed of the car worried him.    Suddenly a car full of teenage boys sped past him and slowed to a stop.   Filled with fear the man worried how he was going to jog past the car without incident.  As he got right next to the car one of the boys handed him a Popsicle out the window. 

Simple acts of kindness like the gift of a Popsicle seem strange and out of the ordinary.  Why is that? 

Unfortunately today in workplaces and schools across the country reports of harassment and violence have increased.   P. M. Forni author of the Civility Solution writes that most school and workplace violence began in rudeness.  The roots of rudeness are a failure to value the intrinsic goodness of each person.  When individuals are not seen as worthy and competent its easier for  rudeness to erupt.  

Most people see rudeness as something done to them instead of a symptom of a culture that reacts to any  injustice with anger.  This anger is like lightening in a bottle, when directed at others it scorches everything in its path, work relationships, friendships, families and eventually the health of any institution.   Rudeness can become anger burning out of control. 

School can be the one consistent place in this society where children can learn to practice compassion and simple acts of kindness.  A compassionate mind learns to look at a situation more broadly, seeking a solution that’s acceptable to everyone. 

So how can you as an educator begin to practice and teach children to cultivate the compassionate mind? 

Begin first with yourself.  Examine your daily habits, how do you interact with your co-workers.  Are you tolerant of their shortcomings or do you react with criticism and gossip?    Next evaluate your relationship with your students, are you inpatient with their inattentiveness, disruptions and little unkindness?   When you become the model of compassion you can create a vibration in your classroom that will resonate into all your relationships.

Teach your students to practice sitting with their frustration and anger.  Tell them that in their body there is a biochemical surge that has it’s roots in primitive man.   The fight or flight response was a holdover from the days when the main threat to our survival was a saber tooth tiger and not waiting in line or a redundant question. 

Feelings of anger manifests differently in each person, some of us get so revved up that we can’t think straight.  To address this  teach students deep breathing.  Begin each day with a classroom-breathing lesson, instruct students to close their eyes and begin to observe their breath.  Instruct them to begin to breath more deeply inhaling in for 7 to 10 seconds and exhaling through the nose for the same time.  Repeat this exercise for several minutes. 

Anytime you see agitation tumbling onto rudeness and anger take a time-out to breathe.  Students will begin to practice this and take their cues.  Compassion does not come naturally.  For students to truly become wiser they need a wise and compassionate teacher.    

Do you hit the brakes or the accelerator when you encounter stress?  What is your stress temperament?

You probably know someone who lives in the eye of a crisis storm; their life is a series of minor dramas, which replay over and over.  You also probably know another person who weathers all kinds of storms yet seems to be happy. Scientific studies have discovered a link between personality, temperament and the ability to deal with stress.  Individual responses to life situations vary greatly.  Instead of beating yourself up for your inherent temperament become aware of how you respond to changes.   This awareness can lead you to develop new habits and promote healthy hormones and neurochemicals.

Once you become aware of the language spoken by your autonomic nervous system you will discover the power you have to create joy, abundance and health the same way you create stress, fatigue and disease. 

The implication of using this information in teaching children in school is powerful.  Every teacher creates their own classroom environment and students respond in different degrees based on their own stress temperament.   The first step in creating a healthy environment is to recognize your own stress temperament.  Ask: how do you respond to periods of high activity and inattentiveness with your students and what methods do you use to calm and discipline disrupting students?  

One way to establish a healthy classroom environment is to factor in de-stressors every day.   Educate yourself about the practice of mindfulness.  The practice of mindfulness is an effective tool to enhance academic performance while promoting emotional and social well being.   Its focuses on developing a student’s capacity for attention and awareness. 

Begin every day with three minutes of silence.  Instruct your students to close their eyes and simply notice their breathing as they focus on the space between their nose and upper lip.  As your students get into this habit they will become more aware of their emotions.  This technique is a system that allows the mind to settle down and focus.  You can develop and expand this practice during the school year by adding more mindful minutes including the practice of loving kindness (sending loving kind thoughts to another person while you are silent).   You don’t have to become an expert to create a different kind of calm for your students you only have to be willing to experiment and create this peaceful space.  

The benefit is not just to your students but also to yourself.  It allows you to be the best kind of teacher; one who is truly present in the classroom engaged with students and subject making the connections that open the mind to real learning.

Schools in America are in crisis.   Is this a system failure or a response to the overall moral failure of our culture?

The history of civilization shows that every golden age is followed by a descent.  Throughout time this descent has taken on different withering forms: susperstition, prejudice, greed.  Perhaps our descent is apathy.  Too many children are at risk.  Neglected in the kind of nurturing that gives them the ability to believe in their own innate goodness.  Every child has the potential to be amazing.  The problem is our definition of amazing is limited.  Amazing has an infinite number of possibilities.  Amazing is not what we do but who we are.   Our children have not been given the right paradigm.   If one generation of children were taught loving kindness, first to love themselves and then to share it the larger problems we face would disappear.   Practicing this would diminish the attraction of competing and comparing because the only measurement needed would be: am I better than I used to be and not am I better than you.

The blame cannot be placed only on schools.  The blame has to be shared by all of us, all of us who have embraced the culture of materialism.   The demands of this culture are huge.  Children are vulnerable to the ideas of looking a certain way, dressing a certain way and having certain things.  The attachment to all of this diminishes our collective goodness.  Instead of cultivating what’s already there, we seek what’s outside of us.

Schools could become the leaders in changing this thinking because what children see and hear everyday shapes them.  Everyday the message in schools can be one of loving-kindness and like a drop in a bucket these drops will eventually fill the minds of our children. 

The challenge is not in doing this but in convincing everyone who is associated with schools to embrace this thinking.   It’s easy to mandate a program what’s harder is to grow it.   Schools are a human endeavor.  There is no product except in evolving the thinking minds of children. This is the ultimate product anyone can hope to be part of. 

So how can this be accomplished? 

Simple  - one day at a time.  Schools can begin by cultivating the spirit of gratitude  Establish daily goals for everyone.  Begin with the law of giving.   It is important to give something to everyone you come into contact with during the day.  This gift does not have to be material; it can be a smile, a kind word, encouragement, understanding, or friendship.  The beauty is this plan includes everyone, adults and students both.   And it is contagious.  The more it is practiced the easier it becomes.

It’s easy to become optimistic about our future by looking at the possibilities.   History shows us that we can find ourselves, in a new renaissance and a new enlightenment that can become a profound shift for a better world.

In the news recently there was a very unsettling report about six high school cheerleaders who filmed the beating of another girl.  The beating took place in a private home and lasted thirty minutes.  At one point in the film the victim was knocked unconscious.  This beating was posted on You Tube for the sole purpose of entertainment. The six girls were arrested and could possibly be tried as adults (all are under the age of 16).   None showed any remorse at the time of their arrest instead expressing frustration at missing a cheerleading practice.

As unsettling as the story was a psychologist made an even more disturbing comment.  She suggested that the six teenage girls who did the beating are typical, claiming any teen is capable of crossing this line.  One has to worry if this is true or just speculation.  Our culture has a powerful impact on young people.  The most influential people in their lives are not their parents; it’s their peers, their neighborhood, their school, and the media. The standard is a high stakes quest for popularity and acceptance and the result is a loss of innocence.   It’s in this destructive atmosphere of compete, compare and win at all costs that educators are striving to provide some type of character education, some framework to teach core ethical values.

Character education must be done well and early to put students on the right path, to give them the moral courage to know how and when to walk away from risky and dangerous behaviors.  But not just walk away become the model that others strive to be.  Become better.

Teaching character requires a holistic approach.  You can’t just talk about character you have to model it so that it reflects back and creates the kind of attraction that is impossible to ignore.   Public schools were founded not just to educate but also to create citizens capable of contributing to the common good.  It’s a greater challenge now.    Teachers have a powerful role they can promote this positive development in several ways.

·       Build caring and supportive relationships in the classroom.  The environment should show safety, trust, respect and concern for the welfare of others.  This is the essential foundation

·       Model positive behavior.   Walk the walk just don’t talk the talk.  Students are attuned to their teacher’s behavior and will reflect what they observe.

·       Become a democratic environment where students can make decisions, act on them and reflect on their results.

·       Teach essential social and emotional skills like listening, recognizing and managing emotions, disagreeing respectfully, and resolving conflicts.

·       Involve students in moral discourse.  Discussion about morals is the essence of educating children to be moral individuals.  Teachers can further this understanding with teachable moments, themes in literature and the media to create a dialog.

·       Make learning meaningful and relevant.  Look for ways to show how learning particular subjects is important to helping them achieve their personal goals.

This approach can be part of preventing the occurrence of a wide range of social problems among our youth helping them avoid the pitfalls of life and develop into caring and responsible citizens.