The Heart of a Child

The most powerful and meaningful learning begins in the human heart.  It is our relationships with others that serve as the catalyst for these lessons. Yet, we leave the development of this critical domain almost entirely out of our schools.  We create rules to enforce suppression of behaviors, but do not teach students how to manage difficult emotions. We leave these lessons to the family and the church. In many instances, the family and the church are not adept at guiding young people in this area of human development.

Lessons of the heart are not as complicated as they may seem.  It is the lack of understanding and practice that make this domain so challenging.  Mostly, young people need to develop strategies for honoring and expressing their feelings in the right place, with the right people, and at the right time.  If schools begin these lessons early on, students will develop methods for managing their feelings and a tolerance for the most difficult of human emotions: fear, anger and pain.

It follows that if our students develop these skills at a young age and then continue to hone them, they will be less likely to turn to food, alcohol, violence, and self-harm to cope with the impact of these emotions.  They will be more likely to employ strategies that enable them to live harmoniously with their emotional selves and harness the power of their hearts.

Next Blog: Skill 1:  Awareness

The 21st Century School: Think Tank and Research and Development Organizations

Yesterday, I asked my 9 year old son (Turner) how he felt about his performance on the state-mandated assessment he had taken that day.   I felt relieved, of course, when he told me..."it was easy...just the same stuff we've already learned".

Turner is a case study of a kid who likes going to school.  Primary education can work for students who are comfortable with a social learning model.  I am concerned, however,  about his motivation as he reaches the middle school years.

These years comprise huge developmental changes for children across physical, cognitive, social, and emotional domains. They are "experienced".  They know what school is like.  A continuation of "more of the same" wears thin for these students. Instead, infusing the curriculum with a variety of pedagogical approaches centered upon problem-based learning, has the potential to re-engage the middle years student in the process of learning. Perhaps, to even ignite their love of learning.

In many ways, secondary students are ready to become a part of defining solutions to our world problems.  They are old enough to know that the world is not the illusion that we presented to them during their primary years. The illusion that we can protect them and shelter them from the problems that generations of world citizens have created.

Today, more than ever, students are savvy in ways that preceding generations were not.  They are both innocent and wise. Child-like and worn. They have glimpsed the real world and they know that there is much to do.