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A New Paradigm: Calling for the transformation of childhood education through developmentally-intelligent design
By Joan Jaeckel and Eric Utne, Guest Editors
In this issue we're making the case that, society-wide, things are getting better because of four
positive education macro-trends: Holism, Inner Growth, Civil Society, and The Learning
Organization. Even our highly industrialized and regimented educational system which standardizes,
alienates and instills helplessness in students, is being transformed into one that instead
protects and nurtures children's growing minds.
In our view, we're not just at a crisis point; we're at a threshold of opportunity.
There's no one to blame, no good old days to go back to, nothing to fix or save. Why would we
want to fix or save a Model T? The old educational paradigm was revolutionary in its time and
today, not so much.
The 15 Inspired Educational Transformers in this
special issue of GreenMoney Journal describe the first steps to a new, civilized educational
paradigm-a shift away from systematically making children feel that there is something wrong with
them towards a culture of developmentally intelligent learning.
We question the outdated
industrial-age framing of education as a commodity-pretending that minds are empty vessels to be
filled and measured, rather than fires to be ignited (see articles by Arthur Zajonc and Betty
Staley).
The paradigm is shifting. New, flexible, self-organizing approaches to learning
run less on rigidity and more on plasticity (like our "neuroplastic" brains say Linda Lantieri and
Jane Healy). These new approaches can be recognized and evaluated without invoking "rigor" (as in
"knuckle crunching," "tough," and "mortis") Deborah Meier and Ingrid O'Brien suggest. Plasticizing
experiences like the arts (Gayle Davis), nature (Richard Louv) and working with animals (William
Crain) train our minds to think clearly and flexibly, while seeing with wondering eyes and
compassionate hearts.
We noticed that the four positive education macro-trends
correspond to the four positive cultural macro-trends which account for the Lifestyles of Health
and Sustainability (LOHAS) sector: being Green, socially responsible business, investment and
philanthropy, meditation and contemplation (with neuro-scientifically proven benefits!), and
conscientious individuals as a new sector, "the cultural sector" or "civil society." The
conscientious educator takes the social change lead (see articles by Ron Miller and Ocean Robbins).
A civilized educational system moves public education and private education to the next
level of cooperation. We can cultivate people who weave originality, community, and service into
civilization's fabric from generation to generation, as Joan Almon so movingly describes. Like
cradle-to-cradle manufacturing, generation-to-generation education doesn't end with graduation. The
developmentally intelligent educator is a cultural healer who first, does no harm, (see article by
Deborah Meier), wastes no lives, and returns bright, loving and enterprising "nutrients" into the
social soil. Let us step up with confidence and be like Betty Staley, Sonja Williams and Elizabeth
Goodenough!
We gratefully acknowledge over a decade of support for whole childhood from
Susan Kendall Newman/Paul Newman-Newman's Own with gratitude.
Finally we thank you, Cliff
and the GreenMoney Journal team for opening your pages and treasured readers to these views.
As the election is over and nation-building begins in America, please forward this issue to
everyone you know and start a conversation!
Here at GreenMoney.com you will find an
expanded online version of the special education issue including an exclusive article by Ocean
Robbins, founder of Youth For Environmental Sanity (YES!).
- Joan Jaeckel and
Eric Utne, Guest Editors
Joan Jaeckel is a thought-change activist for social
transformation through intelligent human design. Email: joan.jaeckel@gmail.com and website: http://www.ijoanjaeckel.com
Eric
Utne founded the Utne Reader and is an educational innovator and social entrepreneur. Website:
http://www.earthcouncils.org
Dedication:
This issue is dedicated to
the Ten Civil Societarians who are exemplary friends of Childhood and Youth:
1. Geoffrey
Canada, Harlem Children's Zone 2. Van Jones, author of Green For All: Building a Green Collar
Economy 3. Dave Eggers, 826 Valencia 4. Rachael Kessler, PassageWays Institute 5. David Orr,
Center for EcoLiteracy 6. Deborah Solomon, Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) 7. Wayne
Jennings, The International Association for Learning Alternatives 8. Steve Boncheck, Harmony
Education Center 9. Craig Kielberger, O Ambassadors 10. Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, "Do Schools
Kill Creativity?"
WHOLE MIND EDUCATION
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TREND 1 – HOLISM
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The Politics of Play
Five years ago, when the nonprofit Alliance for Childhood announced its campaign to restore imaginative, freely chosen play to children's lives, at home and in school, we were told that "play" was a four-letter word. "Don't use it," said many of our friends. We thought about it, and said, "No. We're going to change people's minds."
by Joan Almon
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Multitasking Is Cool, but Can They Task?
Kids' brains are being changed, and not necessarily for the better, according to a recent study by the Kaiser Foundation of recreational media habits of 8-18-year-olds. Its findings suggest that our upcoming generation of voters and taxpayers may have difficulty either thinking deeply or staying focused on anything for very long.
by Jane M. Healy, Ph.D.
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Building Emotional Intelligence
A strong public demand is arising in the US for schools to implement effective educational approaches that promote not only academic success but also enhance health, and prevent problem behaviors.
by Linda Lantieri
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Animal Feelings: Learning Not to Care and Not to Know
At a recent New Jersey public hearing, the topic was a proposed bear hunt. A small boy walked up to the microphone, said his name was Bobby, and told the officials that shooting bears was horrible. "How would you like it if someone shot at you? You wouldn't like it, would you?" Then Bobby threw up his arms and said, "But you won't care what I say because I'm only seven years old," and walked back to his seat in a dejected manner.
by William Crain
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To Educate Future Change Agents, Change Education Today
We live in a short attention-span world and face long attention-span challenges from a stressed-out educational system, a stressed out society, and a stressed-out earth.
by Betty Staley
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Kindergarten is the New High School
I see the question of how K-16 education needs to change for the 21st Century asked a lot in educational circles these days, and I feel that it is often a question masquerading as an agenda. The agenda is basically to make kindergarten the new high school and college - hence the "K-16" label - by pouring more academics on already stressed children "to get them ready for the challenges of the future."
by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D
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TREND 2 – INNER GROWTH
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We Need an Educational Philosophy Fit for Human Beings
The educational imagination of one age is simultaneously a foreshadowing of the society we will live within a generation later. An impoverished educational imagination will inevitably lead to a diminished human society and an abused planet. In his essay "The Loss of the University," Wendell Berry said that the goal of higher education is, "…not just trained workers or knowledgeable citizens but responsible heirs and members of human culture."
by Arthur Zajonc
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Learning Needs Teaching
If we want to prepare our nation's young to be active, engaged citizens, we must address the failure of the education system to effectively prepare the 13 million children growing up in poverty - nearly one-fifth of our nation's youth - for full societal participation. And we can reach them, if we are willing to do what it takes to provide our nation's most needy students with outstanding instruction.
by Ingrid O'Brien
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Please Find a School That Your Child Does NOT Attend, and Volunteer!
So, how does K-16 education need to change in order to prepare young people to become effective participants and change agents in the 21st Century?
by Sonja Williams
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Education in the 21st Century
I don't know about you, but I've met students whose eyes are lit and whose spirits are aflame with meaning and purpose. And I've met others who seemed mired in an almost pathological level of boredom and cynicism. What are the dynamics at work that lead some to thrive, and others barely to survive? What can be done to nurture the potential in the next generation?
by Ocean Robbins
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TREND 3 – CIVIL SOCIETY
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Five Principles of the Coming Education Revolution
mechanistic/technocratic mindset that gave rise to the age of industrial and imperial expansion that began in the mid-nineteenth century. It is increasingly apparent that this historical era has spent its creative energies and is now on the verge of decline. Another worldview is emerging, one concerned with sustainability, interconnectedness, and celebration of human diversity. It is a holistic worldview, which brings with it entirely different ideas about education.
by Ron Miller
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Democracy-friendly Education
Re-thinking schools starts with re-thinking its fundamental purposes and function. There are, first and foremost, only two purposes that matter to me. Everything else is a luxury.
by Deborah Meier
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TREND 4 – THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION
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The Coming Wave of Natural Education Reform
Many of us are no longer willing to allow the growth of what, in Last Child in the Woods, I dubbed "nature-deficit disorder" - the psychological, physical and cognitive costs of human alienation from nature. During the past couple years, as I've spoken on this issue in the United States and other countries, I've been moved by the number of college students who come up to tell me that they've decided to change their career choice, that they're now committed to bringing nature to the lives children (and adults) - including in education.
by Richard Louv
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12 Ways ARTS-Integrated Education Grows Future-Oriented Young Minds
Business sage Edward Deming observed decades ago that an education system in which 50% of the students are below average is in serious need of a paradigm shift.
by Gayle Davis
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Secret Spaces of Childhood and the Pedagogy of Place
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (1940)
by Elizabeth Goodenough
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ADDITIONAL ARTICLES
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Reflection of an Internship
My work in the area of economic sustainability became even more compelling over the last few months after having worked with four dynamic women from Southern Africa. Mahaliah Gillian Kowa of South Africa, Nomvula Mashoai-Cook of South Africa, Chila Smith Lino of Mozambique, and Jane Parsons of Zimbabwe entered my life in the winter of 2008.
by Sylvie Obledo
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Sustainability Education for All
In the chilly, gray holi-daze of 2000, I found myself sitting on a bench in an affluent suburban mall. Around me people streamed in and out of clothing boutiques extolling the virtues of clothes made in Honduras, designer hand bags made in China, and other assorted accessories from around the world.
by Christina Selby
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Camino de Paz School and Farm
Imagine a world where young people feel empowered. Imagine a world where young people live sustainability. Imagine a world where young people produce their most basic of commodities, food, cooperatively and locally. This is the vision which guides the students, staff and board of directors at the Camino de Paz School and Farm.
by Patricia Pantano, Executive Director
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