The Power and Promise of Humane Education
Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs
So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals
The 6/7th grade at the Bay School — where I taught a week-long MOGO class in December — have started a monthly newsletter, which includes a column titled “MOGO Tip of the Month.” When I wrote about this class and shared some of their commitments from their MOGO plans, at that time, none had written about starting a newsletter that included information on making MOGO choices, yet a few months later, this is just one way in which these young people are conjuring new ideas and efforts toward creating a more humane world.
We hear a lot about youth apathy, about the MySpace and Facebook culture of narcissism, but little about the dedication young people have toward creating a better world. Yet the 6/7th graders at the Bay School, along with many of their peers across the globe, are actually striving for goodness. In addition to the “MOGO Tip of the Month,” this edition of the newsletter includes an essay about making homework a positive experience, an advice column about how best to apologize and about being oneself, and a welcome back to their teacher who was away (with a thank you to their substitute). Created and written entirely by the students, these are the subjects they’ve chosen to write about, and theirs is a brighter future because of their attitude, kindness, and wisdom.
~ Zoe
Filed under: MOGO (Most Good), positive choices Tagged: | Bay School, MOGO, positive choices, student activism
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We can, and we must, teach our children how to better the world, and to allow them to lead us, because children are purer and less corrupted than adults, so they understand more about how the world really works.
What we hear in the media does not accurately represent reality, because (with some exception) the media only prints what sells, because the media’s goal is to make money for itself, not to present a fair and balanced view of reality.
We need to redefine the purpose of media, on all levels, from grade school to the big city newspapers. We need to understand that every single idea printed in every single newspaper is going to affect the behavior patters of every single person in the world, directly and indirectly, and we have to make the conscious effort to write down only the most peace inducing ideas, and to read only the most peace inducing ideas, while intentionally withholding ideas which will create upheaval, and intentionally refusing to read ideas which will have a negative affect upon our minds, our behavior, our choices and our actions.
We need to tell our children that they should make decisions based on compassion for other people and animals, instead of making decisions based on personal physical gratification. When we tell our children that their own personal physical gratification is of paramount importance, then they start doing all kinds of destructive things.
But when we tell our children that they should be more concerned with acting with empathy and compassion towards other people and animals then they consider the emotions of other people and animals and make decisions which leave their fellow humans and animals in peace, instead of using other people and animals as commodities to gratify their own personal physical desires.
This is very, very important. There are two basic philosophies, which manifest in many different ways. One is a philosophy in which we view the world around us (other people, animals, and the planet) as commodities to be used to gratify our own personal desires. The other philosophy is when we view ourselves as stewards of other people, animals and the planet. We feel responsible for protecting, nurturing and healing other people, animals and the planet, instead of using other people, animals and the planet to satisfy our own lusts.
We live very, very high, even in many of the “less developed countries.” We do not need all of the things we have. Three shirts and pants (or skirts) should more than suffice every single person. We don’t need all of the gadgets and gizmos we work so hard to buy, and none of the gadgets, gizmos or clothes bring any kind of lasting psychological satisfaction. Is it worth working to buy all of these things which never bring me any true, lasting contentment, or would I rather buy less, so that I can work less, so that I can devote my time to doing something which satisfies my soul?
One way to make a positive difference in the world is to be very careful about which products I buy, making sure that I only by products packaged in biodegradable cardboard or glass, and not in plastic, and to then tell my children, and the companies themselves, that I am buying one product because it is packaged in biodegradable paper or glass, but I won’t buy the other one because the other one is packaged in plastic. Yes, tell the company. Tell the company that you will be glad to start buying their product when they start packaging it in biodegradable (preferably recycled) paper cardboard or glass instead of plastic.
Also, city kids often have a very hard time comprehending the natural world and how their purchases affect the natural world because they have so little interaction with soil, gardens, trees, birds, etc … so let’s try to get these kids some containers to put on the roofs of their schools, to grow organic gardens on the roofs. Start with something simple, something which grows easily and isn’t likely to have too many complicated snags. I hear that cucumbers are prolific growers, and so far my tomato plants seem to be fairly cooperative, as they seem to be for other people as well.
There are organizations which try to get the most needy city kids out of the city, into the country, for short periods of time, during the summer, to live with host families, or to live in summer camps, so that they can have some exposure to the natural world, which means they have a chance of gaining a basic understanding of the natural world (and concepts like biodegradable cardboard vs. non-biodegradable plastic), and therefore come to comprehend why it is in their best interest to buy products packaged in cardboard instead of plastic when they have a choice between the two.
There is also a lovely show called Sunrise Earth (which is on the Animal Planet channel in my area), and I believe Sunrise Earth is sold on DVD through DiscoveryStore.com. About 95% of their episodes are simply footage taken from the natural world (oceans, rivers, streams, farms, fields, rainforest, trees). A few of the episodes are more urban (such as one with a manmade park in China, or another of a Tai Chi group practicing near the Golden Gate Bridge), but most the episodes are nothing but footage of the natural world, undisturbed, without any talking, just the sounds and sites of nature. I love the show because it calms me down, because the footage is extremely soothing to someone who yearns for the peace and quiet and solitude of the undisturbed natural world, but the show is also educational for children who have relatively little experience in the natural world, and could benefit from seeing some footage of it, so they get some idea of what the natural world is supposed to look like.
You’d be surprised at how much even a suburban kid like me can learn from a little bit of travel. Though I grew up surrounded by trees, relatively close hiking trials, and had enough grass around me to plant a garden with my parents many times, I didn’t realize, that there are areas which are even less disturbed than ours was.
Right before I was 22 I took a trip out into the middle of a desert, to visit a settlement which was far away from most of the larger towns and cities. It was about an hour drive between the last big city / town, and the settlement itself. There were a few other small settlements on the way, but for the most part there was nothing, just desert. That particular desert seemed to be more rock than sand. When night fell I had quite a shock. There we were, miles and miles and miles from most man made lights, so there were no lights to obstruct the view of the night sky. No manmade lights to blot out the light of the stars, and there were hundreds upon hundreds, or maybe even thousands of stars which I had never been able to see before. The stars were visible in the middle of the desert because there were almost no other lights around to obstruct their glow. It was absolutely amazing. I was awestruck.
On another note, everything is interconnected, every part of the child’s life is interconnected, and every aspect of their psyche is inter-linked, so we must make sure that they know which decisions are healthy for them. We need to get rid of magazines and turn off shows which suggest that it is OK for teenagers to sleep around, and we need to make it absolutely clear to them that sex is for mature, independent adults, not teenagers, because everything is interconnected, and the ramifications of teenagers having “casual” sex are going to reach into all aspects of their lives.
Some of the narcissism which you speak of is either created or intensified by the media. Children and adults copy the things they see on TV, so I will show my kids programs where people treat each other, and animals, with respect, compassion, and empathy, and make sure they don’t watch programs where people are indifferent or disrespectful towards each other and animals. One program in which the characters treat each other with more respect, consideration and empathy is Seventh Heaven. Some of the older shows feature characters that treat each other with respect and compassion. I have no idea what is out there now, but Babar and Barney both featured characters who interacted with each other in a respectful manner, for preschoolers.
It’s important to understand that both children and adults are deeply affected by the things they watch on TV, read in newspapers, and magazines, and therefore carefully monitor everything, allowing children to watch or read material which build the character, by providing them with examples of how they should behave, with compassion, respect and empathy, while intentionally discouraging TV and books in which characters use each other to gratify their own desires, or are nasty to each other.