What Can We Do About Psychopaths?

Posted on May 30, 2011 by zoeweil

On my long trip from Maine to Seattle for Green Fest, I read journalist Jon Ronson’s new book, The Psychopath Test, about psychopaths in our society. It was a fascinating, unsettling read by a exceptional writer. That Ronson can take a grisly subject like psychopathy and actually fill it with witty and pleasurable-to-read writing is quite a feat. Ronson is never one to research a subject from afar; for him, a book on psychopaths requires intimate and indepth contact with psychopaths. Which means we readers have an inside view into such minds.

The title of the book comes from a checklist of questions that comprise a psychopath test created by Canadian psychologist Robert Hare. Hare’s study of psychopathy reveals enough consistency that if someone scores high on the test they are likely to be psychopathic, without conscience or the kinds of fears that “normal” people have. They are, he attests, not curable or treatable.

And this creates a thorny problem. If psychopaths are not curable or treatable, and if, as the book reveals, they make up one percent of the general population, 25% of the prison population, and scariest of all, four percent of those at the top of the corporate ladder, we have a big problem. Psychopaths appear normal, but without conscience, with no restraints on causing harm and suffering to others; and, with honed manipulative skills and a penchant for pathological lying, they wreak havoc. When they are in positions of power (as corporate, religious, media, or political leaders), they harm thousands, even millions. A psychopathic criminal who rapes, mutilates, and kills stirs our terror, but their victims are far fewer in number than those skilled, but still psychopathic Wall Street moguls, religious manipulators, government leaders, and media heads.

And because humanity is easily manipulated, swayed, and susceptible to influence (note the Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments and the brown eyes/blue eyes exercise), the potential for harm by psychopathic manipulators is even greater.

So what to do?

It will come as no surprise to readers of my blog that my best suggestion is this: humane education that is dedicated to teaching critical and creative thinking skills and fostering reverence, respect, and responsibility. Only when we have these skills honed, practiced and employable 100% of the time, are we able to discern misleading and manipulative words and behaviors. These skills are hardly foolproof, but they are a good start. When psychopaths mastermind religious, political, media, and economic control, and an easily manipulated populace blindly follows – as we so often do – we should not be surprised by the outcomes. When a generation truly taught to be investigative thinkers, to deeply self-reflect, to understand connections between behaviors and outcomes, to be system-analyzers and system-changers, and to hold fast to their deepest values, which they are taught from the earliest ages to cultivate with conviction, then there is hope that that powerful 4% of conscience-less people will not go unchecked.

I recommend Ronson’s book for a fascinating, albeit disturbing, view into the mind of psychopaths and to hone your own skills in recognizing psychopathy for your sake and the sake of our world. And I recommend the resources and programs at the Institute for Humane Education for training in this field that offers real hope for combating the power of psychopaths in our midst.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Claude and Medea Now Available on Kindle

Posted on May 13, 2011 by zoeweil

I don’t know if all authors have a favorite among their books, but I do. It’s Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs, which follows the exploits of its 7th grade protagonists, as they become clandestine activists in my hometown of New York City. Claude and Medea solve the mystery of a rash of Manhattan dog thefts and rescue the dogs from an evil vivisector. It was quite fun to write, and the feedback I’ve gotten from kids who’ve read it has been wonderful. A few have told me that it’s their very favorite book. Then the book won the Moonbeam gold medal for juvenile fiction, which was quite an honor.

I’ve just been informed that the book is now available on Kindle, and I wanted to spread the word. Please let others who might be interested in this book know.

Happy reading,

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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A Powerful, Crucial Vision for the Future of Schooling: Teaching 2030

Posted on April 8, 2011 by zoeweil

Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools… Now and in the Future is perhaps the most cogent, reasonable, clear, and yet visionary book about educational reform in the 21st Century. Written through a collaboration of twelve teachers/teacher-leaders and changemakers, Teaching 2030 steers clear of rhetoric, either/ors, political side-taking, and focuses on what we need to create for a future in which all our children are well-educated for the changing world. It is a brilliant book, written with clarity and practicality, and it would not be difficult to implement every one of their suggestions. This book has the capacity to truly transform schooling, and I’m excited to include it as required reading for the students in our M.Ed. and M.A. programs in humane education.

It might appear that such a book is just for teachers or educational reformers and policy-makers, but it is one of the most important books that each of us could read this year simply as citizens. Schooling serves as the bedrock for our future, and each of us has an enormous stake in its success and relevancy.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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A Must Read: Half the Sky

Posted on April 4, 2011 by zoeweil

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky, explores perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation of our time: the horrific abuse of women and girls, primarily in Africa and Asia. It is easy in industrialized and democratic countries to think that the struggle for women’s rights has largely been won, because in many countries, like the U.S., young women are attending college in significantly greater numbers than young men; because girls in affluent and democratic countries grow up believing they can have the same opportunities as boys; and because even though women are still paid less for the same work as men, we are still largely free to achieve the same goals.

We know that women fare worse in other countries, but it is hard to fathom the extent of misogyny and cruelty perpetrated on girls and women, because such information is rarely on the front page of the news. For example, before 9/11, it was generally only feminists who were calling for the ousting of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Had Osama bin Laden not been headquartered in Afghanistan in 2001, it’s doubtful that any action against the Taliban would have been taken, and its oppression of women under its brutal regime would have persisted, with little or no intervention from other countries.

With the publication of Half the Sky, the hidden abuse of women across the globe is no longer quite so hidden. Kristof and WuDunn have written a readable, albeit horrifying, bestseller that is bringing to light the unimaginable exploitation of half the human population. Their powerful book promises to help create real and meaningful change. It already has, and I believe that this book is one of the top three (along with Zeitoun by Dave Eggers and Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer) that people ought to read this year. In its pages readers will be shocked, but left with hope and concrete actions to take.

Readers of this blog will not be surprised that the single biggest avenue for change that Kristof and WuDunn advocate lies in educating girls to free them from poverty and provide them with choices which slowly, but inexorably, diminish their oppression by both their husbands and those who would use and abuse them for profit. While Kristof and WuDunn are talking about education that provides basics (literacy, numeracy and technological knowledge), I couldn’t help but wonder if there was room for humane education. It’s a tricky question. Much of what humane education explores – the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection – would not find fertile ground in schools barely able to provide the basics of reading, writing, and math or in societies where women must ask their husbands if they may leave the house, but in its broad goal of educating a generation of solutionaries, my hope is that humane education can take root even in these schools, so that girls realize their capacity to create positive changes in their own lives, and perhaps systemically in within their societies to the extent that they are able.

My only frustration with what is a phenomenally important book lies in the ways in which the authors undermine the plight of animals, which is so unnecessary in a book that so fully uncovers exploitation and oppression of those without power. For example, when discussing a $9 billion estimate of the amount of money that would be necessary to provide effective interventions for maternal and newborn health for 95% of the world’s population, the authors write that this “pales beside the $40 billion that the world spends annually on pet food….” Of all the things to which to compare aid to women, it is odd to choose pet food, as if providing food for our companion animals is some sort of frivolity at best or moral failure at worst. Why not compare the $9 billion needed to spending on cosmetics or computer games or sports events? If this were the only place where the authors chose to mention animals in a subtly dismissive way, I would not be mentioning it, but it is not. It is my great hope that all forms of oppression, victimization, and exploitation will be seen as morally repugnant, and it’s worth pointing out that tens of millions of dogs and cats are brutalized and killed every year, and that they, too, are worthy of our compassion and care. Still, my small quibble is just that. Kristof and WuDunn have written a book we must read and heed, and I’m profoundly grateful for their courage, commitment, and tremendous effort to bring the plight of women across the globe to light.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Dexter Chapin’s Master Teachers

Posted on March 16, 2011 by zoeweil

I recently read Dexter Chapin’s excellent book, Master Teachers: Making a Difference on the Edge of Chaos and underlined more passages than I had in any book in years. For my blog today, I wanted to share some of them.

“Nothing the federal government, the state government, or the school district does will improve education and schooling nearly as much as recognizing the impact and magic created by a master teacher connecting with students.”

“What really sets teachers apart are two traits. The first is that teachers are idealists. To a person, they believe the world can be a better place and they, all by themselves, can make a difference, and, perhaps, a big difference.”

“Everybody has moments of success, but teachers see it every time the kids’ eyes light up when they see and understand something never seen and never understood before.”

“By the time he retires, every good teacher has hundreds of heirs. Perhaps this is the best reason to teach. Teachers dream a better world and have a capacity to achieve that dream not for just one generation but certainly two and possibly three generations.”

“The good teacher needs student questions the way a thirsty person needs water. And no matter where the question leads, the master teacher can bring it back to where the students have to go.”

“Teachers are political animals. The decisions they make about what knowledge to include in their class is an intensely political act. This fact cannot be avoided because not choosing is an equally political act. College professors have the partial protection of tenure, but most K-12 teachers do not. Safety for many teachers lies in mediocrity, where the definition of mediocrity is what most people do most of the time. However, master teachers do have a safety net or protection that is not available to mediocre teachers, the trust of their students. Master teachers have compassion; the ability to meet students where they are. Over time, compassion breeds trust. Over time, trust allows the teacher to shake the students’ knowledge base to its foundations, while the students make a conscious effort to protect the teacher.”

“Integrity and empathy are the beginnings of a foundation for lifelong learning. Therefore the goal of the master teacher must be to increase both in students.”

“The flow of information from the teacher to the student dwarfs the flow from the student to the teacher. The measure of success is regurgitation. Can the student give back what was given? Yes? No? Success? Failure?…. It is a trivial system indeed that returns an input as output with no change. How trivial are we going to make education and our students?”

“Optimistic teachers are confident that the world can be changed. However, they do not believe that only they have the power to change the world. They trust their students. Therefore, their role is not that of a blacksmith hammering a piece into shape, but rather a gardener encouraging growth…. A second trait of optimistic teachers is the belief that they have never peaked as a teacher. What happened in their class yesterday can be improved on. It has never been as good as it might be. They are constantly looking for other ways to do things, to broaden the experience, to enrich the information sources, and to tailor the structure and function for the class to meet student needs and interests.”

“While we rush, rather thoughtlessly, to copy the rote memorization techniques that enable kids in Asia and elsewhere to score so well on standardized tests, the education ministries in Japan, China, and India are frantically dispatching minions into the field, exhorting teachers to ‘teach in a more American fashion,’ in order to stop squelching the creativity, imagination, and argumentative confidence that we encourage (or used to encourage) so well.”

“Part of the art of teaching is to be able to read the students as they come through the door… To make our lives easier, I built a eudemony meter for the classroom. Eudemony is a measure of general well-being. The meter consisted of an open pine cabinet with a layer of cork in the back with a seven-inch circle inscribed. At the base of the cabinet were five containers of push pins; green, blue, clear, yellow, and red. The cabinet was situated so I could not see the color pin the student put into the cork on entering the class. Before I started class, I would look at the pattern in the target and knew immediately what I was dealing with. Some days I could go for broke and some days I couldn’t. Some days, I just abandoned the lesson plan, and did something else entirely because it was really green or really red…. In those instances where I had a single red at the start of class for two or three days running, the students always made sure I knew who was having a bad time. They never did it outright; it was always in code, but they made sure I knew. The student in question was always grateful.”

“A necessary basis for students feeling safe is the presence of rules that are held inviolate. The rule that leaps to mind is the golden rule, ‘Do unto others…’ The trouble is that this rule is meaningless to precisely those students who have the greatest tendency to create social havoc. They are bullies who have ‘already been done to’ and see the world as being a place where you do first before it can be done to you. A better rule might be, ‘You can say, or do, anything provided it is true, kind, and useful (it gets us down the road to where we want to be).’”

“Competition between students has a bad aroma with some teachers…. However, done appropriately so that one person, group, or team does not metaphorically score ten runs in the first inning, it can generate very positive outcomes…. the competitive situation should have the following characteristics:
• It must be limited to a specific situation, assignment, or time, and not generalized across the context.
• The ‘rules’ must be the same for all players but the outcomes may be different.
• There must be multiple, limited competitions between variable groups.
• The competitive situation should always be novel and unpredictable.
• And finally, the competition must always remain a game and be fun.”

“… there are two questions to be asked. The first question is, if we gave any one of the high stakes tests such as the SAT, ACT, or NCLB mandated state tests to a thousand congressmen, CEOs, artists, or military officers, would a significant portion be embarrassed by their performance? Which raises the second question, what does a successful person need to know, and how and where can each person learn it? The answers to these last questions should drive a national organization of teachers. Forget the rest of it. If we can get this in front of the nation, everything else will follow.”

“Please do not even try to be a teacher if you do not have all of the attributes of character: integrity tempered by empathy, intelligence tempered by awe, risk-taking tempered by common sense, independence tempered by the desire to serve, and most important, self-confidence tempered by self-knowledge. Even with all the attributes, please do not start or continue on the journey just because it is possible. Start or continue on the journey because it is what you have to do, almost a calling.”

“In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and highest responsibility anyone could have.”

With hope for schools filled with master teachers like Dexter Chapin,

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Educating About Eating Animals

Posted on March 14, 2011 by zoeweil

Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have chosen Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals as the summer reading book for their incoming freshman for 2011. Rarely would summer reading for a college’s new students be newsworthy, but this one is. For a book that so carefully and comprehensively uncovers animal agriculture and meat-eating to be selected among all others as the one every entering freshman must read tells us something important. Factory farming, on land and sea, is no longer simply a trendy topic for middle and upper middle class foodies or committed activists, and hard-hitting books about our food system don’t need to extol the virtues of “small” and “local” and “pasture-raised” as the only alternatives to a system of destruction and cruelty, because in Foer’s book, it’s hard not to conclude that vegetarianism (more commonly marginalized in popular food-critique books) comes out as a moral winner. This is new.

Eating Animals is a beautifully written book. It is both personal and painstakingly researched. There is no proselytism in its pages, though it would be difficult not to want to make more conscientious and compassionate food choices after reading it. It is a book that digs deep and wide where most popular authors about our food system problems fall short. It also offers a voice to different approaches to an ethical diet so that the reader can choose for her/himself.

This is a book everyone should read, and that two major universities have chosen it as summer reading is a testament to both its importance and to the changes that have taken place in our society. We are finally seriously talking within our universities about what we eat and how our food is produced, and with that conversation comes both the recognition that the complex and far-reaching effects of food choices are important for our students to learn about and provides hope for changes in our food system.

Zoe Weil
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk

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Humane Education Bookshelf: Kids and Animals

Posted on February 2, 2011 by zoeweil

Since my TEDx talk was released, I have been receiving lots of emails from people wanting to learn how to implement the ideas I shared. I’ve also been hearing from humane educators and groups doing fantastic work across the globe. For my next several blog posts, I wanted to share some of their great work.

Outstanding humane educator and renowned ethologist, Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., has done it again: produced a wonderful book and tool for humane educators. Written in collaboration with Roots and Shoots, Kids & Animals: Drawings From the Hands and Hearts of Children & Youth shares the beautiful and heartfelt words and drawings of children around the world who are involved in Roots and Shoots work to improve the lives of animals, the environment and communities across the globe. Best of all, the book is available free online. (pdf)

For a better world through humane education,

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, The Power and Promise of Humane Education, Claude and Medea, and Above All, Be Kind

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Zeitoun and Humane Education

Posted on January 19, 2011 by zoeweil

My son, a junior in high school, is taking a course entitled “Shared Voices,” an integrated class that brings together American History and American Literature, so that what students read for English is reflected in what they study in history. I love the whole idea of this course, as the separation of disciplines often leads students away from the integration that would make each subject even more relevant and meaningful. When I was buying my son’s texts for the semester, I was excited by the reading list and offered to read the books at the same time in case he wanted to talk about them outside of class.

The first book he was assigned was Dave Eggers’, Zeitoun, the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American with a successful contracting and painting business in New Orleans. During Hurricane Katrina, Zeitoun chose to stay behind as the city’s populace, and his own family, evacuated. He did so not only out of stubbornness, but to protect the many properties they owned and were responsible for.

Zeitoun found himself feeling alive and purposeful as never before as he used his canoe to rescue people during the days following the flooding of the city and fed the dogs left behind in people’s homes. After a week of this heroism, Zeitoun and three others at his home were falsely arrested and brought to a newly erected jail at the Greyhound Bus Station. Zeitoun, not only completely innocent, but also the kind of man who should serve as a model of integrity, compassion, and honesty to us all, was abused and mistreated in ways that not only defy our core American values but our stated system of jurisprudence. The book serves as a wake up call to all those who assume our legal and punitive systems are relatively fail-safe and humane.

The book was captivating, enraging, inspiring, motivating, a profoundly important read, and a perfect example of humane education in action – bringing something deeply relevant and important into the study of history and English, igniting critical, and hopefully creative thinking, as the students grapple with the complexities of our modern society, government, religious freedom, incarceration and punishment, the military and legal systems and their potential breakdowns, intolerance and stereotypes, and most importantly, everyday heroism which lies at the core of this book in the character of Zeitoun.

As a newly published book there is no option for reading CliffsNotes, no likelihood that students will fail to engage with the text or the subject. Instead there are two teachers and a supportive high school who have crafted a course to awaken, inspire, enlighten, engage, and help make meaningful the critical study of both American literature and history. Every American should read this book. I’m just so happy my son is reading it in school.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of The Power and Promise of Humane Education, Most Good, Least Harm and Claude and Medea

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12 Ways to Make a Difference in Your Community

Posted on January 5, 2011 by zoeweil

My post today is simply a link to Simon & Schuster’s Healthy Living post which excerpts my book, Most Good, Least Harm, for 12 ways to make a difference in your community.

Happy New Year everyone!

Zoe

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A Must-Read List for Humane Educators & Citizen Activists

Posted on December 13, 2010 by zoeweil

In a previous blog post I wrote about the prescribed reading and assignments for our M.Ed. and certificate program students at the Institute for Humane Education. For those of you wondering what might be considered core books for a humane educator (or someone interested in understanding the interconnected issues of human rights, animal protection, environmental preservation, culture and changemaking, and education), here’s a sample reading list of solutions-focused books. Maybe you’ll put some of these on your holiday wish list:

Healing Through the Dark Emotions by Miriam Greenspan – A book that makes it possible to get through all the others and to stay engaged and healthy through some tough reading.

Ending Slavery by Kevin Bales – A book to introduce the reader to escalating worldwide slavery and what to do about it.

Creating a World Without Poverty by Mohammad Yunus – A book of solutions, written by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – Education as a solution to poverty and oppression.

Creating a World that Works for All by Sharif Abdullah – The name says it all.

Capitalism 3.0 by Peter Barnes – A case for capitalism that is both economically sound and environmentally and culturally sustainable and positive.

Field Notes on the Compassionate Life by Marc Ian Barasch – What does goodness look like in the world?

Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart – An approach to solving environmental challenges through technology, invention, and innovation that does no harm.

Eaarth by Bill McKibben – A look at global warming with ideas for response.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond – What has and hasn’t worked to protect the environments and societies where different cultures have chosen varying approaches.

Earth in Mind by David Orr – Educating for an ecologically literate generation.

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer – The book that launched the animal rights movement.

The Food Revolution by John Robbins – A detailed and accessible look at how our food choices affect our health, the environment and animals.

The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer – Written primarily for college professors, this book invites all of us to consider the teacher within and to teach for a better world.

Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life – At the risk of self-promotion, my own book connects all these subjects and offers an approach to living and changemaking for a better world and a meaningful life

Read on!

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education

P.S. Want to get a taste of our humane education training programs & gain skills and support for inspiring your students to become leaders & change agents for a healthy, peaceful, sustainable world? Sign up for the next session of our 30-day online course, Teaching for a Positive Future (February 7-March 14, 2011). Special rates for groups of teachers.

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