Your Voice Matters

Posted on May 20, 2013 by zoeweil
pile of colored straws

Image courtesy of jeff_golden/Flickr.

In a previous post, “Hold the Straw, and Other Tips for a Humane and Sustainable Life,” I wrote about my frustration every time I receive a straw in my glass of water at a restaurant. I just can’t understand why restaurants would choose to use a single-use, petroleum-based product that becomes trash in minutes, especially when they are wholly unnecessary and cost money, time, and effort. It just seems like such a lose-lose decision.

At one local restaurant where I eat periodically, they bring water with a straw so fast that I often don’t have time to request my water sans straw before it’s in front of me at the table. I’ve gotten into the habit of asking the server to please hold the straw before I’m even seated.

Recently, the server happened to be an environmental advocate herself, and not only did she hold the straw when I explained why I’d asked, she decided that she would hold the straw from now on with every table. And then she informed the kitchen of her decision.

I loved that. By using my voice, I created an immediate system change. So simple.

So use your voice. You’d be surprised at how quickly you can make a difference.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

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The Purpose of Education — Meet Chris Thinnes

Posted on May 13, 2013 by zoeweil
Chris Thinnes

Image courtesy Curtis School.

I was recently introduced to educator Chris Thinnes’ work and writing through an essay he wrote for GOOD. Eager to learn more, I visited Chris’ blog and am now a huge fan. I wanted to share his great work and ideas with you.

Here’s a quote from one of his essays that I found particularly powerful, provocative and important:

“I wonder why we can’t together think more creatively, and generatively, about a dynamic vision of a future students can create, rather than a static vision of a marketplace they should simply service.”

This quote echoes our own questions at the Institute for Humane Education about the purpose of schooling, and our belief that we need to educate young people to be solutionaries for a better world, not simply competitors in the global economy.

We’ll be highlighting more of Chris’ great work and writing here at IHE, but do visit his site and learn more.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

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Most Teens Don’t Think the World is Becoming a Better Place

Posted on May 9, 2013 by zoeweil
sad teen siting on bed

Image courtesy merfam/Flickr.

At the EARCOS conference, one of the other keynote speakers was Michael Furdyk, co-founder of TakingITGlobal, a fantastic organization we’ve written about and highlighted at IHE.

During his keynote, Michael shared an interesting (if not disturbing) statistic from the BBDO GenWorld 2006 study. When teens were asked if they agreed with the statement, “I think the world is becoming a better place,” only 14 percent (on average) responded in the affirmative. The breakdown by country looked like this:

China 34%
Taiwan 25%
India 26%
Brazil 16%
Russia 15%
United States 14%
Australia 11%
Spain 10%
Poland 10%
United Kingdom 9%
Germany 9%
Mexico 6%
France 2%

What’s ironic about these statistics is that, historically, things have been improving for centuries. As I’ve written about before and most recently shared here, by so many measures the world is indeed becoming “a better place.” There is greater freedom and democracy; girls are able to go to school, and women are able to live self-determined lives in greater and greater numbers; gays and lesbians are gaining rights; nonhuman animals are gaining greater protections; tolerance is on the rise and prejudice on the decline; life expectancy has increased almost everywhere, and death by violence has never been lower than in the last half-century.

True, the expanding human population and increased standard of living for a growing percentage of people has meant faster resource depletion and more global warming; increased rates of species extinction, and higher numbers of animals being brutalized and killed for expanding global appetites for meat. And the rise of the middle class has certainly not reached everyone—far from it—and slavery, trafficking, and sweatshop labor persist.

But even as the problems we face become potentially more grave, the opportunities for young people (the target of this BBDO survey) to solve them expands dramatically as organizations such as TakingITGlobal and IHE help pave the way for greater learning, networking, solutionary thinking, and problem-solving.

I am not surprised that only a small percentage of youth believes the world is getting better. After all, because they are growing up in the information age, they now know more about the grave problems we face, something previous generations did not. Fortunately, the fact that they believe the world isn’t getting better does not seem to stop them from committing to improving it.

I wish these youth had a greater sense of the arc of history, but I’m relieved that they are, by and large, staving off apathy and despair and joining forces through a globally connected world (which, ironically, is a perfect example of how the world is getting better) to solve the challenges we face.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

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A Letter to High School Seniors: Don’t Accept College Rejections

Posted on May 2, 2013 by zoeweil
denied and approved stamps

Image courtesy of Joelk75/Flickr.

For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent essay I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “A Letter to High School Seniors: Don’t Accept College Rejections”:

Dear High School Seniors,

Over the past few weeks, many of you have received letters from the colleges to which you applied in the fall and winter.

Some of you are delighted with the outcome, having gotten into your top choice(s). Congratulations. This post is not for you.

Some of you are content, having gotten into a couple of schools that were high on your list. Wonderful. This post is not for you.

Some of you – all too many – are despairing because you received multiple rejections; got on wait lists that are unlikely to turn into acceptances; didn’t receive the financial aid you required; and realized that you actually have no interest in going to the affordable safety school that accepted you. This post is for you.

Many of you, who worked so hard and expected to get into an elite college with the kind of endowment that would ensure you could affordably attend with good financial aid, wonder why you even bothered to take all those AP courses; to study so diligently in classes that sometimes bored you to tears; to prep for the SATs; and to follow all the rules laid out for you during four years of high school.

Here’s my message to you: Don’t surrender your potential. Don’t accept the rejections. It’s time to forge your own path.

Read the complete essay.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Filed under: education, humane education | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Don’t Believe Things Are Getting Better? Watch This Video

Posted on April 29, 2013 by zoeweil

In my TEDx talk Solutionaries, I make the claim that we are living in less violent, less discriminatory, and less cruel times than ever before in recorded human history. I point this out regularly when I give talks, and often people find the statement surprising. Periodically they simply don’t believe it. So I refer these people to Steven Pinker’s painstakingly researched book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that provides ample evidence to support this assertion.

Now there’s another take on it. Watch the 5-minute video above, The Joy of Stats, and marvel at the possibilities for creating positive change.

We don’t have to feel mired in the many horrors of the world. We can remind ourselves that positive change has happened and continues to happen, and our role is to be part of it, using our best skills and talents in the process .

With this in mind, go do your life’s great work and help others find their solutionary path as well.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

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We Don’t Have to Die to Protect the Earth

Posted on April 25, 2013 by zoeweil

In this powerful 5-minute video, “She’s Alive… Beautiful… Finite… Hurting… Worth Dying For,” we are confronted with the reality that brave heroes – some known, many unknown – have died to protect this planet.

As this short video ended, I found myself simultaneously feeling such gratitude for the courageous women and men who risked everything to do what was right and good, and also hoping that children wouldn’t watch this film. I wouldn’t want them to think that striving to do good is such risky business.

It shouldn’t be.

And if we raise a generation of solutionaries it won’t be. Protecting the Earth must become the norm, and if children grow up understanding this, no poacher or corrupt and greedy industrialist will have a chance against such a generation.

That’s the goal. Let’s make it happen.

Become a humane educator.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

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Children Change the World in 5 Minutes a Day

Posted on April 22, 2013 by zoeweil

Another video Mike Johnston (see previous blog post here) shared with me was this four and a half minute film of children working together in school to create positive changes in just 5 minutes per day.

A cynic might watch this video and point out that these little acts don’t actually “change the world,” but what those cynics would miss is that these acts prepare these children to be solutionaries. By teaching, empowering, and engaging children in small actions that make a collective difference, these children learn that what they do matters. This is one of the most important lessons we can impart.

Imagine what these children will do when they enter the various professions to which they are drawn? I’m guessing that they’ll perceive themselves as agents of change and problem-solvers who address unsustainable and unjust systems within those professions. After all, that’s what they will have learned in school.

Once again, ask yourself this question: Who are these children’s teachers? What must they do differently in order to create a culture like this? How can we make this culture the norm?

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

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Who Was This Child’s Teacher?

Posted on April 18, 2013 by zoeweil

One of the videos Mike Johnston (see previous blog post here) shared with me at the EARCOS conference was this introduction to the children’s group Plant for the Planet.

As you watch this 4-minute video, I invite you to focus on these two underlying realities: 1) This boy represents a powerful movement of countless children; and 2) All these children have teachers.

Who are those teachers who’ve empowered and supported these countless children and their incredible work? What must these teachers do to support these children and how must they incorporate the skills and tools for activism and real-world service into their curricula? These children clearly aren’t spending every day focused on preparation for standardized tests, and my guess is that they’re learning more, gaining real world skills, and finding voice, passion, and goodness in the process of learning

This is what education should be.

Children like these will be the outcome.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

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There Are a Lot of Amazing Teachers in the World

Posted on April 15, 2013 by zoeweil
teacher at whiteboard

Image courtesy cybrarian77/Flickr.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of keynoting and leading workshops at the EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools) international teachers’ conference in Shanghai, China. Eleven hundred teachers from across east Asia gathered together to learn, show, and grow, and I have never met a wiser, more compassionate, or more enthusiastic group of teachers in one place at one time.

I was so heartened and hopeful about the future, knowing that so many young people were learning from these amazing teachers. In my next few blog posts I’m going to share some of what I learned from them.

One of the highlights of the conference was meeting and attending workshops with Mike Johnston, the middle school principal at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore. He has co-created an educational movement known as EduCare. EduCare helps lead schools toward better environmental, global issues, and service learning education. Mr. Johnston has moved schools forward by presenting in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia at regional conferences. He has led workshops for teachers and administrators around the world on sustainability, global curriculum K-12, and how service learning should not just be what you do, but who you are as a school. He has dedicated much of his time to not only ensuring students are properly prepared for the world’s most pressing issues, but that they have the skills and desire to take action.

In the first workshop that I attended, Mike shared a diagram of how school curricula is currently structured and provided a vision of how they should and could be structured. Instead of having a school’s mission statement and the global reality standing apart from the curricula (as is the case almost everywhere), he suggests that our global reality – all the issues that humane education covers – be the overarching influence on both the mission of a school and the curricula that’s provided to the students.

With just a slight shift in perspective, our schools could reframe and refocus so that curricula served the real needs of our students and the world, not the needs of meeting IB or AP or standardized test requirements that themselves have been separated from what he refers to as the global reality. Simple, right? Wise, right?

Whether you’re a teacher, administrator, parent, or concerned citizen, spread this idea. It’s just common sense, and it could do a world of good.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

Filed under: humane education | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

It’s Not About You: Tips on Widening Your Perspective for a Better Life and World

Posted on April 11, 2013 by zoeweil

woman looking through binocularsFor my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent essay I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt from “It’s Not About You: Tips on Widening Your Perspective for a Better Life and World”:

It’s a given that we live in a globalized world.

We eat foods produced across the globe; we use electronics whose components come from dozens of places around the world; we can communicate instantaneously with anyone anywhere who has a computer with wifi or a cell phone.

With globalization has come awareness. We can quickly know about the conditions under which people live and work in other countries. We can find out about the plight of other species, or about pollution or deforestation. If the nightly news doesn’t report on these issues, we can discover them through our computers in minutes.

Knowing so much changes us. Or at least has the potential to change us. It enables us to be less tribal, provincial, and self-centered; to think of others outside our family, neighborhood, and even nation; to dwell as often on those we affect as on what affects us.

Read the complete essay.

~ Zoe

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 TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxConejo talk: “Solutionaries”
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

Continue the conversation! Leave your comment below, and “like” and share this post via your social media sites.

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