What should a 21st-century education look like for our children?
According to materials distributed by the Hawn Foundation (yes, Hawn as in Goldie Hawn), Bill Gates once said, “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
2012 is finally upon us, and the world is changing in many ways. The Arab Spring of 2011 has led to the introduction of democracy where tyrants previously held sway, and more than ever we are recognizing that the future of humanity is in the hands of each and every one of us.
How do we create a culture in the classroom that focuses on cultivating the skills essential to flourishing as human beings in the 21st century?
Dr. Daniel Siegel, a leading neuropsychiatrist, calls for shifting our focus away from reading, writing, and arithmetic, and toward a new set of Rs: reflection, relationships, and resilience.
The alarming reality that depression affects 12 to 13 percent of teenagers should be enough of a catalyst for considering how we can use education to promote well-being in a whole new way.
Psychologists already understand that from age 12, the emotional part of the brain known as the limbic system develops and that if we create exercises that nourish this aspect of the brain during adolescence, there can be a profound and positive influence on the child’s emerging self.
The positive news for educators is that research shows that transitioning to the three Rs is a win/win situation. Studies from the Hawn Foundation’s signature education initiative, MindUP (a blend of social, emotional, and attentional skills developed for cultivating well-being and emotional balance in children), show that those who participated in the program also displayed a 12- to 15-percent increase in their math scores.
With over 300 schools in North America now using the MindUP program Marc Meyer, director of the Hawn foundation, estimates that just 10 hours out of the 1,200 hours in the school year will yield results. That’s just three minutes of mindful breathing every day with grades 7 and 8. Anchored in the guiding principles of positive psychology and current research in cognitive neuroscience, the MindUP program is one of several programs proving the extraordinary benefits of sitting still and creating a culture in the classroom that honors time out for reflection.
Susan Kaiser Greenland’s “The New ABCs: Attention, Balance, and Compassion,” taught through games and activities, and Susan Finley’s “Power of Wow” series, which follows a group of teens as they work with leading brain researchers to engage in training practices designed to enhance relaxation, concentration, well-being, and performance, are just two of a variety of programs being implemented to enable children to better understand the command of their own minds. The practice of training the mind has its roots in Buddhist practice and meditation. Shamatha, often translated as “calm abiding,” is a form of Buddhist meditation that uses focused attention to stabilize and strengthen the mind. One of the foremost thinkers in this area is Alan Wallace, whose shamatha project has inspired many similar programs.
The field of neuroscience has shown us that we can train the mind to alter brain function and enhance certain qualities, such as compassion and empathy that are foundational in being able to successfully lead and empower others to greatness. And empowerment, as the purported Bill Gates quotation maintains, is the future.
Harnessing reflection as a skill in education will help us move beyond the reactive emotional loops we have a tendency to get trapped in, and give us the capacity to tune in to other people and their internal world, which in turn leads to a more resilient mind and empathic relationships
On its most basic level, reflection in education teaches us a way of paying attention to life’s experience. It enhances our ways of seeing. We go to school to study art, but no one teaches us to see well! If we can awaken to the power of attention, we will help move the mind toward health and, ultimately, productivity.
Creativity, curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, and compassion are the skills needed for the job market in the 21st century. In order to adopt these qualities, the cultivation of compassion, empathy, and mindfulness needs to become a more integral part of our curriculum.
It is the power to serve that leads to success.
With brilliant work by organizations like the Hawn Foundation and people like Dr. Daniel Siegel, the field that newcomers are calling “inside-out education” could have finally come into its own.
In 2012, a year that holds much promise in terms of our evolutionary growth, let us choose to expand our horizons so that we can encourage schooling that nurtures a more loving and positive reality for each and every one of us.