If You Can Keep It

If You Can Keep It

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia was shrouded in secrecy.  Gathered to revise the Articles of Confederation, a loose agreement which held the fledgling United States together, the delegates quickly realized that they needed a more binding document and a more formal form of government. Windows were shut and so were the delegates mouths. Nothing leaked out.

Eighty-one-year-old Ben Franklin sat with the delegates. When the convention ended, a lady approached Franklin as he left the convention hall, “Well, Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Many today mistakenly believe that the United States is a democracy. The nation was founded as a republic, a government in which the people are represented by elected officials, “whose wisdom,” as James Madison put it, “may best discern the true interest of the country.” The founders lacked trust in the people’s abilities to make wise decisions as they would in a true democracy. Revolution was brewing in France and the founders feared mob rule.

Many voters today believe that their interests are not represented. They feel that lobbyists and the “one-percent” hold more sway with politicians than the average voter — even when those voters come out in force. How many “million-people” marches have been met by silence from elected officials? Phone calls, letters, and emails from constituents seem to be ignored. Many Americans are losing faith in their elected officials. 

The power of the vote seems to be waning so many opt out from voting. Young people especially have given up. The 24-hour news cycle reports leaks, allegations, arguments, disgraces, and “alternative facts,” which discourage voters. Wisdom seems to be seriously lacking in many of our elected representatives. Many have lost hope in our governments’ ability to serve its people. 

How has this happened? We look for someone to blame. It’s crooked politicians. No, it’s lobbyists serving private-interest groups. No, it’s the elite, the wealthy, the (fill in the blank with the group you despise most). We look everywhere but in the mirror. Benjamin Franklin’s answer to his curious questioner was, “A republic, if YOU can keep it.”

Keeping a republic is the responsibility of citizens. We must choose representatives with wisdom. That means researching issues, knowing what you believe, seeking candidates who represent your point of view, and getting out the vote — yours and others who want the same outcome you do. Never forget that the politicians you dislike were voted in. Wise representatives must be sought and elected.

Benjamin Franklin sat through four months of arguments, proposals, revisions, and compromises before our national constitution was accepted by the delegates. On the final day, Franklin pointed to the back of the convention’s president’s chair where an artist had depicted a sun and commented: ”I have often ... in the course of the session ... looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun." The rising or setting of our nation depends on its citizens. Vote.

The Common Good

The Common Good

I love matching tests. The object is to match a term on the left with its definition on the right. This is my kind of test — the answers are already on the page.

Here’s a test for you: Match the following terms, community, compassion, communion, and companion with its meaning: A: a feeling of fellowship with others; B: the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts or feelings; C: one who shares with another; D: the demonstration of love. 

Before we check your answers, let me ask what connects these four words? The root “com” goes way back to a Latin root, “cum,” which meant “together” or “with.” When you add “com” to a word, it joins one thing to another. “Com” indicates having something in common. 

The concept of common goes way back too. “Common knowledge,” is something which we all know or should know. Villages had “commons,” meaning shared land used for grazing animals or planting gardens. Our American founding documents refer to the “common good” — the good which we all share.

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, in his book The Common Good, writes, “The common good consists of our shared values about what we owe one another as citizens who are bound together in the same society— the norms we voluntarily abide by, and the ideals we seek to achieve.” Note these words: shared, bound together, same, and we. “We the people,” begins our national Constitution.

The common good draws us together to work for the good of all citizens. Our society was not modeled on “every man for himself,” but on “everyone for the good of each other.” Americans were intended to work together for the good of the country, its citizens, and its future generations. 

How is this common good represented in our nation today? Are we still working together for the good of all? Another meaning for common is “characterized by a lack of privilege or special status.” That brings us back to the words in another founding document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Are we all equal? Do we have the same rights and goals? Do we honor these words in our government programs, our schools, and our communities?

So here are your answers: Companion: one who shares with another. Community: a feeling of fellowship with others (as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals). Communion: the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings (with a goal of mutual understanding). Compassion: the demonstration of love. Each word adds to the concept of the common good: in fellowship with one another, we share the goal of demonstrating love for others. 

The common good begins with the same “We” which begins our sacred national documents. “We hold these truths…” “We the people…” 

How will we ensure the common good? 

As companions in community. 

By communing with compassion. 

We will do it together.

The Generation Generation

The Generation Generation

Our little girl had two older brothers who loved to play with her toys — the wrong way. Push cars became skates, Teddy bears parachuted from trees, and a Jack-in-a-Box lid catapulted blocks across the room. We never knew what they would think of next.

Actually, there is no wrong way to play with a toy. Toys promote creativity — one of the vital skills needed for success in today’s world as detailed in Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, by Roberta Michnick Golenkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek. Our two boys working together to misuse their sister’s toys were not being destructive; they were being creative. 

J.P. Guilford, an American psychologist who studied human intelligence, defined creativity as the ability to produce a number of different responses to a new problem. In today’s fast-moving world, new problems arise daily. Electric cars have arrived! Where do we plug them in? The Internet spans the world! How do we police it? 

Golenkoff and Hirsh-Pasek define a creative person as “one who can generate many responses of many different kinds, many of which are unusual or clever.” Anyone can be creative. There is no age requirement or special degree needed. Young children begin experimenting almost as soon as they can sit up. What will happen if I drop this spoon? They discover that Mom or Dad will pick it up! Soon baby is throwing the spoon farther and noting how many times it can be dropped before the spoon is not returned.

As children learn more about the world, they experiment and begin creating solutions for themselves. One little friend of mine, when deprived of his toys for the infraction of not putting them away, used the empty boxes to create new toys. Another, during a particularly fractious presidential election season, nominated her Teddy bear, Rainbow, for office. He won! (I voted for him.) If at first they don’t succeed, children will try, try, try again to figure it out and get it done in new and creative ways.

Children look for problems to solve. They study them and make proposals. Asking “What if?” opens the door for novel solutions. They adapt, invent, fail,  and try another way. They communicate, collaborate, use information, and evaluate. They develop the skills necessary for success.

Parents and teachers nurture creativity by providing space for playing and thinking. Free play is important! Supply the materials kids need to create — paint, glue, blocks, scissors, space, paper, empty boxes, toys, time, experiences, and encouragement. Let your children act out — act out with them — be silly, make up songs and plays, role play, do something or do nothing together. Dream with them, not for them. Let them find problems and propose solutions. Stand by and cheer when they do.

Allow and encourage creativity in your children. Prepare them today for tomorrow’s world. What problems will they face? What solutions will they create? 

What will they think of next? 

(This is the sixth in a series of articles inspired by Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. I encourage you to read it.)

Masters of Speaking

Masters of Speaking

People are afraid of many things, insects, flying, needles, the dark, clowns, and a Zombie Apocalypse. But the most common fear, ahead of the fear of death, is the fear of public speaking. Speaking in front of a crowd is the stuff of nightmares — reinforced by actual nightmares about forgetting your pants when doing so.

Last summer, I had the privilege of working with a group of middle school students at Toastmasters Jr., an eight-week summer program focusing on speaking and leadership skills. A trained facilitator leads students through a series of games and exercises designed to help them overcome anxiety about speaking, organize and present their ideas logically and convincingly, listen carefully to the ideas of others, and to offer helpful advice.

At the first meeting, the group agreed to attend faithfully, be prepared, complete assignments, provide helpful feedback and to contribute with respect. We also agreed to be honest and ethical in all of our activities and speaking assignments. This set the stage for open and friendly exchanges. Each member is assigned a role: Timer, “Ah-counter (counting verbal crutches such as “um, uh, like, you know, etc.), General Evaluator or leader, and the Reviewer who offers friendly feedback to speakers. We took turns playing each role. 

I was immediately impressed by both the facilitator and the students. Mutual respect flavored each meeting as we learned about communication styles, practiced active listening, and developed the use of effective expressions, varying tones, and body language. We shared experiences, emotions, and laughter. The structures of effective speaking — catching listeners’ attention with a bold beginning, supporting your message with a well-organized middle, and leaving a lasting impression  — intertwined with game-playing, storytelling, and solving puzzles. We set a purpose for each speech, focused on a message, and chose an organizational approach for delivering it. We had a lot of fun. 

Toastmasters Jr.’s primary goal is interpersonal communication, which our manual defined as “what happens when two or more people get together and communicate… getting your ideas and feelings across…” in a safe learning environment. Effective communication involves respect, tact, discretion, empathy, self-control, active listening, confidence, grace, and kindness. 

We finished the course with presentations by our students. Each gave a speech and demonstrated a talent. Confidence replaced fear. Grace and kindness prevailed.

The communication skills we learned —to be prepared, to listen respectfully, to provide helpful feedback, to respond with respect, and to be honest and ethical when sharing in open and friendly exchanges — apply to more than public speaking. Effective communication skills are vital in most life situations. Spouses need them. Parents need them. Teachers need them. Friends and rivals need them. Our political leaders, media representatives, and public figures would do well to learn them. We must all be honest and ethical when interacting with others. Our fears will subside when we can communicate in a safe environment ruled by grace and kindness. 

(Toastmasters Jr. is a program of Toastmasters International Find out more at toastmasters.com. Thanks to Wanda Brown, local facilitator, and to my father, Michael Scotto, who was a long-term member.)

Believe It or Not

Believe It, Or Not

When my boys were little, they loved Saturday morning cartoons. We watched with them, not just to enjoy family time, but to teach them how to interpret the onslaught of advertising aimed at children. Did that plane really fly all by itself? Is that cereal really “magically delicious” or is it just sugary crunch? Will you really be happy if you buy that, eat that, or go there?

Children need to develop a healthy dose of skepticism when interpreting the information coming at them at lightning speed today. They need to know that not all information is created equal, that some is biased, some is skewed, and some is just plain wrong. Children today must be critical thinkers able to use reasoned judgment when considering information.

B.K. Beyer, child development researcher, writes that children learn to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information — from “observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication.” Is that social-media post fact or fiction? Do my friends really know what they are talking about? Is that news source reliable? In order to navigate successfully through today’s media glut of information, children must be taught to think critically.

In Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, Roberta Michnick Golenkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek describe the development of critical thinkers. Very young children believe what they see and are told. As they grow, children begin to understand that there are “multiple points of view,” that what I believe may differ from what others believe. This is when the questions start, Why? Why? Why?

Young children still think in absolutes. Something is absolutely true or absolutely false. As children mature, they begin to see how “truths” can be shaded by opinion. They ask, “How do you know?” and “Why do you think that?” They form their own opinions and are raring to debate. They learn to question sources of information, who is giving it, and who is receiving it. They ask questions, then question the answers and the answerer. 

Critical thinkers study information, consider the source, test it for veracity, combine it with what they already know, connect it to new knowledge and act on it. Howard Gardner, famous for his work on Multiple Intelligences, writes, “The ability to knit together information from disparate sources into a coherent whole is vital today.” 

Parents and teachers help children learn to evaluate and judge information when the share jokes, play games, read books, tell stories, share opinions and expose them to new ideas and new places — and when they listen to their children’s opinions, jokes, stories and ask them questions. Know what your children are seeing and hearing. Encourage children to look for proof before believing, to ask the who, what, when, where, how, and why of information. Do it yourself. Show your children how you critically evaluate ideas and opinions before accepting them. Doubt is a great tool for learning.

Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Teach your children to entertain ideas, to consider information critically, and to choose carefully before believing or acting.  

(This is the fifth in a series of articles inspired by Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D. and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. I encourage you to read it.)

Be Helpers

Be Helpers

Do you know that the Nobel prize was named after Alfred Nobel the inventor of dynamite who made his fortune developing weapons? Have you also heard of Bertha von Sutter? She was Nobel’s secretary and a peace activist. Bertha convinced Nobel to bequeath money for the creation of a Peace Prize. In 1905, she was the first woman to win the prize she inspired. 

For every famous person we know there are many unknown helpers — people who inspired and supported them. Sometimes these helpers are family members, sometimes strangers. Guglielmo Marconi’s mother outfitted a room for studying radio waves. His father and brother helped with his experiments. Anthropologist and paleontologist, Dr. Louis S.B. Leakey, impressed by a naive young woman’s enthusiasm for studying wild animals in their natural habitats, took Jane Goodall along on an expedition to study the great apes. The Mother’s Club at Lakeside School in Seattle provided the school computer which inspired Bill Gates. 

Some helpers are legendary. Helen Keller, rendered deaf and blind by a childhood illness, helped thousands of disabled people get basic human rights such as equal access to education. But do we know the name of Helen’s friend who spent hours every day translating books from print to Braille for her? Who were the soldiers who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition across the wilderness of America? Which scientists designed the countless parts needed to build the Space Shuttle? Who were the doctors who served in the Civil War and the nurses who traveled with the troops at Normandy? We may never know the names of these helpers but we do now that many lives, many amazing accomplishments, and much vital knowledge would have been lost without them.   

Every day, helpers work quietly among us — first responders risk their lives during natural disasters, teachers encourage students to do their very best, moms and dads work two jobs to support their families, nurses work extra shifts, waitresses smile at grumpy patrons, teens mow lawns for elderly neighbors, strangers listen to your troubles, and friends hold your hands. When help is needed, helpers arrive.

We receive help every day and every day we have opportunities to be helpers. Find opportunities to help. Carry bags for an over-burdened shopper. Pull weeds from your neighbors garden. Pick up trash in the park. Donate to a worthy cause. Share a cab, a seat, a smile, or a joke. Make someone’s day. Help.

Shawn Seipler wondered what happened to the used soaps and toiletries travelers leave behind in hotels. Discovering that they are discarded, Seipler founded Clean the World (CTW) which distributes recycled toiletries to relief agencies. Thousands of children die every day due to lack of sanitation. Washing with soap eliminates half of these deaths. Hotel staff members save these products for CTW which has provided 40 million recycled products to world locations. Thousands of unnamed helpers saving soap save thousands of lives every day. 

Remembered or not, helpers make a difference. 

Involve Me

Involve Me

When I first started teaching, unit plans were all the rage. A unit plan is centered around a topic usually from social studies or science. Every lesson taught is connected to that topic. Math problems and reading assignments are chosen to support the unit's topic. The unit topic is the connecting thread for learning.

In Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, Roberta Michnick Golenkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek detail key skills necessary for success in today’s society. The first is collaboration, working jointly to produce or create, the second is communication, developing a connection between speaker and listener for understanding, and the third is content or information. 

We live in a world of “big data.” Golenkoff and Hirsh-Pasek explain this explosion of data with four Vs — a huge amount of information (volume) coming in many forms (variety) arrives instantaneously (velocity) and must be judged as true or false (veracity). Today’s learner is drowning in content. 

In the last century, the “hot” skill was "recall." Learners who won spelling or geography bees, calculated quickly, or aced multiple choice tests were rewarded. Today, successful learners must be able to sift through information, judge it for usefulness, and adapt it to solve unique problems. With information available in many formats at the press of a key, learners no longer need to remember content— they must locate and use it.

Babies learn about the world through their senses. They look for patterns and make predictions. When Mom sets the table, dinner is on the way. After Dad reads a story, I take a nap. A three-year-old’s favorite word is “Why?” Children are seeking to make connections. As they mature, children connect known information to new information to use in new situations. 

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Memorizing content is not enough. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff write that learning must be “active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive.” Learners must be fully involved in learning, working with other learners, and asking and answering questions about topics of personal interest and importance. 

Parents and teachers support learning when they involve children in activities which they enjoy and which are meaningful to them. Math is more fun when connected to a topic which kids love — building forts, shopping, playing sports, solving riddles, treasure-hunting, planting a garden, etc. Activities such as “drawing and painting, dance, music, and drama enhance children’s capacities for learning information deeply.” Creating increases comprehension. Doing makes learning stick.

Which are you more likely to remember the geometry formulas you memorized for the test or how you used them to build a house for your canine buddy? Parents who provide wide and varying experiences for children nurture in them a deeper understanding of the world. 

Spend time exploring with your children. Take them to museums, the forest, art shows, the theater, and the library. Start in your own backyard. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff write that “The road to success is paved with experiences you share with your child.” Help your children connect the threads of learning all around them. The love and attention of a parent are the best “unit” plan of all.

(This is the fourth in a series of articles inspired by Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D., and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. I encourage you to read it.)