“They are so worried about being successful, they want to be a carbon copy instead of an original.” –From last night’s lecture by Dr. Cornel West, given to a standing room only crowd at Kimmel Arena at UNCA. Of course, Dr West was referring to young people being raised in today’s testing culture, which is so pathologically wrapped up in the achievement culture, they don’t know how to think for themselves.
Dr West is also famous for saying, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” It was a pleasure to watch someone speak the truth, and to share that moment with over 5,000 people last night. Not surprisingly, I saw several Rainbow alumni there.
This TED video, entitled “The Power of Belief: Mindset and Success” is a powerful reminder of how children can have a mindset to help them achieve what they set out to do.
Thank you to Barb King, counselor at Carolina Day School for sharing this video link.
…because it all counts. To my surprise, this article ended up being about something much larger than spelling. It reminded me that holistic education, such as we practice at Rainbow, makes sense for reasons we may not have thought about. Yes, spelling does count. Take a look at this article: Does Spelling Count?
“There is no risk-taking without a culture of trust and respect.” ~Tony Wagner.
Parents at Rainbow repeatedly cite how the social environment at Rainbow is one of acceptance. It takes courage to take risks, so being surrounding by people who support you, unconditionally, is vital to learning and risk-taking.
(Photo: Tony Wagner and Renee Owen, Changing the Odds Conference, Dallas, TX, 2014)
I often ask, “If we are preparing our children for the future, what does the future look like?” Hopefully, the world will be much different in terms of our systems and energy use. When our children are our age, their homes will be heated and cooled with different technology and transportation fueled differently. As Jeffrey Sachs points out in this article, we have to be completely out of the fossil fuel business if we are going to even have a world. Click on some good news from Jeff:
(Photos: Above, Renee Owen and Jeff Sachs, summer, 2013, Harvard)
Below, Activists launching from Rainbow to go to the NY Climate Change Rally in September)
