What I learned this week: I need to spend time in nature at least once a week. There is nothing like a great oxygen fix!
What I am grateful for: Sugar Free Chocolate and having access to at least three meals a day.
Season 6 of Living Smart launches this week. I am truly excited about this season. Some of the guests are already very well known, such as Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of the Four Agreements and The Mastery of Love, the award winning novelist Chitra Divakaruni PhD., John Bradshaw, a PBS icon. Others, should and will be better known in no time. They are truly agents of change. Dr. Yvonne Butler who founded the first sugar free school in the nation, Robyn O'Brien, whose campaign against bad processed foods has led to her new nickname, the "Erin Brogevich" of the Food industry, and Dr. John Demartini whose ideas on spirituality and money are not only interesting but empowering as well. Others include Beth Dennard EdD an expert on finding the right college for your child, Herb Again EdD who prepares us for unexpected change, John Byrn PhD a Brain scientist on brain fitness, Consumer Advocate Myron Bernstein, Michelle Lees on intimacy, and Colleen Campbell Root on the legal documents you need for a hassle free retirement. I am also excited about the Living Smart shows that we now have on You Tube.
I am in the process of writing a book on what I have learned from Living Smart. I am far from perfect but I credit everything I didn't learn in Kindergarden to Living Smart!
Back to the PUBLIC EDUCATION CRISIS on April 20th at 7pm.
I would love to hear what you have to say about public education. Your thoughts on the challenges we face and your solutions. Write to us at houstonhaveyoursay@houstonpbs.org
I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Bill Daggett on preparing kids for the future at HCC. He really made a point very clear. We adults, are not teaching kids the way they learn today. Now I understand why I can't figure out the ipod, ipad, iphone etc. as quickly as they can. Technology is moving so much faster than what we are used to. He insists we have to figure out how kids learning and focus on that. We are basically outdated in our thought pattern with regards to public education.
I also listened to Dr. Pedro Noguera at an A Challenge event. I really liked what he said. He insists if we don't change the social context in which children learn, we will not improve public education. For example he said, "Poverty is an educational issue." the best thing that recently happened to public education is the passagage of health care reform because so many children did not have basic healthcare. He says too many basic needs are not met today so that children can learn. He shared many examples of schools that work but he also felt we need a paradigm shift. We need to find the underlying causes for the lack of excellence and work on that. If we remain apathetic we will pay in the long term with higher crime, bigger prisons, less economic opportunity.
Both men were hopeful if we quit being so apathetic about public education and poverty in our community. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment