Is college worth it? It is for those with hungry hearts. (NYTimes)

jesstify:

“…Thirty-five years of teaching has taught me this: The best students and the ones who get the most out of their educations are the ones who come to school with the most energy to learn. And - here’s an important corollary -those students are not always the most intellectually gifted. They’re not always the best prepared or the most cultured. Sometimes they think slowly. Sometimes they don’t write terribly well, at least at the start. What distinguishes them is that they take their lives seriously and they want to figure out how to live them better. These are the kids for whom one is bought and sold. These are the ones who make you smile when they walk into your office.

…Hungry hearts - smart or slow, rich or poor - still deserve a place in the class.”

Imagine what the world would be like if one could measure the hunger in one’s heart…if that could replace grades, and those students who want to learn because it feeds their soul could get a full education. I believe that you don’t need to write a perfect essay in order to be smart. Imagine how much innovation could be lying at the heart of a taxi driver or bank guard. Imagine if those who rule our world wouldn’t be the ones who are economically driven, but rather passionate about humanity?

Hi sincerelysadie! I’m just like you actually, in university and hoping to be a counselor. Seeing a counselor can’t affect your future at all. For one, seeing a counselor doesn’t necessarily mean that you suffer from a mental illness- actually that’s the myth that created the terrible stigma I think many people have towards seeing a counselor. (And don’t even get me started on the stigmas around mental illnesses, which are even more dumb)

Though I’ve dealt with depression, I’m not even depressed right now- I just have things I’d like some advice on in dealing with, and just a space to talk them out…like I said in my other post, I think everyone should do it when needed!

Plus, as far as I know, there is no record kept about people’s counselor visits. I think part of the training to be a counselor includes assessing your personal competence for the job, but of course they give you techniques to separate your personal life from that of your patients. Counselors aren’t gods, they have problems too, and can suffer from depression and other conditions. And I actually remember hearing somewhere that counselors in training go to counselors during it…but don’t quote me on that, I’m going to find out the deets.

Thanks for the question!

whatthekluck:

Teach them to do it for themselves. 

When our daughter was 15 months old we enrolled her in survival-type swimming lessons via Infant Swimming Resource.   Maybe you’ve heard about this - children as young as 6 months old learning to roll in the water and float? (See more about ISR here).

We had a marvelous instructor who on the very first day, after seeing the fear in our eyes, said to us:

“If you don’t believe she can do it, then you should leave now.  Because I know she can. She needs to know that you believe in her.”

That struck a chord right away.  She was exactly right.  If we didn’t think she could do it, what were we doing there?  I admit I wanted to snatch my daughter out of the water at the very first sign of discomfort.  What I didn’t consider was that my behavior was sending clear signals to my daughter that I didn’t think she could do it.   Of course as parents we wanted to protect her.  The goal of these lessons was to enable her to float, saving herself, if she ever accidentally fell into a body of water. Did we want to sabotage her success?

We trusted in the instructor and in our little girl, and cheered them on through the entire process (which admittedly was at times difficult to observe).  At the end of 7 weeks, my daughter completed the course by ”falling” off the edge of the pool, fully clothed.  After sinking down into the water, she immediately rolled over and floated.  At 15 months, she did this all by herself.

I realized that my children are more capable than I give them credit for.   

Allowing children to do things for themselves is integral to the traditonal Montessori methodology.  A a very young age Montessori students participate in practical life exercises that enable them to do various things for themselves.  This includes what we might consider mundane tasks like getting dressed (buttons, snaps, zippers), cleaning up (washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, laundry), baking, and *gasp* cutting with a knife.  This is done for various reasons.  Read more about it here.

Our daughter made banana bread in class yesterday. She had been watching other children do it.  She knew not to touch the materials or the oven because she had not yet had a lesson, but she was very interested.  The spark in her was ignited.  First she was given a lesson on it by her teacher. Then she partnered with an older student (5 years old) to watch and assist. After a few weeks she is doing it all by herself.  She just turned four.

At home she is delighted to help prepare meals and fold laundry.  She can dress herself, brush her teeth, comb her hair, and toast her own waffles.  She sweeps the floor, and cleans up her own messes.  She is showing her younger brother how these things are done. Without the experience with the swimming instructor,  I would still be “protecting” my kids from things that they are clearly capable of doing. 

It just goes to show you - if you believe in them and show them the proper way, they can do it for themselves. 

This is fantastic. If all kids were like this I’d never have to tie an 8-yr-olds shoes again at work…

(Source: iheartmontessori)

2 Interesting views on Girls and Body Image

Contrasts with: The Right Way to Talk to Young Girls About Beauty

My opinion here, in my other blog

(Source: theangrytherapist)

What American's Keep Ignoring about Finland's School Success

Since the 1980s, the main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location. Education has been seen first and foremost not as a way to produce star performers, but as an instrument to even out social inequality.

In the Finnish view, as Sahlberg describes it, this means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children. This starts with the basics. Finland offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance.

…

That this point is almost always ignored or brushed aside in the U.S. seems especially poignant at the moment, after the financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street movement have brought the problems of inequality in America into such sharp focus. The chasm between those who can afford $35,000 in tuition per child per year — or even just the price of a house in a good public school district — and the other “99 percent” is painfully plain to see.