What would it take to build intelligent schools for teens? Few disagree, that secondary schools seem to stomp out the very mental operations that teens need most in their careers.
Business leaders for instance … ask for skilled ... 1. problem solvers ... 2. decision makers, and ... 3. creative thinkers – while secondary schools tend to emphasize their opposites. Can it be that bad?
Secondary students’ brains are more than ready for a brain based shift to more intelligent schools. Could it happen where you live?
Do you see problem solving possibilities in secondary school? It’s not happening in many schools, sadly. Yet, teenage brain’s plasticity ... is more than ready to change on a daily basis. And their dendrite brain cells continue to burst with new life... when used in school. To turn teens’ mental strength into tools to solve problems … teachers would have to facilitate more 2-footed questions that help reboot students’ brains for problem solving with the brain in mind. Do you see it happening in your schools?
Does decision making grow for teens in schools you see? Kids come to class with amazing gene pools and a full mix of multiple intelligences. Those born with certain proclivities – such as a tendency to high or low levels of serotonin may prefer to learn with teams, for instance. Those with higher cortisol chemicals, on the other hand, may prefer individual learning approaches. Research also shows how differences in male and female human brains offer benefits to both. Are schools rolling out this current research … into practical tools that teens use daily as they learn to lead and as they make good choices?
Could creative thinking groom a genius in secondary schools you know? We know that human brains transfer facts to creativity faster when they can hook new concepts onto what they already know, question or experience. We also know that lectures work against the human brain … laughter clinches topics learned… venting makes mental matters worse … stress literally shrinks a brain … and boredom’s more a choice than most kids realize. To foster creative thinking is to help teens stand with curiosity before apparent mysteries and help them wonder how things work. Have your teens heard what natural chemicals in their brain fuel innovation … or that dopamine’s the new drug of choice?
Oh, and by the way … Have your teens heard that intelligent secondary schools build new neuron pathways beyond blame? Maybe it’s time to take another look … not so much at schools that died … but rather at a brain based shift to build a more intelligent school for teens.
Thanks for your great blog and posts. I appreciate your prod for more intelligent secondary schools, and like where you are going with your accumulation of research.
You might be interested in our own field studies ongoing since 1984 that suggest Laying Blame is natural (i.e., both hard-wired as well as conditioned) response to anything that goes wrong—large or small—which kicks you out of flow. For example, you get ready to leave your office and can't find your car keys. A likely first mental response of most people is the thought, frequently out loud, "Who took my keys?"
It turns out that taking Responsibility is what's left when you refuse to Lay Blame, Justify, Shame (yourself), or give in to Obligation or Quit. Since I can't post a graphic of our Responsibility Process model here, I'll invite you over to my blog to see it.
http://www.christopheravery.com/blog/learning-to-avoid-blame/
I would guess that most secondary schools operate as most businesses do, with a climate of Lay Blame, Justify, Shame, and Obligation. When that happens people disengage, the mental position we call "Quit."
In our model, only poor decisions are made from these mental positions, no true problems are solved since only anxieties are being addressed rather than the problem beneath the anxiety, and the primary creative thinking is how to escape the emotional pain.
My vision is to see The Responsibility Process™ and it's associated Three Keys to Responsibility™ studied by Boards, Administrations, Faculties, and Staff's of all schools and then taught to students as well. We find in a variety of settings, though mostly business so far, that simply teaching the process and hanging the Responsibility Process on the wall supports a dramatic change in thinking and in behavior. Of course, since, as you've pointed out, one's reaction to problems and challenges is related to neuron activity, truly integrating the practice of Responsibility-taking when things go wrong requires practicing the Three Keys of Responsibility when things go wrong:
1. Intention (intending to operate from the mental position of Responsibility),
2. Awareness (catching yourself thinking and operating from Lay Blame, Justify, Shame, Obligation, and Quit), and,
3. Confront (facing the truth that you could be more resourceful in responding to this problem so that you learn and grow instead of stay stuck).
I won't attempt here to do justice to the entire 23 years of field-testing around this model and the transformative affect it has on individuals, teams, families, and organizations that study it. I invite you to my blog and web-site to do that.
http://www.christopheravery.com/blog
http://www.christopheravery.com
I look forward to more of your good posts and to commenting from time to time.
Posted by: Christopher Avery | October 31, 2007 1:31 PM | Permalink to Comment