Category: Educating the Whole Person
Showing all 36 results
-
Collegiate Community Service
Hoping to imbue students with values that transcend traditional academic content, many colleges now offer “service learning” programs where students gain valuable real-life experience in efforts to help the community.
-
Conflict Resolution with Tajae Gaynor
Youth leader Tajae Gaynor of the Bronx has dedicated his life to conflict resolution and school mediation activities after he witnessed the senseless stabbing of a friend.
-
Daisy Newman
The relationship between artistic creativity and one’s closeness to God is considered in these intriguing remarks by best-selling novelist Daisy Newman.
-
Darrell Scott
The tragic shootings at Columbine High School prompted the parent of a pupil who was slain there to launch a national crusade aimed at identifying and reaching out to troubled youths.
-
The Good Classroom with Mike Rose
UCLA education professor and author Mike Rose believes we disserve youth by narrowing the focus of public education to whether schools train their students to be competitive members of the work force.
-
Harlem Renaissance
Geoffrey Canada designated a crime-ridden 24-block area of New York as the Harlem Children’s Zone and works tirelessly to provide a healthier community for kids who are otherwise vulnerable to developmental and social ills.
-
Healing Our Divided Lives
We hear about the dilemma of people whose inner conscience creates conflict with the demands of their workplace, from Parker Palmer, founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal and popular author of Let Your Life Speak.
-
High School Pressure-Cooker
This episode examines the level of stress experienced by many secondary school students in America. We probe the causes and effects. And we look at positive coping skills kids can learn and ideas on how to restructure…
-
High School Tolerance and Optimism
High school and college-aged winners of the Laws of Life essay contest tell personal stories about tolerance, optimism, family and other values they feel are essential to leading a life of meaning and integrity.
-
High Stakes Testing
With the movement to “opt out” of high-stakes standardized tests gaining traction in schools among students, parents and educators, we consider alternative ways to evaluate when education is effective.
-
Journey of the Deaf-Blind
We hear the story of Mary Gillespie, a woman born with normal hearing and vision, but who developed several illnesses starting at age ten. Gradually, she became deaf-blind. Now living in Los Angeles, Mary is a regular volunteer at the Braille Institute, where we recorded this remarkable episode of Humankind.
-
Libraries Reimagined
In 2019 Americans visited the library more often than they went to a movie or attended a sporting event. But far from institutions of the past, libraries today are rapidly evolving, ensuring free access to knowledge and protecting democracy.
-
Managing Pain
Near Portland, ME, people afflicted with chronic pain from medical conditions support each other in a group where attendees who are discouraged learn to take an active role in their life and to see themselves not as a patient but as a complete person.
-
Mindful Parenting
A visit with parent-authors Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn who describe ways they approach helping children grow-up amid the frenzied pace and ultra-charged atmoshpere of today’s culture.
-
Mr. Rogers
For parents wishing to impart spiritual values to their children, Rev. Fred Rogers describes the philosophy underlying his public TV series.
-
Nurturing Moral Development in Children
Family therapist and Harvard lecturer Richard Weissbourd discusses how to help children find their moral compass, the ‘achievement craze’ that places intense pressure on young people, and parents’ role in athletic activities.
-
Parenting as a Path
Author Eileen Flanagan discusses her powerful essay on the lessons about life that can be derived from parenting—patience, unconditional love, and how to handle “a child who decorated the white carpet with pink sidewalk chalk.”
-
Playwrights Becoming Free
Chicago dramatist Meade Palidofsky uses theater as a therapeutic tool in her work with juvenile offenders who write and perform plays while incarcerated — and in the process see their lives through a new lens.
-
Protecting Childhood
The author of “Taking Back Childhood,” education professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige, examines the impact on kids of media violence, overly structured school days and a culture that preaches rampant consumerism.
-
School for Compassion
Stewart Brand, founder and publisher of “The Whole Earth” catalogue, sets forth the vision behind his “school for compassionate skills” designed to teach the fine art of “uncommon courtesy” and being a “do-gooder.”
-
Solutions to Bullying
Although being teased and picked on are typical challenges for kids growing up, the effects can be traumatizing when a child is relentlessly bullied. The most common targets of bullying are young people who are perceived as gay, or who are disabled or overweight. But any kid who is singled out for harassment may feel overwhelmed, sometimes resorting to self-destructive behaviour.
-
South Carroll High, Part 1: Voluntary service and tolerance
We visit a Sykesville, Maryland high school with a broad commitment to non-sectarian “character education” that aims to produce morally responsible citizens.
-
South Carroll High, Part 2: Moms’ Support
The role of public schools in teaching basic values like compassion and tolerance is considered by a colorful roundtable of mothers whose children attend the school.
-
Special Children
Albert T. Murphy comments compassionately on lessons gained from his life’s work with special needs children and helping their parents cope.
-
Spiritual Lessons from Family Life
Ernie Boyer Jr., author of “A Way in the World: Family Life as Spiritual Discipline,” along with his wife Pam discuss how intimacy with God can be found during ordinary moments of caring for a child.
-
Teaching Nonviolence
We travel to the Maryland high school classroom of Colman McCarthy, a former Washington Post columnist who now devotes most of his time to challenging high school students to think about alternatives to warfare.
-
Teaching from Within
Educators Parker Palmer and Nel Noddings give a vision of “teaching from within”
-
Wisdom of Proverbs
Elementary school students learn about ethics, language and common sense when a folklorist leads them through a fascinating exploration of age-old wisdom sayings and their relevance to everyday life.
-
The World Core Curriculum
An eye-opening proposal for truly “global education” is advanced by UN Assistant Secretary General Robert Muller.