“Positive education views school as a place where students not only cultivate their intellectual minds, but also develop a broad set of character strengths, virtues, and competencies, which together support their well-being. What this looks like differs from country to country and school-to-school, but at its core is the
‘character + academics’ approach to education. ” – Peggy Kern
I’m intrigued by the work of Scott Barry Kaufman (SBK) and the reframing of a needs pyramid to a transcending sailboat. This intersects with positive psychology and positive education. Not to be confused with the self-esteem movement. Whereas most clinic psychology (as in my field, medicine) is reactive, responding to perceived pathology, positive psychology can be used proactively towards growth and transcendence.
For most of human civilization we haven’t had the tools, science, or understanding to be proactive in a deliberate way. And as the future will hold unforeseen challenges, we will need to equip ourselves earlier with more robust mental and emotional tools to be adaptively flexible. We are in the beginning stages of having a frame, vocabulary, and scientifically based methods for developing growth mindset proactively, see the work of Peggy Kern. And as Scott B K says about his sailboat, first we need to plug any holes in the boat. As I mentioned in my discussion with Wil Nelsen, misbehavior is an unmet need. Imagine how a robust educational environment that is flexible to an individual student’s needs, regardless of time of day, might serve as a hull wrap and foundation for unmet needs? I encourage you to listen to SBK and Andrew Yang discuss how important these concepts are to the future of education, here, where they discuss a more humanizing approach to learning.