Teaching Compassion and Empathy

When I grow up I want to be fearless like Joan Halifax.

She is a Zen Roshi, anthropologist, ecologist, writer, teacher, LSD researcher, scholar of the US Library of Congress and the only woman and Buddhist on the Advisory Council of the Tony Blair Foundation. Joan Halifax is described in her TED profile as "a driving force of socially engaged Buddhism." Her activism involves helping the sick and dying. In this TED Talk she describes the true meaning of compassion and empathy.

Her talk was enlightening and emotional in many ways. But aside from her clear description of what compassion truly is, here are my highlights, paraphrased:

Compassion is an inherent human quality. We are all born compassionate, but it has to be aroused.

Compassion has three enemies—Pity, Moral Outrage and Fear. To which my mind clicked… 1) Pity—Many people think compassion IS pity. This is what some dogmatic institutions lead us to believe. 2) Moral Outrage—This is why dogma is dangerous. 3) Fear—Which is why the most enlightened people are the least worried about outcome, mistakes, failure and loss. Which is why I aspire to be fearless like Joan Halifax.

Those who cultivate compassion feel suffering more, but they return to baseline a lot sooner. This is resilience. True compassion does not drain us, it enlivens us. It compels us to act.

Neuroscientists have seen how cultivating compassion is not just good for others and humanity in general. Compassion is good for our health. It enhances neural integration—hooking up all parts of the brain and making it work better. It also enhances the immune system. 

And now the highlight of my highlights is this… she asks, "If compassion is so good for us why don't we train our children in compassion?"

The next big query is, and there's already a long thread about it on TED: Exactly how do we train our children in compassion? I have my own thoughts, but it’s a great question to throw out there. Think about it. I'd love to hear your ideas.

TEDx Diliman

Something special for TEDtalks fans in Manila… There will be a TEDx event held at the Malcolm Hall of UP Diliman this October 8. The theme is How Art and Culture Can Change Our World. The line-up of speakers is very promising.

TED Talks with local flavor!

For more details and a chance to score an invite, visit TEDx Diliman's official website. Because TED rules allow only 100 participants, you'll have to make a case for wanting to go. In 200 words or less they want to know what you are passionate about in your life, your work and your community. 

The deadline for applications may have been August 31, but you can still try. TEDxDiliman just announced on Twitter: 1st set of invites out. So hard to choose & we had to pass on many deserving applicants. If slots open, some may still get in.

Thank you Universe and TEDx Diliman for dropping that invite in my inbox this morning! Confirmed. No, confeeermed! 

Interest, Groups and Learning

Stumbled on another goose-bump inducing TED Talk. This one by education researcher Sugata Mitra. His experiments made me think of Keys Grade School. Children huddled about, questioning, talking in small groups, sometimes pairs collaborating on projects or solving problems. So different from the my experience of education-as-usual: classroom with 30-plus kids, where, ironically, it's actually just you and your notebook, or more specifically you taking dictation from the teacher.

I think Sugata Mitra is onto something with his Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE). It shows how interest-driven, collaborative work is among the best ways to learn. Sometimes, we need to let kids go off with their own wandering minds to boost critical thinking and confidence. I believe this.

Natalie Merchant Rocks Children's Poems

I am a certified 80's kid who grew up listening and emoting to Natalie Merchant who was, back then, still part of 10,000 Maniacs. Remember What's the Matter Here? Like the Weather? Hey Jack Kerouac? These Are the Days? And I loved, loved... loved her obscure but nevertheless great version of Cat Steven's Peace Train.

Well, just this morning Natalie Merchant rocked my world again and I don't care if this makes me look like a complete weirdo but she made me cry watching her performance at this year's TED conference. She sang songs from her upcoming album Leave Your Sleep where she resurrects 19th century children's poems by setting them to music. When she started singing E.E. Cummings' Maggie and Millie and Molly and May I just couldn't help myself....

"Maggie and Milly

Molly and May

they went down to the beach

one day to play.

And Maggie discovered

a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember

her troubles...."

For anyone out there who might appreciate the words, the stories behind the poets, and the music, here's the lovely Ms. Merchant who completely deserved that standing ovation:

P.S. for our featured artist: You were once the sweet-singing seashell (a'la E.E. Cummings) for an awkward, kind-of-troubled teenager (a-Maggie-in-Manila) circa 1980s. La la la li la la la... Thank you.

creating great teachers

PS 22 official website

I'm still hung over from all the beautiful music of the PS 22 Chorus. And completely in awe of Mr. B.

The world needs more people like Mr. B. Every child deserves a teacher like that to help him find his own voice and something to be passionate about - in whatever shape, form or size that may be.

I have had a few. Mrs. Woelhaf, who jump-started my love for learning. Mr. Kennedy, who helped me understand angles from a whole other angle. Gie, who made all those nights working on my plates actually seem like fun. Thank you. You each made a world of difference in my own little world.

Bill Gates, in a talk over at the at the TED conference asks and answers the question: "How do we make great teachers?" And you know we need them. Badly. Here are the highlights in his own words:

So, how do you make education better?

We've worked on small schools, we've funded scholarships, we've done things in libraries. A lot of these things had a good effect. But the more we looked at it, the more we realized that having great teachers was the very key thing.

What are the characteristics of this top quartile? What do they look like? You might think these must be very senior teachers. And the answer is no.

You might think these are people with master's degrees. They've gone back and they've gotten their Master's of Education. This chart takes four different factors and says how much do they explain teaching quality. That bottom thing, which says there's no effect at all, is a master's degree.

Here is his talk:

As he says, "Education is THE most important thing to get right". He got that right.