Category: Articles

WSJ: Universities Abandon Reason for a False Idea of ‘Empowerment’

This is a commentary on “Universities Abandon Reason for a False Idea of ‘Empowerment’” by Aaron Alexander Zubla which appears as an opinion article in the Saturday/Sunday, August 15-16, 2020 print edition of the WSJ.

I empathize with the thought that the new requirement is inappropriate…albeit perhaps with a different worldview.

Looking at the CSU Press Release CSU Press Release “CSU Trustees Approve Ethnic Studies and Social Justice General Education Requirement” and California Assembly Bill No. 1460 which addresses this ethnic studies GE requirement at CSU, this appears to be a case of lipstick on a pig. The stated case for academic (scholarly) and social benefit is overly optimistic…it could have the opposite effect too. Why isn’t there instead a special task force that addresses the issue at all levels of society (and globally in-between)?

Let’s return to the WSJ article…

To answer my own question about why place this un-promising requirement in a university setting, it seems to be motivated by image-based appeasement. The WSJ article describes this as “another sign of the politicization of universities” and laments that “For decades the humanities have tilted progressive.” While this matches the motions in my worldview, my perceptions of the direction are slightly different and tend towards a comedy of errors as opposed to an evil plot.

CSU could have simply offered courses in the history or political science departments to add courses which relate to sociological race issues. GE already includes these courses. The idea that a dedicated 3-unit course will benefit student scholarship is like a car salesman’s sell (they try to go over every single feature hoping that one will click – instead of listening and responding in a precise manner). And even if 10% of any class cohort retains, how have they been empowered? Knowledge without EQ is not empowerment.

How else is my worldview different? I think the scope is not sufficiently global. What if the requirement included international relations and global studies courses? What if it went beyond social justice and the direction of political winds? The challenge is not so much to become aware of the strife, but more so one of looking for positive lessons. I predict that these courses will be negatively-toned which is the switch-flipper to off for most people…especially those already with many distractions. Which makes me think…should this also include courses from the psychology department.

One last comment on the idea in the article that non-humanities subject areas (eg, medicine, accountancy and engineering) are set in supported applicable fact alone (the author uses the word “truth”). Not so. Social justice has entered these programs as well. However, they may be better models than what is being instituted by CSU where students can apply critical thinking as to whether these social issues are important. There may be no choice but to align in a GE course. Even so, how many will have learned anything?

Inc.: Google’s Plan to Disrupt the College Degree is Absolute Genius

This is a comment on the article “Google’s Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius” by Justin Bariso (founder of EQ Applied).

The worldview that this article describes is over-stated and did not apply emotional intelligence despite that being the author’s area of expertise.

1. Social awareness tells us that there already are community colleges and vocational schools which offer certificate programs. Many of these programs require hands-on experience and serve that need. There are programs which could be completed remotely – even asynchronously – but these students are not competitive in terms of readiness and experience. With a certificate, one may be able to find a job in the certificated field, but the impression from the certificate alone will be less competitive. There may be exceptions for those who, along the way, gained invaluable personal experience and insight.
2. Self-awareness tells us that there is a reason why some students do not go to college and why some do not thrive in college.
3.  The Self-management lesson is to supplement your career plan with such a certificate program, but not rely on it. In this way, a certificate program (and MOOCs too for that matter) are not substitutes for a college degree (actually, I’m now referring to graduate degrees because undergraduate degrees are not as practical as they used to be). Would you be able to get into a good graduate school and excel with a certificate? Since times may change, the most appropriate answer would be “Maybe, but unlikely.”
4. The Social management side of this is how you figure out the value of college vs certificate when you are at the branch in the road. If you are in the top 10% of your graduating high school class, would you have good reason to believe that a certificate program will get you to where you want to go? The smart thing to do may be to try a certificate program as a gap year program then choose where and what to study in college if you are not presented with better options. It’s an investment choice.

There certainly isn’t any disruption with the certificate. The real disruption was the promise made to people to get them into a college although they didn’t need it. This move to pack in more students lowered the base standard of college education and has made it more challenging to prepare students well. This drove up operational costs and created a job applicant pool that was as generic as ever.

And “genius”? About as genius as the term is used at Apple Stores.

Japan Times: Coronavirus crisis offers chance to update Japanese schools

I found the Japan Times article “Coronavirus crisis offers chance to update Japanese schools” written by Louise George Kittaka and published April 20, 2020 to be an interesting push for more educational technology especially in this time of school closures and online remote teaching.

From the article, I understand that there are schools in Japan which still largely utilize paper-based learning and that some view this as a disadvantage especially during this pivot to online. As a person who still prefers to read newspapers in print form, I believe a move to digital learning content is not the only solution as much of the article suggests.

I have made past comments on the issues with integrating educational technology and the lackluster value they present. As with technology in most cases, the quantity may be raised, but the quality is unlikely to improve. This lack of quality upside from edtech results in widespread frustration in chasing technologies, equipping teachers with something that works from end-to-end, and user experience. The use of iPads in US schools is an example of over-promise and under-deliver.

As a proponent of more EQ in teaching, YCISL feels there is instead now a significant opportunity to reflect on changing the educational process, not just its tools. Will we find that students who learned best in classroom settings remain equally achieving in an online setting? We already know that learning performance is dependent on a variety of factors such as learning styles, pace and group settings. It is the detection of these factors and ensuing customized teaching methodology that would offer the greatest benefits. We need to boost the awareness and management skills of teachers and students, and generally broaden the public appreciation for EQ in education.

For all the panic and fear that has spread through reactions to the virus, education has been severely impacted and we need to be caring for its resiliency, recovery and general good health.

NIMH: “Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms”

“And he would point this out as evidence that we fear the judgment of our peers, and that we’re embarrassed about showing our ideas to people we think of as our peers, to those around us. And this fear is what causes us to be conservative in our thinking. So we might have a wild idea, but we’re afraid to share it with anybody else.”

Tim Brown, Serious Play 2008

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With an interest in leadership especially the rise of creative innovating skills, I have been observing intently the leadership during this virus wave. Not surprising, most leadership has been average and in a follower mode (ie, non-innovative). At the low end of the innovation spectrum is the governmental action with regards to shelter-in-place and face masks which replicates the strategy from 1918 for the Spanish Flu. In contrast, there has been some exemplary EQ-based responses such as in Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.

This led me to see if the poorer responses can be diagnosed with a leadership disability condition. I found that Panic Disorder aligns closely to what we have seen. Referring to “Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms” from the National Institute of Mental Health, which lists the following symptoms:

• Sudden and repeated panic attacks of overwhelming anxiety and fear
• A feeling of being out of control, or a fear of death or impending doom during a panic attack
• Physical symptoms during a panic attack, such as a pounding or racing heart, sweating, chills, trembling, breathing problems, weakness or dizziness, tingly or numb hands, chest pain, stomach pain, and nausea
• An intense worry about when the next panic attack will happen
• A fear or avoidance of places where panic attacks have occurred in the past

There is an inability to focus and a desire to collapse. There is a tendency to interpret small (mostly) harmless sensations as threatening and to want to make everyone around them feel the same way. We also may notice the absence of positivity and gratitude, two areas that YCISL focuses on.

This virus response experience has shown the need for YCISL to nurture more resilient leadership in our youth population. To empower youth with confidence to step through risk and uncertainty, and create opportunity, purpose, and hope. We remind ourselves of Tim Brown’s points about the growth of fear in adults and the aversion to embarrassment and negative judgment.

BBC News: Coronavirus: The school of Mum and Dad

An article on BBC News (Coronavirus: The school of Mum and Dad by Jane Wakefield) prompted the following thoughts in applying YCISL principles and methodology to the disrupted education of many children.

Many parents may currently be seeking ways to sustain learning for their children amid school closures. In the past, there have been lengthy school holidays which may be filled with youth camps and special care programs. Currently, those are less likely of an option, and parents find themselves in the role of teacher.

One model would be to emulate a teacher and open up the textbooks and work from there. There are also online resources which could be good solutions. And…using YCISL type thinking…there is another possible route which focuses more on continuing the development of thinking skills rather than knowledge acquisition. Here are a few opportunities:

1. Asking Questions. Children are generally taught in school to provide answers. Help them build skill and confidence in asking questions and consequently become a better active listener for interactive dialog. For a basic exercise, have your child listen to something (anything really: a video, you reading a book, a television show, a song, a poem, etc) , then have them ask or write down questions to prompt a conversation with you. Notice facial and tonal expressions that show interest, understanding, confidence and curiosity.
2. Divergent-Convergent Thinking. Most of formal education is directed towards convergent thinking (often logical deductive reasoning). Help your child develop innovative thinking skills by practicing divergent thinking coupled with convergent thinking. For a basic exercise, choose something that you need to do (eg, make a sandwich), and have your child describe several ways it could be done. This technique could be applied to writing and math as well.
3. Filling and Crossing Gaps. Schools move students through grades with knowledge gaps and those gaps become handicaps later on. However, most real world problems that need to be solved involve knowledge gaps and children should be prepared to fill or cross those gaps. For a basic exercise, ask your child to answer the question “how long does it take for an ice cube to melt?” But you didn’t mention whether it was indoors, outdoors, in summer/fall/winter/spring, or in your refrigerator/freezer (that was the missing information).
4. Fast Creative Thinking. The homework, tests and exams most students experience utilize active recall usually on the order of hours, days, weeks, and months. For leadership and innovation thinking, fast thinking especially for creative thought needs to be strong. Encourage sprint-like, no self-editing thought collection using this basic exercise: find something that you would like to name, and write down every name that comes to mind (use sticky notes, a piece of paper, or a whiteboard). Catalog the ideas. Try the exercise again with a different something and aim for greater fluidity, greater output and capture speed, less self-doubt and less self-editing.
5. Positive Thinking. Children have a positivity mindset that should be nurtured and kept resilient. The best leaders are able to frame positively and design programs that make their team positive through emotional intelligence and intrinsic motivation. A basic exercise could involve the practice of gratefulness: a well-known exercise for attaining more restful sleep is to think of something to be grateful for just before falling asleep. With your child, tell each other what you are grateful for at bedtime. Keep a log.

The five skills described support academic as well as professional and life achievement. They are valuable life lessons that are not a core part of any formal educational curriculum. As a parent, you have an opportunity to be a teacher/coach of these lifelong skills. Feel free to customize the exercises to situations that your family enjoys – to accommodate attention spans, energy levels and other uniqueness.

WSJ: AP Tests Are Still a Great American Equalizer

In the Letters to the Editor section of today’s (Saturday March 2, 2019) WSJ, there are two letters from AP subject teachers which support an earlier WSJ article titled “AP Tests Are Still a Great American Equalizer” by Caitlin Macy in the Review section on February 23, 2019.

I have made my position on the SAT and AP tests clear in a blog entry from about a year ago (WSJ: The Gatekeeper Tests). The tests and the educational activity that serves them should be thrown out – and it seems from the Macy article, there is noticeable movement in that direction. I am heartened to hear that there is a crack in the SAT/AP shield (yes, a shield analogy because it is an industry that will kick and flail to keep itself alive). And the schools that Macy points to as embracing competition are, in my view, waiting to see how the early adopters react. Remind yourself about print photography.

If there is too much pride to adopt the IB, why not develop something to replace AP that deals with the shortcomings? The Letters to the Editors that I referred to at the beginning give a clue to part of the answer. Teachers who teach AP classes are endeared to them. They just don’t know or can’t imagine better (nod to Steve Jobs’ quote of “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.“) What if high school teachers (or even let’s say AP teachers) get course reviews like college professors do? What are they going to say are the reasons for critiques? Pretty easy to guess they will point to the AP curriculum or AP test. What else is there if all they are trying to do is “teach to the test.” And if we want to have faces for the AP curriculum and test, we will need to take a closer look at the qualifications of the AP committees. Guess what you will find (or even better, go ahead and look it up).

The following are my thoughts on parts of the original essay and the subsequent letters…

“I still believe that AP courses are one of the greatest preparations for college life whether or not the student actually receives placement.” Paul Pomeroy, Letters to the Editor

My thought: AP courses are taught in a high school framework and format. There is minimal semblance to a college course. For a subject such as AP Psychology, I have always advised taking it in college…the professor will usually incorporate the latest research and provide expert perspective and analysis. The college course has more chance of being inspirational and life-changing.

“If private schools opt out of AP tests, what is their alternative measure to assess learning growth?” Dileep Rajan, Letters to the Editor

My thought: Well, there’s the IB for a start. And there’s opportunity to create a 2-year high school curriculum, like A-level and IB, that extends the existing high school Honors course so that students learn more and are better prepared for the leap to college (a YCISL objective). Close those year-over-year gaps that Salman Khan has talked about.

“…enabling students to save semesters of tuition fees.” Caitlin Macy, Review Essay

My thought: You might want to check that. AP credit in college means you cannot take a course or two. It typically doesn’t contribute to the units counted towards the degree. Colleges still want you to pay for the full ride.

“While public schools nationwide continue to embrace competition, private schools seem increasingly uncomfortable with it.” Caitlin Macy, Review Essay

My thought: Wishful thinking. My worldview sees private schools as agile, willing to be a part of the proof-of-concept, and engaging in timely problem-solving. Public services tend to have much greater inertia and lower tolerance for risk and failure (and in YCISL, we see value and advantage in failure and accepting risk).

“For students in underserved communities, the APs can be a way out precisely because they are nationally recognized.” Caitlin Macy, Review Essay

My thought: And where are they going? This reminds me of the low rating that the US has in Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions for LTO (long-term orientation). For how long do most AP students hold on to their AP experience? Ever brought it up at a cocktail party or during a date? (And that was a nod to Sir Ken Robinson’s “If you’re at a dinner party, and you say you work in education — actually, you’re not often at dinner parties, frankly.“)

Thoughts: New Year, New Resolutions & Change

Welcome to 2019!

An article in The Straits Times on December 28, 2018 titled “10 Tips for a Better Year” by Neen James reminded me that it was that time of year again when there would be a wave of self-improvement advisories. About how to approach making resolutions and keeping them. Another article “You say you want a New Year’s resolution…?” by Jamie Robertson on BBC News on January 2, 2019 further reminds us how most resolutions are short-lived – on the order of days.

Among the ten tips given by James, here are my three favorites within the YCISL context:

Know Your Priorities. For youth (especially pre-teen), priorities are often set by parents, teachers or other adults. So the challenge for youth is to be aware of their context given the surrounding priorities and pull together a set of personal priorities that connect. YCISL: Start with 3…and update as needed.

Surround Yourself with VIPs (Very Inspiring People). We know that your support network is critical to sustainable well-being. Can you think of 3 people who inspire you right now? Do you have the awareness and management skill to minimize the draining people around you? In YCISL, we like using select TED Talks for inspiration. For the 2019 workshop program, I am planning on leveraging Adora Svitak’s “What Adults Can Learn From Kids” TED Talk to inspire creativity and leadership through the form of “Quick-fire” projects focused on the classroom.

Make Time For Those You Care For. Caring often has a reciprocal effect. It elevates intrinsic motivation and feeds our sense of fulfillment. It is a perfect platform to train and apply our emotional intelligence because caring is sensitive to who and how.

WSJ: The Pessimism Reflex

In the Review section of the November 17/18 edition of the Wall Street Journal is a feature article titled “The Pessimism Reflex” by Matt Ridley. I found this particularly interesting as to how it relates to positivity, framing and true facts – topics we bring up in the YCISL workshop program.

Even in my last wiki entry – the one commenting on an article on “problems” with philanthropy – highlighted thinking that had a framing issue and lacked positivity. Makes me think of Grumpy Old Men.

With Mel Robbin’s mental handbrake analogy, it is too easy to be pessimistic. Pessimism is the handbrake that can easily reinforce the self-notion that there is something holding us back. And just like Malcolm Gladwell’s point about associating with greatness, there is also a tendency to associate with deprivation (the grass is always greener…).

And we can also understand the impact of pessimism through Alison Ledgerwood’s point about getting stuck in the negative.

We know in the adult world that pessimistic news goes around faster than optimistic news, and that spin and distorted reality becomes a part of the stream of norm – so it becomes an essential skill for youth leaders to train their senses to receive and feel pessimism, but to relay with positive actions and communications.

Stanford News: Stanford scholar addresses the problems with philanthropy

Through my LinkedIn feed, I read a Stanford News article on philanthropy written by Melissa De Witte (December 3, 2018). The article relates to a book written by a Stanford Political Science faculty. I thought I would comment since we are trying to apply YCISL thinking to philanthropy.

First, I believe we have different definitions of philanthropy. The book author seems to be referring only to monetary donations that qualify for the benefits of tax deduction. That’s like looking at someone’s face and picking something to be critical of – even if we generally do not make a fuss over the whole. We should be praising any philanthropy on any scale and of any shape. In YCISL, we wish for philanthropy to be encouraged and be a part of natural human behavior. As is our youth program style, we view philanthropy without monetary aspect and instead look to grow it with intrinsic motivation. That makes it accessible and a key component of personal development.

“But philanthropy is generously tax subsidized…” You say “subsidized”, I say benefitting society. Remember that deductible donations can only go to qualifying organizations and so such money flow is just cutting out the middle man (and we know that is a good thing where it is important to make money work efficiently).

“Philanthropy often comes with strings attached.” That’s if you only know philanthropy as what makes news headlines. The word “often” should be replaced with “occasionally” or “sometimes” because my view is that of most people engaging in (monetary value) philanthropy, but in modest amounts – and they are definitely without strings. Think of the Salvation Army Kettle (and similar set-ups) or used clothing donations or school fundraisers or even freeway off-ramp panhandlers. In terms of frequency and emotional payback, I think the no-strings attached philanthropy dominates.

The bottom line question is “Would society be better off without philanthropy (as it is today)?” My “glass half full” answer is “obviously!”

WSJ: Why LeBron Trusts His Teammates

Not a big NBA fan. Been to just one pre-season GSW game when I first went to college and a WNBA game 15 years later. I do like basketball though. “Played” it (benchwarmer), coached it (youth leagues) and I include shooting baskets at the park court as an option in my exercise routine. As a spectator, I prefer NCAA.

Anyway, this article “Why LeBron Trusts His Teammates) by Ben Cohen and published in the Sports section of the June 6, 2018 edition of the WSJ caught my interest because I did watch much of Game 2 of the current NBA Finals. There was commentary about the “incident” in Game 1 and an analysis of LeBron’s body language. It’s worth noting because LeBron is clearly in a leadership position.

The article is also notable because it’s much about a story of LeBron’s past when he first played youth league basketball. I feel a connection because of my coaching youth basketball for nine years; and I learned a lot from this experience – some of it is used to build the YCISL program.

“But what happened that night is something that James has never forgotten” Perfect fit for the Message to My Past Self exercise in the YCISL Your Personal Story activity. Leaders are driven by life lessons that affect the growth mindset.

“Right then I knew that this was a team game” Teamwork and team-building are two leadership activities which we include in the YCISL program. The main challenge is to make good teamwork automatic and instinctively positive.

“At 9 years old…he knew how to pass to 7-year-olds without knocking them down.” Sign of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social management.

“We both was good at what we did.” There has to be respect as well as trust in order to maintain a team’s positive mindset. How many leaders today can sit out and spectate one half of a “game” without getting in the way?

“It’s what he’s been trained to do since the moment he started playing this sport” The YCISL is a training program. It is structurally modeled like a basketball practice with a scrimmage thrown in. The life lessons that we provide to our YCISL youth will hopefully lead to future quality leaders who can readily apply EQ.

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*This article is online at https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-lebron-james-still-trusts-his-teammates-1528211656. However, it’s title includes “(Still)” which is not in the print edition.