Who wants to be around stupid people?
Yesterday there was a talk on NPR about the importance of Social and emotional intelligence, education and training in schools. Reminded me of my own pilot program that we did for 5 years at Claremont School district in California many years ago. We called it, Celebrating Unity in Diversity. Many of those children in the program must be in college now.
I looked for the NPR link on line and found the following:
Emotional Intelligence
NPR’S Margot Adler reports that the public schools in New Haven, Connecticut have had their share of problems: high dropout rates…rampant teen pregnancy…the kind of urban disfunction that makes going to school really tough, for kids and teachers alike. Five years ago, in an effort to turn things around, the New Haven schools embarked on an ambitious experiment…one designed to teach kids the life skills they’d need to grow and develop as emotionally healthy adults…to acquire what some researchers have called “emotional literacy”…or “emotional intelligence
From time to time I have seen NPR focusing their cameras on this important subject. More, much more attention must be given to the subject so all children including the Bahaí children’s human rights be acknowledged and respected throughout the world.
If everyone wants to be around intelligent and loving people, everyone must be taught how to be intelligent and loving. Is it too much to ask? is it; that all children have the right to be fully educated and real education must include physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions to be real education?
Just as it is difficult, or rather painful and abusive to live with and be around violent or self destructive people in our homes, it is just as painful, and abusive to study or work in proximity of people who are ignorant about how to express and manage their emotions. All children have the right to be taught about what it means to be emotionally safe with themselves and with others. It is about time that our schools all over the world, identify what it means to be a human being and make it a requirement for being called educated!!
In yesterday’s interview on NPR I saw and heard Daniel Goleman, one of my favorite authors talking about the significance of attending to the emotional and social inteligence needs of children at schools. His classic books on Emotional and Social Intelligence are real treasures of insight and learning on the subject.
If the Iranian schools made emotional and social intelligence part of their curriculum, the door to spiritual intelligence could also open to all the beloved children in that country and thus all children including the Bahaí children will go to school while feeling safe and loved!! Is it too much to ask?
Keyvan
