A Real Education

Mark Greenberg is trying to mend the social awkwardness that so many children from this generation suffer from. Not everyone is a social butterfly and nor should they have to be. At the same time they cannot fear even the most basic social interaction. Something that K-12 schooling does not seem to touch on a whole lot. I suppose what schools need is some form of a psychology or at least public speaking class. Boyce argues that students need to be able to be, “…able to calm yourself and regulate your emotions in a variety of situations; understand your own emotions, accurately perceive others’ emotions, and empathize; listen attentively to what someone is saying, negotiate, and confidently persuade; think through problems effectively while considering others’ perspectives.” A hefty load to be dumped on anyone’s plate and could easily be peaked in some form of a psychology class. Just to allow insight into the human mind. Students would begin to understand why people do things and read them more effectively, effectively, raising the level of manners in students, in theory. They would realize that they are not alone in their social anxiety. The idea of mindfulness is to promote, “A kind of non-elaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is,” defined by Bishop, Lau and colleagues. Essentially, pay attention to the person you are speaking to, accept what they are saying and do not argue it? ...maybe. Not so sure that I can agree with that. I support a more in depth understanding of conversation for our students, but if I am interpreting this correctly, we don’t need more passives in this world.