GROWING GREATNESS in Our Schools
Leading the Student-Centered Revolution
There is an extremely important reason why YOU exist. You were born to make a contribution to the world that no one else can make. Nick Vujicic, who was born without arms and legs, in his wonderful book, “Life Without Limits,” says, “No matter what your circumstances may be, as long as you are breathing, you have a contribution to make.…It’s important to recognize your own value – that you have something to contribute. .. As God’s child you are beautiful and precious, worth more than all the diamonds in the world. You and I are perfectly suited to be who we were meant to be!” Can you imagine a person born without arms and legs saying that?
Can you also imagine a school that was designed to help students discover “who they were meant to be” – a school that helps students discover why they exist —- and then helps students develop their innate talents so they can make their special contributions to the world?”
Aiming Higher – The Powers of Human Greatness – No Limits
Educating for Human Greatness is student-centered education that builds on a higher vision of human potential. It aims to help students see a bright future of using their genius brains to make the world a better place. In EFHG schools, students aspire to develop their unique talents and gifts and use them to be contributors, not burdens, to society. Bullying and dropouts are near zero. There is communication, cooperation and amazing accomplishment. When students find their reasons to exist, it changes everything!
The EFHG concept started as a small seed that began to grow after teachers in an elementary school in Utah decided to ask parents about their children – who they were – what they wanted the school to help them do – and how they could work in partnership. Out of these meetings came a revolutionary concept: Subject matter content should serve, not as a goal, but as a tool or means of helping students grow in seven major powers of human greatness:
Identity: The power of self-worth that comes from knowing why you exist to be a contributor to society; the development of innate talents and gifts.
Inquiry: The power to be intensely curious, able to ask penetrating questions and to investigate efficiently.
Interaction: The power of love, respectful communication and cooperation.
Initiative: The power of will, self-direction and discipline.
Imagination: The power of creativity.
Intuition: The power to sense truth with the heart.
Integrity: The power of honesty and responsibility for self.
Extraordinary Teaching
To aim for the seven powers of greatness frees teachers from an imposed curriculum that is usually limited to six or seven subjects. In the past, teachers have been slaves to this curriculum. Now, the seven powers of greatness, used as primary goals, allow teachers to be masters over curriculum and practice as professionals. It provides for teachers to use content as their servant to meet the needs of a great variety of students – like a physician chooses from thousands of drugs to cure human illnesses.
As an adult, how many teachers can you remember who inspired you to study and be your best self? How many can you name who really loved and cared about you? Ira Progoff, a noted psychologist, said this about love: “Love depends upon the capacity to reach beneath the surface of persons, to feel and touch the seed of life that is hidden there. And Love becomes a powerwhen it is capable of evoking that seed and drawing it forth from its hiding place."
This describes the teaching style of those who ascribe to the Educating for Human Greatness concept – teachers feel and show love for each student, take a special interest in each one and try to “draw forth” the greatness that lies “hidden there.” This means that great teaching is more about drawing forth than it is about pouring in. One characteristic of extraordinary teaching is the ability to draw forth the curiosity and vital questions of students.
Results
What would you expect of a school system that deliberately and consistently aims to help every student discover and develop their talents to be contributors to society? Would dropouts decrease? Would school shootings continue? Since the murders at Columbine High School in 1999 there have been 62 shootings in elementary, middle and high schools.
Why does our country incarcerate more lawbreakers per capita than any other nation at a cost of nearly 50 billion dollars a year? What if we could eliminate this problem with a school system that helps students aspire to be contributors to society and spend the savings on education? Educating for Human Greatness is a student-centered system that deliberately aims to help students find “who they were meant to be” — their reasons to exist, to strive to serve and not be burdens to society.
Will students grow in reading, writing, math, other skills and the knowledge our culture has identified to be essential? Students usually excel far above those who are involved in conventional, subject-centered education – not all at the same time, or in the same things, but every student excels in something and is ready to prove, for graduation, how s/he will be a contributor to society. As with other subjects, we found that reading is best taught indirectly as a power of inquiry – a way to satisfy curiosity – and not taught directly with high pressure methods. Children learn to love reading when they are curious and not assigned as though it is a chore to be done for a certain amount of time each day.
When curiosity is unchained, students get what they need. It is impossible for anyone to tell, in advance, what each child is going to need, as confirmed by these wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and only he knows the key to his own secret.” Knowledge that is provided before a child feels a need for it doesn’t endure as it does after s/he wants and seeks it.
Assessment and Accountability
To “draw forth” the kind of teaching described above, school districts can use the tool below or one they design:
EDUCATING FOR HUMAN GREATNESS – (efhg.org)
A TOOL FOR ASSESSING SCHOOL/HOME EFFECTIVENESS
IN HELPING STUDENTS GROW AS CONTRIBUTORS TO SOCIETY
Name of School _________________________ I am a Parent Student Teacher Date ________
Please indicate how you feel or have evidence that this school or family is accomplishing each of the powers of greatness. (E for excellent, G for good, F for fair, P for poor, etc.)
Powers for Contributive Behavior Comments
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Identity – How well does this school/home help students know who they are, see their great potential as contributors, and develop their unique talents, gifts, interests and abilities?
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Inquiry – Is this school/home nurturing curiosity and helping students learn how to ask good questions? Do teachers and parents set an example of a curious, inquiring attitude?
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Interaction – Does this school/home promote courtesy, caring, communication, cooperation and literacy?
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Initiative – How well does this school/home foster self-directed learning, will power and self-evaluation?
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Imagination – Does this school/home nurture creativity and creative expression?
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Intuition – How well does this school/home help students discover truth with their hearts as well as with their minds?
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Integrity – Does this school/home develop honesty, character, morality and responsibility for self?
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Literacy and Math – Are literacy and math skills taught and learned as tools of inquiry, communication and problem-solving rather than as ends in and of themselves?
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Partnership – Do teachers and parents work as full partners to help students grow as contributors to the school, home and community?
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Additional comments, questions or suggestions:
Signature (optional) _________________________________ Phone #
Framework Strategies
EFHG is set forth as a “framework” because it invites teachers, students and parents to invent strategies for growing each of the seven powers. Our book features three strategies that were created during the first several years — the Great Brain Project to develop Inquiry, the Shining Stars Talent Shows to develop Identity and the School Post Office to develop Interaction. EFHG can also be called a “framework” because it allows flexibility to meet the needs of each unique student. It is not a fixed curriculum as is the case in our conventional subject-centered system. When teachers and parents unite to help students grow in the seven “dimensions of greatness,” school shifts from subject-centered to student-centered. This shift makes all the difference.
High School and Graduation
Some things State and District Boards of Education can do to put education reform back into the hands of outstanding educators working in partnership with parents to get us on a better path:
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Restore democracy to public education. Give students and their parents the primary voice. Make education voluntary rather than compulsory. Make schools more interesting and inviting.
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Providing equitable funding — while also freeing local districts (in partnership with students, parents, teachers, and community) to develop their own educational goals and means of assessment.
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Make all high school courses elective and add more classes, apprentice opportunities, and electronic learning as needed to meet the diverse needs of many students. College is not the only place where higher learning is found.
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Provide a “home room” with a human development mentor who will get to know each student and support him or her in what s/he is trying to accomplish. This mentor would not teach a course but would be a generalist to guide the flowering of diversity. Students in the “home room” will have discussions and give support to each other in developing positive diversity. Talent shows and personal investigation projects are shared here.
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Eliminate the conventional requirements for graduation. Let students design their own education, with wise guidance, and ask each one to prove, for graduation, how s/he will be a contributor to society. Students will keep records, portfolios, diaries and/or electronic devices, to show progress and accomplishments in each of the powers of human greatness.
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Eliminate the expensive standardized tests and replace them with assessments that show how each student is growing in the main powers of human greatness.
The Bottom Line – Student-Centered Education
You can have a school that deliberately aims to help each student discover “who s/he was meant to be” – a school that helps students discover why they exist —- and then goes on to help students develop their innate talents so they can make their special contributions to the world. You can have schools “without limits” that focus on the needs of individual students – where teachers and parents work in partnership – where teachers are respected and supported to practice as professionals – and where students and teachers love to be. You can have student-centered schools, if you have courage and are willing to energetically ask and work for them.
Contact Information
Jim Strickland – Public educator for the past 25 years and strong advocate for student-centered and democratic educational practices; former regional coordinator for the National League of Democratic Schools. livedemocracy@hotmail.
Lynn Stoddard — Retired after 36 years as an elementary school teacher and principal to write about the "Educating for Human Greatness" concept that was discovered when teachers decided to ask parents what their children needed. lstrd@yahoo.com
Darrell Stoddard — Proponent of Free agency in Education and opponent of compulsory education. Past experience: Operating Engineer, Commercial Pilot, Director of Media Marketing — Brigham Young University, Integrative Medicine Pain Specialist, Founder – Pain Research Institute, Author book "Pain Free for Life" Websites: healpain.net, saveusa.biz, BeofGoodCheer.net
Anthony Dallmann-Jones PhD – Professor of Educational Psychology and Alternative Learning at Marian University. Former teacher, administrator and Title III Director. Author of 11 books including FIXING PUBLIC EDUCATION, Shadow Children, and editor of Educating for Human Greatness. asdjones@gmail.com
