VCE Empathy

8/8/2019 VCE Empathy

1/12

EnsuringChildren Succeed

in the Coming

Everyone A Changemaker World

Ending

Marginalization:Children and Empathy

What causes 25 to 30 percent o theworlds people to be marginalized?Cruelly let unable to enter into andcontribute to the larger society?

It is not because they do not knowhow to use computers or Latin.Such knowledge they could acquireeasily.

Ashoka has come to understandwhybecause 48 percent o the2,700 Fellows across the world

deal with children, and many morewith marginalization. And because,as a community, we have over thelast decade learned how to seethe patterns and identiy the mosttransormative one or two ideas ina feld such as children and young

people.

Creativity & PlayJill Vialet, Ashoka Fellow

November 17, 2009

So, I want to start by playing a game.

Im a frm believer that there is agood game or every space, andgiven this space were going to play

a game called stand up. Its very lowtech. Im going to make a series ostatements. I a statement is true oryou, youre going to stand up, pauseand look around, and sit back down.I, or some reason, standing up isntworking or you, i youre at the topand worried about toppling down, just make an upward sweepinggesture to signiy your participation.

Okay?

I you are a parent, stand up. Okay,sit back down. Were going to bedoing this a bunch.

continued on page 2 continued on page 4


2/12

2

Now we are taking the next stepto take those one or two ideas andentrepreneur togetherto tip the world with them. Such collaborative

entrepreneurship is unprecedented and a giant step beyond solopractitionership.

Imagine the power o hundreds o the worlds best entrepreneurs seeinghow to move their feld to the next level and then orming a true globalteam to make that happen.

So, what is the key to end the marginalization o so many tens o millions

on every continent?Today and going orward, knowledge is not enough. Young childrenmust grasp and master the learned, not genetic, skill ofempathy. They must be able to watch themselves understanding whatis happening to other people, now and into the uture, as individuals andin complex institutionsand then to guide themselves to contribute tothe good and not be hurtul.

Children genetically have a central drive to be contributing members osociety. Otherwise, they will be miserable and earlier probably wouldnot survive. They will grasp empathy i we give them the opportunity tolearn and practice it.

However, we are not doing that or large parts o the population. Thesechildren do not get it at home, on the streets, or at school. School isonly about learning knowledgewhich is why all that is measured is

knowledge transer, chiey math and basic language.

Plus the rules. But one cannot be a good, nonhurtful person byfollowing rules. The world is changing too ast or that. (The rate atwhich change is accelerating is literally logarithmic.) Every year, the rulescover less and less o our lives. We are ever more in conict o rules,changing rules, and/or no rules situations.

Then we must use an ever higher level o empathetic skill to be able tobe helpul, not hurtul.

Without the skill o empathy, we will hurt people and disrupt institutions.And they will throw us out quickly, ruthlessly, and without apologiesregardless o our learned knowledge.

How many elementary school principals know that they are ailing i onesecond grader has not grasped and had steady opportunities to practice

Ending Marginalization continued


3/12

3

(chiey in group playwhich is why recess is so key) empathy? And howmany parents know to insist on this?

The consequences o any society ailing to ensure that all o its childrenmaster high levels o empathetic skill are grim. Certainly or the lie o

each child. But also or the society.

Anyone without this skill cannot go on to the other learned socialskills they must master to be a player, a contributor, in the world odramatically aster and ar more manyaceted change we will all ace in15 years. These skills are teamwork, leadership, and changemaking.

The key actor or success or any human groupingbe it a company,

city, or countrywill be what proportion o its people are skilledchangemakers working together in exible teams. (It will not betechnology or other traditional sources o competitive advantageaschange accelerates, their hallives are shrinking year by year.)

If America or Poland or Nigeria or Sri Lanka does not ensureall its children are mastering empathy now, that country willbe crippled in the race to be a winner in fteen years. It took

50 years or so many o the industrial dynamos o the midtwentiethcentury to become desolate. It will not take 50 years this time.

The goal o Ashokas collaborative entrepreneurial eort or childrenthen is to get parents and schools to recognize that mastering the coresocial skills necessary in the world we are entering is essential. Onlythen will knowledge be put to use.

Once the world redefnes what success in growing up and educationrequires, the Fellows have demonstrated clearly how to succeed.

Canadas Mary Gordon (www.ashoka.org/ellow/mgordon) hasthousands o schools in several countries (including 18 starting this yearin Seattle) that are enabling very young children to grasp empathy inhours. She brings an inant (the proessor) to class and challenges thestudents to grasp what the proessor is saying and then eeling. Bullyingrates, which Canada measures, come down and stay down.

Californias Jill Vialet is bringing recess back to the schoolsas aplace o group play. Her work fts with Marys perectly. Once childrengrasp empathy, they need to practice and deepen it. Jill just gave aTEDx talk regarding her work and how it serves the worlds central need(and our Ashoka communitys central goal) o breaking through to aneveryone a changemaker society. You will enjoy Jills sparkling talk atwww.ashoka.org/video/jill_tedxs. The transcript ollows.


4/12

4

I you are lethanded, stand up.

I you have sought elected ofce, stand up. I youve also run or studentgovernment, come on now.

I you would describe your relationship to caeine as an addiction, standup. There we go, all right.

I you tried to grow tomatoes this summer, stand up.

I you have ever perormed in a musical, stand up. Wow! Thats surprising.

Im impressed.I you memorized a poem rom start to fnish in your teen years, thatyou can still recite, stand up. Wow, hes there. Thats right.

I you have ever owned a Donna Summer album, stand up. All right,there we go.

So, I play that game, frst to establish that this is an extraordinary crowd.

Im really particularly heartened by the number o Donna Summerslovers, too. I always eel that youre going to get a warm reception i thereare a good number o Donna Summer ans in the audience. But I alsoplay, because Im wondering i you noticed how, when we started to playthe game, that there was a shit. That you know how that busy brain thatwe have going all the time? That monologue thats saying, Oh I orgotto pick up my dry cleaning or Oh I meant to send that email to Tonybeore I let the ofce or How am I possibly going to drop the kids

o and be at that meeting at 8:30 tomorrow morning? That when youstart to play the game, that busy brain really quiets down. That once youstart to play, you get into that cognitive shit, you get into the play space,you are suddenly much more in the present. Youre much more aware o

Jill Vialet, elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2004, isworking to ensure that every child learns romplay every day. That's how one masters theoundation o all social skills, empathy. Thereare now 100 US Ashoka Fellows out o the2700 total. They are an invaluable two way ideabridge or America to the world's communityo leading social entrepreneurs. (See insideo back cover or a uller introduction to Jill.)

Creativity & Play continued


5/12

5

the people around you. You start checking out the people around you,at that guy who can recite the poem, youre thinking about what Imsaying in a much more intent way, youre really hanging on to what Imsaying, because it might apply

to you. There might evenbe a physiological response,right? You might eel yourpulse quicken slightly, not ina nervous or stressed outway, or super anxious, butjust in a slightly more awake, engaged kind o way. So that play state, isnot surprisingly, a state thats really conducive to learning.

I spend a lot o time in public elementary schools across the country,and, unortunately, thats not a lot o what Im seeing when Im outin the schools. I see a pretty singular ocus on achievement, on testscores. So the olks that I meet out in the schools, theyre really, I thinkocusing on achievement is good. I think that they believe that, byocusing on achievement, that theyre going to get to a place o betterteaching and learning. But the problem is, the people in schools are beingheld accountable to a very singular metric around standardized tests. And,its like the old saying goes, people dont do what you expect, they dowhat you inspect. And so, by virtue o building an educational systemthats so ocused on these measurable outcomes, weve seen a subtleshit in schools away rom learning and towards knowledge acquisition.

Now, the implications o this are pretty huge, right? And one o them isthat, while it might have been with the best o intentions, achievementcan sometimes lead to really, a less o an emphasis on childrensdevelopment than you want to see. And the lack o opportunities orplay is a great example o that.

But its not just about learning. Another way that having less play inschools maniests, is that kids are given ewer and ewer opportunitiesto develop the skills they need to become changemakers. Sochangemakers is a term that I borrowed rom Bill Drayton, and as manyo you know, Bill is the ounder oAshoka and hes the person whocame up with the term social entrepreneur. Now, Bill is obsessed withtrends, and so, he has been looking a lot at what it would take to builda world in which everyone is a changemaker. Hes looked at the 2,700Fellows who have been elected over the last 30 years as Ashoka Fellowsand hes noticed a real trendthat almost all the Fellows had theseexperiences as kidswhere they were able to make a dierence, where

they were able to make a change. And hes pulled out our social skills

kids are given ewerand ewer opportunities todevelop the skills they need

to become changemakers.


6/12

6

that he sees as being absolutely essential to being a changemaker:Theyre empathy, teamwork, leadership and this experience itsel o beinga changemakerthat taking creativity and translating it into action.

Not surprisingly, Bill is very

critical o an educationalsystem that is ocusedon knowledge acquisition,because thats not really

conducive to those our social skills being developed. And, happilyor me, an educational system that emphasizes play, really is.

George Bernard Shaw wrote that reasonable people adapt themselvesto the world, while unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world tothemselvesthereore all progress depends on unreasonable people.

When I frst started on making Playworks happen, I was ully in touchwith my unreasonable sel. I saw that recess in a lot o schools wasntgoing well. I knew that recess had been absolutely key to my happinessand success as a kid. And I believed that I could make a dierence. Andso, not through any kind o conscious choice, I just started making ithappen. I totally, just ound mysel doing it. And I cared on a cellular level.

But Playworks has grown over the years, not because o myunreasonableness, but because the young adults who have come to workor us, go out onto the playgrounds, and they, through the power o play,discover themselves as changemakers. And really, theres nothing thatmakes me prouder than the act that theres now a legion o unreasonabletwentysomethings out there who now share my vision that oneday, every kid in America is going to get to play everyday.

But about six years ago, I waselected an Ashoka Fellow, andwe started going national.


7/12

7

So, we didnt start out going national, we started out as a Bay Areaprogram. But about six years ago, I was elected an Ashoka Fellow, andwe started going national. So, we started getting all these calls rompeople who wanted to learn about what we were doing and wondered

i we would come and talk to them about how it was, and would comeopen in their city. So we got an invitation to go back to Baltimore andwe were invited to go to the Johns Hopkins Summer Learning Institute,so we decided to make a whole trip out o it. Four o the sta, myseland three others, went out. And one o the guys that came with us isnamed Lamar. Now, Lamar is about 63, AricanAmerican, 240, neverbeen out o Oakland beore. He is legally blind, he cant drive, buthes magic on the playground. He also has an outside shot, which,given the act that hes legally blind doesnt make a lot o sense, butyou know, youve just got to believe. Hes an extraordinary guy. So hecomes with me, and we break up into two groups, so I go with Lamar tothis one school in Baltimore to meet with the principal and the other twogo to speak at another school.And were sitting in the ofceo the principal in the school,

waiting to talk to the principal,and I turn to Lamar and I say,Lamar, you want to do thepitch? When we go in, you can describe the program. I mean youve actuallydone it. I just made it up, Ive actually never done it. And hes like Na uh,no way, you talk, Ill just sit there and listen, I want to hear how you sell it.Its just, its all you. Im just going be completely quiet. And I say, okay.

So we walk into the principals ofce and its just like you remember.Theres the big chair and the big desk and the two little chairs and youwalk in, and the whole thing is set up to make you eel small. And wesit down in the little chairs, and Lamar is a big dude, and hes sittingin the little chair. And I go into my spiel, I start talking about howPlayworks works, how we put one person in each school and theyre outin the yard or all the recesses and how they work with the classroomteachers, and we do a junior coach program, and the kids get put in

charge o teaching other kids rock, paper, scissors, and ater school andthe leagues and the parents are involved, and the principals nodding,listening and nodding. Nodding, good, good. How it costs about $55,000per school to run the program, how schools pay $23,500, and I getto the end o my pitch, and he nods and says, It sounds like a greatprogram, but it just would never work or us. I go, Is it because o themoney? Because a lot o times it is about the money, and he says, No,

we dont have recess. We havent had recess or fve years.

So we walk into theprincipals ofce and itsjust like you remember.


8/12

8

And so, up until this point Lamar has been absolutely mum, not a peeprom the guy. But he cant stop himsel at this point. He leans orwardand says Im sorry, excuse me, but, but when the kids fnish up lunch, andthey go outside to play, what happens then? And the principal is kind

o startled because Lamar hasnt said a word, he sort o orgot Lamarwas there and he says, No, we dont have recess, the kids stay insidethe caeteria. And Lamar says, But what about when the teacherstake the kids out or break, the frst graders and the second graders,when they go outduring the day torun around and getsome air and play?And the principallooks at me, andlooks at Lamar and says, No, no we dont have recess, we havent hadrecess in fve years. Our kids dont know how to play.

And at this point, Lamar looks at me, and looks at the principal andsays: Could I take the kids out or 10 minutes at recess today? Andthe principal shakes his head and is like, No, no way. And right then,you should have seen, Lamar just dug in, and he summoned his ullunreasonable sel and he leans orward and said, No, no no, let me takethem out today, I can show you. We can show you. And he looks at meand says, We can wait. And I say, All right, we can wait.

So, an hour and twenty minutes later I fnd mysel striding into thiscaeteria with 120 4th and 5th graders, just, just a cacophony. Its insane,the level o noise. And, you have to picturethere are two doors, andtwo lunch ladies at each door. And they just look scary and mean andcranky, and theyre at the door, and theyre there. And theyre in ulllunch lady garb too, can you picture them? Lamar strides to the middleo the caeteria and he claps and a ew kids look at him, and the lunch

ladies are like, Redalert, red alert,whats going on?

And he does it again.And a couple o kids,against their will, go

*clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.* But then, he does it one more time, and theentire room goes *clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.* And theres total silence.

Lamar says, Hi, Im Coach Lamar. Im here! And the kids look at himand he goes, What kind o welcome is that? Lets try that againHi, Im

Coach Lamar and the kids all go, Hi Coach Lamar. And they are just

two is treat each other withlove, and three is a double ruleno bleeding or throwing up.

we dont have recess, wehavent had recess in fve years.

Our kids dont know how to play.


9/12

9

like, what is going on? And he says Im visiting rom Caliornia. Which iscode or: I am criminally insane in Baltimore. He says, Im visiting romCaliornia, and your principal has said I can take you out or 10 minuteso recess today, and the kids are like WAHOO, and he says, But, I

need you to show them that you can cooperate. So Im going to ask youto do three things. First thing is, I need you to fnish up eating up lunch,second thing is I need you to clean up your area, then I need you to lineup by class, quietly in an organized way. The kids are like, boom, boom,boom. The kids are cleaned up, eat up, they line up, and our minuteslater we are out in the yard.

Lamar circles them up, he goes over the rules, and he breaks them

up into three groups. One, two, three, one, two, three. He says, Okay,were going to break up into three groups. Im going to take the onegroup over here and were going to play bandaid tag, and he says Jillsgoing to take the twos and play rockstar, and the threes, youre goingto go with your teachers, and Ive talked to them, and youre goingto be on the structure. There are three rules on the structure: one isno running up the slide, two is treat each other with love, and threeis a double ruleno bleeding or throwing up. And the kids are like,Really, no bleeding, no throwing up? Okay! So we break out one,two, threes. We do our games, I teach them to play rockstar, hes gotthem going, the kids are running around, theyre having so much un.He claps again at the end o the 10 minutes and they circle up and hegoes, I want everybody to go around and say one word about how thatwas. All o the kids say, Fun, Great, and, you know a couple kids saythrow up, but mostly they were into it. And he goes, That was

great, but I need one more avor rom you. I need you to show theteachers and the principal that you can go o the yard with the same quietand organization and coordination as you came in. The kids are like,


10/12

10

Yeah! And one kid yells, When are you coming back? and Lamarsays, Ill be back next year, but I need you to show them that youcan do this. And the kids fled out just like a dream. You shouldve seen.The principal looks at me and goes, All right, we should talk. And

Lamar is so pleased with himsel, right? And all o a sudden I look over,and there come the lunch ladies across the blacktop, heaving bosoms,and hug Lamar and gave him so much love. It was this great visual.

So we launched there at that school the next year.

There are a couple o things that I love about that story. I love howthe kids were moved so quickly rom a behavior that was totallyunacceptable to a behavior that was great. I love the lunch ladies.But one thing that I dont get to talk about that oten, that seemsso important, is how incredible it was that Lamar stepped up in that

moment. I mean,nothing in thepower dynamicsupported that.Im his boss

boss, and theprincipal is totally

intimidating and the dude is in the little chair, and yet, in that moment hehad so much empathy or the kids. And he knew it, without a shadowo a doubt, that he could make a dierence. And so, he summoned hisull unreasonable sel, and he made a dierence.

And thats the kind o world that I want to live in. I want to live in

a world where people see problems, they see creative solutions, andthey know or a act that they can make a dierence. And then, basedon that, they take action and the world is a better place.

I can stand here and tell you stories about all the hundreds o sta whodo this everyday, who ound their incredible power as a changemakerthrough play. But, I think what I want to leave you with, is that while itseasy to dismiss play and recess as this sort o extra, sort o rivolous

thing, nothing could be urther rom the truth. It is absolutelyessential that we make sure that every kid in America gets toplay every day. Because, thats what its going to take for themto develop the social skills they need to take the initiative,to drive their own destiny, and to ultimately become thechangemakers that we so desperately need them to be.

And all o a sudden I look over, andthere come the lunch ladies acrossthe blacktop, heaving bosoms, and hug

Lamar and gave him so much love.


11/12

11

J

ill Vialet developed a love or sports in her early school years. Asa young girl in the dawn o Title IX, she was entitled to play anysport, but she always preerred the sports that boys thought onlythey could play. She remembers with great ondness a recreation

worker named Clarence at her local playground, who made sure she wasalways included in the sports o her choice. Jill continued to play sportsin high school, becoming a state champion in track. Through sports shelearned how to manage a team and gained insights about gender equityand competition that would inuence many o her lie choices.

As she went on to college, Jill became immediatelyimmersed in public service and political advocacy.

In her time at Harvard, she was student bodypresident, coounded the group Students AgainstRacism, and spent a summer in Peru with Amigosde las Americas. Jill took her commitment toservice a step urther ater college, taking a jobwith Campfre Boys and Girls in Alaska. Shewent rom village to village teaching survivalswimming skills and art to 40 children rom 2to 17 years old. As a complete outsider with little support, Jill had tocreate a program rom scratch; she had no choice but to innovate.

In 1988, Jill coounded the Museum o Childrens Art (MOCHA) inOakland to help amilies and communities celebrate the creativity oyoung people. Through the work with the museum, she brought artiststo a hospital to work with pediatric patients, and convinced the hospitalto display the childrens art throughout its wards. The museum grewquickly, developing an artists in residency program in public schoolsand serving 18,000 children over the course o nine years. Principalswere so impressed with Jills work that they approached her to solvetheir single biggest problem: The schoolyard. At their request, Jillworked or months to adapt what she had learned to recess.

She then ounded what is now Playworks. In 2004 she was electedan Ashoka Fellow and, with help rom Ashoka and its partners, beganspreading her vision nationally. From its roots in the San FranciscoBay Area, it has now spread to 170 schools in 10 cities. Jills plan is toserve 650 low income schools in 28 cities by 2012. With these schoolsproviding encouragement as models, more and more communities aretaking advantage o Playworks comprehensive training and technicalsupport programs which will engage a urther one million students by2012. A number o its insights are also now spreading globally through

Ashokas collaborative entrepreneuring or children and young people.


12/12

How society helps children grow upneeds undamental innovation at least asurgently as in how it produces computers.

That is why Ashoka is so important. Itfnds, helps launch, and then links andleverages the most powerul socialinnovations and innovators.

Carol BellamyFormer Executive Director o UNICEFPresident and CEO o World Learning

[Ashoka is] establishing andsustaining an independent,

international body which will nourish itsel on the nearlybottomless, practical think tank o its Fellows.

Ashoka has identifed a clearpattern: In Fellow ater Fellow yousee new ideas o how you can put

children in charge o a series o activities, and howempowering them had a strong impact on them oracademic perormance and their motivation.

1700 North Moore Street, Suite 2000 (20th Floor)

Arlington, VA 22209 United States

T: 703.527.8300 | F: 703.527.8383

www. ashoka.org | www.changemakers.com

Documents

VCE Empathy