Fostering Joy Through In/Formation

Of all the data, statistics, and research surrounding education, these three bodies of research are to me the most critical and crucial:

1. Today’s adolescents are experiencing traumatic levels of stress, anxiety, loneliness, isolation, depression, self-harm, and suicide

2. The model of traditional schooling seems to play a part in further exacerbating these statistics (see this previous newsletter for research links for #1 and #2)

3. The keys to deep happiness, meaning, and health are centered in the pursuit of core virtues and dispositions that foster JOY (see the work of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center for more)

In other words, today’s students are experiencing a crisis level of depression and self harm that schools seem to do very little about and may even contribute to…and yet there seems to be a hopeful answer lying right in plain sight.

Research shows that the keys to success, happiness, achievement, and health revolve not around content acquisition (what typically passes for “learning” in schools”), but in the acquisition of key virtues that sustain meaning and promote healthy identity

Meaning, purpose, health, and well-being are rooted not in memorizing multiplication tables or state capitals, but in the pursuit of such things as:

• Gratitude

• Hope

• Kindness

• Curiosity

• Self control

• Emotional intelligence

• Wisdom

• Compassion

• Creativity

• Courage

With this being so, let’s imagine a world where we do not center schooling around information but the in—>formation of healthy human beings

A school where JOY and not “success” is the target

Here is how that might look in real time

Traditional Model

But first, a look at the traditional model:

In the traditional model of schooling, courses are designed to teach X content (math, science, foreign language, literature, history, et cetera).

This is accomplished through content acquisition, memorization, and regurgitation via worksheets, quizzes, essays, and tests

That information acquisition is then graded for how well it has been absorbed and wiped clean for the next round of acquisition

Faculty and department meetings, professional development workshops and teacher conferences are held to discuss how to put best practices to use to better teach X to students so that they learn X better

“How do we help our students learn X better?”

Unfortunately, research shows this model of “information” gathering causes exceptionally high levels of stress, anxiety, isolation, loneliness, depression, and self harm—the EXACT OPPOSITE of the flourishing we seek in our students

What we want to do is reimagine a world where there is far less stress, anxiety, depression, and self-harm and far more engagement, flourishing, passion, meaning, and joy

To do this, we must aim at a different target

The Target of Joy

I have often wondered what education might look like if joy and not achievement were the target

If, in our schools, we asked a set of different questions, questions like:

“How does our curriculum help students be more fair, kind, honest, caring, curious, creative, grateful, wise?”

“Do our pedagogy and practices foster deep, abiding, and abundant joy in our students?”

If JOY (and not just “love of learning”—though that would not be a bad thing) were the target, we could possibly imagine a school where classroom behaviors are rooted more in engaged purpose than acting out

A school where faculty excitement replaces exhaustion

A school where discipline issues are replaced by student-led initiatives

A school where students are eager to come and genuinely sad to leave

A school where everyone has a place and everyone knows they belong

Information as In—>formation

In this reimagined school, the in—>formation of joyful, kind, thoughtful, generous, grateful, courageous, creative individuals is why the “information” has value

In this reimagined school, students still learn X content…but the target, the end, the goal is for the content to lead them to purpose, passion, meaning, and joy

Students learn geometry to build more humane, accessible, innovative spaces for the shaping of healthy persons and communities

Students learn history to become advocates of a more just and equitable world

Students read literature to identify themselves as courageous, heroic, informed global citizens

Students put botany to use building edible gardens in food deserts, they learn spoken word to speak out against oppression, they learn foreign languages to better understand cultures and people not their own, they study art and music to appreciate Beauty in the world, they learn statistics to unpack underlying root causes of areas they want to see made new

Students graduate from this reimagined vision of schooling as robust, flourishing human beings ready to tell a beautiful story with their lives

If our curriculum does not foster joy, does not shape students to be kinder and wiser and more purposeful with their lives, all the trigonometry, biology, AP Lit, and British History in the world will not matter

Our curriculum can serve a deeper purpose than mere content acquisition, and, for the sake of our students, it must.

Is this vision possible? I believe it is and, more importantly, I believe it is worth fighting for as we work to create healthier schools that foster and shape healthier human beings who themselves work to create healthier neighborhoods, communities, and worlds

Hopefully, this has been helpful and has inspired you to take the first small steps towards reimagining a deeper purpose for schooling than mere content acquisition.

If you would like to take the next step towards seeing that world come to be, feel free to reach out!

My work exists to help schools tell a better story for students, educators and the world. If I can help in any way—from workshops, consulting calls, professional development, keynotes, or year long cohorts—let me know!

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