So the problems with not learning a future orientation are obvious, but the solutions to them are not. (I'm not at all talking about myself here because even though I'm high in present hedonism, I'm also not too shabby on present orientation.)
People with present orientation neither identify the problem nor desire to seek the treatment. This leads them to make a solid number of bad life choices. So future oriented groups like Planned Parenthood spring up. They put tons of hours and money into developing programs to tech people if you have un-safe sex now you could wind-up with a baby in nine months or a sexually transmitted disease at any point. However the majority of people who walk into these clinics are present oriented. If they were future oriented this plan would have worked brilliantly. It doesn’t work. A group of Stanford professors conducted a study on 50 randomly selected present oriented girls at Planned Parenthood and found the class had no long term effect of them. Look a DARE six separate studies show that there is no difference in the drug and alcohol use of classes who have been through DARE and those who haven’t. Clearly Kids who are present oriented hear the fact the if this- then that, but it really doesn’t bother them.
So visualization is the key at the end of a 354 page book. Mental stimulation: the technical term for mentally rehearsing an activity. Over 2 weeks at a community center John Boyd led one class in mental stimulation and let another go through the regular course. They each selected a personal goal and imagined the thoughts, feelings and actions that would be associated with reaching that goal. Less quantifiable goals like becoming a brain surgeon turned into achievable ones like getting a GED. Most students in fact seemed to achieve 3 of their goals. In the other class however, one student overdosed, one dropped out of the program, one dropped out of school completely and yet other ran away from home.
Though the visualization sounds like some zen stuff. Zen stuff has a way of working.
I suppose the problem is that letting kids be present oriented (or admitting that pushing them into f-orientation doesn't work) seems too risky. This is why so few schools have the freedom that BHS has: fear of letting kids move towards f-orientation (responsibility) on their own.
ReplyDeleteAssignment complete but late = 10/15. Sorry, but I don't have time for comments at this point. See me if you'd like to discuss this entry.