Sophia's painting

Sophia is my friend Yan's daughter, not even 5 years old yet.  Yan showed me this photo of one of Sophia's paintings the other day, and I was so impressed that I had to ask for a copy and since then having been "showing off" to many friends as if I was showing off "my" daughter :D.

But seriously, look at the use of the color, the blending of it, the details, the composition of stillness and motion, and that was entirely pictured from her imaginative mind.  Not to belittle myself, but I guess I would have a hard time emulating her on this front.

How can one not respect children and their abilities?!

I have only met Sophia once, but she has been giving me abundant fun - sharing her creative "language manipulation" skill and bubbling thoughts has been a very enjoyable pastime between Yan and myself, and the amusement is much more safely guaranteed this way than subscribing to a "joke du jour" iPhone app.

Two years ago my favorite Shambhala teacher Joe mentioned the concept of subdue adult arrogance and respect children.  I think it's wise and necessary.

Extinguish not their originality, and trespass not on their solitude. 

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Update on June 2, 2011, 12:22am

It's said that Sophia herself does not like this painting - "it's one of the worst", she said.  I am certainly bewildered by such a shocking twist :-)

Getting inside the mind, Making the right decisions

...
In his fascinating study of the unconscious mind and its impact on our lives, David Brooks uses this story to illustrate how the conscious mind learns to subdue the unconscious. This is not a question of iron will, but about developing habits and strategies that trigger helpful processes in the unconscious, rather than unproductive ones. What matters is to learn to perceive property, people or situations in ways that reduce the temptation to lie, to steal or behave in a self-destructive way. ...  Study after study, many of them little known, show that people take decisions about their jobs, relationships, actions and morals in ways that involve a complex interaction between the conscious and the unconscious mind. The most important decisions begin in the realm of the unconscious, although they are often influenced by the conscious.
...
What does all this mean for public policy? Mr Brooks complains that policies too frequently rely on an overly simplistic, rationalist view of human nature. That may be true, but all too many daft policies rely on the collective reluctance of the voters to leave marshmallows uneaten on the table. More to the point, how can a country curb crime, create true equality and reduce the social and economic costs of bad decisions? Education systems exist mainly to build the rational mind, and yet the decisions that are most important in making people happy are the ones in which reason plays little or no part: the development of friendships and the choice of a spouse. Public policy has largely ignored this.

[Full Article : http://www.economist.com/node/18276096?story_id=18276096]

Amy Chua Is a Wimp

...Managing status rivalries, negotiating group dynamics, understanding social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group — these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale. ... reading each others’ emotions ... Participating in a well-functioning group is really hard. It requires the ability to trust people outside your kinship circle, read intonations and moods, understand how the psychological pieces each person brings to the room can and cannot fit together....  Where do they learn how to manage people? Where do they learn to construct and manipulate metaphors? Where do they learn to perceive details of a scene the way a hunter reads a landscape? Where do they learn how to detect their own shortcomings? Where do they learn how to put themselves in others’ minds and anticipate others’ reactions?

... in some important ways the school cafeteria is more intellectually demanding than the library....

[Full Article : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html?src=me&ref=general]

What Unites and Divides

Thus spoke JZ :

Elisa Waters, the teacher featured in this article, was on the panel I attended yesterday, the theme of which is anti bullying and cyber-bullying.  As a single adult who grew up outside of US, I was definately a minority among the audience.  However, ever since this issue aroused my interest a few years ago, I have not ceased the efforts to know more about it.  Needless to say this society has failed to address this pervasive problem for way too long, and we have been witnessing terrible consequences. 

The very persisting existence of this phenomenon relies on the fact that we adults (administrators, teachers, parents) will not do much about it, as believed by both the bullies and the vicitims.  Many people even think it is an inevitable part of adolescent life which might "help build characters".

According to research, those schools that have clearly stated anti-bullying policies already have reduced bullying cases; if there is someone, adult or kids' peer, who stands up to stop it, the chance of it happening is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2.  So there are many things we can do to help youth so they can feel safe to go to school every day.  This article tells a very promising example to "build acceptance, awareness and appreciation that people may be different than you".

This issue certainly derserves more attention and I will write more in the future.


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“We can feel stronger going back to our hallways,” the teacher, Elisa Weidenbaum Waters, said, “going back to our homes, going back to our society, and saying: ‘You know what? What you said is a stereotype, and that’s not cool.’
...
This year, Jericho, a high-performing district, is offering an unusual elective for its middle-school students that channels the soul-searching and team-building activities of a diversity workshop into a yearlong class for credit. The course, which focuses on diversity, “will have you actively thinking about everything from food through language in a way you may never have before as we learn about what unites and divides all of us, and why,” a description said.
“What I’m looking to do,” said Ms. Waters, 40, who has long been active in social causes, “is build acceptance, awareness and appreciation that people may be different than you.”
...
As a group, the students have become unusually close.  “I know thousands of things about every single person in this class,” said Sam Newman, 13, an eighth grader. “We’re learning how to make the world a more connected place.”

[Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/nyregion/23metjournal.html]