Author: admin

Paulskirche

On May 18 the national assembly met in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt National Assembly debated various plans for a unified Germany. Immediate practical problems, such as the nature of the executive power and territorial extent of Germany were also debated. It soon became clear that the executive appointed by the assembly had no power except such as was granted to it by the governments of the individual states.

The Frankfurt National Assembly adopted a proposed constitution for Germany on March 28, 1849. This document provided for universal suffrage, parliamentary government, and a hereditary emperor. Germany was to have a unified monetary and customs system, but would maintain the internal autonomy of the constituent German states.

Friedrich Froebel

My educational method offers to its pupils from the beginning the opportunity to collect their own experiences from things themselves, to look with their own eyes and learn by their own experiments to know things and the relations of things to each other, and also the real life of the world of humanity; this last however, within the limits necessary for morality and not divested of the nimbus of the beautiful and the ideal.

In such a manner a greater inward as well as outward independence will be gained, which teaches one how to stand on one’s own feet . . . The too much and too early knowledge with which youth is crammed prevents men from reaching a true and real independence, which is only the fruit of the vigorous efforts of one’s own powers, especially by acting and doing.

Friedrich Froebel quoted by W H G Armytage in 1952

via Friedrich Froebel invented Kindergarten.

Driving Change

The most challenging of environmental questions are behavioral

How can we get people to minimize waste, water usage, or fossil fuel consumption?

How do we stop people from buying rhino horn, tiger parts, or—less pernicious but equally destructive—unsustainably caught fish?

The good news is that we humans are getting better at boosting knowledge, shifting attitudes, and changing behaviors to effect positive change.

But the time has come to evaluate what has worked and what has not, when it comes to behavior change.

That means examining past campaigns and the best social science, and then replicating these “bright spots” to amplify success.

via Driving Change Through Pride of Place | Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Lifelong Learning

Formal apprenticeships were 7 years, when average life expectancy was around 40 years. By the 20th century, when average life expectancy was around 70 years, up to 16 years of education began at age 6.

Average life expectancy is a measure of prosperity becasue it requires a complex mix of variables: a sustained nutritious food supply, a sanitary and safe environment, relatively little disease, absence of war, and a stable society.

Using life expectancy as a measure of prosperity, the world is far more prosperous than it has ever been. The trajectory of change is an unprecedented rise in prosperity and average life expectancy.

Most of this change occurred when the total world population grew sixfold, from less than 1 billion in 1800 to about 6.6 billion today.

Every corner of the planet has improved and the gap between nations is closing.

Lifespans of 35 years were enough to engage seriously with 1 or 2 life partners and see 1 generation of children grow up.

Lifespans of 70 years or more may include several life partners and potentially see 3 generations of descendants grow up.

What is lifelong learning?

For most of its existence, Homo sapiens lived in far flung hunter and gathering communities, each of which was quite small and barely able to reproduce itself. Life expectancy at birth was hardly twenty five years on average, and those persons who survived childhood often died violently, in combat with other hunters, at relatively young ages.

(Robert William Fogel, The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism, 48)

For much of human history, average life expectancy used to be 20-30 years. By 1900, it had climbed to about 31 years … By 2003 it was 66.8 years.

(Indur Goklany, The Improving State of the World, 31)

The Paradox of Generosity

Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose

Generosity appears to coincide with happiness, good health, avoidance of depression, a sense of purpose in life.

The paradox of generosity is that it is good for those who practice it: The more you give, the better off you are.

Buy this Book

This book documents the benefits of living a generous life and more generous life practices.

via The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose by Christian Smith & Hilary Davidson | How Giving Keeps on Giving | Stanford Social Innovation Review.

What’s Your Endgame?

The development of universal kindergarten in the United States at the turn of the 20th century provides a good case study in how the government adoption model works:

  • Private charities, orphanages, and parochial schools ran the first kindergartens in the country.
  • After boards of education started recognizing the developmental benefits of early education, they began to fold kindergarten classes into existing public school systems.
  • By World War I, all of the largest American urban school systems included kindergarten, and kindergarten students in public schools outnumbered those in private schools by almost 19 to 1

In the government adoption endgame, a nonprofit proves its concept and demonstrates that its intervention can be delivered at a significant scale.

  • Then it mounts an advocacy effort to influence policy and budget decisions.
  • Once government adoption occurs, the nonprofit can continue to serve as an advisor or service provider to government agencies.

The scale of delivery required to confront many social problems is high enough that government involvement often becomes indispensable.

via What’s Your Endgame? | Stanford Social Innovation Review.

 

Kindergarten in Australia

The groundswell for the kindergarten movement in Australia began at a time of great concern for many young children living with their families, who had no access to appropriate education.

In August of 1895, a meeting of kindergarten enthusiasts was held and those present formed themselves into a provisional committee of The Kindergarten Union. They were led by the well known feminist and educator Maybanke Anderson.

The stated objectives of this committee were to:

  • set forth kindergarten principles,
  • endeavour to introduce those principles into every school,
  • open Free Kindergartens wherever possible.

In the first ten years, the Kindergarten Union founded a training college and trained over 200 students.

via KU Children’s Services – About – History.

Students brighten holidays

Youth receive exciting new discoveries, reminding us all of the simpler joys and excitement of the early years of life. Elders share important lessons and events from the past.

Cards and letters made by students were recently presented to Miss Wetterhahn at Crisan’s Romanian Bakery, an Albany café in Stella’s Center Square neighborhood in Albany.

As much as 80 years separate the recipient of these student messages and the RCS young people who created them.

Ella Wetterhahn, also known at Stella, lives in Albany and is a 93-year-old veteran who served as an Army Nurse in the European Theater during WWII. She has been the subject of two Albany Times Union articles over the years, one in which she was interviewed about her experiences in World War II in which she served her country with conviction and bravery.

Inter generational activities enrich the soul but also expand awareness, elevate the metacognitive quality of empathy, and provide learning experiences back and forth across generations.

via RCS students make letters and notes for 93-year-old World War II nurse living in Albany – Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk CSD, Ravena, NY.

The First Kindergarten

The story of the founding of Kindergarten by Friedrich Froebel and the tireless work of his friend and advocate, Baroness von Marenholtz-Buelow.

Opening the doors of cultural luminaries and European nobility to Froebel’s ideas, the noblewoman from the ancient von Buelow family is often dubbed "the mother of Kindergarten" just as Froebel is referred to as "the father of Kindergarten."

In this picture book for children, the author joins through literature the lives and contributions of two of the world’s greatest proponents of children’s education, which are still relevant today.

via The First Kindergarten – J (Johannes) Froebel-Parker : AuthorHouse.