Imagine Positive Education

Marty Seligman writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:

In two words or less, what do you most want for your children?

If you are like the hundreds of Australian parents I've asked, you said: happiness, confidence, contentment, balance, good stuff, kindness, health, satisfaction, and the like. In short, well being.

In two words or less, what do schools teach? If you are like other Australians, you said: achievement, thinking skills, success, conformity, literacy, maths, discipline and the like. In short, accomplishment. Notice that there is no overlap between the two lists.

The schooling of children has, for more than a century, been about accomplishment, the avenue into the world of adult work. I am all for accomplishment, success, literacy and discipline, but imagine if schools could, without compromising either, teach both the skills of well being and the skills of achievement. Imagine positive education.

See the rest here.