educating for

Educating for

June 6th. 2017

david.wells@prcdtr.org.uk

June 6th. 2017

MAP OR DIAGRAM (Map of the four days)

MAP OR DIAGRAM (Map of the four days)

‘Good schools foster confidence, delight and discipline in seeking

wisdom, knowledge, truth,

understanding, know-how, and the skills needed to shape life well.’ Church of England Vison for Education 2016

sagacity, sageness, intelligence, understanding, insight, perception, perceptiveness, percipience, penetration, perspicuity, acuity, discernment, sense, good sense, common sense, shrewdness, astuteness, acumen, smartness, judiciousness, judgement, foresight, clear-sightedness, prudence, circumspection; More logic, rationale, rationality, soundness, saneness, advisability, Informal sharpness, Informal savvy, smartness, Rare sapience.

“Your life is not about you.”Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“The risks to virtue;wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without ethics, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, politics without principle”

wisdom lacking?

“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” Robert Fulghum

“We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal.” Lewis Thomas

“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second half by our children.” Clarence Darrow

“Everyone seems to be in such a terrible rush, so that children have very little time for their parents, parents for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace in the world”Mother Teresa

‘If you set the example, you wont need the rules.” Mama Zigler

“Having children makes you no more of a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.” Michael Levine

‘We spend the first twelve months of a child’s life

teaching them to walk and talk, and the next seventeen

telling them to sit down and be quiet.” Phyllis Diller

“I turned to bribery through magnificent and unsuitable gifts. I admit it, I gave him

everything but myself”

Edward G Robinson

“We are so busy giving our children what we didn’t have, that we forgot to give them what we did have”

James Dobson

“The task of the teacher is not simply to impart information or to provide training in skills intended to deliver some economic benefit to society; education is not and must never be considered as purely utilitarian.”

Chapel of St Mary’s University College

September 17th 2010

context

WhyHow

ETHOS

What happens if we don’t keep our eye on

“why”

The loss of any overarching

story which gives

significance or meaning

“meta-narrative”

i generation

James Hanvey SJ – “On the Way to Life”

Has given birth to several children

1. Profound mistrust of

authority and institution1. insecurity

2. Idolatry

3. individualism

Insecurity. Idolatry. Individualism

A frightening preoccupation with self

Narcissus by Caravaggio (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica)

Lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour he finally changed into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus

Narcissism

Egocentricity

thrives on the approval of others

With which creature do I most identify… the ant or the mule?

ANXIETY

“Where is the

rule book?”

“How do I

compare?”

“Do I have to

believe it all?”

“How will I be

assessed?”

“What will other

people say?”

“What have I

forgotten?”

I’m too busy to do this properly

Hubrisan overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.

Ian Kershaw uses both 'hubris' and 'nemesis' as titles to describes Hitler's rise to power and his inevitable defeat

“The disciples were arguing over which of them is the best!” MK9:34

“This is not to happen amongst you”John 12 1-20

Schadenfreude: Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. Taken from

German and means "harm-joy". It is the feeling of joy or pleasure when one sees

another fail or suffer misfortune. It is "to gloat."

“Children in England are unhappier at school than their peers in

almost every other country included in a new international survey.”

Article by Sally Weale, Education Correspondent for the Guardian. August 19th 2015

The Good Childhood Report 2015 (Reproduced from Rees & Main, 2015)

Antidotes

Wisdom Leadership

know your limitations

Hea

lth

y se

nse

of

self

-dec

epti

on

Oh dear!

PREDATOR OR PARASITE

EVANGELII GUADIUM

1. Don’t be robbed of enthusiasm #80

2. Don’t be robbed of joy #83

3. Don’t be robbed of hope #86

4. Don’t be robbed of community #92

5. Don’t be robbed of the Gospel #97

6. Don’t be robbed of the ideal of fraternal love #101

7. Don’t be robbed of missionary vigour (why) #109

peripheral vision

the wide view

With Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ. September 30th. 2013

“The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules.”

“Always remember that every subject you study is part of a bigger picture.

Never allow yourselves to become narrow.

We need good historians and philosophers economists, but if the account they give of human life is too narrowly focused, they can lead us seriously astray.”

Twickenham Address to Pupils

“The grey pragmatism of the daily life of the Church, in which all appears to proceed normally, while in reality faith is wearing

down and degenerating into small mindedness.” EG83

Local By-laws“I received a phone call from a woman who wanted to open a home-based business in their garage. They could use the garage for their office, but only if they didn't block off and insulate both, and left the two doors as a garage door.

Why? It turns out that if you have a driveway in the front of your house, you can park cars on your driveway, but only if your driveway leads to something. The something is interpreted to mean that it must lead to your garage. If you have your garage filled as a storage place you can still park in front of your (unusable) garage, but not if you block off the doors and make them unusable.

Wisdom is the art of recognising our limits and embracing our desires. It takes humility to recognise our limitations and to let go of seeing myself as a hero. That I stand in need. Of forgiveness from those who love me most.

Vincent Nichols. Article in the Tablet. April 2017

“The cardinalate is not a promotion, an honour or an award; it is simply a service

which calls for a broader vision and a more expansive heart.”

Letter to Archbishop Vincent on the occasion of the Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving. Westminster Cathedral 2nd March 2014

Accompanimentthe long view

We cannot control every situation that a child may experience.Here it remains true that “time is greater than space”. In otherwords, it is more important to start processes than todominate spaces. If parents are obsessed with always knowingwhere their children are and controlling all their movements,they will seek only to dominate space. But this is no way toeducate, strengthen and prepare their children to facechallenges. What is most important is the ability lovingly tohelp them grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline andreal autonomy. #216

Time is greater than space

Pontifex

Give time. Express self-restraint in expressing opinions. No shouting. Think twice before you tweet.

Avoid the “Aggression of idealism”

“A balance has to be found between two equally

harmful extremes. One would be to try to make

everything revolve around the child’s desires; such

children will grow up with a sense of their rights but

not their responsibilities. The other would be to

deprive the child of an awareness of his or her dignity,

personal identity and rights; such children end up

overwhelmed by their duties and a need to carry out

other people’s wishes.” AE270

Give children reasons to believe that they can trust you. #263

Give children more time than you spend earning money to buy them things. #261

Give children reasons why something is wrong rather than giving them a rule. #264

Give children the words “Please”, “Thank you” and “Sorry” and use them often. #266

Give children a memory of you smiling (Do not underestimate this eternal smile). #172

Give children correction so that they feel safe in your hands. #269

Give children hope by teaching them how to wait for things they want now. #275

Give children the ability to see hurt they cause so they learn to be sorry. #268

Give children a sense of the suffering of others so they learn to be selfless. #277

Give children pleasure in ordinary things so they learn to appreciate what they have. #182

accompaniment of children

Give children an ability to talk to God so they discover that he listens to them. #287

Give children a sense that the environment is their home so they learn to look after it.

#276

Give children an experience of caring for forgotten people so they learn compassion. #289

Give children the freedom to grow up at their own pace so they can enjoy themselves.

#288

Give children enough freedom to discover that the world is indeed good. #279

Give children limits to what they find and who they meet through social media. #260

Give children an experience of your kindness so that they begin to imitate you. #276

Give children a sense that love brought them into the world, even if it has failed since.

#163

Real strength is tender Tenderness is real strength

The wolf shall live with the lamb,

the leopard shall lie down with the kid,the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

and a little child shall lead them.Isaiah 11:6

In the kingdom

God gives you a good eye. This eye connects your sight

with Gods

You join in the work of creation. Your contribution is

your reward

You don’t have to worry about asking for what you need because God knows

God will give you all that God has. Which is one day’s

wages.

“The person who puts Christ at the centre of his life is off-centre. The more you unite with Jesus and make Him the centre of your life, the more He makes you abandon yourself, decentralize yourself, and open yourself to others.” Vatican Website – Papal Address 23rd June

david.wells@prcdtr.org.uk

June 6th. 2017