Ethan Demme

Thoughts and Policy for Building a Better Pennsylvania

Be a Scout Not A Soldier

I’m never wrong, except when I’m disagreeing with my wife. Okay, fine, I admit that I’m often wrong and I’m not always the quickest to acknowledge when I’m wrong. Recently I watched Julia Galef’s TEDx talk on why we think we’re right — even when we’re wrong. It turns out when I struggle to see or admit that I am wrong, I am often encountering what social scientists call “motivated reasoning.” Galef explains that motivated reasoning refers to how our  “unconscious motivations, our desires, and fears, shape the way we interpret information.” In other words, we are rarely fully disinterested and impartial in the face of new data. Galef explains that “some information, some ideas, feel like our allies. We want them to win. We want to defend them. And other information or ideas are the enemies, and we want to shoot them down.”

Often how we respond to new information can be traced back to our mindsets and how open we are too different perspectives. Galef describes these mindsets using two metaphors:

So I’d like you to imagine for a moment that you’re a soldier in the heat of battle. Maybe you’re a Roman foot soldier or a medieval archer or maybe you’re a Zulu warrior. Regardless of your time and place, there are some things that are constant. Your adrenaline is elevated, and your actions are stemming from these deeply ingrained reflexes, reflexes rooted in a need to protect yourself and your side and to defeat the enemy.

So now, I’d like you to imagine playing a very different role, that of the scout. The scout’s job is not to attack or defend. The scout’s job is to understand. The scout is the one going out, mapping the terrain, identifying potential obstacles. And the scout may hope to learn that, say, there’s a bridge in a convenient location across a river. But above all, the scout wants to know what’s really there, as accurately as possible.

In order to cultivate the scout mentality, we need to change the way we feel. While that might not be the most intuitive advice, our gut reactions and even our ability to reason are conditioned with the more immediate emotional reactions we have. Galef explains that in order to learn to be like scouts, “we need to learn how to feel proud instead of ashamed when we notice we might have been wrong about something. We need to learn how to feel intrigued instead of defensive when we encounter some information that contradicts our beliefs.” To me, that sounds like we also need a healthy dose of humility, and maybe even the humor to laugh at our mistakes, which will let us truly become lifelong learners.

Below is the whole TEDx talk:

Summer Reading At Your Library

library

“I like libraries. It makes me feel comfortable and secure to have walls of words, beautiful and wise, all around me. I always feel better when I can see that there is something to hold back the shadows.” -Roger Zelazny

Summer is almost here and that means it’s soon time to sign your child or teen up for a Summer Reading Program at your local library. Every year, businesses (including local Lancaster County businesses) donate coupons and prizes to incentive students into completing a reading challenge. The summer months off school often result in a staggering loss of learning. Keeping your kids reading helps them retain what they’ve learned during the school year and also gives them opportunities to do their own independent learning, whether reading about maps or horses or computer programming!

Of course, libraries aren’t just for kids. Even with your busy summer schedule, consider setting goals for yourself. During those beach days or on the blistering hot August days when you’re camped inside with the AC on, try to squeeze in some time to read a novel or biography or memoir. Some libraries also offer adult reading programs so maybe the chance of winning an Amazon giftcard will help encourage you to do some reading this summer.  My goodreads goal is to read 30 books this year.

Make sure you also ask about summer events at your library; there are often great educational programs and fun events for all age groups (including adults) hosted all throughout the summer. Consider going to programs and events as a family.

There are 18 libraries in Lancaster County. To find out which one is closest to your family, click here.

Here is a recent video (10 minutes) from The Atlantic showing why libraries still matter by highlighting modern libraries in New York:

Lancaster County Conservancy

conservancy

Founded in 1969, the Lancaster County Conservancy is devoted to saving and stewarding the ecosystems and landscapes upon which we depend for food, clean water and air, economic and public health, and the restoration of soul and spirit. The Conservancy has four main programs:

Land Protection Program: Focuses on our county’s natural resources “gems’ such as forest communities or streams and wetlands with the goal of protecting our most vital natural resources.

The Conservancy has protected over 5,474 acres of natural lands in Lancaster (York and Chester) County with 38 preserves that are open to the general public 365 days per year.

Stewardship Program: Manages Conservancy properties so that healthy habitats exist for people and wildlife.  Activities include: development of management plans, employed stewardship crews, trash clean-up and invasive plant control.

Education Program: Engages local school districts, students and adults in outdoor classrooms and the utilization of Conservancy properties.

Urban Greening Program: LIVE Green strives to build strong and healthy communities through environmental projects.  LIVE Green focuses a  majority of its efforts in the City of Lancaster through its Urban Watershed Initiative.

On the website, Lancaster Conservancy lists these ideas for family activities for exploring nature:

  • Look for insects, leaves, clouds, stars
  • Read a favorite nature story
  • Listen to night-time sounds outside
  • Watch a bird fly high in the sky
  • Touch a wiggly worm
  • Observe leaves falling in the fall
  • Use your nose to smell an interesting flower

Click here to see a map and listing of the Conservancy’s preserves sorted by school district. For more information about the educational opportunities the Conservancy offers (including field trips), click here.

STEM Teacher Training – Wilson Institute

woodrow

I recently had the privilege of meeting Dr. Arthur Levine, the sixth president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, at the 2015 PA Business Conference. Dr. Levine shared with me about his work at the Foundation which aims to increase the number of quality STEM teachers by working at the state and local level.

The Wilson Foundation was founded in 1945 as a response to “a shortage of college faculty at the conclusion of World War II by offering talented students the opportunity to attend doctoral programs and begin college teaching careers.” The Teaching Fellowship began in 2007 in the state of Indian and has expanded to Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, and most recently Georgia. This fellowship has a two-fold goal: 1): increase the quantity of math and science teachers particularly in urban and rural settings and 2): to improve the quality of university-based teacher education.

I appreciate the excellent structure Fellowship program. Fellows are given money towards university tuition (masters degree) and in exchange make a commitment to teaching for at least three years in high-need areas within the state where they studied. The program matches these teachers with participating local schools and gives them intense mentoring from a mentor from the school in which they are teaching and a mentor from the university where they completed their master’s degree.

This program is remarkably effective. For example, in Indiana, the Foundation is producing 80 Fellows annually which is an increase of certified teachers by more than 30%. In addition, because the program develops strong ties with individual universities and schools at a local level, the program creates a sustainable impact on teacher education and teaching in each state.

A comprehensive assessment of the program also speaks to the success of the program. The assessment found that after the required three years, “Fellows have an 81%  retention rate in high-need schools. They are 1.9 times more likely to remain teachers than their peers. Achievement among their students is three to four months ahead of peers.”

Dr. Levine is leading a fantastic program and the model that Woodrow is based on is one worth studying and emulating. Change at the local and state level is not only more efficient, but it is also more cost-effective. The teaching fellowship, by its very design, is built for long-lasting effect.

To read more about the Wilson Foundation, visit their website. To learn more about the teaching fellowship specifically, click here.

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