A Personal Note ... from Mary Robinson Reynolds

Re: Last Day for $100 Early Bird Discount

I'm reaching out to you today because you have the power to make a world of difference. If you know someone who needs to be at my upcoming Academic Success 101 Telecourse, starting February 11, please do your part to get people registered so they can save.

Because today is the last day to be able to cash in on my $100 Early Bird Discount, I want to get very serious with you about the state of Education. I think this is relevant for ALL Make A Difference Subscribers:

My Mentor and Educotherapist, Dr. Page Bailey, writes ...

The cover of the May 3, 1999 Time magazine carries the title, THE MONSTERS NEXT DOOR: A SPECIAL REPORT ON THE COLORADO SCHOOL MASSACRE. The magazine provides the reader with a detailed report of the activities in the life of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold that culminated in the Columbine High School Massacre on April 20, 1999.

This was the tenth major shooting incident in American schools in recent history. Newspapers around the country reported that copycat behaviors and plans of the Columbine High School Massacre have since then appeared in many schools. This is because many students find death, terror, and destruction to be the way to go.

Faced with this type of news, how can we help but ask two questions, What has happened? And, What can we do about what has happened?

To the first of these questions we have a long list of standard answers that now take on a new urgency. These standard answers of the traditional social planners and sociologist, while still valid, are no longer sufficient.

The Columbine Massacre took place in upscale Littleton, Colorado, a town of 35,000 southwest of Denver in which houses cost between $75,000 and $5 million. Ironically, the high school has engraved on it the following motto: "The finest kids in America pass through these halls."

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were privileged children. Thomas Klebold, the father of Dylan Klebold, is a geophysicist and an investment banker. Dylan's mother, Susan, works with blind and disabled children at the local community college.

Wayne Harris, the father of Eric Harris, is a decorated Air Force pilot. The great-grandfather of Dylan Klebold was a prominent Jewish philanthropist in Ohio.

Even so, because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold came together, they not only took their lives, but they took the lives of twelve innocent youth and one adult, and many more were seriously wounded. Literally thousands were scarred for life, a community and a nation cowered in sorrow, shame, and a new level of fear, and the damage done to the school property was catastrophic.

All of the standard responses and solutions to this kind of behavior are valid and necessary. However, at present none of them are sufficient. Even more compelling is the fact that the problem is spreading. In a post-massacre poll of parents in 100 school districts, the predominant opinion in 88 out of 100 districts was that what had happened in Littleton, Colorado could also happen in their school districts.

This brings up what I consider to be the most important issue of all: It is now TEN years later and we, as a society,  have still not made CONNECTING our most viable strategy.  Even the Department of Early Childhood Development recognizes that Attachment (connection) must be the first foundational building block to the WHOLE Child

We as a society are so quick to judge, condemn and LABEL children... all of which can and does DIS-connect and create totally ineffective, escalated, if not disastrous, results.

In the past 20-30 years, we have at long last, made significant inroads to family abuse and "politically incorrect" language but we are still MISSING the MARK with too many of today's children with our attitudinal connection

Certain TV shows make very relevant and poignant statements about current issues. I always enjoyed Boston Legal. The show's writer, David E. Kelly, seems to be on quite a social mission to use his programs to educate and enlighten, while showing both sides of the equation.

One such example of a TV program that educated about the power of labeling negatively - jumping to extreme conclusions - was October's Private Practice Episode 3, "Nothing to Talk About" ...

Violet (Family Counselor) gets a really intense consult ... a woman who is losing sleep because she's convinced her teen age son is a sociopath. He strangled the family dog after his father died and hasn't shown remorse. Violet refuses to hand the lady a prescription for sleeping pills and instead insists on helping her.

Violet tries talking to the woman's son, Jessie. She's not sure he's a true sociopath, but Cooper (Pediatrician) points out that she doesn't want to "miss Columbine."

She heads back in to try and crack Jessie. She says she can't see where he's a clear threat. But something is clearly amiss.

Later that week, Violet heads to Jessie's school, and is confronted by Jessie, angry because Violet made his mom cry in the previous day's counseling session. Violet demands to know what happened to the dog.

He tells her that the dog had cancer, and that his mother did not have the money to pay for the treatment she wanted to give him, or the emotional capacity for putting him down.

Jessie breaks down in front of her, and takes responsibility for the dog, and for his own actions. Not a sociopath, just a bit troubled.

The premise of this particular program, I felt, illustrates just how quick we, as parents, teachers and helping professionals, can be to judge and assume the very worst.  This one decision can create more escalated behavior than it cures. It is at the heart of what  happens in schools, homes and businesses, when things go side-ways with an individual.  We either:

FEAR - JUDGE - LABEL - LIMIT - CONDEMN - SAY, "I KNEW YOU WOULD" ...

or

FalseEvidenceAppearingReal - SEE - CONNECTION - COMPASSION - ANTIDOTE -
SAY, "I KNOW YOU CAN!"

What you will learn in this 9-week TeleCourse is how to "see" what's really going on. How to take an account of your own attitudinal communication and how to remedy situations quickly. Please check it out!

www.AcademicSuccess101.com

Everyone wanting to make a difference with today's children
is welcome to attend.

Reserve places for you and your "difference makers" right now!

TOGETHER ... we can make a difference.

Reaching out ...

Mary Robinson Reynolds
makeadifference.com/Movies