A look at types of freedom...interesting questions and topics to consider

46 Clues You’re Enslaving Yourself Voluntarily

by Stephen Palmer  at http://www.thesocialleader.com/2013/07/voluntary-servitude/
 
It’s ironic how many captives proudly pledge allegiance to the flag.
Funny how fervently we proclaim we’re willing to die for freedom, but are unwilling to live free in our daily lives.
Strange how much lip service we give to being grateful for our freedom, while constantly trampling on that precious gift with poor choices.
We don’t need chains, whips, and jail cells to be held captive.
Involuntary servitude is a crime against humanity. But voluntary servitude is a crime against nature, as it stifles our joy and constrains our potential.
As I explain in my book, Uncommon Sense, Viktor Frankl locked in a concentration camp cell is more free than the drug or pornography addict in America.
Voluntary servitude — and its opposite, personal freedom — come in five forms: spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and financial.
Answer the following questions to determine just how free you are in your life:

1. Spiritual Freedom

To be spiritually free is to have a close relationship with your Creator, adhere to your conscience, serve your fellow man, and to know and live your purpose with faith and courage.
To be in bondage spiritually is to be a stranger to God, to indulge the lusts of the flesh, to be fearful and selfish, and to wander through life without the rudder and North Star of purpose.

• Do you pray daily, sincerely, earnestly?
• Do you meditate daily?
• Do you study your spiritual text daily?
• Do you have a close, meaningful, and personal relationship with your Creator?
• Do you follow spiritual promptings you receive without hesitation?
• Do you view pornography?
• Do you routinely watch movies or listen to music that are below your values and spiritual standards?
• Do you honor your marriage vows in thought, word, and deed?
• How often do you serve others with no thought for getting anything in return?
• Do you have a clearly defined life purpose? Are you in tune with your calling? Do you know what you were born to do and become?
• Do you know what you’re trying to make happen in the world and how you will measure success?
• Is your life purpose written down, and do you read it daily?

2. Mental Freedom

To be mentally free is to know how think analytically, holistically, and creatively and to know the ideals one should strive for through liberal education.
As Leo Strauss said,

“Liberal education consists in reminding oneself of human excellence, of human greatness.”

Liberal education is gained by studying the greatest thinkers, ideas, and works in history: the Bible, Shakespeare, Aurelius, Aristotle, Plato, Calvin, Tolstoy, C.S. Lewis, Gandhi, etc.
Mental bondage is ignorance, to be a robot in conveyor-belt education, to never question why we do things or how to do them better.

• Do you engage in formal education primarily for job training?
• Has your education fostered, encouraged, and rewarded creativity, initiative, “outside-the-box” thinking?
• Do you know what the “good life” means and how to live it?
• Do you regularly read works from the authors listed above, and from others like them?
• Are you actively engaged in the “Great Conversation”?
• Do you spend more time watching TV than reading good, inspiring books?
• Do you read merely for entertainment, or to seek truth, expand your soul, and become more virtuous and wise?

3. Emotional Freedom

To be emotionally free is to be healed from wounds through forgiveness and gratitude, and to be consistently joyful.
Emotional bondage is to be a victim, a reactionary puppet on the strings of our wounds.

• Do you harbor hurt feelings and anger toward people who have caused you pain?
• Do you have a hard time forgiving?
• Are you easily offended?
• Do you often lose your temper and say things you regret?
• Are you generally optimistic, or pessimistic?
• Do you suffer from depression?
• Is your self-talk negative and limiting?
• How often do you express heartfelt gratitude to God, family, and friends?

4. Physical Freedom

To be physically free is to be free from physical addictions and the agendas of agricultural corporations and to enjoy maximized health and wellness through proper diet and exercise.
Physical bondage most often manifests as obesity, chronic illness, addictions to physical substances, and dependence on prescription drugs. (And clearly, there are biological factors beyond our control that affect these.)

• Does your diet consist primarily of processed foods?
• Do you garden? If so, do you use GMO seeds?
• Do you exercise regularly?
• Is your weight healthy?
• Do you often use prescription drugs to deal with ailments?
• Do you treat illness by simply masking symptoms, or by dealing with root causes?

5. Financial Freedom

To be financially free is to be debt-free and economically self-reliant.
As Garrett Gunderson and I detail in Killing Sacred Cows, financial bondage is to be indebted to banks, to fall prey to financial propaganda from institutions with vested interests, to be dependent on corporations, and to work for benefits and security rather than for purpose.

• Do you dislike your occupation but stick with it primarily for money, benefits, and “security”?
• Is your occupation a worthy expression of your values, talents, passion, and purpose?
• Does your occupation fill you with a deep sense of fulfillment?
• If you were to get fired today, would your knowledge, skills, grit, and initiative allow you to replace your income quickly — even outside your current field?
• Do you earn money living your purpose?
• Do you have three to six months’ of expenses in a savings account?
• Do you save 10 percent of your income?
• Do you have any credit card debt?
• Are you making monthly payments on any depreciating liability (car, furniture, etc.)?
• Have you ever bought on credit because of a deal like “90 days same as cash” or “1 year interest free”?
• Are you “invested” in a 401(k) or other mainstream financial product, such a mutual fund? If so, do you understand in depth what you’re “invested” in?

I don’t know about you, but I have some work to do.
I ponder the words of John Quincy Adams:

“Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”

As we start a new year of Vanguard...

What a breath of fresh air.

Each new year should begin with a "back to basics" reading.

Here is one I recommend for every mentor and parent in Vanguard: Learning to Love Learning

It has gems like: "learning to love learning is central to the Gospel of Christ."
...and one of my personal favorites: "One of the meanings of 'intelligence' is the application of the knowledge we obtain for righteous purposes."

It reminds me of Karen's recent post about their December Mentor Meeting (a very thought-provoking read), in which she wrote:

"Some purposes of Vanguard:

-To give youth a place where they can discuss and present the great ideas/truths they are finding in their studies.

-To offer guidance in what to study and discuss

-Mentor feedback in addition to parent mentors

-To inspire a quest for truth (true principles)

-To motivate skill improvement

Vanguard does not try to: Teach them all they need to know to cover everything in a subject"

It is possible and powerful to study, learn, and act in a God-directed way.  We must not only do it ourselves, but do all we can to inspire our youth to do the same :)!  Love learning!

Learning to Love Learning

Understanding who we are, where we came from, and why we are on the earth places upon each of us a great responsibility both to learn how to learn and to learn to love learning.--Elder Bednar

Learning to love learning is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ, is vital to ourongoing spiritual and personal development, and is an absolute necessity in the world in which we do now and will yet live, serve, and work. I want to briefly discuss the importance of learning to love learning in three aspects of our lives.

1. Learning to Love Learning Is Central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The overarching purpose of Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children with opportunities to learn. The Atonement of Jesus Christ and the agency afforded to all of the Father’s children through the Redeemer’s infinite and eternal sacrifice are divinely designed to facilitate our learning. The Savior said, “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me” (D&C 19:23).

We are assisted in learning of and listening to the words of Christ by the Holy Ghost, even the third member of the Godhead. The Holy Ghost reveals and witnesses the truth of all things and brings all things to our remembrance (see John 14:26, 16:13; Moroni 10:5; D&C 39:6). The Holy Ghost is the teacher who kindles within us an abiding love of and for learning.

We repeatedly are admonished in the revelations to ask in faith when we lack knowledge (see James 1:5–6), to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118), and to inquire of God that we might receive instruction from His Spirit (see D&C 6:14) and “know mysteries which are great and marvelous” (D&C 6:11). The restored Church of Jesus Christ exists today to help individuals and families learn about and receive the blessings of the Savior’s gospel.

A hierarchy of importance exists among the things you and I can learn. Indeed, all learning is not equally important. The Apostle Paul taught this truth in his second epistle to Timothy as he warned that in the latter days many people would be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).

Some facts are helpful or interesting to know. Some knowledge is useful to learn and apply. But gospel truths are essential for us to understand and live if we are to become what our Heavenly Father yearns for us to become. The type of learning I am attempting to describe is not merely the accumulation of data and facts and frameworks; rather, it is acquiring and applying knowledge for righteousness.

The revelations teach us that “the glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36). We typically may think the word intelligence in this scripture denotes innate cognitive ability or a particular gift for academic work. In this verse, however, one of the meanings of intelligence is the application of the knowledge we obtain for righteous purposes. As President David O. McKay (1873–1970) taught, the learning “for which the Church stands—is the application of knowledge to the development of a noble and Godlike character.” ¹

You and I are here on the earth to prepare for eternity, to learn how to learn, to learn things that are temporally important and eternally essential, and to assist others in learning wisdom and truth (see D&C 97:1). Understanding who we are, where we came from, and why we are on the earth places upon each of us a great responsibility both to learn how to learn and to learn to love learning.

2. Learning to Love Learning Is Vital to Our Ongoing Spiritual and Personal Development

President Brigham Young (1801–1877) was a learner. Although President Young had only 11 days of formal schooling, he understood the need for learning both the wisdom of God and the things of the world. He was a furniture maker, a missionary, a colonizer, a governor, and the Lord’s prophet.

I marvel at both the way Brigham Young learned and how much he learned. He never ceased learning from the revelations of the Lord, from the scriptures, and from good books. Perhaps President Young was such a consummate learner precisely because he was not constrained unduly by the arbitrary boundaries so often imposed through the structures and processes of formal education. He clearly learned to love learning. He clearly learned how to learn. He ultimately became a powerful disciple and teacher precisely because he first was an effective learner.

President Young repeatedly taught that “the object of [our mortal] existence is to learn.” ² The following statements by President Young emphasize this truth:

• • “The religion embraced by the Latter-day Saints, if only slightly understood, prompts them to search diligently after knowledge. There is no other people in existence more eager to see, hear, learn, and understand truth.” ³
  
• • “Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can, and then distribute your knowledge to the people.” ⁴
  
• • “This work is a progressive work, this doctrine that is taught the Latter-day Saints in its nature is exalting, increasing, expanding and extending broader and broader until we can know as we are known, see as we are seen.” ⁵
  
• • “We are in the school [of mortality] and keep learning, and we do not expect to cease learning while we live on earth; and when we pass through the veil, we expect still to continue to learn and increase our fund of information. That may appear a strange idea to some; but it is for the plain and simple reason that we are not capacitated to receive all knowledge at once. We must therefore receive a little here and a little there.” ⁶
  
• • “We might ask, when shall we cease to learn? I will give you my opinion about it: never, never.” ⁷
  

Brigham Young’s acceptance of and conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ fueled his unceasing curiosity and love of learning. The ongoing spiritual and personal development evidenced in his life is a worthy example for you and for me.

3. Learning to Love Learning Is an Absolute Necessity in the World in Which We Do Now and Will Yet Live, Serve, and Work

On the landmark sign located at the entrance to Brigham Young University, the following motto is found: “Enter to learn; go forth to serve.” This expression certainly does not imply that everything necessary for a lifetime of meaningful service can or will be obtained during a few short years of higher education. Rather, the spirit of this statement is that students come to receive foundational instruction about learning how to learn and learning to love learning. Furthermore, students’ desires and capacities to serve are not “put on hold” during their university years of intellectual exploration and development.

May I respectfully suggest an addition to this well-known motto that is too long to put on the sign but important for us to remember regardless of which university or college we attend: “Enter to learn to love learning and serving; go forth to continue learning and serving.”

Academic assignments, test scores, and a cumulative GPA do not produce a final and polished product. Rather, students have only started to put in place a foundation of learning upon which they can build forever. Much of the data and knowledge obtained through a specific major or program of study may rapidly become outdated and obsolete. The particular topics investigated and learned are not nearly as important as what has been learned about learning. As we press forward in life—spiritually, interpersonally, and professionally—no book of answers is readily available with guidelines and solutions to the great challenges of life. All we have is our capacity to learn and our love of and for learning.

I believe a basic test exists of our capacity to learn and of the measure of our love of learning. Here is the test: When you and I do not know what to do or how to proceed to achieve a particular outcome—when we are confronted with a problem that has no clear answer and no prescribed pattern for resolution—how do we learn what to do?

This was precisely the situation in which Nephi found himself as he was commanded to build a ship. “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters” (1 Nephi 17:8).

Nephi was not a sailor. He had been reared in Jerusalem, an inland city, rather than along the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. It seems unlikely that he knew much about or had experience with the tools and skills necessary to build a ship. He may not have ever previously seen an oceangoing vessel. In essence, then, Nephi was commanded and instructed to build something he had never built before in order to go someplace he had never been before.

I doubt that any of us will be commanded to build a ship as was Nephi, but each of us will have our spiritual and learning capabilities tested over and over again. The ever-accelerating rate of change in our modern world will force us into uncharted territory and demanding circumstances.

For example, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s college graduates will have between 10 and 14 different jobs by the time they are 38 years old. And the necessary skills to perform successfully in each job assignment will constantly change and evolve.

For much of my career as a professor, there was no Internet, no Google, no Wikipedia, no YouTube, and no telepresence. The Internet only began to be widely used by the general public in the mid-1990s. Prior to that time, no courses were taught about and no majors were offered in Internet-related subjects. I remember teaching myself HTML and experimenting with ways student learning could be enhanced through this new and emerging technology. In contrast, most students today have never known and cannot imagine a world without the Internet and its associated technologies. Can we even begin to imagine how much things will continue to change during the next 15 years?

Because vast amounts of information are so readily available and sophisticated technologies make possible widespread and even global collaboration, we may be prone to put our “trust in the arm of flesh” (2 Nephi 4:34; see also 28:31) as we grapple with complex challenges and problems. We perhaps might be inclined to rely primarily upon our individual and collective capacity to reason, to innovate, to plan, and to execute. Certainly we must use our God-given abilities to the fullest, employ our best efforts, and exercise appropriate judgment as we encounter the opportunities of life. But our mortal best is never enough.

President Young testified that we are never left alone or on our own:

“My knowledge is, if you will follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, every man and woman will be put in possession of the Holy Ghost. … They will know things that are, that will be, and that have been. They will understand things in heaven, things on the earth, and things under the earth, things of time, and things of eternity, according to their several callings and capacities.” ⁸

Learning to love learning equips us for an ever- changing and unpredictable future. Knowing how to learn prepares us to discern and act upon opportunities that others may not readily recognize. I am confident we will pass the test of learning what to do when we do not know what to do or how to proceed.

I witness the living reality of God the Eternal Father; of our Savior and Redeemer, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and of the Holy Ghost. I also declare my witness that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in these latter days.

Links to sample inspirement and group info

I think it would be helpful to have samples from different groups.

If you have either direct links to newsletters that you wouldn't mind being public or access to actual websites for your group that does not contain private, sensitive information, I think that would be a great blessing and resource for other groups.  Please just post the links in the "reply" section.  Thanks!

Here is my group, the K2 Vanguard group, named for not only being the second Kaysville chapter, but also after the mountain in the Himalayas...we're gonna climb that mountain!

http://vyjourneys.blogspot.com/

Secure, not Stressed

Recent article by Oliver DeMille...inspiring as always.

Secure, Not Stressed–Applied to Our Children and Youth: The Weekly Mentor

By Oliver DeMille

During the last decade a number of books on education have promoted the need to put freedom back into our schools.

I have long called this the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) approach to learning, and I have enjoyed the many books and research that increasingly prove the common-sensical reality that students learn better when they are free to be self-directed and follow their passions.

Indeed, in a free model most students learn better in all subjects, not just in their chosen areas of focus.

Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn is an excellent addition to this genre of books on restoring freedom in education.

Gray clearly states:

“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.

“When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.

“In such an environment, children ask for any help they may need from adults. There is no need for forced lessons, lectures, assignments, tests, grades, segregation by age into classrooms, or any of the other trappings of our standard, compulsory system of schooling.
“All of these, in fact, interfere with the children’s natural way of learning.”

So why did we create schools that so directly “interfere with the children’s natural way of learning”?
Gray shows that in tribal cultures the focus of childhood was playing and learning knowledge, skills, and how to live self-sufficiently and honorably.
When the agrarian revolution increased the need for child labor on farms, the values of school turned to toil, competition and status.
While Gray’s view of this is perhaps a bit idyllic, the reality is that modern schools are less concerned with student knowledge, skills, honor or abilities than with the universal goal of job training.
Certainly job training has an important place in advanced society, but Gray is focused on the education of children, and in fact the toll on children in our modern job-obsessed schools is very high.
For example, Gray cites one study, among others, that compares the levels of anxiety and stress of youth ages 14-16 in 1948 versus 1989:
Question:                                                      1948               1989
“I wake up fresh and rested most mornings.”      74.6%            31.3%
“I work under a great deal of tension.”                 16.2%             41.6%
“Life is a strain for me much of the time.”             9.5%              35.0%
“I am afraid of losing my mind.”                             4.1%              23.4%

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.

Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.

In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.

Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.
I’m in the middle.
I must comply.
I can’t measure up.
I am better than those below me.
I must impress my superiors.
What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.
Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.
Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.

If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know.

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.
Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.
In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.
Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.

I’m in the middle.

I must comply.

I can’t measure up.

I am better than those below me.

I must impress my superiors.

What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.

Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.

Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.
If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know.
- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/06/secure-stressedapplied-children-youth-weekly-mentor/#sthash.pH1SEnDB.dpuf

During the last decade a number of books on education have promoted the need to put freedom back into our schools.
I have long called this the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) approach to learning, and I have enjoyed the many books and research that increasingly prove the common-sensical reality that students learn better when they are free to be self-directed and follow their passions.
Indeed, in a free model most students learn better in all subjects, not just in their chosen areas of focus.
Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn is an excellent addition to this genre of books on restoring freedom in education.
Gray clearly states:

“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.
“When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.
“In such an environment, children ask for any help they may need from adults. There is no need for forced lessons, lectures, assignments, tests, grades, segregation by age into classrooms, or any of the other trappings of our standard, compulsory system of schooling.
“All of these, in fact, interfere with the children’s natural way of learning.”

So why did we create schools that so directly “interfere with the children’s natural way of learning”?
Gray shows that in tribal cultures the focus of childhood was playing and learning knowledge, skills, and how to live self-sufficiently and honorably.
When the agrarian revolution increased the need for child labor on farms, the values of school turned to toil, competition and status.
While Gray’s view of this is perhaps a bit idyllic, the reality is that modern schools are less concerned with student knowledge, skills, honor or abilities than with the universal goal of job training.
Certainly job training has an important place in advanced society, but Gray is focused on the education of children, and in fact the toll on children in our modern job-obsessed schools is very high.
For example, Gray cites one study, among others, that compares the levels of anxiety and stress of youth ages 14-16 in 1948 versus 1989:

Question:                                                      1948               1989

“I wake up fresh and rested most mornings.”      74.6%            31.3%
“I work under a great deal of tension.”                 16.2%             41.6%
“Life is a strain for me much of the time.”             9.5%              35.0%
“I am afraid of losing my mind.”                             4.1%              23.4%

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.
Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.
In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.
Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.

I’m in the middle.

I must comply.

I can’t measure up.

I am better than those below me.

I must impress my superiors.

What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.

Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.

Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.
If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know.
- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/06/secure-stressedapplied-children-youth-weekly-mentor/#sthash.pH1SEnDB.dpuf

uring the last decade a number of books on education have promoted the need to put freedom back into our schools.
I have long called this the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) approach to learning, and I have enjoyed the many books and research that increasingly prove the common-sensical reality that students learn better when they are free to be self-directed and follow their passions.
Indeed, in a free model most students learn better in all subjects, not just in their chosen areas of focus.
Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn is an excellent addition to this genre of books on restoring freedom in education.
Gray clearly states:

“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.
“When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.
“In such an environment, children ask for any help they may need from adults. There is no need for forced lessons, lectures, assignments, tests, grades, segregation by age into classrooms, or any of the other trappings of our standard, compulsory system of schooling.
“All of these, in fact, interfere with the children’s natural way of learning.”

So why did we create schools that so directly “interfere with the children’s natural way of learning”?
Gray shows that in tribal cultures the focus of childhood was playing and learning knowledge, skills, and how to live self-sufficiently and honorably.
When the agrarian revolution increased the need for child labor on farms, the values of school turned to toil, competition and status.
While Gray’s view of this is perhaps a bit idyllic, the reality is that modern schools are less concerned with student knowledge, skills, honor or abilities than with the universal goal of job training.
Certainly job training has an important place in advanced society, but Gray is focused on the education of children, and in fact the toll on children in our modern job-obsessed schools is very high.
For example, Gray cites one study, among others, that compares the levels of anxiety and stress of youth ages 14-16 in 1948 versus 1989:

Question:                                                      1948               1989

“I wake up fresh and rested most mornings.”      74.6%            31.3%
“I work under a great deal of tension.”                 16.2%             41.6%
“Life is a strain for me much of the time.”             9.5%              35.0%
“I am afraid of losing my mind.”                             4.1%              23.4%

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.
Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.
In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.
Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.

I’m in the middle.

I must comply.

I can’t measure up.

I am better than those below me.

I must impress my superiors.

What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.

Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.

Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.
If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know
- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/06/secure-stressedapplied-children-youth-weekly-mentor/#sthash.pH1SEnDB.dpuf

By Oliver DeMille
During the last decade a number of books on education have promoted the need to put freedom back into our schools.
I have long called this the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) approach to learning, and I have enjoyed the many books and research that increasingly prove the common-sensical reality that students learn better when they are free to be self-directed and follow their passions.
Indeed, in a free model most students learn better in all subjects, not just in their chosen areas of focus.
Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn is an excellent addition to this genre of books on restoring freedom in education.
Gray clearly states:

“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.
“When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.
“In such an environment, children ask for any help they may need from adults. There is no need for forced lessons, lectures, assignments, tests, grades, segregation by age into classrooms, or any of the other trappings of our standard, compulsory system of schooling.
“All of these, in fact, interfere with the children’s natural way of learning.”

So why did we create schools that so directly “interfere with the children’s natural way of learning”?
Gray shows that in tribal cultures the focus of childhood was playing and learning knowledge, skills, and how to live self-sufficiently and honorably.
When the agrarian revolution increased the need for child labor on farms, the values of school turned to toil, competition and status.
While Gray’s view of this is perhaps a bit idyllic, the reality is that modern schools are less concerned with student knowledge, skills, honor or abilities than with the universal goal of job training.
Certainly job training has an important place in advanced society, but Gray is focused on the education of children, and in fact the toll on children in our modern job-obsessed schools is very high.
For example, Gray cites one study, among others, that compares the levels of anxiety and stress of youth ages 14-16 in 1948 versus 1989:

Question:                                                      1948               1989

“I wake up fresh and rested most mornings.”      74.6%            31.3%
“I work under a great deal of tension.”                 16.2%             41.6%
“Life is a strain for me much of the time.”             9.5%              35.0%
“I am afraid of losing my mind.”                             4.1%              23.4%

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.
Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.
In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.
Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.

I’m in the middle.

I must comply.

I can’t measure up.

I am better than those below me.

I must impress my superiors.

What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.

Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.

Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.
If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know.
- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/06/secure-stressedapplied-children-youth-weekly-mentor/#sthash.pH1SEnDB.dpuf

By Oliver DeMille
During the last decade a number of books on education have promoted the need to put freedom back into our schools.
I have long called this the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) approach to learning, and I have enjoyed the many books and research that increasingly prove the common-sensical reality that students learn better when they are free to be self-directed and follow their passions.
Indeed, in a free model most students learn better in all subjects, not just in their chosen areas of focus.
Peter Gray’s book Free to Learn is an excellent addition to this genre of books on restoring freedom in education.
Gray clearly states:

“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.
“When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life’s challenges.
“In such an environment, children ask for any help they may need from adults. There is no need for forced lessons, lectures, assignments, tests, grades, segregation by age into classrooms, or any of the other trappings of our standard, compulsory system of schooling.
“All of these, in fact, interfere with the children’s natural way of learning.”

So why did we create schools that so directly “interfere with the children’s natural way of learning”?
Gray shows that in tribal cultures the focus of childhood was playing and learning knowledge, skills, and how to live self-sufficiently and honorably.
When the agrarian revolution increased the need for child labor on farms, the values of school turned to toil, competition and status.
While Gray’s view of this is perhaps a bit idyllic, the reality is that modern schools are less concerned with student knowledge, skills, honor or abilities than with the universal goal of job training.
Certainly job training has an important place in advanced society, but Gray is focused on the education of children, and in fact the toll on children in our modern job-obsessed schools is very high.
For example, Gray cites one study, among others, that compares the levels of anxiety and stress of youth ages 14-16 in 1948 versus 1989:

Question:                                                      1948               1989

“I wake up fresh and rested most mornings.”      74.6%            31.3%
“I work under a great deal of tension.”                 16.2%             41.6%
“Life is a strain for me much of the time.”             9.5%              35.0%
“I am afraid of losing my mind.”                             4.1%              23.4%

Why are we raising a generation of children and youth who are “stressed, not secure?”
Gray’s answer, based on a great deal of research which he outlines in the book, is that we have turned learning into a chore, a task, a labor, rather than the natural result of curiosity, interest, passion to learn, and self-driven seeking of knowledge and skills.
In short, we’ve taken too much play out of childhood and too much freedom out of learning.
The results are a major decline of American education in the last four decades.
The solution is to put freedom back into education.
Interestingly, Gray suggests that for many of the classrooms, schools, homes and teachers that have found a way to successfully overcome these problems and achieve much better educational results, one of the key ingredients is “free age-mixing.”
Where students are allowed to freely mix with other students of various ages, without grade levels, the capacity of individuals to effectively self-educate is much higher.
As for the impact on college and career success, students from free educational models excel.
This is a good book, and a must read for those who really care about education.
I don’t agree with everything the author teaches, but I learned something important on almost every page.
Whether or not you read Free to Learn, all of us who have children or work in education need to do more to promote the importance of increased freedom in education.
Gray is a particular fan of “unschooling,” a type of homeschooling and private schooling where parents and teachers set an example of great education, create an environment of excellent learning, and let the kids become self-learners.
While this may not be the ideal learning style for every student, it is the best model for a lot of them–and for nearly every young person under age 12.
If you disagree with this conclusion, you simply must read Gray’s book.
The research is impeccable.
If you do agree, the book can help you get to work setting a better example for any students in your life.
Another important book about freedom (and the lack of it) in modern education is Wounded by School by Kirsten Olson.
It outlines the normal ways in which modern education hurts most children, shows the history of why schools adopt such harmful policies, and suggests real solutions.
For example, Olson writes:

“Many theorists suggest that the purpose of schools is to mold and shape individual self-concept so that pupils will accept a particular place in society…”

Is this really what you want for your children?
On a larger scale, what is the impact on freedom of raising a generation of youth to “accept a particular place in society”?
This is a class system, pure and simple.
Olson points out that “Schools are deliberately designed to sort and track” students into order to promote the class system.
In my book A Thomas Jefferson Education I called this a conveyor belt approach to learning.
Olson also suggests that among the key ways modern schools wound students are things like the following:

I felt sick in school.

I’m in the middle.

I must comply.

I can’t measure up.

I am better than those below me.

I must impress my superiors.

What I want isn’t as important as what my betters want.

Creativity must be secret—my focus must be conformity.

Learning isn’t fun.

And for parents: “I feel helpless about saving my child,” and “The experts know what my kids need more than I do.”
Olson’s solutions center around bringing freedom back into schooling.
Indeed, this is the focus of a lot of cutting-edge books and research on education.
Above all, we need to be clear about one thing: Freedom works.
It does.
Freedom is the best choice in society and also in education.
If you are a parent or teacher, you have more power than you know.
- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/06/secure-stressedapplied-children-youth-weekly-mentor/#sthash.pH1SEnDB.dpuf

Planning a new year

The following is simply a suggestion.  How you arrive at the final decision should be understood up front or specified within your bylaws.

1. Principles of 7 months:
Similar to the mentality of inspirements, we should start with principles that we want to teach.  I would sit down with those, youth and mentors, who feel that they really understand the seven monthly principles, and brainstorm how you want to focus on each month.  Someone may have a classic that they feel is very meaningful in a certain area and you many center your monthly theme on that aspect.  For example, someone may feel that "Little Britches" is important for them (or their youth, if they are an adult) to read that year.  "Little Britches" has a strong work and property theme, about the freedom, strength of character, and life lessons that can be learned through hard work and sacrifice.  Therefore, the "work" month could focus on that aspect of the principle.

I have typically sat down with a group of mentors, brainstormed meaningful books or classics that we want our youth to read, separate those classics into the seven themes (several times, books may discuss more than one theme), and then selected the books within the themes/principles that we wanted to focus on.
-you can now bring in poems and scriptures that fit this theme, to help round it out, although you don't need to have these in place before you move on

2. Look at the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88 about what we study:

 77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall ^ateach one another the ^bdoctrine of the kingdom.

 78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

 79 Of things both in ^aheaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must ^bshortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the ^cnations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a ^dknowledge also of countries and of kingdoms—

 80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

Evaluate how you are going to use the lenses of art, science, and geo-conquest to bring out these points. 

Class games and techniques from the previous year should be evaluated for effectiveness and new ideas should be encouraged.  At this point, if you have lens mentors who have sound understanding of their stewardship, I would let them organize the decision making process per your group's method as outlined in your bylaws, whether by appointed committee, volunteer temporary committee, or junior mentor/lens mentor corroboration.   Then they can bring their ideas and suggestions (complete with classics, games/activities, projects) to the group or principal mentor for finalization...again, per bylaw method.

3.Come together to determine what will be studied which month. I find it easier to start with the scientific or art lens. If the person who is mentoring one of those lenses has people they would like to study, they can see if or how they fit in with the selected monthly leadership themes.  For instance, one year when we had a group of scientists that the mentor wanted to study, one of the people was Edison, famous for his work ethic.  We placed him in the month of "Work" even if he had nothing to do with the geographical theme of "Asia" that we had for that month.  Each Vanguard group can determine how effectively they want to use the lenses to coincide with the principles. The more the mentor understands the seven principles, the easier it is to make connections, and the less a student may feel like they are being fed a stream of non-related information.  Leaders make connections and bridge gaps between apparently different fields to bring things together. :)

Again, the more liberty and stewardship the mentor feels over their area, the better they are able to communicate their own passion to those they are mentoring.

4. Geography/history.  You can use this lens to help the youth focus on an area, its history and culture and understand the context of the literature, scientist, leaders, or art that they are studying in the other class(es).

Subjects may not seem to always "perfectly" complement each other, particularly in the continent of study for that month (i.e. you read a book based in Africa and study a scientist from Norway in the same month and choose to study Africa as your continent of focus). It can also be challenging to bring in leaders from the particular time period the group may be focusing on for the year, if a group chooses to organize their group in a particular time period.  However, you should keep in mind that all the material for the month should be considered lenses or angles through which the youth can study a particular truth.  The priority in choosing the continent of study should be to see, first, what the principle is, and then from there decide which continent (See post on geography and lenses.)

5. Time period.  If a group chooses to follow the pattern of time periods of other groups (like "ancient history", "medieval history," "early modern history," "later modern history"), then it is easier to facilitate multi-group events that bring out this theme (like the medieval feast two groups had last year.)  However, the needs of the particular group should take precedence.  Time periods are definitely low on the totem pole of priorities in how to structure a year.  We simply adopted this tool to help us narrow down the spectrum of focus years ago, but I have since seen how it helps to also provide more context and connections.

The brainstorming/planning for the year is best done in an open-environment, including youth and mentors that feel vested in and aware of the basic principles of Vanguard.  Synergy creates miracles, especially when including the youth mentors.  Ask them: what their needs are; how they would like to help or share their mission; how they would like to learn more about geography, science, and art; concerns, questions, and suggestions.  Specific classes and needs of youth that might not work for the whole group could be used in journeyman or master-level classes.

 With the spirit in your midst, you will be amazed at the higher truths and potential you can achieve!

Importance of adult/mentor training

We must start with ourselves...you, not them, remember?

I came across this excerpt of a talk as I started my word study on leadership this morning:

Four years ago the presiding brethren launched a leadership training program. It began with the General Authorities themselves, in a school-of-the-prophets meeting each Wednesday in the Church Administration Building. They taught themselves in the leadership skills of Jesus and his prophets. From this modern school of the prophets came outlines and source materials for leadership training... (Wendell J. Ashton Conference 4/17)

We must go back to the basic principles as mentors, continually practicing what we want to preach in the years to come.  A mentor is simply someone who is at least one step ahead on the path that the student desires to be on!

We can do this through:
-Summer training of mentors
-Annual Parent Training Mentor meeting
-Monthly Mentor meetings

Role of media

I thought this quote is a great statement of what kind of media we should use:

Again I renew the call for a return to virtue. Virtue is the strength and power of daughters of God. What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity⁸—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value? If immorality, pornography, and abuse decreased, would there be fewer broken marriages, broken lives, and broken hearts? Would media ennoble and enable rather than objectify and degrade God’s precious daughters? If all humanity really understood the importance of the statement “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,” how would women be regarded and treated? (Elaine Dalton, 4/13, emphasis added)

 How powerful to provide a contrast to what they are most likely already being bombarded with (or will be as adults)!