From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 10 - January 1993
New Realities
By Mark Jones, USA
How Education in Beingness and Self Esteem is Producing Phenomenal
Results in Orientation and Behavior of Children
A recent article in the Journal of Experimental Education outlines an
approach to changing educational and behavioral patterns of children
and family participation in education. The approach is based on the
premise that individuals in their thought free, unconditioned state
operate from a different perspective, which is referred to as the
'higher self', a term perhaps synonymous with 'thetan'. The program
focused on enabling students and ultimately parents to maintain much
more intimate contact with and be in this state.
The area in which the experiments were carried out, in the
Modella/Homestead area of Florida was selected because a grand jury
investigation had found it to be the worst area in the U.S. relative
to school drop-out rates, teen pregnancy, delinquency, truancy, gangs,
drug abuse, and welfare dependence. An initial survey showed that 85%
of the heads of households were on public assistance, and that up to
65% of the families were involved in drugs, either using or dealing or
both. At the start of the program very few people wanted to go into
these areas including the police. The truancy rate was approximately
80%; and even when these were in school, they constituted the biggest
behavioral problems.
Programme and basic research
The program was based on the premise that everyone has access to a
higher level of well-being and wisdom, i.e. to a higher self. This
state is a real, tangible state of mind; one of unconditional well-
being, intrinsic motivation, an innate wisdom, creativity, and a
capacity for insight.
The research base leading to this new paradigm indicated that this
state is naturally and directly available to all human beings at any
time. It provides a psychological vantage point that is independent of
the person's prior experiences and is uncontaminated by the
intellect's learned beliefs or constructs. This state of mind is not
only natural, but is unchanging in that it engages these same
capacities or attributes in everyone.
It was assumed that engaging in this state would empower residents of
all ages to live sane, more responsible and easier lives. All of the
components of the program were designed to build relationships, foster
secure states of mind and to assist people in recognizing and moving
toward their higher states of functioning. It was proposed that, as
these natural states of well-being and self-esteem emerged in people,
they themselves would use their innate common sense to live lives that
were more to their benefit and healthier for themselves and their
children.
This principle implies that lower need states defined by the earlier
drive theories do not have anything to do with this intrinsic, higher
order state of motivation. Such lower need states as the need for
recognition, achievement and so on are learned from parental standards
and from cultural and societal norms and demands, and from experiences
in life via thought. Individuals begin to attach certain beliefs to
their self-concept in ways that make well-being and motivation
condition (e.g., the need to measure self-worth by one's income,
intelligence and athletic prowess, etc.).
In the leadership courses, the emphasis was on functioning in a state
of service to the community. Service was defined as the vision a
leader has when they are functioning in the higher or second-order
frame of reference from a deeper, more direct experience of self. The
leadership course also covered the kinds of relationships that
community leaders, when functioning with self esteem and common sense,
could build with other residents and with social services and
government agencies.
Key point
The key in all components of the program was self esteem. With this
idea at the core, each program component presented the source of self
esteem in a different context. In the parenting classes, parents were
taught unconditional self esteem came from within their children.
These classes clarified the difference between self-estem, and self-
concept. They were also taught how their own levels of well being
affected their ability to see and engage the deeper levels of well-
being and positive motivation in their children. These were related to
their children accessing their higher self.
Similarily, in the teacher training, teachers were taught how their
own state of mind or stress levels and their perceptions of these
students affected their ability to engage the healthier levels of
functioning of their students. The teachers began to see that most
misbehavior signalled that the student was feeling insecure and that
they needed to stay on the student's side, while being firm and
consistent.
Results
The results were amazing. By the end of the first year of the program,
there was a 75% reduction in disipline referral and an 80% reduction
in serious delinquent behavior referrals. Parent involvement in the
school increased by over 50%, and the percentage of students failing
in the target group dropped from 63% to 16% in a two year period. In
the housing project, the majority of students who had already dropped
out of school and who were engaged in drug dealing in the project
returned to school and are now forming a student tenant council and a
youth crime watch. One of the major side effects of this program was
that the majority of the parents either went back to work or started
back to school.
Think what we as independents with our experience and working together
can do in similar situations. As a first step to assist those
interested, we're just completing an illustrated booklet for young
people to help achieve similar results. The earlier cartoon booklets I
did much earlier, "Drugs, The Mind and You" and "Turn On" for
Narconon, produces some positive results as a first step.