EI

I watched Joy Behar's new show Tuesday night on HLN to check it out. Janeane Garofalo was on with Bey Buchanan during a segment. Joy said that she thought Democrats were smater and better educated than Republicans. Janeane disagreed with her and said she thought it had to do with emotional intelligence instead. So do I. That's why we can't understand how many of them are not compassionate and empathetic. I think this is a generalization that accounts for major differences in how we look at and process situations. The disconnect that bothers me so much comes from low emotional intelligence.

Tips for developing emotional intelligence HERE from this website on EI.

HERE is a test, but there are others and information online.

Howard Gardner has done work on multiple intelligences. When I was teaching gifted students, we addressed those and planned our curriculum to include them. I won't get into a rant about No Child Left Behind and all this emphasis on test scores and how children aren't taught critical and creative thinking. I'll save this for another post but do want to say how wonderful it was to teach when I could really teach and watch them blossom. I have friends still teaching who are so frustrated because of bureaucratic demands that keep them from teaching.

Back to Gardner. We need to teach the whole child and help children develop their abilities and strengthen weaknesses. It takes three components for them to be successful in school: parents, the student, and teachers. Our goal as parents and teachers is for our children and students to become independent, productive members of society. I hope they will be able to make informed decisions based on facts and compassion.