Are We Treating Kids like Robots?

We've taught our Captivating Students program in hundreds of schools to thousands of students and the results have been absolutely amazing. Watching kids transform in front of our eyes is incredibly rewarding and it's the reason we're so passionate about running this program and continue to do so year on year.

No Stories or Feelings Allowed. One of the things we encourage is for kids to share their stories and openly express their feelings. It was a huge shock when we were told by a district director that they do not want us to ask kids to talk about their feelings. It was suggested that we get them to talk about topics like 'water conservation' because feelings "are dangerous territory" and "we do not want to rip the band aid off!" I understand the reason for this request is their fear that they'll be sued by some parent if something should go wrong. The thinking is, "If we allow them to talk about their feelings things may get out of hand and we're not equipped to deal with this. This is just so wrong. It's precisely because kids don't speak about their feelings they are unable to handle their emotions and this is when things do go awry.

Let's push hard for sanity to return to our classrooms. Kids need to learn social skills along with academic subjects. We've seen the benefit when our program is run in schools and have thousands of heartfelt letters of thanks from our students. In the end, that is all that matters.