venerdì, aprile 13, 2012

Dimmi come vai a scuola (a 9 anni) e ti dirò chi diventerai

Le mie letture lavorative mi portano a leggere gli articoli di Crucial Skills abbastanza spesso. Mi piace il tipo di approccio che propongono per migliorare le capacità gestionali, la comunicazione e i rapporti interpersonali.
Questo è l'articolo che ho letto oggi: A Disaster in the Making. Parla dello sviluppo di persone che secondo il giudizio di coetanei, adulti e soprattutto insegnanti sarebbero dovuti diventare fannulloni,  disadattati o addirittura criminali. Sarebbe bello se si potesse fare una raccolta di tutte queste storie per farle poi leggere ai responsabili dei sistemi scolastici di queste lande.

Riporto parte della conclusione dell'articolo:

As I moved around the reunion hall and talked with several other potential criminals from my own class, I was surprised that they, like John and Louie, not only avoided a life of crime, but their transformation stories were equally unremarkable. None experienced an epiphanous life-changing event. No burning bushes. No rock-bottom prison moment. No tear-filled family intervention. Instead, like the soap opera characters I watched as a boy, nothing in their lives changed rapidly or flamboyantly. They did change, but their transformations took place unceremoniously and over decades.

I shouldn't have been surprised. When my partners and I studied individuals who made massive changes in their lives for our book Change Anything, none of the successful changers transformed in a splendiferous flash. Instead, they turned their lives around by patiently applying a whole host of techniques to their problems. They learned from their mistakes. They found new friends and distanced themselves from old accomplices. They honed their social skills. They developed career talents. Skill by skill, month by month, they changed. And in so doing, they give us, our children, and their children hope.

I've written about this before. I've suggested that today's shenanigans don't always translate into tomorrow's felonies. Now I'll add one more piece to the puzzle. Imperfections aren't likely to be remedied in a flash. Louie slowly found a way to channel his creativity into entrepreneurial success. I don't know how John transformed from a pathological liar into a preacher, but my friends assure me that he ultimately turned into a good man. It took a while, but he did it.

So the next time you become discouraged with your own inability to bring about rapid changes in your life, remember, if you're moving in the right direction, time will gradually work its magic. Just look at school-skipping me and the "hoods" I grew up with. I didn't end up a hobo. They didn't end up in jail.

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