Tag Archives: Character Education

What’s the Matter with You, Facebook?

Published on: Author: bette 2 Comments

I’m not sure why Mark Zukerberg decided to use the term “Newsfeed” for the string of posts that my friends put up on their own Facebook pages every day.  I honestly wish I could go to one of the Q and A’s that he hosts for Facebook employees every Friday and ask that question. My… Continue reading

Are You Listening?

Published on: Author: bette 5 Comments

As I write this post I’m listening to the kids from Stoneman Douglas High School speaking to massive crowds in Washington DC. David Hogg  called for every kid in the United States to REV up.  Register – Educate – Vote!   Sam Fuentes, the next speaker, asked the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to her friend, Nicholas… Continue reading

Leadership 2020 (revised)

Published on: Author: bette 4 Comments

In1997 when I began thinking about how we were educating leaders for our future, I was hopeful, even expectant, that the advances being made in neuroscience and emotional intelligence would transform the system by the year 2020.  We’re now almost there, and I’ve had to realize that when the focus changed from educating the Whole… Continue reading

Home Street Home

Published on: Author: bette 7 Comments

Kids have been dropping out of high school since there have been high schools, but our dropout “problem” is relatively new. At the age of 11, my grandfather, John Alfred “Benny” Benson, was sent to work on a stranger’s farm in the next county when his mother died.  His father, Otto Benson, an Iowa farmer… Continue reading

Brevity Works: Learning from Donald Trump

Published on: Author: bette 20 Comments

I don’t Tweet and I will probably never make much use of my Twitter account. That being said, I keep flashing back to something my good friend Deb Tucker tried to get me to learn when Tweeting first became a fad.  Bette, she told me, it would be very good for you to learn to… Continue reading

Reflections on Voices and Values – June 4, 1999

Published on: Author: bette 1 Comment

Even though I wrote “Breakfast at McDonald’s:Reflections on Voices and Values” in 1999, I still remember the thoughts that were running through my mind that day like it was yesterday.  I don’t think I ever shared it with anyone except Molly’s mother because I felt like it was too negative, too pessimistic.  I felt that… Continue reading

Focus on the Children – December 1998

Published on: Author: bette 4 Comments

Jesus says nothing about focusing on the family.  In fact, he said quite the opposite.  A quick Google search for the question “What did Jesus say about family?” led me to pages and pages of sites that try to dispel the literal interpretation of Luke 14:22-27 where He says we must “hate” our family to… Continue reading

Some Things Stick: S.T.A.R. Problem Solving

Published on: Author: bette Leave a comment

We’ve been sitting out in the middle of the desert about 5 miles from Quartzsite, Arizona for the past week and a half.    Today we’re leaving  for Lake Cahuilla – a little known County Park tucked directly behind PGA West in La Quinta, CA.   Quartzsite is a strange little town.  It’s almost a ghost… Continue reading