March 2002 - New Models of Education

March, 2002 - New Models of Education

New Models of Education; New Models of Teaching; Why Are the New Models Important?; Mainstreaming the New Education Models - Using the Myers-Briggs Personality Index with the Personality Game.; How Children Learn Best; Resources (links, books, articles, humor)
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New Models of Education

(Based on research and information originally supplied by Sarah Chambers)

Children are changing. As the population moves forward and the needs of society change, we need to change the way we teach our children as well. Instead of teaching every child in the same way, teachers need to teach according to the needs of the child.

Using our Personality Game role archetypes as an example, the Expressive personalities [Artisans and Sages], need more mentoring and more creative subjects with less heavy math.

The Inspirational personalities [Servers and Priests] need something that is service-related. They need to see and understand the relevance of their education and they don't usually need hard sciences unless their career choices demand it.

The Action-oriented personalities [Warriors and Kings] can work with authority and structure. These types usually enjoy more physical activity than the others.

The Assimilation personalities [Scholars] need longer, more open-ended teaching. Scholars absorb knowledge and will want to delve deeply into subjects more than any other personality.

New Models of Teaching

As parents and teachers, most of us have programmed our children in the same way we were programmed. By doing that, we have restricted our children from using all of their native talents.

The two senses that have been taken away are paraverbalism (the ability to pick up on energy dynamics and thoughts) and psycho kinesis (the ability to move things with energy).

As parents moving into a new age, we need to allow our children to develop all of their natural abilities as well as providing teaching methods appropriate for their development rather than forcing them to fit into a model that prevents them from becoming all they can be.

Pathfinders is a name given by Sarah Chambers to people who are willing to help bring these new models of education forward. Pathfinders will affect education in many varied ways.

Healing Arts and Vital Services

The keyword for this area is Health. This is the service level and includes all of the healing arts and sciences. Health Pathfinders will teach doctors to listen. They will facilitate, teach, mentor and assist all practitioners in developing alternative holistic approaches to health, mental and emotional wellness. They will facilitate new approaches to ensuring adequate food supplies for all citizens everywhere on the planet.

Pathfinders with the personalities of Server and Priests will be very helpful in this endeavor.

The professions affected by these changes include agriculture workers, agronomists, chefs, chiropractors, emergency technicians, food workers, laboratory workers, massage therapists, medical technologists, nurses, physicians (M.D., Osteopaths), psychologists, respiratory therapists, veterinarians. [These are examples only and by no means a complete list. Many professions will be affected in multiple ways.]

Visual Arts

The keyword for this area is Beauty. This area includes the visual arts, music, architecture and all artistic fields. Creative Pathfinders will create new structures for living, new ways of arranging working spaces, practical art and new education models. Those with artistic leanings are treated very badly in our current educational system and very much need new educational methods.

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Artisans and Sages.

The professions affected by the changes include architects, builders, ceramists, chefs, dancers, educators, graphic designers, landscapers, painters, photographers, sculptors, typographers.

Business and Organizations

The keyword for this area is Exchange. This area includes business, organizations of all types, world order, partnership efforts and leadership of all kinds. Many people need rules — to be told what to do and how to act. Organization Pathfinders will assist those who will be responsible for creating a new, cooperative economy rather than the competitive economy of our current society.

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Warriors and Kings as well as Scholars who have the goal of Dominance.

Professions affected by the changes include anthropologists, computer scientists, economists, educators, film makers, journalists, jurists, paleontologists, psychologists, social scientists.

Education

The keyword for this area is Knowledge. This area includes new forms of education in the physical sciences, which need softening. Education Pathfinders will research, design develop and implement new educational standards relative to the personalities of the students more conducive to helping students discover their true work.

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Scholars.

Professions affected by the changes include actors, anthropologists (cultural and physical), artisans, educators at all levels, governesses, interpreters, mentors, musicians, ombudsmen, psychologists, tutors.

Entertainment and Leisure

The keyword for this area is Pleasure. This area includes the performing arts, recreation and cooperative activities. The change will include a shift from passive entertainment such as television to more active play where people can discover their True Play. Entertainment/Leisure Pathfinders will help to mentor and teach those who plan or have talent for careers in the entertainment field. They will also act as advisors to educators planning curricula.

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Sages, whose purpose is to teach us how to play and have fun, as well as the spread of information.

Professions affected by the changes include actors, athletes, dancers, magicians, musicians, psychologists, singers.

Arcane Arts

The keyword for this area is Spirituality. The area includes spiritual growth to facilitate the switch to an earth-based spirituality. Spiritual Pathfinders will design, develop, perform and teach rituals for specific Rites of Passage and Holidays. They will provide counseling for those who are having trouble with the transition. These Pathfinders will help to bring forth a recognition that "Truth is the highest goal and love is the greatest Truth of all."

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Priests.

Professions affected by the changes include druids, psychics, shamans, spiritual counselors, tribal elders, Wiccans. Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims who can break away from the dogma of those teachings will also participate.

Local and Global Leadership

The keyword for this area is Stewardship. This area includes stewardship of the earth and right relationship with the planet, including environmental issues. Leadership Pathfinders will facilitate the structure for world-wide cooperation and the conservation of natural resources.

Pathfinders drawn to this work are primarily Kings.

Professions affected by the changes include biologists, botanists, ecologists, geographers, linguists, naturalists, oceanographers, paraverbalists, statesmen/stateswomen, social scientists, town planners, zoologists.

Why are the New Models Important?

[Adapted from a handout at the workshop.]

We would say that our investment in the current state of education on this planet is very passionate, at least when we see how appallingly bereft of any intellectual consideration it is.

Literacy is no longer a given in even the most advanced Western countries. Scholarship is not valued by the young. Alliteration is a lost art and many 18 year old high school graduates cannot read a newspaper. We have proposed a new system that could be in place by the end of the first decade of the new millennium if the groundwork is laid right now.

Here are some steps that can be taken by all of you in order to affect this change.

1. Recognize that children on the four polarities (Expressive, Inspirational, Action, Assimilation) are very different from one another and require very different educational tracks.

Children on the Expression polarity [Artisans and Sages], for instance, respond to a creativity-oriented, mentoring type of education - where the relationship between mentor and pupil is very casual - with far more alacrity than to a classroom situation.

Scholar children [Assimilation polarity] respond to an open-ended program, where they are assigned year-long projects and are encouraged to thoroughly research their subjects.

Children on the Action polarity [Warriors and Kings], on the whole, respond very well to conventional academic programs. Warrior children are generally high achievers and are accustomed to bowing to authority.

Children on the Inspiration [Servers and Priests] polarity respond best to a program that is service-oriented in its goals.

2. Recognize that not all children need to learn all subjects that are currently linked to the educational process.

There are some core subjects, of course, that all children do need to learn. They need to learn to read and write and do simple sums. Beyond that they need to learn the nuances of their native tongue plus one other language and they need to learn about the humanities.

Young Warriors and Kings usually have no difficulty understanding why they need to learn about mathematics and science.

Young Artisans and Sages, however, can get by just fine learning practical arithmetic, like how to balance their checkbooks. and how to read a simple financial report. If they are steered toward right work early in the game, these children will never need to know algebra or any of the higher mathematical forms.

Little Scholars can, from a very early age, be bombarded with research projects that require detailed study.

Young Servers and Priests can understand pragmatic applications of the core academic subjects, as long as it relates in some way to service. For instance, Servers and Priests generally do well in nursing and medical schools — even though they don't particularly relish the had sciences — for they do recognize the relationship between that and their ultimate goals.

3. Establish a think tank for the new education, composed of educators at all levels, psychologists specializing in children and youth, concerned parents, preferably mature people [Perspectives of Relating and Teaching] and some economists who are interested in education's relationship to trends in society.

4. Develop an explanation of the four tracks that correspond to the roles [personality roles] in such a way that it can be mainstreamed.

One suggestion would be to call the roles "archetypes," since that is a commonly used term in modem psychology. As educational archetypes, the polarities would be easier for the general public to understand.

5. Enlist the cooperation of community advisers so that they will be willing to become educational activists. Prepare written material for them to use in their presentations that uses words and ideas they are already familiar with, rather than trying to introduce new ideas. That is the only way you are going to promote the idea of the four-track system.

6. Make plans for prototype schools in different areas and consult with other alternative schools and the educators who work with them. Find out what has and has not worked for them and why.

7. Let the experts do the rest of the work. Your job is to promulgate the ideas of new models — not to do the educating. We will continue to advise all along the way, for this is a subject that must be addressed if the transition to a more mature way of being is to be accomplished with a minimum of agony and despair.

Mainstreaming the New Education Models

Using an Adaptation of the Myers-Briggs Temperament Index (MBTI)

David Keirsey, author of Please Understand Me II, writes, "... the first task of parents is to recognize the different characters of their children. But parents must also recognize the role their own character plays in their way of bring up their children. All types of parents ... have a different view of the correct way to raise children, one that reflects their own personality and one that is often unexamined and unquestioned."

Sarah Chambers, a lifelong educator, was very interested in using the popularity and broad use of the Kiersey method (adapted from Myers-Briggs) in the field of education to help people understand that children need more personalized teaching methods.

Toward that goal, she created a way of relating the Myers-Briggs Temperament Index (MBTI) to the personality system we call the Personality Game. Dr. Kiersey popularized the Myers-Briggs system through his ground-breaking book, Please Understand Me, written more than 20 years ago. His recent update, Please Understand Me II, adds the benefit of more than 20 years of work and research using that system. We have used the MBTI ourselves and found it very useful, yet also much more limiting than the Personality Game.

For example, 4 people we know very well all tested as ENFP using the Kiersey system questionnaire in Please Understand Me. Using the Personality Game, their personality traits are:

Priest with Scholar and Artisan influences, Pragmatist Attitude, Observation Mode, Growth Goal, Intellectual Center.
Sage with Server and Warrior influences, Idealist Attitude, Power Mode, Growth Goal, Intellectual Center.
Scholar with Artisan influence, Spiritualist Attitude, Observation Mode, Growth Goal, Intellectual Center.
Sage with King influence, Realist Attitude, Passion Mode, Growth Goal, Emotional Center.

With that much core personality variety in these 4 people, you can easily see why we felt the Kiersey / Myers-Briggs system was limited as a personality description and kept searching for a more complete system.

What is extremely valuable about the Kiersey book, Please Understand Me, is that it appeals to average people, which has generated enthusiastic interest in learning more about themselves and learning about other people. That goal is also the primary goal of the Personality Game, which we feel offers a richer method for understanding personality than limiting everyone by only 16 archetypes as used in the Kiersey / Myers-Briggs model.

The rest of this article comes from the work of Sarah Chambers to bridge the two systems.

Note: The MBTI groups Sarah references may be different from the Roles / Influences she describes in our system for individual people. Sarah was describing major tendencies in the groupings rather than a direct one-to-one correlation because the two systems are so different.

The Expressive Polarity: Artisan and Sage Roles

The Expressive roles teach us about beauty and creativity, how to have fun and how to share knowledge with large groups. Artisans usually focus on specific talents while Sages reach large audiences.

For those with an Expressive role and Expressive influence of Artisan/Artisan and Artisan/Sage, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISFP (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving). People in this group have trouble learning by rote. They are the first to want to march to a different drummer.

For those with an Expressive role and Expressive influence of Sage/Sage and Sage/Artisan, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESFP (Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving). People in this group are the "party" people who tend to be "onstage" all the time.

For those with an Expressive role and Action influence of Artisan/Warrior and Artisan/King, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). People in this group have trouble with rote learning and have trouble with conventional classrooms. [Similar to Inspiration/Action group]

For those with an Expressive role and Action influence of Sage/Warrior and Sage/King, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). People in this group also have much trouble with rote learning and have trouble with conventional classrooms. [Similar to Inspiration/Action group]

For those with an Expressive role and Inspirational influence of Artisan/Server and Artisan/Priest, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). In the workplace, people in this group have great skill in brainstorming ideas but trouble with follow-through. They are quickly bored and tend to be out of place in a bureaucracy. [Similar to Inspiration/Expressive group]

For those with an Expressive role and Inspirational influence of Sage/Server and Sage/Priest, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). People in this group also have much trouble with rote learning and have trouble with conventional classrooms. [Same as Expressive/Inspiration group]

For those with an Expressive role and Neutral influence of Artisan/Scholar and Sage/Scholar, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ENFJ (Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging). People in this group are global learners, who can juggle many tasks at once. Their focus is too expansive for many jobs or careers.

The Inspiration Polarity: Server and Priest Roles

The Inspiration roles inspire people to be all they can be. Servers are usually focused on serving through one-to-one contact where Priests inspire large groups of people.

For those with an Inspiration role and Inspiration influence (Server/Server, Server/Priest, Priest/Server, Priest/Priest), the primary corresponding MBTI group is INFJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging). This group is the champion of the oppressed and downtrodden. They are good in emergencies. They also tend to be "deeper" than they appear at first glance. These are people who perform selfless service.

For those with an Inspiration role and Action influence of Server/Warrior and Server/King, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). These people have much trouble with rote learning and are skeptical of its value. They must be able to find meaning in what they are asked to learn.

For those with an Inspiration role and Action influence of Priest/Warrior and Priest/King, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). These people are spontaneous and very active. They tend to be very generous.

For those with an Inspiration role and Expressive influence of Server/Artisan and Server/Sage, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISTP (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). These people have much trouble with rote learning and are skeptical of its value. They must be able to find meaning in what they are asked to learn. [Notice this is the same as the Inspiration/Action].

For those with an Inspiration role and Expressive influence of Priest/Artisan and Priest/Sage, the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESTP (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving). These people are spontaneous and very active. They tend to be very generous. [Notice this is the same same as the Inspiration/Action].

The Action Polarity: Warrior and King Roles

People with a role of Warrior or King have a natural tendency to want to take control of situations. As their polarity name implies, these are usually action-oriented people who enjoy physical activity and getting things accomplished — the Warrior in a direct, focused way and the King in a very broad way.

For those with an Action role and Action influence (Warrior/Warrior, Warrior/King, King/Warrior, King/King), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ENTJ (Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging). This group has a tendency to take control of situations.

For those with an Action role and Expressive influence (Warrior/Artisan, Warrior/Sage, King/Artisan, King/Sage), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ENFP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). This group has strong, sometimes unconventional opinions. They can be very outgoing and friendly. However, interpersonal relationships tend to be somewhat casual.

For those with an Action role and Inspiration influence (Warrior/Server, Warrior/Priest, King/Server, King/Priest), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging). This group needs to be needed above all. Ordinary give-and-take relationships may be difficult for them. The Warrior/Server person may demand to serve you quite against your will (combining the negative Warrior aspect of coercion with the negative Server aspect bondage). This group also has trouble delegating work to others because of their high level of service orientation that always wants to help others. This group is there to help anchor others, with a strong sense of loyalty and trust-worthiness.

For those with an Action role and Neutral influence (Warrior/Scholar, King/Scholar), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). This group tends to be punctual with a keen sense of right and wrong. They may have the appearance of being cold or aloof. Alexander the Great, tutored by Aristotle, falls into this group.

The Neutral Polarity: Scholar Role

People with a role of Scholar have a natural tendency to study, translate, mediate and teach. As their polarity and role names imply, these are people who enjoy knowledge, information and neutrality.

For those with an Neutral role and Neutral influence (Scholar/Scholar), the primary corresponding MBTI group is INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging). People in this group have an expectation that everyone will behave rationally. Dealing with interpersonal relationships are not their strongest area.

For those with an Neutral role and Action influence (Scholar/Warrior, Scholar/King), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ENTP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving). This group tends to be explorers, visionaries and risk takers, taking their work very seriously. They can be lusty and often ribald.

For those with an Neutral role and Expressive influence (Scholar/Artisan, Scholar/Sage), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging). People in this group are hard workers and especially hard players. They can be very moving performers. The can also be stern if their sense of rightness is disturbed.

For those with an Neutral role and Inspirational influence (Scholar/Server, Scholar/Priest), the primary corresponding MBTI group is ESTJ (Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). People in this group thrive on order and continuity. They promote a high work ethic in younger people. They can be stern disciplinarians.

How Children Learn Best

This list is not exhaustive, but gives an idea of why children on the different polarities cannot always be educated by the same methods.

Visual Learning Modalities

Children with the Action roles/influences [Warrior, King], or Neutral roles/influences [Scholar], may enjoy computer games.

Interactive video may work well for children with Action [Warrior, King], Neutral [Scholar] or Expressive [Artisan, Sage] roles or influences.

Role playing may work well for children with Expressive [Artisan, Sage], Inspiration [Server, Priest] or Action [Warrior, King] roles or influences.

Auditory/Experiential Learning Modalities

Lecture/lab situations may work well for children with the Neutral [Scholar] or Action [Warrior, King] roles/influences.

Field trips may work well for children with Action or Inspirational [Server, Priest] roles/influences.

Audio tapes may work well for the Neutral [Scholar], Action [Warrior, King] and Inspirational [Server, Priest] roles/influences.

Experiential/Solitary Learning Modalities

Reading, journaling and questing can work well for children with all roles or influences.

Tutorial Learning Modalities

Conventional classrooms can work well for all children except the Expressive [Artisan, Sage] roles or influences.

Home schooling can work well for all children except the Neutral [Scholar] roles or influences.

Mentoring/apprenticeship may work for all roles or influences. A special note should be made that while the Action [Warrior, King] and Neutral [Scholar] roles/influences can learn well from a mentor, this form of learning is not always appropriate for their career choices.

The same could be said for children on the Inspirational [Server, Priest] roles/influences who choose careers that require licenses and detailed credentials. Over the next century, it could be possible to see this change so that mentored students could qualify for credentials to teach their trade, signaling a return to more ancient methods.

Source: This information was adapted from a workshop presented in the Summer of 1998 in Santa Fe, NM, by Sarah Chambers, a lifelong educator. Sarah asked us to publish it on our website to reach more people. However, she died before she could write the article herself. This article was written from our notes and other material Sarah provided at the workshop. Sarah was a member of The Gateway Associates.

Internet Resources

The Personality Game - http://www.itstime.com/game.htm Our personality system.
The Indigo Child - http://www.indigochild.com
David Keirsey's website - http://keirsey.com Includes an online temperament sorter.
Resources for Early Childhood Education http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_1634,00.html
W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Youth and Education General Grantmaking Overview http://www.wkkf.org/Programming/Overview.asp?CID=271
Myers-Briggs™ Personality Type on the Web (a variety of links to articles and sites) http://www.mbtypeguide.com/Type/teaching.html

Books - Disclosure: We get a small commission for purchases made via links to Amazon.

The Personality Puzzle: Solving the Mystery of Who You Are. Jose Stevens, JP Van Hulle. Pivotal Resources; (December 1990) ASIN: 0942663063
The Indigo Children. Lee Carroll & Jan Tober,1999. ISBN: 1-56170-608-6 Hay House Inc. Carlsbad, CA www.hayhouse.com
Please Understand Me II. David Keirsey, 1998. ISBN: 1-885705-02-6 Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, Del Mar, CA www.keirsey.com/

Articles

"Parenting and Temperament" - David Keirsey http://keirsey.com/parent.html
"Temperament and Learning Style - Effective Teaching and Learning" http://www.advisorteam.com/edu_feature.html
"Type and Education" http://www.personalitytype.com/elizabethmurphy.html
“Toward New Models for Credentialing/Certification in Community Colleges" http://www.ncoeonline.org/whatsnews/towardnewmodels.htm
"Technology in Education" http://www.nga.org/center/topics/1,1188,D_362,00.html
"The Convergence Zone of Entertainment and Education" http://www.whitehutchinson.com/leisure/convergence.shtml
“New Visions in Education for the Development of the Greater Human” http://www.bobbiesandoz.com/sandoz_new_vis_1.html
"Shift Happens: Online Collaborative Learning as a New Paradigm in Education" (PowerPoint slide show) http://www.telelearn.ca/g_access/harasim_presentations/fusion_2000/
"Native American Higher Education Initiative Overview" http://www.wkkf.org/Programming/Overview.asp?CID=165
"Charter Schools: A New Breed of Public Schools" http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-2new.htm
"The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity" http://borntoexplore.org/adhd.htm
"Taking the Temperament" http://researchmag.asu.edu/stories/temperament.html
"The Role of Personality Temperament and Student Learning in Principles of Economics: Further Evidence" (article abstract) with downloadable PDF file (see below). http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/issues/v31_4/2.htm
"Understanding Behavior: A Key to Discipline. Early Years Are Learning Years" http://npin.org/library/1999/n00120/n00120.html
"Implications of Temperament for the Practice of School Psychology" http://www.nasponline.org/publications/sprsum274.html
"Not Just for Scary Religious People: Homeschooling Goes Mainstream" http://www.ontariohomeschool.org/sourgrapesarticle1.html
"Tips for Successful Communication with Birth Families" (paraverbal communication) http://www.nysccc.org/linkfamily/Successtips.htm
"Communication Skills" (paraverbal communication) http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/section4.cfm
"Psychokinesis" http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/p/psychokinesis_pk.html
"Psychokinesis: Can You Move Things with Your Mind?" http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071601a.htm
"Biological Pyschokinesis" http://www.intuition.org/txt/schlitz.htm
"Psychokinesis: Rhine's Early Studies" http://www.williamjames.com/Science/PK.htm

Downloadable PDF files

To save a file, click the link with your right mouse and select "save as.." or "save target file as.." and enter a location on your hard drive for the file.
You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the file.

Paper "Student Retention and Faculty Performance: Improving A Dynamic Relationship" contributed by Sam Welch available here by permission of the author.
Downloadable PDF file (33k).
Paper "Technology: Creating New Models in Higher Education" By Robert W. Mendenhall Western Governors University http://www.nga.org/cda/files/HIGHEREDTECH.pdf
Article "Higher Expectations" with links to several downloadable PDF format essays http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_1509,00.html
Paper "New Models of Flexible Learning" http://www.ulst.ac.uk/lldu/research/models.pdf
"The Role of Personality Temperament and Student Learning in Principles of Economics: Further Evidence" http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/fall00/Ziegert.pdf
"Non-violent Crisis Intervention" (paraverbal communication) http://www.doc.gov/osy/wrso/briefings/CPI.pdf