The Rite Way Blog

It takes a whole village… The other part of the story:

Have you ever heard the Proverb: “It takes a whole village to raise a child”? Probably, since it is a well worn saying that has been used within the title of a books, articles, bumper stickers and even cartoons, which is a testament to its overuse and misunderstanding. What do you think they were doing as a “village” to raise their children? Here’s a possibility and the other part to the story.  (more…)

What You Can’t See Can Hurt You© ♥

 Ignaz Semmelweis was a legend in 19th Century medicine. His discovery saved millions of lives; however, he was vilified for his work at the time.

Why? And, what lessons can we glean for youth development from his work?

Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician born in 1818 who realized that what you can’t see can hurt you.

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Education: Our Greatest Wasted Resource© ♥ Part I

By David G. Blumenkrantz, Ph.D. M.Ed.

 In the last edition of the Paradigm Shift Blog I commented that America’s rate of incarcerations is compelling evidence of the real outcome of our youth development and education programs and systems. How did America become the most incarcerating nation on earth? And, what can be done to raise children who don’t wind up incarcerated?

Part of the solution can be found in the book: Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered (1972) by British economist E.F. Schumacher. It is one of the seminal books on nature-centered economics that brought the virtue of appropriately size technology to a wider audience. It trumpeted that bigger was not necessarily better and our present economic model is unsustainable. (more…)

Education: Our Greatest Wasted Resource© ♥ Part II

By David G. Blumenkrantz, Ph.D. M.Ed.

We Need a Revolution in Education.
I Know a Place

Over the past forty years we have focused on building individual, group and community capacity to shift their consciousness and become initiated into new ways of being human together. We have called this process youth and community development through rites of passage. The practice uses twenty interrelated elements as design principles to help guide the emergence of community-oriented, culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate rites of passage for raising healthy children and strengthening communities. (more…)

Youth Development Through Incarceration! What’s the Story with That?©

By: David G. Blumenkrantz

 I just can’t help but think that this video - Mass Incarceration in America is the best data that documents the real outcome of our youth development and education programs.

How did America become the most incarcerating nation on earth with 4% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated people? One thing is for certain. Everyone incarcerated today was once a child who didn’t think they’d ever wind up in prison when they were born. (more…)

What’s the Story With Play?©

“You can learn more about someone through
an hour of play than a year of conversation.”
~ Plato

“Summertime. And the living is easy.” While most of Europe and other countries are on holiday labor in the U.S. continues in pursuit of gross national product. Our gross national play and re-creation lag far behind other nations. What’s the story with that? (more…)

Education as Initiation: In Search of Self©

VisionQuest – Johannus Boots

In the recently published book In Search of Self: Exploring Student Identity Development, editor Chad Hanson writes: “Students become new and different people through the course of their education. When students earn the right to say, ‘I am a college graduate,’ that new status becomes a part of who they are.”

Graduation, whether from high school, college or even the transition from primary to secondary school has been regarded as a rite of passage. And, just like rites of passage these public graduation ceremonies affirm an individual’s transition and entrust them with a different set of responsibilities and status within their culture and social setting.  However, the process of education does not focus on human development, nor does it feature a process of initiation that adequately guides an individual’s transformation and transcendence towards maturity. (more…)