Spiritual Evolution and Education:
Creating Safety in Schools by Reframing our View of Kids

by Murray and Kanta Bosniak

They are us, evolved: smarter, more intuitive beings who need something more than what we got. We feel our yearning, and we must know that they feel theirs even more keenly. If we want to evolve as a culture, we need to learn from them so that we can teach them. We must be willing to see our own potential. Then, we can see theirs.

It's more than bullying, abuse at home, and availability of firearms that is causing the violence in schools. It's the way we look at children as a culture and how we act on what we think we see.

We had an experience twelve years ago which caused us to look at our child and all children in a different way. While traveling, we took our son, Joshua, then nine, to The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We were in a flighty mood, in anticipation of sharing "The Heart," a beating, pulsing replica of the real thing, with Josh and were disappointed when the mighty organ was closed for renovations.

However, another interactive display raised the hair on our necks even more. We took turns at an electromagnetic output machine by placing our hands on the device, as instructed. Both of us registered about same output. But when Josh tried it, the meter shot up to close to the end of the measuring range. We thought there must be some mistake, so we all did it again. Same result. We asked a museum guard to test the machine. He did and declared it to be in perfect working order. His output was similar to ours. Josh's was still 30 to 40% higher than ours.

It was apparent to us that he was more advanced in energy radiance than both of us, who had logged, collectively, decades of years in meditation and spiritual practice. While we love our son and recognize his unique gifts, we also realize that he is not alone. He is part of a generation of more evolved humans, and as he enters adulthood, we know there is yet another influx of young souls coming into the world who share this same radiance and more. We are evolving as a species.

We are raising a generation of more finely attuned beings, who see more, feel more, want more and have more to contribute. And yet, we educate them on models that bored, irritated and angered us as teenagers. Brain deadening lecture. Sarcasm and shaming. Being graded on what is wrong, not being noticed for what is right. Narrow boundaries for the range of activities that are acceptable to explore. Little recognition of the student's inner identity and little attempt to create relationship. Curriculum that is meaningless and forgettable. Worship of what is taught simply because our parents and their parents had to learn it.

If we were bored at best and enraged at worst by what we endured in school, imagine how intense these feelings are in someone more highly tuned. These kids have intuitive abilities beyond ours, and they can read feelings better than we can. Even if a teacher masks boredom, apathy, and dislike of kids and her job, a student can see right through it and will respond in kind.

And many teachers don't even bother to mask these things. Some are emotionally abusive to students because they themselves had to endure that treatment. Most are honestly doing their best in a teaching paradigm that no longer works, if it ever did. They are driven to stay "on curriculum," as they must drive the students to "stay on task." They are underpaid and are given no training in how to manage their own feelings in the classroom, much less those of students.

Certain behaviors trigger us to act in patterned response. Most teachers interact with 75 to 150 students every day, each one in the flux of growth and intense inner changes. Teachers need to be trained to recognize how certain students trigger their own psychological issues, so that they can make good choices about how to best support the students, instead of shutting the students down.

It is not only "problem kids" that worry teachers and administrators. It's the student body as a whole. Educators tend to look at young people as potential insurrectionists. In Reframing Organizations (1997), Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal describe Douglas MacGregor's two paradigms of managers' attitudes toward employees and the results they cause.

Theory X held that employees are lazy and need constant direction. Managers who believe this use punishment, coercion, tight controls and threats. The result is employees who resist with apathy, indifference, low production, antagonism and sabotage.

Theory Y proposed that employees have needs and goals that must be rewarded and that employees will be most productive when these needs are addressed. When employers are cognizant and respectful of these needs, they get a more harmonious atmosphere and better results.

These two perspectives apply directly to education. What we think of young people and how we relate to them make every difference.

Schools are still working on Theory X and are getting the fruits of the poisoned tree - apathy and indifference at best and violence at worst. It's time for Theory Y thinking because the need of these young people to grow into their full potential is no less than the powerful urge of the human being to evolve in consciousness, intelligence and creative mind.

Schools and teaching both need reframing so that the curriculum comes from within the child (Where are his gifts? What are his dreams? How can we help him get there?). We must facilitate each child's inner curriculum to unfold, through individual design and relationship. Classes must be smaller and teachers must be trained in psychologically sound relationships and motivation.

Let us respect our children's needs and celebrate them. As educators, parents and concerned adults, let us redesign and rebuild our schools. In that way, we will facilitate the spiritual evolution of the human family.

Murray Bosniak, MAT, is a writer, poet, and educational consultant in Relational Teaching. He has written articles for High School Journal and Educational Digest and performed poetry at Omega Institute, A.R.E. and many other venues. Kanta Bosniak is an artist, writer and presenter of Life Altaring (engaging creativity in personal transformation) and Reflective Healing, a peer counseling technique. The Bosniaks founded The Life Altaring Institute (lifealtaring.com).