High School Educational Philosophy
David Friedli's Philosophy of High School Education
The instructional and activity program of Umonhon Nation High School
has been influenced heavily by the landmark resiliency research of Dr.
Emmy Werner. Dr. Werner identified three key components of children who
grew up under adverse circumstances but who became successful,
resilient adults who were healthy and productive.
Dr. Werner's research with indigenous people on the Hawaiian island of Kauai determined
children who grew up with three overarching structures around them were
able to overcome adversity and "bounce back" after disappointing and
sometimes life-threatening circumstances.
The graphic below shows the three components of High Expectations, Caring and Support, and Opportunities to Participate.
The resiliency research of Dr. Werner indicates the three areas must be in balance for children to benefit. Any imbalance causes problems within the system and does not promote healthy maturity in young people.
- High expectations without caring and support results in a "winning is the only thing" mentality.
- Caring and support
without high expectations is often defined as "enabling" or "doing all
the wrong things for all the right reasons" or "insincere self-esteem".
- Opportunities to participate without high expectations does not end in any meaningful results nor does it foster commitment, teamwork or interdependence.
(For more information, see Vulnerable But Invincible: a Longitudinal Study of Resilient Children and Youth, by Werner, Emmy E. & Ruth S. Smith. McGraw Hill 1982. This book is currently out-of-print, but is available through used sources on-line.)
Examples of each area in Umonhon Nation High School are listed below:
High Expectations Caring and Support Opportunities to Participate
challenging academics guidance services extra curricular activities
discipline and behavior cultural programs student council
dress code lunch & breakfast program daily Circle-Up
verbal literacy health services Umonhon Cultural Language
written literacy Alternative Education vocational skills
community service day care services entrepreneurship opportunities
state-wide assessment drug/alcohol prevention mentoring projects/cross age tutors
Learn more about resiliency through this PowerPoint. You must have PowerPoint installed on your computer to view this link.
These guiding questions can help focus and
remind all partners in the educational process how they can help young
people be most successful.
This Page was last update: Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 7:55:46 PM
This page was originally posted: 2/22/06; 4:03:18 PM.
Copyright 2010 David Friedli
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