You Can Lead Them to Water, but . . . .
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a talk that I had given on Career
Day at a local High School. In that talk I utilized a Visualization
Approach to the future. This trip into the future was meant to give
the students a set of goals for a road map to a successful future or the
basis for a Personal Mission Statement.
During the past couple of weeks, I have heard some interesting comments
about the presentation or should I say the students' experiences with the
Visualization of the Future technique. Originally, I was concerned about
the potential negative effects, especially with the younger students, of
a student thinking about his or her funeral. Before giving the talk,
I checked with the person coordinating the event, the Superintendent, and
the Principal. All thought it would not be a problem, and it was not.
While the Visual Trip achieved the effects that I wanted, it seems that
there was a residual benefit. This unexpected bonus was a real learning
experience for me and I am sure it will lead to other uses of the method.
The residual benefit was one of acceptance. That is, if you give
a person a model that says a person should conduct themselves in a certain
way, that person may or may not accept the suggestions. However, when
they visualize these very same attributes and actions in their mind's eye,
they are more likely to accept them as truth, valuable and necessary. I
guess this reaction should be expected since they tell me that a person is
more likely to accept their own ideas than the ideas of someone else.
Does this all mean, "If they lead themselves to water, they are more likely
to drink?" It is an interesting thought and one I believe to be true.
In our visualization of the future with the students, each student
closed his/her eyes and visualized each speaker (a friend, a teacher, family
member & co-worker) talking about the deceased person and his/her life.
In actuality, the speaker was saying exactly what the student wanted
him/her to say.
Hopefully, some day in the near future, I will be able to compare what
a student hears with what the parent might want to say to the student. It
might be a good project for some sociology class.
I am sure the technique will work in a lot of other areas. If anyone
has had experience with the technique and can share it with me, please do
so.
Update
In my
Views of January 3, 2003, under the title of
"Thanks for All Your Help," I wrote about
one of our donations that went to purchase equipment for a "Robotics" class
at Beechwood High School. This is the first year for this class at
Beechwood. Good news, the High School team won the Regional Championship
while the Junior High took second place. The Academic Team also won
the Governor's Cup this past week. Not bad for a little school of less
than 1,000 covering Kindergarten through 12th grade!
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Minneapolis, MN 888.616.0123
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