Emotional inteligence
546/661happens as children build the essential emotional andsocial skills. In this sense, emotional literacy goes handin hand with education for character, for moral development,and for citizenship.A LAST WORDAs I complete this book some troubling newspaperitems catch my eye. One announces that guns have becomethe number-one cause of death in America, edgingout auto accidents. The second says that last yearmurder rates rose by 3 percent. 19 Particularly disturbingis the prediction in that second article, by a criminologist,that we are in a lull before a "crime storm" to comein the next decade. The reason he gives is that murdersby teenagers as young as fourteen and fifteen are on therise, and that age group represents the crest of a minibaby boom. In the next decade this group will becomeeighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds, the age at which violentcrimes peak in the course of a criminal career. Theharbingers are on the horizon: A third article says thatin the four years between 1988 and 1992 Justice Departmentfigures show a 68 percent jump in the number ofjuveniles charged with murder, aggravated assault, robbery,and forcible rape, with aggravated assault alone up80 percent. 20
547/661These teenagers are the first generation to have notjust guns but automatic weaponry easily available tothem, just as their parents' generation was the first tohave wide access to drugs. The toting of guns by teenagersmeans that disagreements that in a former daywould have led to fistfights can readily lead to shootingsinstead. And, as another expert points out, these teenagers"just aren't very good at avoiding disputes."One reason they are so poor at this basic life skill, ofcourse, is that as a society we have not bothered to makesure every child is taught the essentials of handling angeror resolving conflicts positively—nor have webothered to teach empathy, impulse control, or any ofthe other fundamentals of emotional competence. Byleaving the emotional lessons children learn to chance,we risk largely wasting the window of opportunitypresented by the slow maturation of the brain to helpchildren cultivate a healthy emotional repertoire.Despite high interest in emotional literacy amongsome educators, these courses are as yet rare; mostteachers, principals, and parents simply do not knowthey exist. The best models are largely outside the educationmainstream, in a handful of private schools and afew hundred public schools. Of course no program, includingthis one, is an answer to every problem. But giventhe crises we find ourselves and our children facing,
- Page 496 and 497: 496/661anxiety. A key ability in im
- Page 498 and 499: 16Schooling the EmotionsThe main ho
- Page 500 and 501: 500/661children who are faltering a
- Page 502 and 503: ingrained; as experiences are repea
- Page 504 and 505: A POINT OF CONTENTION504/661But as
- Page 506 and 507: 506/661could also be part of lighte
- Page 508 and 509: 508/661spiral into aggression. Whil
- Page 510 and 511: These are the topics of gripping im
- Page 512 and 513: 512/661responsibility for decisions
- Page 514 and 515: 514/661twenty thousand people emplo
- Page 516 and 517: bring in pictures of a person's fac
- Page 518 and 519: 518/661from the basics for yet anot
- Page 520 and 521: negotiated. And since that is an ap
- Page 522 and 523: 522/661Such interventions work best
- Page 524 and 525: 524/661school, Hamburg notes, are a
- Page 526 and 527: 526/661By fourth and fifth grade, a
- Page 528 and 529: 528/661into incidents like the hall
- Page 530 and 531: 530/661I don't try to do the negati
- Page 532 and 533: 532/661important for those prone to
- Page 534 and 535: New Haven schools, when teachers fi
- Page 536 and 537: 536/661responsible adults volunteer
- Page 538 and 539: 538/661such as problems with girlfr
- Page 540 and 541: 540/661The story seems innocuous en
- Page 542 and 543: • Better able to express anger ap
- Page 544 and 545: 544/661becoming better friends, stu
- Page 548 and 549: 548/661and given the quantum of hop
- Page 550 and 551: APPENDIX AWhat Is Emotion?A word ab
- Page 552 and 553: 552/661feelings such as doubt, comp
- Page 554 and 555: APPENDIX BHallmarks of the Emotiona
- Page 556 and 557: 556/661overall picture or the most
- Page 558 and 559: 558/661emotional mind, the "first i
- Page 560 and 561: reactions. A few exceptions aside,
- Page 562 and 563: This childlike mode is self-confirm
- Page 564 and 565: we behave when enraged or dejected;
- Page 566 and 567: 566/661Say you're alone one night a
- Page 568 and 569: 568/661corticomedial area of the am
- Page 570 and 571: 570/661neurotransmitters, for examp
- Page 572 and 573: 572/661• Using steps for problem-
- Page 574 and 575: APPENDIX EThe Self ScienceCurriculu
- Page 576 and 577: 576/661SOURCE: Karen F. Stone and H
- Page 578 and 579: SOURCES: E. Schaps and V. Battistic
- Page 580 and 581: M. T. Greenberg and C. A. Kusche, P
- Page 582 and 583: 582/661RESULTS:• Improved problem
- Page 584 and 585: 584/661• Increased ability to "si
- Page 586 and 587: 586/6616. Only in adults: An observ
- Page 588 and 589: 588/661About Emotion. New York: Oxf
- Page 590 and 591: 590/6616. Unconscious preferences:
- Page 592 and 593: 592/661the amygdala are especially
- Page 594 and 595: 594/6613. Richard Herrnstein and Ch
546/661
happens as children build the essential emotional and
social skills. In this sense, emotional literacy goes hand
in hand with education for character, for moral development,
and for citizenship.
A LAST WORD
As I complete this book some troubling newspaper
items catch my eye. One announces that guns have become
the number-one cause of death in America, edging
out auto accidents. The second says that last year
murder rates rose by 3 percent. 19 Particularly disturbing
is the prediction in that second article, by a criminologist,
that we are in a lull before a "crime storm" to come
in the next decade. The reason he gives is that murders
by teenagers as young as fourteen and fifteen are on the
rise, and that age group represents the crest of a mini
baby boom. In the next decade this group will become
eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds, the age at which violent
crimes peak in the course of a criminal career. The
harbingers are on the horizon: A third article says that
in the four years between 1988 and 1992 Justice Department
figures show a 68 percent jump in the number of
juveniles charged with murder, aggravated assault, robbery,
and forcible rape, with aggravated assault alone up
80 percent. 20