Want To Join Me?

I may not know much about the educational system, but I do know something innovative when I read it. Author NIck Wingfield with some merriment outlined a new program in Seattle that brings babies and moms into the elementary school classroom as "teachers" for a whole school year. Why pray tell do that? Seems it would be disruptive.

As it turns out, the Canadian non-profit group Roots of Empathy has shown that rather than being disruptive, babies in the classroom actually result in reduced bullying by exposing students to these "empathy babies." Plus, young students gain valuable insight into raising children in a loving and nurturing manner, something many of them do not experience at home. The program, which spans Canada, New Zealand, Australia and now America, has enlisted 2,000 baby and mom partners this year to show their stuff, including burping, feeding, spitting up, pooping and, of course, sleeping.

The students apparently take their new roles very seriously. Many have become parenting experts in the process and have been quick to give empathetic advice to their own parents:

"During a recent rough patch, Cari Giles, a mother of four in Paris, Ontario, got some surprising counseling from her son, Thomas, a third grader who attends an empathy class at his school. Ms. Giles was standing in her kitchen, flustered by the persistent crying of her 9-month-old son, Isaac, who is an empathy baby in Thomas's class. Thomas rubbed his mother's back gently and told her not to fret. 'It's OK, it doesn't mean you're a bad mom. Babies cry' " (WSJ, 2-5-08, A9.)

When interviewed, Thomas said that the class had given him a way to understand how both his brother and mother were feeling--of course, he said this like a typical third grader. Other students have approached pregnant moms to ask them not to drink at parties while some have admonished mother's with crying babies in public places not to shake the little tots. The number of students exposed in the participating countries to this new empathy curriculum was impressive: 150,000 students and 6,200 empathy babies. In the U.S. it will expand to 40 Seattle classrooms in 2009, and other U.S. school districts have expressed an interest.

The ones who have shown little interest were the empathy babies themselves. When interviewed, they have said little, except "Coo, coo." One mother remarked: "As long as he's eaten and is dry, he could care less." It would be interesting to follow this program over the lifetime of the students exposed to this enlightened educational technique. Hopefully, the Roots of Empathy organization will do just that. Some predict that in the future, children's exposure to empathy will be part of a core curriculum. With this program, it sounds like a few folks are already on to that innovative idea.

Another idea, although a little farther out on the spectrum of educational innovation, was the unveiling of another baby who coos, barks, shakes, cries and plays tug-of-war in response to outside stimuli. In this case, a robotic dinosaur named Pleo steals the heart of anyone unwary enough to buy him. OK, I can hear you say, so what's so special about a robotic dinosaur? He doesn't even fetch the paper. Well, even more amazingly, Pleo appears to evolve according to how he is treated. Listen to this description of the his gadgetry by his enamored owner:

"This baby dinosaur has reptile-like, rubbery skin enhanced by multiple sensors. Its back is decorated with green patterns, and its large eyes are a beautiful blue. Pleo's guts include 14 motors, 38 sensors and a microprocessor. Infrared detectors in Pleo's nose and mouth, and a color camera detects light, motion and objects to help it navigate" (WSJ, 2-6-08.)

But how does Pleo evolve? Leave that to the internal wizardry, which "learns" who is its owner, much like your computer "learns" who you are. But to all outside appearance, little Pleo grows through three phases: hatchling, infant and juvenile:

"As a hatchling, Pleo sniffed around a lot, unsure of its surroundings or how to use its legs and tail, before giving up and napping again. (Yes, Pleo snores.) The more I talked to and touched Pleo, the faster he adjusted out of the hatching phase, which is expected according to UGOBE [the manufacturer.]"

The techy owner went on to say that people wanted to play with the little dinosaur just for the fun of it, but were soon amazed when they realized it was responding to them. The proud "Mom" grew very fond of her frisky robot:

"I spoiled my Pleo with attention, which seemed to make him more social and friendly, But also a little bratty when he didn't get attention (he showed his frustration with loud moans.)"

Stroking Pleo made him purr softly; tickling him made him erupt in laughter; rubbing his chest while holding him made him fall asleep--indicated by heavy breathing. And all this for only $350! I predict this toy could be the next rage come Christmas. What's more, Pleo might emerge as a boon in the classroom if a school district spurns the empathy baby movement. Innovative teachers could purchase a Pleo and use it in much the same way. A couple of downsides still remain, but the manufacturer is quickly righting each one so that Pleo's and other responsive robotics start filling needs we didn't even know we had.

If an enlightened innovator had a really good educational idea like that, they could take it to a philanthropic organizations for funding, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been highlighted in this blog. Other philanthropics provide funding for education, including one started by the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings. In an interview with him in the WSJ February 8/9, 2008 issue, Jason Riley covered the usual palaver about corporate structure, etc. But I was surprised to find that Mr. Hastings had once been a Peace Corp math teacher in Africa and had a special place in his entrepreneurial heart for innovations in education, particularly the founding of charter schools. He is quoted as saying:

"K - 12 is the last big government monopoly in America and charter schools are about breaking up the public monopoly, with all its rules and bureaucracy. Charter schools give teachers a way to form their own public schools, more freedom to express their craft, and more schools voluntary for students. No one is assigned. This sets up a very healthy model that provides for innovation because the innovators, the innovative teachers, are drawn to these schools."

Besides funding the charter schools themselves, Mr. Hastings' vision encompasses the larger political picture. Thus, for example, his non-profit has funded ballot initiatives designed to increase school choice. The author went on to say that many philanthropists have funded such initiatives, including the Walmart and Gap families. But a disproportionate share hale from the tech community, which is not surprising in light of the fact that this sector needs a steady stream of highly educated workers.

And finally, since we are talking about philanthropists and their discretionary wealth, I would like to throw into the mix Google.com's latest efforts in that regard. On January 18, 2008, WSJ announced:

"In one of the most widely watched efforts in corporate giving in years, Google unveiled yesterday nearly $30 million in new grants and investments, outlining how it will focus a massive philanthropic endeavor that erases the usual boundaries between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds" [my italics.]

What followed was a listing of pursuits including "creative systems to help predict and prevent disease pandemics, to empower the poor with information about public services and to create jobs by investing in small and mid-size businesses in the developing world. They join previously announced initiatives to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in cars and make renewable energy cheaper than coal."

Google.com is apparently the largest corporate philanthropy valued at $2 billion as opposed to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has more assets, but is private. (The next largest corporate fund was Wells Fargo at $552 million.) It was heart-warming to discover that a mega-corporation like Google.com funds such enterprises with wads of cash as well as capitalistic expertise. I imagine because of that, the corporate foundation is run on a business model where plans are required of prospective recipients and outcomes are measured.

Speaking of Bill Gates, he was taken to task by William Easterly, a professor of economics at New York University, on WSJ's editorial page following Gates' enlightened speech on creative capitalism at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At first, Professor Easterly expressed a good attitude about Mr. Gates: "This newspaper reported recently that Bill Gates hates my ideas. I have no hurt feelings, at least nothing that months of intensive psychotherapy can't cure." But, he went on to say that Bill has aligned himself with the foreign aid camp, that believes sending foreign aid money can relieve poverty. By now, I bet you've guessed that Mr. Easterly disagrees vehemently with that premise. He retorted:

"The number of poor people who can't afford food for their children is a lot smaller than it used to be--thanks to capitalism. Capitalism didn't create malnutrition, it reduced it. The globalization of capitalism from 1950 to the present has increased the average income in the word to $7,000 from $2,000. Contrary to popular legend, poor countries grew at about the same rate as the rich ones. This growth gave us the greatest mass exit of poverty in world history. The parts of the world that are still poor are suffering from too little capitalism. . ."

We cannot forget the ancient Buddhist truism that it is better to teach a man to fish, than to provide the fish itself. Yes, we've all heard that, but what if a man is starving and cannot fish? He'd better get something to fill his belly before embarking on a fishing adventure, don't you think? Thus, could it be that Bill and William are both correct? That Google.com's approach--of melding the innovations of capitalism with money-aid--is actually the most enlightened?

It would appear so. President Bush's African trip this week highlighted best practices in America's foreign aid programs. One of the televised sequences highlighted infrastructure construction such as schools to educate the children and clinics to ensure health care to a population scourged by AIDS, TB and malaria. While another showed a more capitalistic model of an African factory funded with U.S. aid and staffed by local workers that produced mosquito nets to reduce malaria in the country. The anti-poverty guru, Bono, advocates for both poverty reduction models and works purposefully to keep his head above the political fray. That's probably the best place to be, and I think I'll follow him there. Want to join me?

Gates to Heaven

Rich people are interesting. I've never been around the very rich until a few years back--and what struck me when I did is how generally unhappy they are. Maybe it's just the ones I met, but probably not. Even with all the money in the world to do anything they want, the uber-wealthy are still struggling like the rest of us with health issues, children troubles, and legal problems. Seems that more money can equal more difficulties as they become the target of the jealousies and money-hunger of those beneath. According to reports, psychologically the more you have, the more you want--like a hamster in a cage. Who knows, these folks might miss at a deep level a unity of consciousness with others less well-off and maybe even harbor a guilt about hoarding their wealth to the detriment of the rest of society. The very wealthy must know at same layer the trickle-down effect of their money is not enough.

There are a few that have decided to bridge that gap between their wealth and the universe's expectations and in the process are creating an enlightened model for the very wealthy. They understand that to whom much is given, much is expected. A contributor sent an article from Fortune magazine (1-21-08) about one such person who has been getting notoriety in the last several years for her push to literally change the world. Melinda Gates, married to the wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates, has taken the world of philanthropy by storm.

Born to an upper-middle class professional family in North Dallas, Melinda attended an all-girl's school where she graduated as valedictorian. After achieving high grades and several degrees in computer science and economics from elite universities, she landed at Microsoft as an underling, but soon her bright-bulb shown. One of those drawn to her warmth was Bill Gates, the CEO of the company. After first briefly meeting at a conference, he ran into her later that fall and awkwardly asked for a date,"Will you go out with me two weeks from Friday?" Her response was emblematic of their future relationship. "Two weeks from Friday? That's not nearly spontaneous enough for me. I don't know. Call me up closer to the day." The fact that Mr. Gates was her boss's boss and had just become a billionaire did not phase this spunky gal a bit.

Well, the rest was history. They obviously did have that first date, although it was that very night, and soon planned to marry. But Melinda was actually put off by all Bill's wealth and plans for a huge, impersonal mansion, and told him so. She wanted two things: a way to give all his money back to the world and a smaller, more family friendly home. She got both.

In so doing, Melinda became the catalyst and veritable powerhouse behind a tidal wave of global philanthropic transformation. This revolutionary enlightened change has come in three major areas: 1) distribution of 95% of their wealth in their lifetimes; 2) close collaboration with others both private and public, thus multiplying the effect of their limited funds; and 3) a business model basis of studying, planning, implementing, data collection, studying results, tweaking, and trying again with changes. In my executive days, we called this a PDSA Cycle: plan, do, study, act. It works.

Together with funds from the Warren Buffet's foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will probably give out in its lifetime over $100 billion dollars. Though this sounds like a colossal amount of money, in reality, it is a drop in the bucket compared the amount needed to offset the ills plaguing the world. The Gates know this, but stay tuned to catalyzing change in the areas of global health, global development and US programs particularly in education. Of their mission, Melinda said: "We literally go down the chart of the greatest inequities and give where we can effect the greatest change." As an example, one of their newer endeavors is sustainable farming and a WSJ (1-25-08, p. B6) headline proclaimed that the "Foundation Plans $900 million Aid With a Local Focus" based on the advances inspired by the Green Revolution, although it will focus on local soils and peoples rather than fertilizer and pesticides.

Historically, the foundation has targeted malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS eradication, and Melinda has become an expert in these areas--a humble and involved expert. Bill Clinton, who himself has a globally focused foundation, is quoted as saying that when traveling to Africa with the Gates two years ago, "Bill and I thought we were so smart. We showed how much we knew about all these issues, you know, and we asked all the right questions. Melinda just sat their patiently. And then when we shut up, she bored in and said, 'What are you doing in education? What are you doing on prevention? How many people are using condoms?' We wilted. Melinda showed that in the end, women are stronger than men when it counts." He should know.

Bill Gates is obviously no slouch in the brainpower department, however. Fortune magazine comments that in their foundation work, the couple demands impact which "comes from a combination of Melinda's vision and Bill's brainpower." In addition, his good friend, Warren Buffet said of him, "Bill is an awkward guy. He's lopsided, but less lopsided since he's with Melinda." You can see this geeky, uncertain quality when looking at pictures of the the couple: he looks like the rumbled, slightly stooped professor, she looks like a radiant, over-achieving but self-assured CEO. Bill was at the top of his game when in 2007 he gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from Harvard--the place from which he dropped out so many years ago. In his opening remarks, he quipped: "Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree. . . it'll be nice to have a college degree on my resume." Wry humor aside, the very serious thesis of his remarks showed his metamorphosis because of Melinda's influence:

"We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism--if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We can also press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes. If we can find approaches to meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world."

This theme was further expanded last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where, according to front-page reporting by the WSJ, Bill issued a forward-thinking call for a kinder capitalism (1-24-08, A1.) He told the Forum participants: "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve the wealthier people serve poorer people as well." In an interview with the WSJ, Gates said "that he has grown impatient with the short-comings of capitalism. He has seen those failings first-hand on trips to places like the South African slum of Soweto and discussed them with dozens of experts on disease and poverty. . .in particular he is troubled that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor."

This heralding call has started to sound forth from other wealthy celebs as well. Bono was a one man anti-poverty band when he began his crusade several years back. I always liked his positive, but powerful respectful approach to the leaders to whom he spoke. He put down no one, but instead tried to garner promises of help where it was possible. Yet, Bono embraced capitalism and has tried with success to use its inherent force to both educate and make money for his projects. Yesterday a long article in the WSJ (2-1-08, W4) outlined his many enterprises, and they showed imaginative diversity. One of his successful business strategies is to partner with large global corporations who then donate millions to his causes. But he also invested in a hotel in Dublin, backed a clothing line of t-shirts made in Lesotho and sold at Nordstrom, and, of course, toured in his blockbuster band, U2. Bono too mentions the Gates as a powerful force in global problem-solving: "Sometimes I call him Kill Bill. Lots of people are enraged and we sweep ourselves into a fury from the wanton loss of lives. What we need is a much slower pulse to help us be rational. Melinda is that pulse."

Many others are joining the wealthy philanthropic bandwagon. Only time will tell if this new mind-set will change the tide of giving to make the wealthy contributor feel better with little comprehensive impact on the problems of humanity or giving to make a real difference in global ills. But with Melinda Gates holistic vision and brain power behind the movement, its success is more assured. After all, she presciently envisioned her responsibilities when delivering the valedictorian speech at her commencement from high school in 1982 when she said:

"If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped."

OF NOTE: It may show a trend in itself that four different articles in one week landed on my desk regarding the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I had already archived Bill Gates commencement speech from last June as an example of enlightened change. I send my great appreciation to the contributor of the Fortune magazine article about Melinda Gates.

Weather report: 30 degrees and snowing lightly. Overcast. Roads worsening throughout the day. Yesterday Springfield IL received 12.9 inches of snow as did most of that area in an unusually prolific snowstorm that also hit Chicagoland.