Boyce and Large

Both Barry Boyce and Jerry Large are advocates for developing children into whole people. With so much emphasis in our society on what we are doing, the competitiveness of taking the right classes and getting the right grades and even being at the right school,  we are often times neglecting to teach our children character and developing the kind of people they become. Though academic learning is an important piece of what a person will need to obtain a job, it is as critical to be able to "calm yourself and regulate your emotions, accurately perceive others' emotions, and empathize; listen attentively to what someone is saying, negotiate and confidently persuade; think through problems effectively while considering others' perspectives" (Boyce). By teaching our children skills that help them to successfully navigate stressful situations, we are teaching them to also be smart socially and emtionally. Often times children in more impoverished situations have too much stress which is not good, but conversely the children from middle and upper class families are too often sheltered from lifes' stresses and do not have practice in developing their character. In the balance of mindfulness and stress we find the grit that we need to develop into whole people; people who are academically, socially and emotionally smart. The people who help to teach these traits are not the sole responsibility of school teachers, but the role could be shared by parent or guardian, mentor and role model. It incorporates the idea of it taking a village to raise a child.