Education, among many things, is about opportunities. Right? If Education is about creating, utilizing and benefiting from opportunities, then consider how often we say ‘yes.’ Or rather, consider how often we say and hear the word ‘no.’ Saying the word ‘yes’ is often harder that it seems and quite often the opposite of what we naturally do. Yes, we say ‘no’ more often and much easier.
Indeed, a survey conducted a few years ago at UCLA reported that the average one-year-old child hears the word ‘No!’ more than 400 times per day. Might seem crazy, but think about how often we tell a child ‘no’…sometimes repeatedly in several seconds. You could argue that more active, or even creative children, might even hear the word ‘no’ even more often.
Simply, we all grow up hearing all of the things we can’t or shouldn’t do. When we get to school, and advance through educational systems, we tend to hear ‘no’ far more often than we hear ‘yes.’ Walk on to the campus of any public school in America and you are normally greeted by a sign or two that shares with you all of the things that you CANNOT do. Have you ever seen a sign welcoming students and telling them what they CAN do?
What does this mean? Well, for amazing things to happen, as well as for opportunities and dreams to be realized, someone has to say ‘yes’. Right? The people in charge – teachers, administrators, educational leaders have to learn to say ‘yes’. It’s not only easier to say ‘no’ - it’s automatic. That’s right. We are programmed to say ‘no.’ In the world of regulations, bureaucracy, procedures, rules, doctrine, formats and systems, ‘no’ is the norm and ‘yes’ is the exception.
When I started teaching in 1990, my first principal, the late Elizabeth Terronez, said something that resonates now more than ever. She told me, the youngest teacher on the staff at the time, that her job was to find a way to say ‘yes.’ She said I would have great ideas, creative inspirations and big dreams for students, but that others and the system would attempt to tell me ‘no.’ She told me to remind her to find a way for her to say ‘yes.’ She, in turn, taught me that this was my job as a teacher with students. My job was to find a way for me to tell students ‘yes.’
Again and again, over the last almost three decades, I have been reminded daily about our natural or inherent vocabulary of ‘no’ and our avoidance or ignorance of the word ‘yes.’ Mrs. Terronez had a subtle brilliance to know that my career and life, as well as the careers and lives of my students, would be fraught daily with the word ‘no’ and devoid of the word ‘yes.’ She knew that our naturally vocabulary – especially in education - was based on the word ‘no’ and almost ignorant of incapable of the word ‘yes.’
Is this relevant to education more than ever? I would say YES. If we want to help foster creativity in students, we have to learn to say ‘yes’ to their ideas and imagination. If we want to create more entrepreneurs, we will need to utter ‘yes’ far more often than ‘no’ to proposals, projects and products. If we want people to be engaged, passionate, participatory and connected, then ‘yes’ will have to be our mantra vs. the standard educational response of ‘no.’ If we want to teach students how to use technology professionally, and hopefully to improve the world, then we will have to trust them. Trust will imply ‘yes’ - while distrust will be connected to ‘no.’
As we leave the world of teaching standards to teaching skills, this will require teachers and educators to create environments where students hear the word ‘yes’ frequently. The new world of work in the 21st century is dependent on ideas, creativity and critical thinking. And these are only imagined once we, and out students, believe. Belief will come from YES. Our system, culture and natural response systems will want to say ‘no.’ We will have to fight against those and create a new paradigm of ‘YES.’ YES MAN – JUST SAY YES!!!
Indeed, a survey conducted a few years ago at UCLA reported that the average one-year-old child hears the word ‘No!’ more than 400 times per day. Might seem crazy, but think about how often we tell a child ‘no’…sometimes repeatedly in several seconds. You could argue that more active, or even creative children, might even hear the word ‘no’ even more often.
Simply, we all grow up hearing all of the things we can’t or shouldn’t do. When we get to school, and advance through educational systems, we tend to hear ‘no’ far more often than we hear ‘yes.’ Walk on to the campus of any public school in America and you are normally greeted by a sign or two that shares with you all of the things that you CANNOT do. Have you ever seen a sign welcoming students and telling them what they CAN do?
What does this mean? Well, for amazing things to happen, as well as for opportunities and dreams to be realized, someone has to say ‘yes’. Right? The people in charge – teachers, administrators, educational leaders have to learn to say ‘yes’. It’s not only easier to say ‘no’ - it’s automatic. That’s right. We are programmed to say ‘no.’ In the world of regulations, bureaucracy, procedures, rules, doctrine, formats and systems, ‘no’ is the norm and ‘yes’ is the exception.
When I started teaching in 1990, my first principal, the late Elizabeth Terronez, said something that resonates now more than ever. She told me, the youngest teacher on the staff at the time, that her job was to find a way to say ‘yes.’ She said I would have great ideas, creative inspirations and big dreams for students, but that others and the system would attempt to tell me ‘no.’ She told me to remind her to find a way for her to say ‘yes.’ She, in turn, taught me that this was my job as a teacher with students. My job was to find a way for me to tell students ‘yes.’
Again and again, over the last almost three decades, I have been reminded daily about our natural or inherent vocabulary of ‘no’ and our avoidance or ignorance of the word ‘yes.’ Mrs. Terronez had a subtle brilliance to know that my career and life, as well as the careers and lives of my students, would be fraught daily with the word ‘no’ and devoid of the word ‘yes.’ She knew that our naturally vocabulary – especially in education - was based on the word ‘no’ and almost ignorant of incapable of the word ‘yes.’
Mike Smith, a veteran motivational speaker to students and educators, as well as the founder of Difference Makers (www.differencemakers.org), summarized it well for me 15 years ago. He often asked teachers, educators, school leaders and students, “If it’s not illegal or immoral, why not give it a try?” This made an impression on me. It made me check how often I said ‘no’ to the ideas of others or dismissed something as not possible vs. saying, “Yes…let’s do it.” Nike said ‘Just Do It’ for years, but we didn’t listen. Doesn’t that make sense? If it’s not illegal or immoral, why not try it? In other words, if someone is not going to get hurt or no damage will be done, why would we say ‘no’ instead of ‘yes’?
Ed Tech leader Jon Corippo (@jcorippo) got it as well. When the Jim Carey movie YES MAN came out a couple of years ago, he started off the school year with that message of saying ‘yes’ to things. It became a school wide mantra and theme for the year. He reminded students throughout the year that great experiences and success would only come from saying ‘yes.’ He showed students that we all say ‘no’ naturally and have to train ourselves to say ‘yes.’ Opportunities, and potentially incredible experiences, will present themselves, but we have to be prepared to say ‘yes.’ We have to fight our natural and dominant urge to say ‘no.’
Is this relevant to education more than ever? I would say YES. If we want to help foster creativity in students, we have to learn to say ‘yes’ to their ideas and imagination. If we want to create more entrepreneurs, we will need to utter ‘yes’ far more often than ‘no’ to proposals, projects and products. If we want people to be engaged, passionate, participatory and connected, then ‘yes’ will have to be our mantra vs. the standard educational response of ‘no.’ If we want to teach students how to use technology professionally, and hopefully to improve the world, then we will have to trust them. Trust will imply ‘yes’ - while distrust will be connected to ‘no.’
As we leave the world of teaching standards to teaching skills, this will require teachers and educators to create environments where students hear the word ‘yes’ frequently. The new world of work in the 21st century is dependent on ideas, creativity and critical thinking. And these are only imagined once we, and out students, believe. Belief will come from YES. Our system, culture and natural response systems will want to say ‘no.’ We will have to fight against those and create a new paradigm of ‘YES.’ YES MAN – JUST SAY YES!!!
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