I recently wrote a book with Julie Adams and Rosa Isiah titled #FullyCharged. This book explored the connection between Maslow needs and Bloom demands and how we typically approach these in schools. Writing this book was an incredible experience for me. It helped me to put science to my intuition through the research portion and help to extend me as a professional as I had the unique opportunity to process through my ideas next to two absolutely rock-star educators and authors.
What I came to realize and what largely stands as the thesis of the book is that we cannot feed Bloom’s by starving Maslow. If you are not up on ‘education-ese’ you might have just audibly said ‘huh’ to that previous sentence. Schools have become obsessed with moving kids forward according to standardized test scores. Some of this is healthy as we are paying more attention to the performance of traditionally underserved students, but some of it is foolhardy at best. The point is when kids to have their basic needs met (food, clothing, shelter), do not feel safe, loved, and as though they belong it is just not wise to think they will be in the best position to learn alongside their peers that are having all of those same needs met. Yet we do – and sometimes more so. We push the ‘struggling’ learners so hard academically because we do not want them to fall behind without ever taking into account the Maslow struggles they may be having.
In working through the research and brain science to support this thesis, I spent a lot of time on the developing and increasingly popular field of study on ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences. The research on ACEs is becoming more and more of an educational and healthcare topic as the data are clear that traumatic experiences in our childhood are having a trickle-up impact to impact many other facets of child, adolescent, young adult, and adult life. The point that seems to resonate with everyone is that these experiences are so profound that they even impact life expectancy.
The great news is that the impact of ACEs can be and in many cases are reversed. The best possible manner in which to help offset the impact of ACEs is the loving and healthy relationship with a caring adult. The struggle is, that in many situations where ACEs are prevalent, there are not an abundance of loving and healthy relationships with adults at home. That is where schools come in and the focus on Maslow needs become paramount.
The unfortunate fact is that while schools are in a position to make a key impact in this area, schools alone are not enough to support the whole child. Schools, families, and individuals need outside support. In studying how to best do this I have been continually intrigued with the ever-evolving world of therapy and counseling. The website Betterhelp.org presents a myriad of reasons as to why online and on-demand therapy could be a massive breakthrough in treating children raised in a technologically-based environment and one that does not have an enormity of parent support. I am writing this blog simply to raise awareness because I believe that these developments have a real possibility of helping people get the support and help they need in our increasingly on-demand world.