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Bill Drayton - Ashoka - Empathy

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bill drayton

Bill Drayton is angry!

In this two-minute interview, Bill Drayton tells Global X why the largest group of social entrepreneurs who have been selected to become Ashoka Fellows (450 out of 2,400) concentrate on children and young people: "What really matters is whether children master applied empathy, and whether young people (12 to 20) master empathy teamwork leadership and become change makers" through extra-curriculum activities such as tutoring services, help hotlines or community radio stations.

"Those who don't master applied empathy will be marginalized, and if there are children who didn't have a chance to develop these skills, it's our fault, not theirs!" adds Bill Drayton.

The founder of Ashoka, who is now spending a lot of time on the new generation, thinks that we need to have a revolution analogous to the civil rights movement or the women's movement, so that all young people (and not just the fortunate ones who go to the best schools) grasp empathy and empathy teamwork leadership. "This is the most fundamental revolution that we have to get through!"


Comments: 3

Global X-

Posted by Cori Stern at May 07, 2009 11:12 PM

Drayton is SO right on with this. We've been working with exceptional young refugees on exactly this issue. One of them - a 16 year old girl - was just nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize in part because of her remarkable "for benefit" business, turning bullet casings into exquisite pieces of jewelry for the global market and using the profits to help other displaced youth. (By the way, she's from Buduburam, that same refugee camp you wrote about on 02-09-2006!) Her for-benefit business can be found at www.akawelle.com - to see the principle of applied empathy in action!

Cori Stern www.strongheartfellowship.org

Everyone can make their own community more empathetic

Posted by Barbara Clarke at May 07, 2009 11:12 PM

An important area for developing empathy among young and children is often overlooked. The US Census estimates that over one quarter of all children will experience the death of a close family member by the time they are adults. Programs that support grieving families in their community are essential to creating a new generation with authentic empathy for others. Everyone coming together to help these families will create a more empathetic community. The National Alliance for Grieving Children has a list of programs nationwide. All of them are small, grassroots organizations that need local support to survive.

Visit nationalallianceforgrievingchildren.org (ok, it's an unfortunately long URL) to find a local program.

Kids for Environmental and Social Action

Posted by Kurt A. Krueger at Jun 29, 2009 08:44 PM
Empathy... Our 12 and 15 year boys have started this 5 years ago. They are looking to expand from just a bunch of kids in Southern California to the web and therefore beyond. Looking to team up and interface with other like minded youth...

I have a vision for Character Inclusion: I propose that we dramatically enhance character development through societal education. Societal education includes all levels of society and draws forth from the people the innate values of each person – see some of ideas below…

There are character traits that all people could easily support. We would truly transform our society through education into a continuance of a QUALITY CULTURE. We would have less violence, an improvement of academic scores, and less social ills. Just look at end of this letter for some research on this. G.K. Chesterton wrote, "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." What kind of a soul experience would we like to pass on to the next generation? How do you wish to spread the idea? Obviously, begin with your modeling quality character traits. Pay It Forward!

Do you feel that it should be a component in all schools of the world? Could we design a task force to develop a Culture of Learning Character program for sharing with ALL educators and sectors of society, at all levels? Keep the focus on the higher reasons for living and education, developing our future compassionate leaders, and conscientious and wise followers.