96
Volume:
2020
,
October

A Future Arrived

Submitted By:
Jeremy Sandler, The Potomac School, McLean, VA

Published one month before the pandemic caused schools in the U.S. to close their doors, Ready or Not explores how adults can prepare today’s students to thrive in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) future that has already arrived. Dr. Madeline Levine uses research, expert knowledge, professional observations, and personal anecdotes to describe how anxieties negatively impact a child’s brain, the parenting styles that harm more than help children’s resilience, and what we need to instill and develop in our students. Dr. Levine identifies specific skills, habits, and moral values that will equip kids to do well for themselves and to do good for others. Before the pandemic, conversations about the future and what children need to know and do occurred in classrooms and living rooms. Ready or Not is now a more pivotal read for parents and educators. Dr. Levine’s recommendations can inform approaches to enhance curricula, build character, and create safe and supportive environments. Certainly, VUCA is the right acronym to describe how students see the present and the future; this book is a guide, for them and for us.

Categories
Covid-19
Psychology & Human Development