Hello Friday!

My apologies for being a day late on my regular blog post. But, I have a great excuse! I was out and about the country this week talking about the 4-H Thriving Model, trying to raise support for the development of a training curriculum on the model for 4-H staff. I am hopeful my travels will bear fruit – but we will have to stay tuned for more.

As always, however, my thinking about the 4-H Thriving Model was front and center as I traveled, especially as my plane pulled in early to Salt Lake City late on Continue reading →

At some point in my life I fell in love with words. I am not sure why this happened, because I distinctly remember being told in high school that my vocabulary was not very large. By college it had not improved much, and by the time I took the Graduate Record Exam to get into grad school I knew I had to make an effort to improve my vocabulary. Maybe it was listening to those GRE vocabulary tapes that first piqued my interest, or maybe it was the delightful discovery of the precision of words- finding the perfect word for describing something. In some cases it was because I just liked the sound of the word. I still don’t know for sure, but what I do know is that I began to pay attention to the words people use, and ponder the precise meaning and purpose for using them.

So it was as I wrapped up my reading of William Damon’s The Path to Purpose: How Young People find their Calling in Life this week. Toward the end of the book Dr. Damon presents a chapter, written largely to parents, but very apropos to our work as youth development educators, on facilitating the Continue reading →

I’m interrupting our regularly scheduled blog post on helping youth develop a hopeful purpose for a live update from a (very) rainy Cleveland Ohio, where over 3,000 program evaluators have gathered for the 2018 national conference of the American Evaluation Association. The conference theme is Speaking Truth to Power, and in a captivating plenary session yesterday the AEA president talked about the illuminating role of good evaluation in establishing credible evidence for program results, something that is especially important in the post-factual world that has descended upon us.

I am a long time member of AEA and have attended this conference almost annually for 20 years. The conference has been instrumental in my training as an evaluator, as I have slowly developed my own evaluation capabilities over time. Each year I learn so much about the practice of program evaluation, about the nuances of establishing credible evidence, and about the importance of bringing the voices of justice and equity to evaluation designs, because the decisions made on evaluation results must reflect a truth for all, not just a few. Continue reading →

Truth be told, I don’t watch much TV. Primarily because there are so many other things I would like to do instead. But another reason is that I find the shift of TV culture to reality-based shows disturbing. I’m doubtful there is any “reality” being portrayed on the screen, but more than that I don’t like the message these types of shows represent – that there is a quick route to success and material wealth that is worth taking at any cost. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not really that much of a curmudgeon, and I know there are examples of a few who have had their sparks fanned into flames by reality opportunities, but let’s face it: most do not.

But you know what? We live in a culture now that promotes quickness, often with the goal of financial wealth and personal security in mind. William Damon, in the Path to Purpose: How Young People Find their Calling in Life points out that we have changed from a society that values the development of a meaningful purpose in life to one that values monetary gain in just the last 50 years. Continue reading →

As that old saying goes: unless you live under a rock…. You know that the mid-term election season has arrived. Yard signs are up, candidates’ visual ads are pointing out the flaws of their opponents, and the airwaves are filled with analyses of potential scenarios related to the outcomes of the election. One of the rising concerns is the disinterest of many young people toward the elections. As I was driving home the other day I was listening to a reporter interviewing a young man in his early 20s about his plans to vote. In response to her question he replied:

“Look, I’m a gamer boy, so no, I am not voting. Because I don’t really… care?” The last word rising sharply after a pause to highlight how ridiculous the reporter’s question was to him. I don’t know about you, but this young man’s words chilled me to the bone. Not just because of his apathy, but because a missed opportunity. Because developmentally, it may be too late to instill a sense of civic responsibility in his worldview. Continue reading →