Professor Belle LiangProfessor Dennis Shirley

Lynch School of Education/Boston College

Education forMeaning and Purpose:

The Journey Ahead

What is our vision for youth?

Zeitgeist/Spirit of the Times

Educators Love the Idea of Education for Meaning and Purpose

Purpose Interventions are Spreading

Challenges to overcome…

Low High

LowDisengaged

24%

Purposeful Aspirations(Dreamer)

24%

High

Purposeful Activities(Dabbler)

31%

Clear Purpose20%

Aspiration

Activ

e En

gage

men

t

Definitions of Success

Short-term Goals vs. Sense of Purpose

“Goals” Sense of Purpose

How can I excel in my sport?

What does it mean to be a good person?What kind of person do I want to be?

I want to be more popularHow can I contribute to the world?

I need to get good grades What can I commit myself to?

How can I seem more attractive to others?

What really matters in life?

9

In Quest of Purposeful Schools

Views of adolescents

When we choose a goal and invest ourselves in it to the limits of concentration, whatever we do will be enjoyable. And once we have tasted this joy, we will redouble our efforts to taste it again. This is the way the self grows.”

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Engagement in Purpose

Growth-fostering Mentoring

Self-Esteem

a) β = .23 * b) β = .55 **

c’) β = .09

c) β = .21*

Prompts for Educators

Find Your Own Sense of Meaning and Purpose

Find Professionally Appropriate Ways to Discuss Meaning and Purpose with Students

Embed Meaning and Purpose into the Curriculum

Some Complexities

Divergence of Meaning and Happiness

La noche oscura del alma/The dark night

Further Complexities

Meaning must be discovered and constructed

Meaning cannot be dictated but it can be enabled

The quest for meaning is difficult

The quest for meaning reveals the dignity and nobility of the human condition

From to Goals

pecific

easurable

ttainable

ealistic

imebound

eartfelt

nimated

equired

ifficult

The Red Feather Project

Students Welcome Refugees

Thank you!