Wholistic Health and Development

Yesterday I gave a talk to about 200-300 parents, teachers, counselors, board members, and staff at the Superintendent's talk at Taipei American School. We talked about the importance of wellness and wholistic health for students which include conceptualizing development in terms of physical, emotional, social, and cultural development--and how these factors also strongly correlate with academic and career outcomes. All too often students and parents believe that studying more or staying up late results in good grades but in fact there are serious deleterious effects of sleep deprivation, stress, and poor nutrition that undermine the efforts of extended studying. But a vicious cycle is created when students attribute poor performance to quantity of time spent studying and so they study more and stay up later when in fact, the quality of studying can be increased when the brain is well-rested and nourished. Stress associated with studying and test-taking also contributes to poor eating and exercise habits. Similarly, there is a recent study published today in Teachers College Record that investigates the role of emotional regulation in homework. Obviously, we should care about emotional well-being and healthy development so that students can learn to make positive choices for a life time and not just for the sole purpose of getting good grades. I think also that the main point I was trying to make in the speech was that we need to also consider the role of community service and community partnership in our lives and how learning how to meaningful contribute to the betterment of society and to actively participate in social change is perhaps the best gift one can learn in the educational system.