Saturday, January 19, 2019
VIEWPOINTS
East Oregonian
A5
Lessons from New Zealand
or the first time in my memory,
populations in the neighborhood of 4
I had a sunburn in December.
million (although New Zealand’s popu-
lation is growing extremely fast), and
Before further questions are raised
concerning my veracity or the issue of
both are bisected by significant moun-
tain ranges. Both have a traditional
climate change, I need to offer an expla-
nation. My wife, Cindy, daughter, Annie,
economic base in agriculturally related
and I left on Christmas
endeavors, yet both have
Eve for 10 days in New
urban numbers that make
Zealand to embark on the
up around 80 percent of the
longest vacation (Kiwis
as a whole.
At a time when population
would say “holiday”) I’ve
As a rule, I found New
their entire
ever experienced both in
Zealand to be greener and
terms of duration and miles
cleaner than the parts of the
population
travelewd.
U.S. I have visited (25 of
was just over
One of Cindy’s longest-
50 states). I did not see near
term friends has lived in
the amount of garbage in
one million,
Christchurch for just over
the gutter or alongside the
20 years and they decided
road as I’ve come to expect
approximately
it was time for a visit.
at home. Plastic one-use
17,000 Kiwis
As an added bonus, we
bags at the grocery store
could celebrate the New
were killed from are outlawed as of January
Year by watching Mandi
1 (I’d vote in favor of that
1914-1918.
perform one of her gigs
one) and recycling enjoys a
as an accomplished Kiwi
wide appeal. Electric vehi-
cles are more common
singer. Because Annie is a
than here, but that also has
senior in high school and
curious about the world beyond the bound- a practical element to it. Kiwis tend to
aries of our farm, we thought it appropriate commute less than we do and essentially
to make this a presumptive graduation
have no domestic oil production. While I
gift to her. As an aside, I feel compelled
observed a fair number of Ford and Chevy
to divulge that nearly five years ago on the
vehicles, Japanese-built vehicles are defi-
nitely the norm, with essentially no full-
occasion of son Willie’s high school grad-
uation, he was given a 40-year-old John
size pickup trucks or SUVs. Diesel-en-
gined vehicles are very common and fuel
Deere combine that he spent time over-
hauling while we were in the Southern
economy is a high priority, which is to be
Hemisphere.
expected when fuel sells for two bucks a
Though I would rather spend 13 hours
liter (that equates to nearly $8 a gallon for
in the seat of a tractor than an Air New
those of you scoring along at home).
Zealand 777 seat, I must confess that I
Speaking of prices per liter, barley pop
thoroughly enjoyed the trip and thought I
is commonly priced at around $10 a pint.
might share a few observations therefrom.
I couldn’t personally resist the temptation
First of all, Oregon and New Zealand
to imbibe even at that price and I found
share many similarities. Both are around
the local beers to be quite good and the
100,000 square miles in area, both have
conversation at the pubs to be lively and
F
informative; some things are just universal,
I suppose.
I was fortunate enough to tour two
farm operations while on our trip, both of
which were arranged by my new friend,
Halcombe. Hal was, by the way, a truly
delightful gentleman with an encyclopedic
knowledge of his native land. His enthu-
siasm for New Zealand was unparalleled
and I was amazed that he had not yet been
appointed Minister of Tourism.
We first visited Gerald and Sue on
their cattle and sheep farm (no “ranches”
in Kiwi jargon) near Geraldine in the
hills overlooking the crop-farming region
of the Canterbury Plains. Through his
expert work in artificial insemination,
Gerald has imported American blood-
lines to his herd and has established what
must be the premier line of Angus cattle
in New Zealand. After suffering a poten-
tially debilitating back injury at age 50,
he shifted gears, bought an excavator and
established a lime quarry on his place. At
age 75, he still works hard and has heart
surgery scheduled for late January; he is
definitely my kind of people.
Our second ag tour was at the sheep
farm and vineyard of an “Air BnB”
proprietor named Daryl. Once a typical
New Zealand farm where sheep pastures
prevailed, Daryl now has joined many
of his neighbors and has planted grapes.
Interestingly, he has adapted his sheep
operation to fit the changing landscape
by leasing additional adjacent vineyard
lands on which he can graze a couple thou-
sand head. The sheep prune the vines and
graze the grass in between rows. He said
if timed properly, the sheep won’t eat the
grapes and are beneficial to the vineyard.
His genuine hospitality and willingness to
share his bucolic corner of the world were
much appreciated. One of Daryl’s proudest
M att W ood
FROM THE TRACTOR
feats was shearing 404 sheep in a nine-
hour day in his prime — WOW!
One final observation on New Zealand
and its people would relate to their sense of
pride and identity. While not at all boastful
or overtly patriotic, every town I visited
had a simple, yet highly visibly, monu-
ment to young men lost in the two world
wars. Though seemingly isolated, partic-
ularly in the Great War, New Zealanders
contributed a great deal. At a time when
their entire population was just over one
million, approximately 17,000 Kiwis were
killed from 1914-1918. For perspective, that
would be roughly equivalent to the U.S.
sacrificing 5.1 million residents from our
current population.
Students learn from
people they love
A
EO File Photo
Several Pendleton football players make a tackle during a 2017 game at Pendleton High
School as a referee gets a close-up look.
Dear Mom and Dad: Cool it
f you are the mother or father of a high ones to replace them. If there are no offi-
cials, there are no games. The shortage
school athlete here in Oregon, this
of licensed high school officials is severe
message is primarily for you.
enough in some areas that athletic events
When you attend an athletic event that
involves your son or daughter, cheer to
are being postponed or cancelled — espe-
your heart’s content, enjoy the camaraderie cially at the freshman and junior varsity
levels.
that high school sports
Research confirms
offer and have fun. But
that participation in high
when it comes to verbally
school sports and activi-
criticizing game officials or
ties instills a sense of pride
coaches, cool it.
Research
Make no mistake about
in school and community,
confirms that
it. Your passion is admired,
teaches lifelong lessons
and your support of the
like the value of team-
participation
work and self-discipline
hometown team is needed.
in high school
and facilitates the physical
But so is your self-con-
trol. Yelling, screaming
and emotional develop-
sports and
ment of those who partic-
and berating the officials
activities instills ipate. So, if the games go
humiliates your child,
annoys those sitting around
a sense of pride away because there aren’t
enough men and women to
you, embarrasses your
in school and
officiate them, the loss will
child’s school and is the
be infinitely greater than
primary reason Oregon has
community
just an “L” on the score-
an alarming shortage of
board. It will be putting a
high school officials.
It’s true. According
dent in your community’s
to a recent survey by the
future.
National Association of
If you would like to be a
Sports Officials, more than 75 percent
part of the solution to the shortage of high
of all high school officials say “adult
school officials, you can sign up to become
behavior” is the primary reason they quit.
a licensed official at HighSchoolOfficials.
And 80 percent of all young officials hang
com. Otherwise, adult role models at high
up their stripes after just two years of
school athletic events here in Oregon are
whistle blowing. Why? They don’t need
always welcome.
your abuse.
Karissa Niehoff is the executive director
Plus, there’s a ripple effect. There are
of the National Federation of State High
more officials over 60 than under 30 in
School Associations and Peter Weber is
many areas. And as older, experienced
Executive Director of the Oregon School
officials retire, there aren’t enough younger Activities Association.
I
few years ago, when I was
She gave infants Chinese lessons. Some
teaching at Yale, I made an
infants took face-to-face lessons with a
announcement to my class. I said
tutor. Their social brain was activated
that I was going to have to cancel office
through direct eye contact and such,
hours that day because I was dealing
and they learned Chinese sounds at an
with some personal issues and a friend
amazing clip. Others watched the same
was coming up to help me sort through
lessons through a video screen. They
them.
paid rapt attention, but learned nothing.
I was no more specific than that, but
Extreme negative emotions, like
that evening 10 or 15 students emailed
fear, can have a devastating effect on
me to say they were thinking of me or
a student’s ability to learn. Fear amps
praying for me. For the rest of the term
up threat perception and aggression. It
the tenor of that seminar was different.
can also subsequently make it hard for
We were closer. That one tiny whiff of
children to understand causal relation-
ships, or to change their mind as context
vulnerability meant that I wasn’t aloof
changes.
Professor Brooks, I was just another
Even when conditions are ideal, think
schmo trying to get through life.
of all the emotions that are involved in
That unplanned moment illustrated
mastering a hard subject like
for me the connection between
algebra: curiosity, excitement,
emotional relationships and
frustration, confusion, dread,
learning. We used to have this
delight, worry and, hopefully,
top-down notion that reason was
perseverance and joy. You’ve got
on a teeter-totter with emotion.
to have an educated emotional
If you wanted to be rational and
vocabulary to maneuver through
think well, you had to suppress
all those stages.
those primitive gremlins, the
And students have got to
emotions. Teaching consisted
have a good relationship with
of dispassionately downloading
D aviD
teachers. Suzanne Dikker of
knowledge into students’ brains.
B rooks
New York University has shown
COMMENT
Then work by cognitive
that when classes are going
scientists like Antonio Damasio
well, the student brain activity
showed us that emotion is not
synchronizes with the teacher’s brain
the opposite of reason; it’s essential to
activity. In good times and bad, good
reason. Emotions assign value to things.
teachers and good students co-regulate
If you don’t know what you want, you
each other.
can’t make good decisions.
The bottom line is this, a defining
Furthermore, emotions tell you
question for any school or company is:
what to pay attention to, care about and
What is the quality of the emotional rela-
remember. It’s hard to work through
tionships here?
difficulty if your emotions aren’t
And yet think about your own school
engaged. Information is plentiful, but
or organization. Do you have a metric
motivation is scarce.
That early neuroscience breakthrough for measuring relationship quality? Do
you have teams reviewing relationship
reminded us that a key job of a school
quality? Do you know where relation-
is to give students new things to love —
ships are good and where they are bad?
an exciting field of study, new friends.
How many recent ed reform trends have
It reminded us that what teachers really
been about relationship-building?
teach is themselves — their contagious
We focus on all the wrong things
passion for their subjects and students.
because we have an outmoded concep-
It reminded us that children learn from
tion of how thinking really works.
people they love, and that love in this
The good news is the social and
context means willing the good of
emotional learning movement has been
another, and offering active care for the
steadily gaining strength. This week the
whole person.
Aspen Institute (where I lead a program)
Over the last several years our under-
standing of the relationship between
published a national commission report
emotion and learning has taken off. My
called “From a Nation at Risk to a
impression is that neuroscientists today
Nation at Hope.” Social and emotional
learning is not an add-on curriculum; one
spend less time trying to locate exactly
educator said at the report’s launch, “It’s
where in the brain things happen and
the way we do school.” Some schools,
more time trying to understand the
for example, do no academic instruction
different neural networks and what acti-
vates them.
the first week. To start, everybody just
Everything is integrated. Mary Helen
gets to know one another. Other schools
Immordino-Yang of the University of
replaced the cops at the door with secu-
rity officers who could also serve as
Southern California shows that even
student coaches.
“sophisticated” emotions like moral
When you start thinking this way
admiration are experienced partly by the
it opens up the wide possibilities for
same “primitive” parts of the brain that
change. How would you design a school
monitor internal organs and the viscera.
if you wanted to put relationship quality
Our emotions literally affect us in the
at the core? Come to think of it, how
gut.
would you design a Congress?
Patricia Kuhl of the University of
David Brooks is a columnist for the
Washington has shown that the social
brain pervades every learning process.
New York Times.