Mary Gordon is the Founder, President and the inspiration
behind Roots of Empathy and Seeds of Empathy. Mary is recognized
internationally as an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, author,
child advocate and parenting expert who has created programs informed by
the power of empathy. In 1996 Mary outlined the initial curriculum of
Roots of Empathy and began piloting the program in Toronto. In 2000 she
established the national and international organization Roots of Empathy,
Mary
is author of
Roots
of Empathy: Changing the World, Child by Child. She says, "When I talk to city officials, I speak of the fact that
there is fluoride in our water supply to prevent tooth decay. I tell them
we need empathy in the water supply to prevent social decay ."
Your quest for an
empathic culture, or a Culture of Empathy as you call it, I think
is a great quest. I don't think it's ever to late to develop
empathy. It starts so naturally... I think we should do everything
that we can to cultivate empathy and we can do it at every level.
So why would we not. Sub Conference: Education
I believe empathy
can't be taught but it can be caught
experiential
learning is a opportunity to see love happen
parent and child
is the most exquisite empathy relationship
to be attending
to the baby is what empathy is
1:40 -
definition of empathy?
is
understanding how another person feels
metaphor for
empathy - breathing with the same lung as somebody else
Is innate, can
wither on the vine - adversity
Societies
responsibility is to hold the parent in the palm of their hand
if we take
care of parents, they will take care of their children
2:40 - If we
want to Build a Culture of Empathy in society?
We better
start with our families
We better show
empathy to our families
There are two
key institutions for influencing this culture
First is the
family
Second is
Education
Education:
generally raising children to be literate contribution citizens
Schools have
responsibility to help children learn how to relate
3:50 this is
part of the work of Roots of Empathy
social
emotional learning program
children
learning of emotional literacy
a key language
for survival
a language of
connection
started in
2000
Seeds of
Empathy - program for 3-5 years old
I was a teacher
5:40 We learn
through relationship
life is
relationship, relationship, relationship
children learn
more from the relationship with the teacher and child care worker than from the
content of instruction
it's the
construction of the human being not the instruction
3 to 5 year
olds should be free to roam and discover
6:40 - created
Seeds of Empathy - preschool - it's a peek period of plasticity
relationship
children learn
heart first
society not
valuing of those that deal with children
8:00 -
Empathy is the core trait of human kind
it is so
important that if we don't have empathy, we'll never have altruism
if we don't
have empathy we can't get to the first stage of conflict resolution
if we don't
have empathy we we won't realize that the neighbor, across the mountain,
across the continents, are exactly like us
that we share the
same feelings
8:40 - we may
have differences and in the Roots of Empathy we celebrate differences
we also look
for our shared humanity, which is our feelings
Cognitive
aspect of empathy is Perspective taking.
if you take
perspective of the other, you find connection
if you learn the language side of you emotions,
you have a sure fire combination of skills with those 2 awareness's
9:15 when you
work from the mind and heart - you have deep learning
that's what
we're looking for.
we ask, what do
you think and what do you feel?
children
discuss freely and respect what fellow class mates say
they are then
open to learning - maybe because of Oxytocin
we will be
doing research on Oxytocin and Cortisol
you can't
legislate kindness and cooperation
12:20 - What's a birds
eye view of how we can build a culture of empathy?
13:10 starting
with children is where you build your basement
Justice -
expose judges into the genesis of criminal behavior
youth crimes,
addictions, problems, people who are in prison
research show
problems start in early childhood development
develop
insight for the leaders
meeting out
punishment is not the same as meeting out justice
justice
has to do
with equitable beginnings
do we set a
place at the table for everyone
does everyone
have a sense of belonging
there are many
things we can do in society
Universities
influence
universities
a good place to
till the soil
Corporate
Power
corporate
social responsibility
how do we
operate to the workers with empathy
are
polices reflective of greed or compassion
dignity in
every job
create
policies for caring
create a
caring work society and caring universities
we have to
create empathy in the workplace
develop
empathy in the public transit, elderly, etc.
19:30 Media
create
public service announcements showing empathy
show
people being kind
media has
a role to play
Schools
the adults
can treat each other empathically because the children are watching
we forget
that we are the biggest models of empathy
if you are selectively empathic,
you are not empathic at all.
20:20
Society in every sector could do a whole lot
I'd love
to do empathy programs for the health services
understand
how people feel
we treat
bodies instead of people
we teach
minds instead of mind-bodies
humanizing
all aspects
21:40
Science has a role to play
message of
relationships
we know a
lot about how empathy develops
we know
about mirror neurons
media
should allow people to understand that they can change the world simply
by being empathic.
it's one
of those contagious things
23:30 it's
not so much the violence that I don't like on tv
it's the
cruelty, the dehumanizing,
where
people are put forward as being base
Gong Show was disturbing
There are
wonderful things we can see on media
but
haven't plumbed the depths of the human heart
or
capacity for real concern and caring
there
are a million stories a day that I witness in the class rooms
in
Roots of Empathy - small acts of heroism
6 year
old helps friend on the ladder
one
person can tip the entire culture of a play ground
26:24 we
are hungry to hear good news about humankind
telling
the Story that convey stories of empathy
27:00 Edwin
story of addressing the generation gap and conflict with empathy
28:00 The thing
about understanding how someone's feels doesn't mean you have to agree
with them
we all need
to be understood but it doesn't mean we have to be the same
you don't
sign up for the evangelical ways of your parents, but it doesn't preclude
your enjoying their company and you loving them and excepting them even
though they are different
the big
thing about empathy is that we can appreciate our differences
in life,
being different has been the cause of bullying, racism, other isms etc
when you
have empathy you can find the strand of human connection - how the other feels
empathy
allows you to leap over those differences
29:20
brings tears to my eyes to feel the alienation from people your close to
and being able to connect with them is so meaningful
yes, that's
something that comes to us with the years
years show
on our faces but open our hearts
we make room
for others to have corner of our hearts
one of the
nice things about aging - the heart gets bigger like an elastic band
when we are
young we hang out with the same types of people
when we get
older we can expand our capacity
31:10
maybe baby-boomers are more open to empathy now?
was a study
that university students of 70's were more empathic than current
students
maybe
technology is cause of reduced empathy,
if we spend
all the time in front of the computer, friendships will suffer
clearly
empathy is going to drop if we are not in relationship with people
32:45
Obama talked about empathy all the time during his campaign
Obama was
crucified for mentioning empathy in Sotomayor nomination
there's a
lot of misunderstanding about what empathy means
in that
debate there was a complete misunderstanding between empathy and sympathy
empathy got
a bad rap because it was put out as being a very weak trait
an
effeminate trait,
at least
your president put it on the agenda
there are a
considerable group of Americans who hunger for empathy
where people
care about one another
because
empathy is a brake against violence and cruelty
empathy
stops you from doing things that hurt other people but it's not a
guarantee
if we can't
show empathy in the Supreme Court - understanding - it's a deep concern
policy
should be fueled by empathy, that's not weakness, that's wiseness
35:45 I think
there is a growing appetite for empathy, at least in Canada, EU
if the
European Union thinks empathy is a path to peace, that's a political
statement
it's a
political debate about what we do with our children
37:00 How
far along are we on the path to create a culture of empathy?
there are
different societies, independent societies are less empathic than
interdependent societies
independent
societies have a harder job being empathic because we don't think of
ourselves collectively
within North
America there are different groups
we've lost
our neighborhoods
39:20 a lot
of people live in isolation and loneliness
there's an
ocean of lonely elderly people - that's inexcusable
the stage of
the continuum... as long as were asking the question, I'm happy
I wouldn't
accuse us of being an empathic society, but at least we're aware.
North
America has amazingly empathy with tragedies
but what
about the tragedy of the person living next door in loneliness
when you
have empathy, you understand what loneliness is
empathy is
at the heart for altruism
41:15
There's a pandemic of loneliness
what's the
use of solving the environment and economic problems if we live in a
failed society
because we
are a failed society if we don't help the vulnerable
the sick,
the old, the young
I think
loneliness is a crime
it takes so
little effort
when people
are in pain, when we don't create an inclusive society, we should be in
pain
When you have empathy you are
driven to do something about what you feel
42:25 the
importance of touch
the
importance of touch
if you
haven't been well loved it's hard to love well
we
demonstrate love with our babies
we have
undervalued the importance of touch
studies of
babies in Albanian orphanages - minimal touch - starved for touch
the brain
shrinks without touch
babies grow
faster when they feel touch
we focus so
much on the cognitive and have forgotten that we are human beings
48:20 a
metaphor for the opposite of empathy?
a single
bird on a wire
a Leonard
Cohen song
no flock
around, above and beyond the world
it's hard to
enjoy anything when you don't have someone to share it with
it's hard to
know who you are - generally speaking we define ourselves in relationship
to others
49:16 Your
quest for an empathic culture, or a Culture of Empathy as you call
it, I think is a great quest. I don't
think it's ever to late to develop empathy. It starts
so naturally I think we
should do everything that we can to cultivate empathy and we can do it at
every level. So why would we not.
Mary Gordon is
an educator and the founder of ‘Roots
of Empathy’ and ‘Seeds of Empathy’,
two revolutionary educational programs based on the development of
empathy and in nurturing emotional literacy from early childhood.
According to Mary
Gordon,
“many of the problems afflicting society, like violence and poverty, are
rooted in a lack of empathy.”
"What we count and measure reflects our values as a society. Roots of
Empathy, an evidence-based classroom programme expands children’s
capacity to understand and include the other. It is a pedagogy of hope
which counters society’s spiritual flatness and apathy. The children
learn through coached observations of a visiting infant and parent how
to understand the emotions of a vulnerable baby. Finding the humanity in
the baby allows them to find the humanity in themselves; a bridge to
finding the humanity in others."
babies communicate through
their feelings
emotional literary - having the
names for your feelings
talking about feelings
babies learn in context with
their feelings
learning to read is good, but
we need to learn to relate
9:00 in the class children can
talk about their feelings
Roots of Empathy Research Symposia:
Roots of Empathy values the lens of research as the organization
continues to provide empathy-based programming to children on three
continents. The Roots of Empathy Research Symposia offer engaging and
thought-provoking research presentations from world renowned
international scientists.
ByEmma
Brow
"The program, called Roots of Empathy, was conceived nearly two decades
ago in Toronto and has since become common across Canada. Now it has
been imported to the United States, amid growing concern about classroom
bullying and growing conviction that teaching certain character traits —
such as persistence, self-control and self-confidence — is just as
crucial for students’ futures as teaching academics."
Love, Hate & Everything In Between: A film on empathy -- chapter 2/13
" Roots of Empathy founder Mary Gordon demonstrates how empathy can be
taught through a classroom programme she developed for primary school
children. Gordon feels empathy helps us connect to one another and if
children don't learn to do that we will not be able to solve the huge,
intractable social problems that face society today. "
Mary Gordon:
The Roots of Empathy
Empathy is second nature: Mary Gordon's organization aims to
tackle the bullying problem by increasing
empathy and reducing aggressiveness in school-aged children. She
joins Steve Paikin
Roots of Empathy: Video Introduction
Introducing Roots of Empathy, an award-winning charitable organization
that brings empathy-based (and evidence-based) programming to children
What is the Roots of Empathy program?
program that leads to more caring
bring in a family and baby
see how baby reacts to the world and in turn learn
about themselves
learn about temperament of baby - learn about their
own traits
teaches emotional literacy - identifying feelings and
giving them names
teaches problem solving - problem with the baby and
with own relationships
Value of inclusion
See care happening - see how others are feeling
building a caring classroom
Caring brings in other parts of curriculum
The arts
Literature opens the doors to feelings.
drawings
Mathematics
Build community - positive connections
Encourage responsibility
Encourage caring individuals and caring civil society
"Mary Gordon is recognized internationally as an award-winning social
entrepreneur, educator, author, child advocate and parenting expert who
has created programs informed by the power of empathy. In 2000 Gordon
established the national and international organization Roots of
Empathy, which now offers programs in every province of Canada, New
Zealand, the USA, the Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland, Northern
Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, and Germany.
Gordon's talk The Yellow Brick Road to Empathy shows the major role that
empathy plays in dissolving the borders that separate us and allow us to
deem one group or an individual to be less human. Empathy allows us to
understand difference and recognize that our emotions are universal and
connect us. This is something that children do through a tiny baby in
Roots of Empathy classes. Gordon goes on to demonstrate how the 'Empathy
Deficit' will be interrupted as children develop the capacity to
perspective take and as they develop emotional literacy."
"Roots of Empathy, first started in 1996 in Toronto and introduced into
U.S. schools in 2007, aims to build more peaceful and caring societies
by increasing the level of empathy in children. In the last six years,
the program has spread to California, New York and other parts of
Washington.
Some teachers at the school, including Pearson, say they were initially
nervous about the safety of the babies in classrooms full of students."
"Oakland schools have launched programs to help students manage their
emotions, establish positive relationships and resolve conflicts. One of
the programs, Roots of Empathy, brings infants and their mothers into
school to help students recognize emotions and experience empathy. We
discuss the social and emotional learning movement, which aims to teach
fundamental life skills in schools, and how it's being used in Oakland."
Roots
of Empathy's Impact - Greater
Good Science Center (GGSC)
"Mary Gordon discusses the research showing that Roots of Empathy
reduces aggression, boosts emotional literacy, and creates more caring
children."
Tiny
Teachers - (GGSC)
"Mary Gordon describes how babies can foster emotional connection and
emotional literacy in the classroom."
"Mary Gordon discusses how caring for a baby helps children find the
humanity in themselves and others."
Emotional
Literacy - (GGSC)
"Mary Gordon shares inspiring stories about children performing
remarkable acts of compassion."
Meet Baby Mei -
(GGSC)
"Mary Gordon shows a Roots of Empathy classroom and baby in action,
explaining how together they help break cycles of intergenerational
violence."
Empathy is second nature: Mary Gordon's organization aims to tackle the
bullying problem by increasing empathy and reducing aggressiveness in
school-aged children. She joins Steve Paikin.
For me war is the extreme example of the failure of
empathy
the holocaust was probably the worlds most dramatic
examples of the lack of empathy
gone to moon but haven't yet explored the depths of the
heart
how do we connect to one another
had many movements
civil rights
woman's movements
gay rights
time has come to consider children's rights'
how does early childhood effect good outcomes
moral future rests in the children
a revolution of little children
3:00 not good enough to think of children as social
capital in the making
children have value in the moment
are developing their capacity to care..
4:00 Seeds of Empathy for child care centers
improving how we help them
community to support the family
7:00 Seeds of Empathy
respecting the child for who they are
give them what they need not what they want
9:00 Process of program
watching the baby
children talking about the baby
loneness, pandemic of loneliness
10:50 who am I? ways of talking about it
full of pride and love
showing some drawings
20:00 research on Roots of Empathy
aggression decreases
exclusion - broken heart
there's an armada of broken hearts in every classroom
21:00 give
children voice - just naming your feeling reduces the level of
cortisol associated with the negative feeling
we are not doing social work
we are helping children to understand
without empathy there will be no altruism
without empathy you cannot get to the first stage of
conflict resolution
without empathy you cannot be a good parent
22:00 in Roots of Empathy - mirror neurons do their job
drawings of children
in 80 percent of bullying situations there are
onlookers and they do nothing
Roots of Empathy stand up
story of the fear and the slide
you can do something about it when there's unfairness
Seminar: Dec 03, 2010 -
Seed of Compassion - Roots of Empathy
(Berkeley, CA) Greater Good
Science Center - Seminar, UC Berkeley - Dacher Keltner, Mary
Gordon Day long seminar will offer strategies for cultivating compassion, empathy,
and resilience in yourself and others.
CNN:
Babies go to school to teach - Article and Video
The baby's visit is the heart of a program called Roots of Empathy -- a course
that is proving to be an effective tool in reducing aggression in
schoolchildren. "The real importance of understanding how you feel and others
feel really helps children navigate every social relationship in their lives,"
said Mary Gordon, founder of Roots of Empathy.
The classroom-based Roots of Empathy programme,
founded by internationally-recognised educator Mary Gordon and involving
classroom visits from a mother and her baby showing young children about caring
for and nurturing infants, has been running for a year in Rotorua.
2010-06-10 -
100+
Roots of Empathy babies and their parents celebrated
"Roots of Empathy is about supporting children and nurturing kindness. Our
students are privileged to take part in such a wonderful program. The Ministry
of Education is proud to support an initiative that fosters emotional literacy -
creating more welcoming and caring classroom environments." Nearly 3,350
children in Toronto and 18,000 in Ontario
participated in the program in 2009-10 with the support of the Government of
Ontario.
2010-05-24 -
Maia Szalavitz -
Kindness 101
When kids are able to watch an interaction that's empathic, empathy isn't just
being taught; it's being demonstrated," says Dr. Daniel Siegel, a clinical
professor of psychiatry at UCLA. ROE is unique, he notes, because it "combines
the direct observation of babies and their mothers, weekly time devoted to
talking about the internal world of mind and watching a baby grow up over time."
Among the program's many big-name fans: the Dalai Lama, who has twice appeared
publicly with Gordon and thinks ROE can help spur world peace.
Although human nature has historically been seen
as fundamentally selfish, social neuroscience suggests otherwise. Researchers
are finding that empathy is innate in most humans, as well as in some other
species. Chimps, for instance, will protest unfair treatment of others, refusing
to accept a treat they have rightfully earned if another chimp doing the same
work fails to get the same reward.
2009-11-24- Amanda
Jeffery - Planting the seeds
The Early Childhood Development Centre is helping children express their
feelings at a younger age thanks to a program called Seeds of Empathy.
Like Roots of Empathy, a program already offered
in several schools in the Drayton Valley area, Seeds of Empathy brings babies
into the classroom to interact with the children. Through this interaction the
children learn how to empathize with others.
2009-09-13 - Article - Baby steps toward a
more peaceful world
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/694905 Mary Gordon wants to change humanity by rewiring a child's brain — one
child at a time. A noble idea, but is it possible? Whether she is speaking on a
panel with the Dali Lama or to students at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Government, Gordon's theme is the same: the world will be a better
place if children grow up understanding the other's perspective. There will be
no more genocides, no more wars, no more racism or violence, she declares. She
has built what she believes is a road map to achieve a kinder, gentler humanity.
But it wasn't until she came up with her Roots of Empathy program, an offshoot
of her parenting and literacy work, that she began to see how a simple idea
could transform the world. Her book, Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child
by Child, has just been published in the United States, following publication
here four years ago. It was a Canadian bestseller, winning praise from the likes
of Fraser Mustard and Michael Fullan of the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education. Since then she has won the endorsement of the Dali Lama, who has
embraced her program as a way to build world peace. Gordon spoke on a panel with
the Dali Lama in both Vancouver and Seattle in 2006 and 2008.
The Roots of Empathy, a national and international
organization whose mission is to build caring, peaceful and civil societies
through development of empathy in children and adults, uses babies in classrooms
to achieve its goal. A parent and baby visit once every three or four weeks
through the baby's first year. Carolyn Parkes, provincial manager for Seeds of Empathy in
Alberta, a program aimed at children in preschools and day cares, says the
program uses babies "as a lever for discussions about social and emotional
concepts."
The youngest teachers in Western Washington are being honored for
teaching empathy by "cooing and crawling." KING 5's Mimi Jung has a look at the
"Roots of Empathy" program.
2010-01-09 - Article -
Roots
of Empathy founder will speak in Langley
The woman who created one of the most successful programs to encourage children
to understand and demonstrate empathy will be the guest speaker at Seeds of
Success later this month. Mary Gorton, an internationally recognized educator,
advocate for children and expert on parenting, is the founder of Roots of
Empathy and Seeds of Empathy, two groundbreaking programs which help in
children’s development.
2010-02-18 -
Mary Gordon -
Empathic Civilization': Building A New World One Child At A Time We are building our world on a social fault line where we have
failed to realize the greatest minds alone will not solve social problems. We
also need great hearts at the table. "The Empathic Civilization" shines light on
evidence from neuroscience that shows human nature is empathic. The basis for
solving all of the problems we face is empathy. If homo empathicus can
get that right, we allow for the viability of our physical and social universe.
And yet our ecosystems are withering on the vine without
empathic input from a globalized, interconnected, citizenry. We may be on the
verge of the Age of Empathy, but we still have a long journey ahead. In fact, I
would argue that we are in still in our infancy, and that we live in an
emotionally illiterate North America.