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Since the early 1970’s, when Diane and
Lou formalized the cognitive education LouI had been teaching,
The Pacific Institute has continually focused its attention
on the youth of the world.
"When I would do a seminar for a
corporation, I would consistently hear the remark, Why didn’t
I have this information when I was a kid, and how can I get
it for my kids? In our early days, we didn’t have a
program, per se, for kids. As I worked with them, I would
simply translate the concepts myself, so that they could be
understood and practiced." In the ensuing years,
the Institute developed several programs for youth,
including the Pathways®
to Excellence series,
and the most recent program for ages five to 12, Achieving
Your Potential Through Education®.
Each program is focused on raising the self-esteem of the
individual, as well as enhancing their self-efficacy – the
individual’s opinion of their ability to make things happen.
Research conducted by Dr. Albert Bandura,
of Stanford University, has shown that an individual’s belief
in their ability to perform a task largely determines if the
task will even be attempted.1 You see, in all human beings,
our thoughts accumulate to become beliefs. These beliefs,
then, accumulate to become attitudes, which are reinforced
by our self-talk.
Now, we’ve all heard how kids tend to
talk to each other, clear up through the teenage years – negative,
devaluative and demeaning – and they are harder on themselves
than they are on
those around them. Given one negative (often erroneous) belief
(most likely given to you by someone else), that is constantly
reinforced by confirming negative self-talk, and you have
an attitude that won’t let you even attempt math or writing,
despite the fact that you truly do have an aptitude for the
subject!
Our youth programs create awareness in each child of the beliefs
being held and allow time for decisions about the correctness,
or truth, of those beliefs.
Then, the participants learn the value
of positive self-reinforcement (self-talk). This goes a long
way towards helping the child to change attitudes that are
keeping that child from fulfilling their potential in school
and in life. Studies have shown that children as young as
four years old, and certainly six or seven, can understand
the concept of inner speech2, or self-talk, and can learn
how to use it to build their confidence in themselves
and their ability to take on challenges.
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