Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models: Why Leaders Need to Promote an Asset Orientation in our Schools by Shannon Renkly and Katherine Bertolini
The article argues that schools too often operate from a deficit model, focusing on what students lack or the risks they exhibit. When in reality, they should use an asset-based approach that identifies and builds on students' strengths, talents, and even interests. Renkly and Bertolini describe that the more assets a student possesses, the more likely they are to thrive and the less likely they are to engage in risky behaviors, with asset levels dropping most sharply in middle school. Making middle school a critical intervention window and potentially a place the asset model should be emphasized the most. To make this shift, school leaders must embed the asset model into the school's shared vision, model it with faculty and staff, and foster community-parent-school partnerships, since research consistently shows that supportive adults and positive relationships are among the most powerful asset-building tools available to young people.
The TedTalk: Color blind or Color Brave by Mellody Hobson
Mellody Hobson explores the difference between colorblindness and color bravery and how such bravery can improve businesses, companies, and lives. Hobson explains how colorblindness ignores a problem rather than addressing it. Hobson describes color blindness as a learned behavior where people pretend not to notice race, arguing it makes the issue worse rather than better, because "the first step to solving any problem is to not hide from it." She urges people to engage in honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about race. Hobson discusses that the first step in taking action is being aware of your own blindness.
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