Free Dissertation About Effect Of Positive Education

In my ideal classroom, I will be using Positive Psychology. And I want to explain my choice. Positive Education is closely related to Positive Phycology. The Positive Psychology movement was founded by Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania. He stated, that all people want to be happy but not everyone knows how to do this. In our modern world of high speeds, we often forget just to enjoy our lives. We struggle for the success, money and power but it do not make our lives colorful and meaningful. Martin Seligman was the first to suggest teaching children how to become happy ( Seligman, 2009).
According to the numerous researches (Woolston. 2014), the amount of depressed young people is extremely high and this amount increased every year. The reasons of the depression are very different. However, one fact is common for every case: it is difficult for young people to integrate in the chameleonic society of double standards. Those, who believes that inner well-being comes from the environment, must be surprised. The modern physiology tendency shows the opposite effect: in more developed world we live, more mental and moral problems we have. So now it becomes obvious the necessity of Positive Education for the well-being of the global society. Happy people live longer than depressed people do. Our body uses its resources to cope with negative emotions and its negative effects. It is obvious, that body suffer from the exhaustion, as s result it can lead to different illnesses. So, Positive Phycology effects both our mental state and our health.
Here is the Positive Education Model of Geelong Grammar School in Australia. To my mind, it illustrates the effects of Positive Education in the best way.
First, we see Flourish in the middle of the model. It is the main effect and the main goal of Positive Education. Flourish means “feeling good and going good” (Geelond Grammar School,2015). Next effects are:

Positive relations mean developing social skills to build effective communication with self and others.

Positive Emotions mean understanding and correct interpreting feeling of people. Also aim to cultivate positive emotions such as joy, happiness, care and share it.

Positive Health mean developing good habits and ignore any addictions that destroys health and mind.

Positive Engagement mean finding own road in life for everyone; how to pathway to it and what impact it may have on others.
Positive Accomplishment mean striving for and archiving high goals. Not to give up and be ready to lose as well as to learn from the mistakes.

Positive Purpose mean archiving self-high goals as well as be engaged in the activities that contributes the welfare of others.

Finally, Chatacter Strenghs – natural capacities – that will help a person to use properly these effects.
This model shows the importance of all its aspects for the struggle to Flourish. This word – Flourish – is the synonym to Happy. Nevertheless, to be happy for each person has its own meaning. We cannot measure our happiness. Each of us invests his value for this word. In this situation, the term Flourish with its meaning “feeling good and going good” seems to be more common and understandable for everyone. Seligmana, M., Ernstb, M., Gillhamc , J., Reivicha, K.,Linkins, M., 2009. Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 35, No 3, pp.293-311.
Geelong Grammar School, 2009. About Positive Education. [online]. Available at: https://www.ggs.vic.edu.au/School/Positive-Education/What-is-Positive-Education-/About-Positive-Psychology [Accessed on 21 Febrary 2015].
Woolston, C. 2014. Positive Psychology: A new approach to mental health. HealthDay, March issue, p.12.

Some critics of Positive Phycology

Some experts worry that sometimes Positive Psycology could do more harm than good (Woolston, 2014). For example, some people believe that positive thinking will help them to cure their serious illness. According to the researches in this field, some patients with cancer prefer not to undergo treatment and even not to think about their illness. They hope that if they do not allow negative thought concerning their illness, it will gone away. Of course, in such situations only positive attitude when facing with a serious illness is not enough. That is why it is import to know that Positive Phycology, as well as any other theory, must not be taken literally but thoughtfully.
According to Miller (2008, pp. 596-605), the theory of Seligman’s Positive Physiology illustrates the straight and simple approach. The difficulty is that “happiness’ means different for different people. Seligman imposes the image of happy person as an optimist with strong desire to archive goals, to save the humanity and to greet with a smile all the difficulties (Seligman, 2014). Nevertheless, not everyone match with this image. Does it mean that automatically this person cannot be considered as happy? Far from this. The truth is that there are different categories of people with their own peculiarities. For example, some people are introverts and they prefer to consecrate on their inner world rather than others, but they can be as happier as it is possible. What concerns implementation of the Positive Physiology in Education, Miller states that this approach lead to profound changed in the educational system and it is very difficult to predict to what consequences it will lead.
I agree with all these assumptions. I will take them to my consideration while using Positive Psychology in my ideal classroom.
Woolston, C. 2014. Positive Psychology: A new approach to mental health. HealthDay, March issue, p.12.
Miller, A. 2008. A Critique of Positive Psychology— or ‘The New Science of Happiness’. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(6), pp.596-613.

Traditional Education Versus Positive Psychology.

I would like to add the comparison between some aspects of traditional and positive phycology. As we know, Traditional Psychology helps people with mental problems and tries to find “what is wrong” with patients. This approach helps to reduce the impact of negative emotions and to cope with negative thoughts. It fixes “what is going wrong”. At the same time, Positive Phycology suggests to “build what is strong”. With the redundancy of the effects of negative emotions, it teaches how to concentrate on positive. Positive Phycology takes a step when Traditional thinks that its mission is completed. Traditional Phycology teaches us what not to do while Positive Phycology answers what we should do instead (Miller, 2008).
And here come the differences between Traditional and Positive Educations. Traditional Education aims to grow good persons who do not steal, cheat and commit other crimes. Positive Education teaches how to become not only law-abiding citizens but also happy, open-hearted and cordial. Traditionally we are teached how to read, write and draw. However, Positive approach to education include also the importance of seeing the beauty in the world around and finding the meaning in unexpected places. Moreover, Positive Education advocates for the individual approach to pupils. It means that teachers are to help each pupil to find his own peculiarities in character and abilities. This approach claims against the practice of treating all alike as Traditional Education used to do. That is why I will use Positive Psychology in my ideal classroom instead of Traditional one.
Miller, A. 2008. A Critique of Positive Psychology— or ‘The New Science of Happiness’. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(6), pp.596-613.

The implementation of Positive Education in my classroom

I personally find Positive Education a good way to teach pupils. First, because it mean individual approach to the education. Each person and especially a child differ from others and has his own special features. It is the aim of a teacher to help each pupil identify himself, point out his strong and weak features, teach how to improve strengths and control weaknesses. Positive Education suggest more opportunities; it teaches not only basic knowledge but also expands pupils’ horizons’ and broadens their minds. While using Positive Psychology in my ideal classroom, I will implement different practices. For example, I will suggest to my pupils different role games where everyone will feel what is like to be a Cinderella, Hamlet or Bobby. Also, I would like to use psychological testing in order to identify pupil’s temperaments and characters. Moreover, I will pay a lot of attention to their physical health: outdoor lessons and weekends picnics will be regular. I find it very important for teachers to collaborate with parents, so I plan to organize open classes that parents and other relatives will be able to visit. And the least but not the last is the communication with a nature. I will suggest pupils to visit zoos, watch such programed as Animal Planet, then discuss them in class, and introduce their pets to the class on special classes. All these methods, I hope, will help me and my pupils to feel the effects of Positive Education on ourselves. I will appreciate my work if my pupils leave long and healthy lives with minimum stresses and disappointments.

Conclusions

In conclusion, I would like to say that Positive Phycology is becoming more and more popular nowadays (Seligman, 2009). It is not a new idea. It has many distinguished ancestors for example Maslow who implemented his theory in 1971. His points of view were very similar with those of Seligman but they did not gather much audience. But in the 21 century people are ready to understand the importance of Positive Phycology. Many researches and examples from everyday life show that people do not know how to be happy, they concentrate on negative rather than positive. It is become a real problem because it make their lives and lives of their relatives boring and monotonous. We are to arise hope, love, care, enjoyment and trust in our souls and thanks to that, we will be able to make this world better.
Taking all this in consideration, I believe that the strategy of Positive Education will play a huge role in the process of changing world for the better. Children are more receptive to new ideas than grown-ups are. That is why it will be more effective to teach them the basis of Positive Phycology that will strengthened in their minds as they get older. Positive Education aims to inculcate to children the habit of seeking and concentrating on positive sides of life. I really believe that it will prevent many mental diseases as well as physical ones. As a result, we will get healthier society hopefully without wars and violence. According to Seligman (Positive Phycology Center, 2000) as a main effect of Positive Education, we will learn how to build the qualities that help individuals and communities not just endure and survive, but also flourish. I hope that these ideas will penetrate not only in the education system but also in our everyday lives. I personally will do my best to facilitate it and will use Positive Psychology in my ideal classroom.
Seligmana, M., Ernstb, M., Gillhamc , J., Reivicha, K.,Linkins, M., 2009. Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 35, No 3, pp.293-311.
Seligman, M. Positive Psychology, Positive Prevention, and Positive Therapy. Positive Phycology Center. . [online]. Available at: http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm [Accessed on 22 Febrary 2015].

References

Seligmana, M., Ernstb, M., Gillhamc , J., Reivicha, K.,Linkins, M., 2009. Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 35, No 3, pp.293-311.
Geelong Grammar School, 2009. About Positive Education. [online]. Available at: https://www.ggs.vic.edu.au/School/Positive-Education/What-is-Positive-Education-/About-Positive-Psychology [Accessed on 21 Febrary 2015].
Miller, A. 2008. A Critique of Positive Psychology— or ‘The New Science of Happiness’. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(6), pp.596-613.
Seligman, M. Positive Psychology, Positive Prevention, and Positive Therapy. Positive Phycology Center. . [online]. Available at: http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm [Accessed on 22 Febrary 2015].
Woolston, C. 2014. Positive Psychology: A new approach to mental health. HealthDay, March issue, p.12.