The Case for Belonging
I heard a dad once ask another dad, “Do you and your daughter ever just go outside and shoot?” The dad being questioned was worried because his daughter wasn’t performing to her full potential on the basketball court, and this was the other dad’s subtle way of reminding him that the game should be fun and there should be some unstructured, fun moments where a dad can shoot with his daughter without focusing on achievement and the score. Sports can be both fun and competitive, and when done right, they can help us learn more about ourselves and grow as people. But we often place more of an emphasis on success and achievement than on mental health, well-being, joy. School culture can be very similar. We often spend more time focusing on achievement and test scores than on the well-being and social and emotional health of the people we work with and the students we teach. The classroom can be so focused on achievement that we often value people for what they do and can achieve over who th...