Teaching about solutions

Education that inspires…

Often our education can seem like a litany of what’s wrong with the world.  In classes, we are very good at diagnosing the extent of injustice, violence, poverty, disease, and environmental destruction. 

Yet scientific research indicates that this can lead not just to a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness; it can also lead to a pessimistic attitude about the state of humanity: that people are far more selfish, nasty, and hostile than they really are. 

What’s remarkable is that there’s a wealth of scientific evidence pointing to a much brighter side to human nature: one of heroism, kindness, compassion, and goodness. More than that, there are countless unsung stories of visionary women and men who are helping to solve problems that seem intractable. 

We have partnered with the Solutions Journalism Network to create a curriculum of hope and inspiration. Based on the groundbreaking work of New York Times journalists David Bornstein (author of “How to Change the World,” the leading book on social entrepreneurship) and Tina Rosenberg (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the MacArthur genius prize), it studies case studies of success – people who are making progress in solving the greatest challenges of the 21st century.