Posted on 11/26/2001 8:29:27 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
David W. Harple, Barry Finch and Joseph Heissan are members of the Wiggins Institute for Social Integrity, a group that seeks to get to the root of social and moral conflict.
What does it take for someone to be free to be themselves, to hold fast to one’s opinions while at the same time accepting the perspectives of others. The newly formed Wiggins Institute of Social Integrity in Ridgefield plans to sponsor educational programs for children and adults that teach tolerance and compassion.
The idea is to create a more civil community. “Oftentimes, we feel that in order to relate to each other we have to somehow bring people around to our point of view, but I think we need to respect their view while we are expressing our sentiments,’’ said Jefferson Wiggins, the institute’s chairman. “The institute is not as much about changing people but helping people realize the need to be accepting.’’
Wiggins is a New Fairfield man who rose from poverty in rural Alabama, earned a doctorate in humane letters and is a retired political science professor from Upsala College in New Jersey. He volunteers in area public schools, lectures across the state and was recently named a multicultural educator of the year at the annual Connecticut Conference on Multicultural Education this month.
Wiggins, Ridgefield Realtor Barry Finch and retired veterinarian Joe Heissan of Ridgefield formally created the institute during a meeting at the Three Brothers Diner in Danbury. It was the culmination of several years of weekly informal conversations at Wiggins’ New Fairfield home during which the men examined social and moral conflict.
“First, we wanted to come up with a common denominator of social and moral conflict,” said Finch, who is president of the institute. “We found lack of compassion was a root cause.”
Compassion is the cornerstone of changing society, they said, and the institute wants to find ways for people to learn to make kindness and compassion their fundamental behavior in all social interactions.
Their flagships programs will involve working with young people.
“There is so much effort on middle- and high-school students to identify bullies and troublemakers. Our interest is to go to pre-kindergarten and to explore ways to teach them to be part of a civil and compassionate society,” Heissan said. “We want to educate people that compassion and civility are as important as reading and writing and it doesn’t cost a penny.”
Wiggins, who is black, said he has seen a change in attitude in his five years working in schools attended predominately by white students.
“They accept the fact that it’s OK to be different but it’s not OK to criticize someone who is different,’’ Wiggins said. “One of the great lessons ... is that they are free to be themselves but they realize they must bring to that an air of civility and acceptance.”
The institute not only will look for programs already created, but develop programs, even for adults. The men already have programs in mind to sponsor once the institute has funds.
One program is called the “Get to Know You Program.”
They would put a fifth-grade class from a school in a rural place such as New Fairfield in contact with a fifth-grade class in an urban area such as Bridgeport. At some point in the year, half the kids from one school would swap classes for a day with half the kids from the other school. Then the two fifth-grade teachers would swap classes for a week.
The institute’s founders also want to propose programs to improve the atmosphere of civility and compassion in the workplace. Those programs might include holding conflict resolution training sessions.
Wiggins and the others also are also considering judicial review programs that would evaluate to what degree judges perform with civility and compassion.
“One of our gifts is that we come from three very different backgrounds from the standpoint of our work and life experience,’’ said Finch.
“Right now we are a concept, but hopefully we’ll become a reality to school districts with programs that they can adopt,’’ Heissan said. “I think we could solve many personal and global problems if our conversations were done with compassion.”
Contact Eileen FitzGerald
at eileenf@newstimes.com
or (203) 731-3333.
And btw, where was the BARF ALERT on this piece?
Own Drummer
It's the second one I have a problem with.
What they do NOT teach tolerance for is: Judeo-Christianity, pro-life, second amendment rights, political dissent, conservative values, the Constitution, capital punishment, private property, home schooling, small government, small business, reasonable taxes, private education, parental rights, marital fidelity, heterosexuality - shall I go on???
Thanks for your astute comment, Bonaparte!
Geesh, can you imagine something more crass, more politically incorrect than this press release?
TOLERANCE?!
Compassion?!!
For goodness sakes, that's what got America into this position and why the Mideast and the Islamic countries don't respect America.
Teach American schoolchildren how to *aggresively* respond to VIOLENT BULLIES and how to assertively protect and defend themselves from all forms of VIOLENCE, so that they will be prepared for the adult world that awaits them, where people all over the planet BLAME AMERICA FIRST, and teach their children to HATE & MURDER ALL AMERICANS.
In my experience, Humane Letters doctorates are honorary degrees bestowed by universities and colleges. I have never heard of one being actually earned by the recipient. Would be grateful for a correction if I am wrong.
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