Renewed Hope for the Global Educational Crisis

Matthew Fox's new book 'The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human' brings hope that the global educational crisis can be fixed.

"Our high schools are obsolete...they were designed 50 years ago to meet the needs of another age. Today, even when they work exactly as designed, our high schools cannot teach our kids what they need to know. Frankly, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow," explains Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

A.W.E. is the acronym for author Matthew Fox's proposed revolution in learning - an approach to balance the three R's. Fox says we need to approach learning, eldering, and mentoring in a way that honours the teachings of the Ancestors, that nurtures Wisdom, and that Educates through Fox's 10 C's. The 10 C's are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy:

* Cosmology and Ecology
* Contemplation, Meditation
* Creativity
* Chaos and Darkness
* Compassion
* Courage
* Critical Consciousness and Judgment
* Community
* Ceremony, Celebration and Ritual
* Character

Having spent his entire adult life in the field of education, Fox wrote this manifesto because he wanted to create a way of teaching that is wisdom-oriented and not just knowledge based. He believes that wisdom is what young people and adults want. Unfortunately, our current school systems do not provide this.

In a most unlikely pairing, Fox teams with hip-hop artist and filmmaker Professor Pitt to turn conventional "education" upside down and shake out what is no longer working. Pitt uses music, video, and rap to communicate Fox's new educational principles in a DVD included with Fox's book. Watch the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68mMLQmuLq0 [YouTube video] to see Professor Pitt in action.

"Mellowed out my fifth grade kids in the Bronx (at the school with the highest crime rate in New York City). Beautiful and power(ful) and simple eloquence. I truly achieved an altered state here - awesome. Perfect video to introduce...( the concept of)... meditation (and impermanence, etc.) into the ears of young modern people. I put it to my favorites now, because I cannot imagine a better bridge from meditation to modern music, (for) modern children....."
- Comments posted by YouTube.com viewers of Professor Pitt's video entitled "Meditation."

To continue to reach out to youth in new ways, Fox also has a team that creates events called techno cosmic masses which integrate live music, electronica, multimedia imagery, as well as eastern and indigenous spiritual elements, to create a multi-cultural, intergenerational, and ecumenical form of worship. To learn more about the http://www.thecosmicmass.com [Techno Cosmic Mass], visit www.thecosmicmass.com..

Fox has been called one of the great prophetic voices of our time by David C. Korten, author of 'When Corporations Rule the World,' and 'The Great Turning.'

"Matthew Fox might well be the most creative, the most comprehensive, surely the most challenging religious-spiritual teacher in America. He has the... skill to fill this role at a time when the more official Christian theological traditions are having difficulty in establishing any vital contact with either the spiritual possibilities of the present or with their own most creative spiritual traditions of the past," said Thomas Berry, author of 'The Great Work' and co-author of 'The Universe Story.'

This book offers hope, insight, and solutions to the global educational crisis.

http://www.myspace.com/professorpitt [Professor Pitt] (a.k.a. Philip T. Colas) is working with Fox to present an intergenerational and interracial after-hours wisdom school called YELLAWE (Youth and Elders Learning Laboratory for Ancestral Wisdom Education). The program emphasizes the arts, youth development, social and ecological justice. Students will also develop inner disciplines ranging from martial arts to chanting/meditation and other contemplative practices.

Matthew Fox is the author of 27 books on spirituality and culture and its reinvention. He resides in Oakland, California and holds two master's degrees from American universities, and a doctorate from the Institut Catholique de Paris. He lectures widely around the world, and teaches at Stanford University. His books have been translated into 42 languages and have received numerous awards. For more information about Matthew Fox, visit http://www.MatthewFox.org.

'The A.W.E Project'
Matthew Fox
Published by: CopperHouse,
October 2006 ISBN 13: 978-1-896836-8-43
Education/Spirituality
Paper 192 pages, Includes DVD, 20.95 USA, 24.95 CAN
Available at bookstores, call 1-800-663-2775
http://www.woodlakebooks.com [or order online at: woodlakebooks.com]

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Darcy Drobena
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Wood Lake Publishing Inc.
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