What It Takes to Change the Game

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

Popular magazines publish lists of the world’s most influential thinkers each year, but few of these people become true game changers.  Yet once in awhile it happens.   Someone shatters our preconceptions and creates a very different way of looking at things.   This has been called a paradigm shift, most often seen in science and technology.       

 Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell describes how a momentous change most likely is influenced by combination of people in various roles.   He calls them connectors, mavens, and salesmen.   Personally, I try to decide for myself whether to make a paradigm shift part of my quality world.    

Our own choices define our “quality world”, according to reality therapist William Glasser.  Our needs are met when those choices harmonize with our role models, possessions, and systems of belief.  The quality world is a place of personal ideals and perfection.   No paradigm shift can find its way into our own hearts and minds unless it can be calibrated to fit our “personal picture album”.

Ask yourself what recent changes have affected your habits of thinking.  Did they happen suddenly?  Were opinion shapers involved?   Are the changes gaining traction in your quality world?  The answers can be self-revealing  

Let me share a couple of personal examples.         

I am still proud that I won an elementary school high jump contest in 1955.  I remember it vividly because after winning, I took an extra jump and broke my arm in the packed sawdust.  Thirteen years later an American competitor named Dick Fosbury won the high jump at the 1968 Mexico Olympics with a 7’4” vault.  I was awestruck.  He was destined to revolutionize the sport and set the world standard in short order.   Defying conventionality, he invented what became known as the Fosbury Flop when he kicked a lead leg upward and then rotated his body like a corkscrew, falling backward over the bar.   

A thick foam rubber landing pad helped Fosbury develop his skill early on.  Invented in 1929, with enormous current implications, foam rubber has kept legions of high jumpers and pole vaulters from breaking their necks.  But Fosbury was truly a game changer.  The jumping events remain a very big deal in my personal quality world.  I never miss watching the Olympics.  

Paradigm shifts begin with a contention so universally accepted that no one really questions it.   Pencils are still a perfect expression of technology, but lately a cascade of shifts has made them all but obsolete.   When I was growing up, a phone was meant for taking and making calls, usually to my girlfriend.  However, in a blink of time, they have been transformed from clunky wire-linked vehicles into wireless digital instruments that perform extraordinary tasks.   Not the least of these is storing and sharing nearly all of the world’s recorded knowledge.  

 My game changers in this realm are Mark Zuckerberg and Steven Sasson.  Zuckerburg and friends launched facebook in 2004.  Via this powerful social engine, I maintain contact with “friends” across the country.   Moreover, I upload and share digital photos daily, thanks to Steven J. Sasson, an American electrical engineer who invented the first (26 pound) digital camera at Eastman Kodak in 1975.      

Latent paradigm shifts are constantly percolating as technology races ahead.  We gain perspective when we throw out old assumptions, keep nostalgia in check, and gauge usefulness.   Shifts may be sudden, or take decades or centuries while struggling for release from prejudice or ignorance.  When they fully activate, they quickly gain momentum and affect millions of people.   Game changers rock the world, but personal choice determines whether that world is our own.  

Photos to Accompany A Tour of Irish Connections

A Tour of Irish Connections

A Tour of Irish Connections

I have always wanted to visit Ireland.  A connection to my ancestors has a lot to do with it.  Supposedly, my great grandfather Hugh emigrated from the area of Cork.  In 1841, at the age of seven he arrived by sloop on Chebeague Island, Maine, just north of Portland.  As years went by, he married on the island, had a son Henry (my grandfather), founded a small Protestant church of the Nazarene, and owned and captained a sloop he used to install and repair lighthouses along the coast.  Big pieces of Hugh’s history are missing, however.  For instance, he had a brother whose Catholicism is said to have caused some sort of early-age split.  What happened to the brother and to their parents?  Ancestry.com may be the answer, but in the meantime a 12-day bus tour around Ireland promised to suggest some personal connections I had wondered about.

I was not disappointed, but the people connections I discovered were unexpected.  They had little to do with Hugh Bowen, but everything to do with the way certain individuals have impacted the values, traditions, and history of the Irish.  Three vignettes illustrate this point.

First, on our second tour day out of Dublin, we arrived at a place called the Irish National Stud Gardens.  The place is a prime location for breeding equine champions, but also the location of an impressive Japanese garden, said to be the first of its kind in Europe.  Who connected these two things?  The Irish adore thoroughbred racing horses, and both breeding and betting on them is a way of life.  They can thank Colonel William Hall Walker (1856-1933) for nurturing their passion.   Walker was a gambler, commentator, and critic who developed a fascination for Eastern religions and astrology.  After purchasing a spacious plot of land for a stud farm, Walker proceeded to breed a long line of derby champions in the early 1900s.  His broodmare program was based on astrology.  Oddly enough, it worked!  Perhaps the celestially oriented setting of beautiful gardens facilitated happy breeding as well.  The horses we met at what has become National Stud were a famously sated bunch.

A second connection was cemented by a plaque posted to the lobby wall of the luxurious Europa Hotel in Belfast.  It commemorates the fact that President William Jefferson Clinton slept there in 1995. Why?  It is significant that the Europa was bombed 23 times by the Irish Republic Army but stubbornly remained open in the early 1990s.  But the key link belongs to Senator and special envoy George Mitchell from Maine.  He is still widely regarded as a national hero because, after being appointed to the task by President Clinton, Mitchell masterfully negotiated principles of nonviolence and a lasting peace between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to the south.  The “Troubles” of this era are deeply impressed in the minds and hearts of the Irish.  Reconciliation nowadays is a political rather than a violent matter, thanks to two American leaders and the miracle of skillful diplomacy.     

For a third and final connection, while traveling across a sparsely inhabited rocky landscape called the Burren, on our way to Galway, our tour bus suddenly encountered a jampacked town street lined with cars and campers on both sides.  We had arrived at the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival of 2017.  This is Ireland’s biggest singles festival, which attracts love seekers for dancing, music, and “craic” (fun in Gaelic) for an entire month.  Apparently attracting over 60,000 people worldwide, the festival highlights a semi-retired plumber named Willie Daly who has gained fame as a traditional connector of couples.  Allegedly, if you touch his “lucky book” with both hands at his office in the Matchmaker Bar, you will be married in six months.  Obviously, Willie has legions of believers.

Great grandfather Hugh Bowen drew me to Ireland in the first place.  Most likely I discovered his place of embarkation to America, the port of Cobh, but other aspects of his history are shrouded in mystery.  What is very clear, however, is that Ireland is loaded with fascinating connections just waiting to test our curiosity and help us learn about ourselves, the emerald isle, and the history we share.    

Jeffrey Bowen

October 2, 2017

 Alliances Build A Healthy Community

By Dr. Jeffrey M. Bowen

Nearly 23 years ago, as a new school district administrator, I was invited to work with a newly chartered regional network named the Healthy Community Alliance (HCA).   Funded by a $200,000 grant from the state’s Charles D. Cook Office of Rural Health, the Alliance was launched in 1996 as one of 32 networks.  To this day, the organization focuses on the health-related needs of rural communities including Arcade, Springville, and Gowanda.

 As a founding member of HCA, I marvel at how it has matured into a highly adaptable nonprofit dynamo that thrives in a shifting environment of competition and cooperation.   Nowadays our service area includes 57 zip codes in parts of four western counties including Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Wyoming.   Last year HCA staff served more than 20,000 individuals across dozens of programs all designed to enhance the quality of rural life.  

 HCA accomplishments have historically supported young people, families, and older citizens with special attention to the disadvantaged or underserved.  Currently we partner with the Springville Concord Elder Network (SCENe) to offer a popular educational speaker series.   In Gowanda, we are providing living healthy chronic-disease self-management workshops.   Recent grants won by the Alliance ensure safe routes to schools, after-school programs, and family counseling centers.   The latest award is a $25,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Western New York to implement innovative ways to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable older adults.  All programs and workshops are free for registrants.    

 HCA headquarters is a facility known as Community Place, a stoutly built former elementary school in downtown Gowanda.  The upper floors house 32 units of affordable senior housing.  In addition, this facility offers adult day services, audiology services, a county store pantry, a private counseling practice, a family center, a county senior wellness and nutrition site, congregate dining plus off-site delivery of meals, and family doctors’ offices.  In short, Community place is ideal central location for recreation, wellness, and health promotion throughout the region.

Currently the Alliance is playing an essential role in statewide health care reform.   A major purpose is to reduce the costs and improve services to Medicaid patients.  A key goal is to activate patient engagement in services that may forestall unnecessary hospital emergency room visits yet help the underserved take advantage of primary care services and Medicaid coverage.    

Our diverse activities demand excellence in nonprofit management and policy.  Our executive leadership and financial stewardship are outstanding.  Policy, direction, and accountability are provided by a diversified 14-member volunteer board of directors.    

Good boardsmanship is a priority.  We anticipate openings in the near future. If interested, please contact CEO Ann Battaglia at 716-532-1010 (abattaglia@hcanetwork.org).  Feel welcome to tour Community Place or learn more at www.communityalliance.org. 

  

Note:  Dr. Bowen is a founding member of the Healthy Community Alliance and currently serves as its president.  He is a charter school consultant and retired superintendent of Pioneer School District.  

9/1/17

New York Public Schools Excel in Many Different Ways

New York Public Schools Excel In Many Different Ways

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

The beginning of the new school year encourages everyone to put their best educational foot forward.  Our children experience excitement while their parents often breathe a sigh of relief but want assurance that the quality of their children’s learning will remain strong and uncompromised.  Generally, community residents look for evidence that their investment of tax revenue will yield the best possible results.  Fortunately, there is convincing proof that New York’s public schools meet all of these expectations.

 Governance and accountability are good starting points.  New York governs education mainly across two related layers of control – state and local.  At the state level our legislature and the Board of Regents adopt laws and regulations that arguably make New York the most educationally mandated state in the nation.  State aid to schools amounts to some $25 billion annually, about a quarter of the state’s budget.  State revenue sources account for 36 percent of all school district expenditures.  Since policy follows the buck, it is unsurprising that hundreds of earmarked policy requirements set performance standards for local districts.  

 Local school boards represent a second layer of accountability.  They must comply with a huge collection of legal requirements.  Technically, a board must be authorized specifically by law to act.  According to one statute, Section 1709 of education law, they are obliged to adopt a budget, hire staff, develop curriculum, purchase textbooks, provide transportation and maintain school facilities.  Much of this is delegated to the superintendent. What is more, except in large cities, local residents can yea or nay a board adopted spending plan for which opportunity for public input is mandated.  In short, New York’s educational governance system bristles with controls to assure that certain operational standards will be met.

What sorts of exemplary programs and services showcase the results of all these legal provisions? Here is a sample:  

-- Our support for children with disabilities has far exceeded federally mandated minimums for many decades; an average of 13 percent are identified, and they account for about 30 percent of school district spending.

-- A 2010 national study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that we rank second among 47 states in health education and creating healthy school environments.

-- Outside of cities, we mandate and heavily aid transportation to and from school for all children who live more than two or three miles away, including all nonpublic and charter school children.

-- Categorical state funding for prekindergarten enables nearly 60 percent of our three and four-year-olds to participate, which puts New York in the top five states nationally.

-- Since 1948 our state has offered shared cost effective educational services through a current 37 regional boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES) whose services cover career and technical education, special education programs, and professional development for district employees.  

--Finally, all of our public school teachers must acquire masters degrees to achieve certification, which then must be maintained annually by professional development.

Some of the best news about NYS public school performance is revealed by the combination of its many facets, as reported by Education Week this year.  On average, two of every three 18- to 24-year-olds are college students or graduates.  Only two others states do better.  The national average is 56 percent.   

 On indicators ranging from chances of life success to achievement and finance, New York achieves a grade of B- (79.8 on a scale of 100), and ranks ninth in the nation.  The national average is C (74.2).  New York has remained well within the top 10 states since the beginning of Education Week profiles 20 years ago.   

Several of our performance indicators are simply outstanding.  No other state comes close to having required subject exams for high school graduation since the 1870s.  Our high school graduation rate stands at 78 percent.  Although this is only at the national average, our percentage improvement since 2012 has soared 17.5 percent, outpacing the average national  change of 8.5 percent.

 On Advanced Placement tests, for every 100 students who participate, 37 scored three or better (considered passing) in 2014.  This surpasses the national average of 29 per 100.  Were it not for the alternative cost-saving arrangements that encourage students to gain advanced (state) college credit without AP, our participation rates would be higher.    

New York invests vigorously in their public schools, as is true for all public services.  We spent 4.2 percent of our taxable resources on education as of 2014. The national average was 3.3 percent.  Most revealing, however, is the extent to which we have applied these tax revenues to level the learning field for all children.  Given the number of students involved, and the demographic diversity of the state, it is astounding that we achieve a top national benchmark of B+ (88.7) compared to the national average of C (73.9) on indexes that measure how well educational expenditures and opportunities have been equalized.  

Education is always a work in progress, and averages tell a limited story, but as this school year begins, the vitality and scope of New York’s public educational quality should reassure us that every New York student who makes it here can definitely make it anywhere.    

 NOTE: A list of sources may be obtained upon request. 

Windjammer Trip for 50th Wedding Anniversary

We'd Still Find Each Other

WE’D STILL FIND EACH OTHER

by Jeffrey M. Bowen 7/17

I don’t believe in fairy tales,

And we may not find the holy grail,

But the road ahead will never fail

Because we found each other

Steep places loom along the way.

No predicting time or day.

But we got this far and love has stayed,

Because we found each other.

Glories fail and promises lie,

While fires burn and embers die,

But we’ve believed in second tries,

Because we found each other

Our first perception, like the last,

Is right and true, and strong and vast,

Love wins out, our die is cast,

Because we found each other.

It’s hard to tell when our love began.

Through trials and troubles it still stands,

In another time or another land

We’d still find each other.