I am currently at a conference in the Colorado mountains (preparing to give a keynote address at PIDT), and near the lodge of the place we are staying one of my colleagues (Peter Rich) pointed out this sign:
Instead of saying what we should do or should not do (e.g. “Don’t walk on grass” or “Stay on sidewalk”) the sign simply tells people the consequences for a certain choice – and then those who posted the sign must simply trust and hope people will act in a way that evokes the best natural consequences.
What a great concept: “Teach people correct principles and then let them govern themselves.” (Joseph Smith)
With most areas of our lives: work (in my case teaching, instructional design, consulting), parenting, friendships, etc… it seems that we would do well to spend more time discussing natural consequences for actions rather than dictating to others what we want them to either do or not do.
On a funny note, driving up here we also saw a sign (that I want to get a picture of) which said:
“In case of flood, climb to higher ground.”
I’m trying to think of how this sign might have been changed to warn of danger and teach consequences without dictating choices… 🙂 Any ideas?
“Staying on lower ground during flooding may be hazardous to your health.”
or
“In case of flood: Stay here and die.”
Staying here while flooding causes drowning.
It all well reminds me “Smoking kills”, “Smoking causes cancer”, “Smoking causes this and that..” on every cigarette box sold here. I am not sure if that kind of teaching consequences has any (positive) effect.
In response to your comment about how we spend so much of our time telling people what we want them to do or not do…
In a class I’m taking right now, I read this quote, “If we expect children to change their behavior, we must be willing to change our approach to that behavior. We must help children learn to do right rather than waste so much energy in stopping them from doing wrong.”
I previously mentioned William Glasser and I’m guessing you know who he is. I am impressed by his theory. He focuses on being a ‘lead teacher’ instead of a ‘boss teacher’ and also stresses that as a teacher, the students see the why in what they are doing.
I think this principle has application in all aspects of life. Church, school, work, family, etc.