Earlier this week I was asked to write a very brief stump speech for positive education. I’ve never written a stump speech. . . and mostly feel good about that. For this stump speech, I decided to stick with very basic facts or tendencies associated with positive psychology and positive education.

Here’s a hastily written first draft. Feel free to comment and make recommendations as you like.

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Positive education, as we define it at the University of Montana, is based on three essential psychological truths (or tendencies).

1. Most people are naturally compelled to focus on the negative, as captured by the question: “What’s wrong with you?”
2. The things and experiences that we pay attention to, will grow.
3. We are better at growing strengths than we are at getting rid of problems or symptoms.

These truths explain why current approaches to education unintentionally grow negative emotions and symptoms like anxiety, depression, and trauma. These truths also explain why we need to train all educators, counselors, and students to overcome their tendency to over-focus on the negative, and instead systematically focus on growing student, teacher, and administrator strengths, skills, resources, and virtues. 

Positive education is the best path forward for education in Montana and beyond.