The Fantastic Truths which could unite us and the plausible lies that keep us divided 

A Consideration of Nature's Path

Background:

In 2020, Glenn Cort sat down to write his youngest son a birthday card as he was heading off to college. Glenn had become worried that the world was changing in ways that he couldn’t understand. He was teaching a high school class and a general sense of societal noise and confusion dominated his classroom. Everyone could feel it, but nobody could place a finger on what it was. Feeling at a loss and unable to complete his letter to his son, he left his “day job” and set out on an exploration for any sources of truth which could explain what was happening and maybe even answer a question that had long been bothering him; why is it that people should struggle to get along so badly, and for so long?  

After several years of research he emerged more optimistic than ever. Having grown certain of finding recurring themes and patterns across cultures and time that represent pure objective truth, he was able to complete that birthday card. It became a book, Letters To Mikey, Messages of Hope and Optimism for Young Americans, which is the framework for this curriculum.

Description and Goals:

This course aims to provide a pedagogical structure to teach teenagers how and why we struggle to get along, particularly in America, and what we can do to improve things.  It synthesizes leading information across disciplines concerning the loss of natural affection for others, polarization, extremism, and hate. Its goals are to help young people understand their natural born goodness: to rally around their commonalities and better navigate their differences. 

Designed to supplement high school social studies courses, and to be provided in clubs, camps, non-profits, places of worship, or in family and community gatherings, it provides a future generation with a life raft which they could cling to!  

Program Length and Resources

The core program can be taught in approximately eight hours. 2 sessions each of 4 hours, with recommended refreshment breaks in between. This assumes instructors have read the books given with the curriculum, as well as have familiarized themselves with all materials. There are twelve modules. Introduction Module, Ten “Main Ingredient” Modules, and a Conclusion Module. It is recommended that this program be extended so that students also read the books and all cited resources. Lastly, we suggest and hope that the curriculum runs concurrently with full-semester courses, including but not limited to social studies, civics, or American History.

Materials Provided: 

-Four Books: Letters To Mikey, Messages of Hope and Optimism For Young Americans, by Glenn Cort. 5000 Year Leap, Eric Skousen, If You Can Keep It, Eric Metaxas, American Presidency Origins, by Sidney M. Milkis, Michael Nelson.

- The “Ingredient Wheel”

Program Design and Delivery

This curriculum has been designed to speak common sense to chaos without being judgy, or preachy, political or religious. It does not underestimate the natural-born intelligence of its audience. In fact its very foundation is built on evidentiary backed underpinnings that each of us is born with a miraculously inherent sense of right and wrong. The materials, therefore, while providing facilitators with the newest, most profound, and proven “ingredients” known to mankind which lead to misunderstanding and loss of trust between fellow human beings, the concepts should be very familiar to teachers and facilitators. They are a culmination of the most researched, talked about, and debated topics related to the subject matter. Therefore, the design of the course calls upon instructors to create a curriculum within a curriculum. They are to explore the concepts within each module and use their judgment to decide which pieces they read directly from the script, which to paraphrase, supplement, modify, and adjust, while keeping with the overall message of the curriculum. Lastly, it is important to note that until one digests all of the curriculum, individual pieces will lack meaning and impact. The whole of the curriculum is far more meaningful than the sum of its parts. In the end, having tied it all together, a properly delivered lesson should culminate with potentially world-changing knowledge and perspective. 

Important note concerning program delivery:  All instructions and programming delivery suggestions for the teacher throughout the curriculum are placed in italics. 

Use of Participation Cards : In an interest to keep this program interactive, thought provoking, and fun we pass out 4 x 6” Participation Cards. Wherever there are bullets, you will see a reminder programming note to hand out Participation Cards in advance.  Please have students rotate and read one bullet per student, slowly and clearly. The rotation resumes throughout the curriculum. Where you see the note All Together Participation, please lead the whole class in reading that bullet aloud in unison. We understand this may seem corny, but please work through it.

Discussion Quotations: At the end of each module, you will find several quotations. These have been thoughtfully selected to stimulate discussion about the information in the module. Please draw on quotations and the core concepts within the module, before moving ahead to the next section.

Problem Statement: 

For most of us our care and concern for living in a world of peace and happiness, well exceeds our ability to do so. Many brilliant people have tried to diagnose how things go so wrong, in terms of our always quarreling the way we do. They seem to know the reasons why we fail to get along. They offer cures for the things that ail us, but at this moment (2024) we can’t move the needle. We seem to go around in circles, arguing about the same things forever. Albeit with different actors, but dividing along the same lines. Every presidential election we swap political parties and try different ways of approaching government. We spend the next four years with the losing party blaming the winning party for our problems, then we flip again and the same thing happens. No matter what person or political party is in charge, we always wind up with the same problems we had years earlier. It seems as if we've come to accept this nonsensical cycle as our reality and we are left to shake our heads left and right wondering why things are the way they are. Most people have a strange hunch, or a nagging feeling down deep that there must be a better way. So what are we missing? Why can't we better navigate our differences and disagreements, and simply get along better? This course attempts to help you answer these questions.

Groundrules: Expectations for Engagement:

The course makes a series of contentions, which are stated as facts or absolute truth. It is well understood how unpopular it is to speak in terms of absolute truth about anything, particularly in America. We ask that this controversial and unorthodox approach be viewed in a particular context - that being the ongoing problems that society has had for so long. We ask participants to spend their time trying to disprove the contentions being made, and that participants reserve judgment until all of the materials have been fully vetted and reviewed.  Lastly, we ask that each participant make a promise: If as time passes, you have not seen the type of improvement in society that you would like to see, we ask that you stop and consider more deeply making a commitment to the materials in this short course. Thank you.

Leaders Certification: 

Whether presented as a workshop, or utilized to supplement a longer course, (for example Social Studies or American Civics) teachers and facilitators of the course (hereinafter referred to as “Leader”) must meet a certain standard of preparedness. Therefore, we offer a certification program providing the essential knowledge of background materials, and a badging requirement to achieve standardization of delivery and optimal success. For more information about this certification, and for what success looks like, please visit www.gettingalong.com.

 Module 1 - Course Introduction: The Fantastic Truths and the Essence of Us

(Leader Opening statement - suggested - about their preparation for this course and the length of the program given their own design and purposes) 

Start: The first thing we are going to do this morning is to go outside and look at the sky. This program we are embarking on today asks us to consider drawing knowledge from mother nature and to consider if mother nature plays any role in our lives.

This should be Fun!

First exercise:  “Is there an essence of being Human?” While observing our natural surroundings please consider the following question - What does it mean to be the “Bigger” person” as opposed to a “Smaller” person? Also when we think of a person who is “Remarkable” rather than “Ordinary” what words come into your minds? 

While outside make a list. Then chart results. Bring inside and hang up on the wall for the remainder of the curriculum. (See sample results chart below)