Pathways to Happiness

for lifelong learning

Pathways to Happiness are ways

to strengthen our satisfaction with our access to lifelong learning

Communities scores for

satisfaction with lifelong learning, arts & culture are in the range of indifferent

100= happiest

Our scores for dipped in 2014 and then increased but reflect overall indifference and dissatisfaction for access to lifelong learning opportunities

a score below 40 means we are dissatisfied, below 60 means we feel indifferently

Policies

Courageous

100% adult literacy goal for a city or region

Easy and free access to literacy learning

Online & in-person cohort based programs

Training for volunteer coaches and consultants where no volunteers

Multiple platform (social media & in-person) programs

Multiple channel outreach

GED, college enrollment & career counseling & placement

Resources for adult literacy programs

Literacy Information: National Assessment of Adult Literacy – three types of literacy https://nces.ed.gov/naal/literacytypes.asp

Report: Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Options for Practice & Research http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/Adult_Literacy/ or http://www.ride.ri.gov/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Students-and-Families-Great-Schools/Educational-Programming/Adult-Education-Standards/Improving-Adult-Literacy-Instruction-Research-report.pdf

Example City Literacy program: City of Philadelphia Office of Adult Education http://philaliteracy.org/

Lifelong learning

Expert and peer-lead learning opportunities for all age adults

Professional skills, life skills and leisure activities

Enhance human capital, cultural capital and sense of autonomy

Affordable access to formal & informal learning, online & in person

Resources for lifelong learning

Intelligences we develop over our life (different ways we learn throughout our entire life)

from Ken Wilber

IntellectualStrategicMoralEmotionalInterpersonalSocial

KinestheticMusicalSpiritualLinguisticLogicalNaturalistic

Resources for Lifelong Learning Programs

Scholarly articles:

What’s the Point of Learning if Learning Has No Point? On the Democratic Deficit of Politics of Lifelong Learning: http://eer.sagepub.com/content/5/3-4/169.full.pdf+html

Quebec Lifelong Learning: http://www.lifelonglearningquebec.org/

Benefits of Lifelong Learning http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812019751

Examples City lifelong learning programs:

Bloomington Lifelong Learning Coalition https://bloomington.in.gov/bllc

Tuition Free (or very low cost) College

Invest in happiness, wellbeing & prosperity of our workforce

Bring the US on par with other developed countries

A real avenue to social justice and equal opportunity

Resources for Tuition Free College

Demos Affordable College Compact: http://www.demos.org/publication/affordable-college-compact

Campaign for Free College Tuition: http://www.freecollegenow.org/

Example free tuition program: Tennessee Promise Program: http://tennesseepromise.gov/about.shtml

What’s it going to take?

Students graduate debt free with work experience

Paid apprentices and internships a significant part of higher education

Work + College

Similar to AmeriCorps, with college taking 2 years longer for a 4 year college; and continuing with graduate school

Unemployment benefits include technical training and job placement

Unemployed (long term and short term) provided access to technical training

Technical training for unemployed

Counts for unemployed workforce include long term unemployed

We envision a world where all beings can thrive.

Can you envision it too?happycounts.org