Jethro: As it is the end of the first
semester of my doctoral program, I thought

it'd be worthwhile to reflect on what I've
learned from my class this time around.

I have, taken the class EDUC 7610,

it's called the Learning Community.

And,

We are talking about
citizenship and civility.

While I get quite bored of discussions
about politics, I was able to

reinforce some of the beliefs
that I have around certain things.

I think my biggest takeaway from this
class is being able to articulate some

things that I'd had thoughts about,
but hadn't been able to articulate

previous to taking this class.

And, there's value in that.

Number one, I really doubled down on my
belief that we each have to define our

own values, and the only way that we
are going to have any success in our own

personal life is if we really do define
our own values and then stick to them.

I was coaching a school principal
outside of class and this idea of her

acting in alignment with her values came
up and what made that conversation so

powerful is that there was a situation
where something happened and she didn't

say anything but in her heart she
knew that that thing that she didn't

comment on was really important to her.

But she didn't comment on it.

She was not acting in
alignment with her values.

And when I suggested to her that she
should act in alignment with her values,

then she suddenly saw how important that
was to her personally and what that meant.

This really helped her see that it's
not about the values of the organization

that you're working for, or about
the values of the society that you

live in, but it's about you acting
in alignment with your own values.

When I mention this, people
say, "Well, what if your values

don't line up with my values?"

Well, that happens.

The real issue is can you respect and
love someone enough to allow them to

act in alignment with their values,
even if those disagree with you?

Now, in order for us to have a
society that is civil and worthwhile,

there are certain values that
we need to have across the board

like, it's not okay to kill people.

We need to respect others.

And if somebody doesn't have those
values, then that can certainly make

relationships with that person difficult.

That can make interactions
with them difficult.

But part of this is also that I
truly believe that if left to their

own devices, we all have goodness
within us that helps us decide to

have positive pro social values.

Personally, I call this
the Light of Christ.

There are aberrations and people who
are sociopaths who don't have those

values, and there always will be.

That's why we have laws as a
society to make sure that people

are acting in appropriate ways.

And this is a personal reflection for me.

When you act in alignment with your
values, then your story doesn't change.

And this is something that I personally
have struggled with, that my actions and

what I do would change, and my teachers
and people that I've led would say,

Why is Jethro making this decision?

He made this totally opposite
decision just a couple days ago.

Why is he now making this
other weird decision?

And what I've personally realized through
the discussions we've had in this class

is that when I'm saying something to
be heard or to be seen as special or

doing something for attention, then my
performance is going to be different.

When I act in alignment with my values,
then I'm consistent with those values.

Anytime I'm not acting in
alignment with my values, I'm

not consistent in how I behave.

And that was a really powerful
self awareness piece for me.

There were a couple instances this
semester where People that I coach

would say things like, "Yes, Jethro,
I've heard you say that before," or

"Yes, Jethro has told me this before."

And what's reaffirming to me is that
those were phrases that are deeply

aligned with my values, and I think
that that was a really powerful

experience for me personally.

The next big point that I want to
talk about is that all the suggestions

for civility in our conversations
ultimately came down to one simple thing.

That is to really see other people
and see their value as human beings.

The way I personally describe this
is that I see them as children

of God who have great potential.

And that's what works for me.

But regardless of whether or not you agree
with that particular approach, really

seeing people makes a huge difference.

That was a really big awakening for me.

We talked about all these different ideas
and ways of doing things, and ultimately

what it always boiled down to was just
see the other person and make sure they

know that you see them, as a human being.

That was really powerful for me.

And then finally, my last reflection
here is this idea of education

being the responsibility of parents
and the state merely supports

parents in that responsibility.

I think this is such a fundamental shift
in how we have done school and approached

school for so long that I would say
most educators don't agree with that.

Most educators believe that it is their
responsibility to educate kids, and

they try to get parents to help them.

It's the other way around, that
the responsibility for education

is the parents responsibility.

And we as educators simply
help them educate their kids.

And I think the really challenging part
about this is that when we do that,

we lose some power and some control.

And so much of education is
based on power and control that

it makes it really difficult.

And there's a lot of cognitive dissonance
for educators when that happens.

And while I'm here, I will also comment
on my marketing class that I took where

I learned about HubSpot and Salesforce.

And that was a pretty good
class, definitely giving you real

skills that are worthwhile and
meaningful, so I appreciate that.

The thing that I really took
away from that class is that...

I am just all over the
place with my content.

I've got multiple podcasts
in different areas.

I've got social media channels.

I've got this newsletter slash blog.

I've got my blog on JethroJones.

com and there's just so much and I
really need to simplify and drill down

to what it is that I really want to
use for communication with my audience.

I need to simplify.

That's what it ultimately comes down to.

So, in conclusion, big things.

Number one, define your own values and
act in accordance with your values.

Act in alignment with your values.

Number two.

Really see other people.

Number three, simplify.