EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGES - 15th May 2000

"CoRT - Unemployment"

Russell Chalmers of the Holst Group in the UK told me of some of the results of teaching thinking to chronically unemployed youngsters in the New Deal Programme.

Just teaching thinking for three two hour sessions increased the rate of employment four or five times!! That is a staggering figure. Nine months after the course only 15 per cent of those attending were still unemployed.

If these results were amplified to all the unemployed the saving in benefits would be enormous. The economic input would be enormous. Most important of all, would be the effect on self-esteem and self-confidence of those involved.

In another project in Ireland, organised by Tom Farrell of the Edward de Bono Foundation in Dublin, individual tutoring in thinking given to severely disadvantaged youngsters has shown very promising results in its initial stage.

How sad it is then to realise that most people have no idea how powerful can be the effects of the direct teaching of thinking. Educators do not know about it. The government of the U.K. for all its emphasis on "education, education, education" pays scant attention to the most important aspect of education - the real world. Journalists are too tied up in the petty matters to notice what really matters.

It takes a long time to bring about needed changes. Why?

Edward de Bono nmt
14th May 2000
Venice