Read the latest from Making Caring Common! You’re in the right place for our media coverage, general updates, and press releases. Topics include: Access and Equity, Bias, Bullying, Caring and Empathy, College Admissions, Gender, MCC Update, Misogyny and Sexual Harassment, Moral and Ethical Development, Parenting, Romantic Relationships, School Culture, Trauma, and Youth Advisory Board.
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You’re in the right place for our media coverage, blog posts, and event information. Our work spans a range of topics, all connected by our commitment to elevate caring and concern for the common good at school, at home, and in our communities. You can review what’s new below or use the dropdowns to sort by topic and category.
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“The best way to help students manage the stress [of applying to schools] is to reassure them that it doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be a meaningful and rewarding experience. If they’re connected to that question of why they’re going to college and what they’re looking for.”
Brennan Barnard spoke with Mongoose about caring college admissions.
Read More“…we should remember that the opportunity to attend any college is an enormous gift, one denied to many young Americans. And while higher education is not necessarily the right path for everyone, at the very least the opening to that path should not be obstructed.”
Brennan Barnard writes about the gift of college in Forbes.
Read MoreMaking Caring Common’s work is highlighted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (paywall).
Read More"Almost everybody has empathy for somebody. But the much bigger question is if you have empathy for people who are different from you."
Rick Weissbourd joins Jacob Murray on The Power of Good podcast to talk about raising caring children.
Read More“There is clearly much to be thankful for, and also much work to be done. We must keep pressing on important issues within college admission and searching for ways to evolve. If we continue this growth from a place of gratitude, then we have already made the world a better place to be. Now take a moment and send out that one text or email of appreciation and watch it ripple.”
Brennan Barnard writes about the power of showing gratitude during the college admissions process and what, specifically, he’s grateful for.
Read More“Maybe you take care of a sibling or grandparent living at home, maybe you work part-time, maybe you’re active in your faith-based community…whatever the case may be, we want to see that you are committed, responsible, and engaged because you care about what you’re doing. Those are the students we want on our campuses.”
Gary Clark, director of undergraduate admission at the University of California Los Angeles, spoke with Brennan Barnard about what matters in college admissions. Read what other admissions leaders about what they value in applicants.
Read MoreWhat happens when parents take their kid’s sport too seriously? Rick Weissbourd spoke with The Harvard Gazette about the problem—and what can be done to fix it.
Read MoreRick Weissbourd joined Julie Rose for a conversation about college admissions and how to put young people’s character and well-being at the center of a healthier, more sane college admissions process.
Read MoreLearn more about The Character Collaborative, of which Making Caring Common is a member, and their work to define character in the admissions process.
Read More“Teaching children to care about others might be the best way to prepare them for a successful and fulfilling life.”
In this piece for The Atlantic, Adam Grant and Allison Sweet Grant write about the importance of raising caring kids — and cite Making Caring Common’s research.
Read More“All parents want the best for their children, but when it comes to college admissions, ‘the best’ seems to come with an ethical cost.”
HGSE’s Usable Knowledge highlights our work to put ethical engagement at the center of the college admissions process and shares four key take-aways.
Read More“The impact of enduring kindness supersedes the name of a school on a college sweatshirt. Parents should encourage their teens to be themselves and channel their inner kindness to build character. Getting into a top-choice college should be the bonus of being kind, not the reason to be kind.”
THE Journal cites our Turning the Tide report when sharing advice to parents about the college admissions process.
Read More“The education we receive now is the most recent lesson we will be taught as we go on with our lives. We are in a special position where this is likely the last time we will be sat down and prepared to build healthy relationships in order to avoid sexual assault, rape and harassment.”
Cheryn Hong makes an impassioned call for more education about sexual harassment and assault in The Michigan Daily, citing Making Caring Common’s research with young adults.
Read More“We must teach our sons that girls are not objects whose quality and worth they may casually and callously assess, but that they are human beings, intellectual peers and equals in every respect. The cult of masculinity in American culture and society can no longer be allowed to thrive on the pervasive objectification of women and girls.
Enough is enough.”
Ashley Jordan writes in Ms. Magazine about the urgent need to fight gender-based harassment, citing Making Caring Common’s research with young people.
Read MoreCalifornia’s Coronado Eagle & Journal writes about how kids can include others, drawing on our research with the Cartoon Network on bullying.
Read More“We all want our kids to be happy, to be successful, but shouldn’t it also be just as important to be doing everything we can to ensure that they are also kind?”
Jeremy Barnes cites Making Caring Common’s research in his piece for The Good Men Project.
Read More“Our kids need to appreciate other people’s feelings ― they’ll be better friends, romantic partners and parents later.”
Rick Weissbourd spoke with HuffPost about how to foster empathy in kids.
Read More“‘Sesame Street taught us to have courage, to reach out to people — or Muppets — who might look different,’ she said. The urgency for that work is even greater now, said [Dean] Long, highlighting the research that continues to illuminate our understanding of child development, via the Center for the Developing Child, the Making Caring Common Project, and the Zaentz Early Education Initiative.”
HGSE Dean Bridget Long highlighted Making Caring Common in her speech honoring the 50-year partnership between Sesame Workshop and Harvard.
Read More"Children are so saturated with messages about achievement in many schools and communities that parents need to be really conscious about fighting against those messages at home.” —Rick Weissbourd
In this piece for The Washington Post, Jennifer Breheny Wallace spoke with Rick Weissbourd about emerging research that has found that students in “high-achieving schools” are at risk for behavioral and mental health problems.
Read More“College admission is NOT about finding the one ‘right’ college for you, but discovering the many — across multiple levels of selectivity — that will welcome you and challenge you to grow as a student and a person.” — Bill Conley, vice president for enrollment management, Bucknell University
In this piece for The Washington Post, Brennan Barnard shares insights from college admissions deans.
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