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To be positive, kids need to be emotionally intelligent

In Plato's longest and perhaps most celebrated work, The Republic, the philosopher describes an idealised state. In Plato's make-believe utopia, the first care of the rulers is the education of citizens. If the family is a microcosm of the state, then the children are the citizens, and which parent is not concerned about the education of his or her offspring?

When asked what they most want for their children, parental answers centre around things like happiness, fulfilment, purpose and contentment. If, however, you follow this question up by asking: what do our schools teach? The discrepancy is tragically apparent. But how to bridge this gulf?

Numeracy and literacy are obviously vital, but 21st-century schools need to go beyond core cognitive skills and embrace the emotional, too. Many nations are presently reporting a mental health crisis among their younger citizens. In the UK for example, National Health Service data show over the past decade there has been a 68-per cent rise in hospital admissions for self-harm among girls under 17. Hospital admissions suggest that this is not merely a lower diagnostic threshold (a lowering of the bar) or improved detection. If a minor is admitted to a hospital, this typically represents a severe case.

Data from several Gulf Arab nations suggest similar problems regionally. For example, in an extensive study undertaken among primary healthcare patients in Qatar, the rates for depression where similar to those found in Western Europe and the US - around 13 per cent - and it was the youngest citizens (18-25-year-olds) that were most affected. Similarly, studies among Emirati high school and college students have found rates of eating disorders symptoms on par with nations where anorexia and bulimia have been highly prevalent for decades.

Many of the problems our young people face are related, at one level, to the mismanagement of negative emotions. Our schools need to explicitly address the emotional, in addition to the cognitive (academics) and behavioural (sports). In reality, the three (cognitive, emotional, behavioural) are inseparable, but the emotional (feelings) have been allowed to atrophy. We care about intelligence, but emotional intelligence not so much.

The idea of emotional intelligence was popularised by Daniel Goleman in 1995 in his now classic work, Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ. In this book, Goleman goes to great lengths to present evidence on how our real-world "high achievers" are also typically high in emotional intelligence. This trait is even associated with better physical health, quicker healing and greater resilience to infectious illnesses.

The concept of emotional intelligence has only broadened in recent decades, now also encompassing evidence from neuroscience and techniques, such as mindfulness, from cognitive therapy and meditative traditions. For simplicity, we can weave all these strands together and house it within the growing scientific field called positive psychology.

Education has always looked to its sister science, psychology, for a greater understanding of learning processes, and for ideas on how best to teach. If we want our young people, to be happy, content, fulfilled, resilient, emotionally intelligent etc., then education has to embrace positive psychology.

Thankfully, with the advent of the positive education movement, this has started happening. This nascent initiative, championed by Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, has already found its way into several pioneering schools and colleges around the globe.

The goal of positive education is simple, to promote positive mental health (flourishing) within the school community. This is in addition to the traditional academic learning, not as a replacement, with the former facilitating the latter. Central to positive education is promoting flourishing among staff and teachers too. If teachers are stressed, depressed, angry and burnt-out they won't be engaging and are unlikely to inspire or foster a life-long love of learning among their students.

One of the fundamental differences for a child attending a positive educational environment would be the encouragement to reflect on what type of person they want to be, not just what their occupational aspirations are. I asked my 10-year-old daughter what kind of person she wanted to be? "Kind, generous and funny," she replied. Do I want my daughter to be a doctor or lawyer, or do I want her to be kind, generous and funny? She can, of course, be both, and a kind doctor, who is generous and humorous, is preferable to a mean medic who is miserable most of the time.

Justin Thomas is Associate Professor of Psychology, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi