2008 NAIS Annual Conference Speaker Ian Jukes

Dr. Lynn Friedman, psychoanalyst, clinical psychologist and independent school consultant published this column on the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Ian Jukes exhorts us to keep apace of technology and incorporate it in our day-to-day lives

A crowd of more than 500 people gather to hear Ian Jukes, with those waitlisted eagerly hoping for a spot. Jukes screams out to the audience, "My job is not to educate you, it's my job to irritate you." And, this he does! In his own inimitable fashion, he conveys a provocative message, "Technology is changing the world." It's not just changing the way that we work or do business, it's changing the very way that we think. ItŐs changing our brains. These changes are fundamental and profound, all the way down to the synaptic level. Citing the neuroscience research, Jukes proffers compelling evidence that the teenage mind is not working like our own (we knew this before we met Jukes, didnŐt we?). But it's not all attributable to raging hormones. Today's teenage brain looks different than the teenage brains of our generation. "We are immigrants," he tells us, "not truly denizens of the technology world." Our students have had a very different history of neuronal inputs than their predecessors. Their exposure to extended, repetitive visual stimuli eclipses anyone of our generation save artists. Spending thousands of hours in the visual world of Wii's, Xboxes, gaming, and the Internet has permanently altered their brains. Continued at the National Association of Independent School website

Tips on Organizational Challenges in Independent Schools

Ian Jukes, Futurist, tells educators to embrace technology or become obsolete. (See Dr. Lynn Friedman's commentary on it.) Reactions to September 11th in the Independent School: An Inadvertent Tool for Organizational Assessment (by Dr. Lynn Friedman, clinical, psychologist, psychoanalyst) Organizational Change in the Independent School: Promise or Peril (by Dr. Lynn Friedman, clinical, psychoanalyst) Faculty Professional Development: A Primer for School Leaders (by Dr. Lynn Friedman, clinical, psychologist, psychoanalyst) First Families: A Toolkit for Trustees (by Dr. Lynn Friedman, clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst)

About Dr. Lynn Friedman

Lynn Friedman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and independent school consultant in Chevy Chase, MD. Her nationally-syndicated column, Corporations on the Couch, is published in the Washington Business Journal. She is an associate faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. Website: School heads and educational leaders interested in consulting her are welcome to call her at: (301) 656-9650.

Connect with Dr. Lynn Friedman

If you are a head of school, a trustee or an administrator considering school consultation, feel free to give Dr. Lynn Friedman a call at: 301-656-9650 Subscribe to Dr. Lynn Friedman's work-life ezine Send her an email telling her that you'd like to subscribe and telling her what you think of the site. Corporations on the Couch. Read Dr. Lynn Friedman's monthly, Washington Business Journal, column on understanding workplace dynamics. For your questions about relationships, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, check out Dr. Lynn Friedman's new website, The Washington Psychoanalyst.