1. Dear Principal:
Nowadays there is an enormous concern about the negative psychological effects that is
causing the actual and rapidly changing development of the present human society on our
children. The prevalence of depression among young people is shockingly high worldwide. Nearly
20% of youth experience an episode of clinical depression by the end of high school. By some
estimates depression is about ten times more common now than it was 50 years ago. In addition,
several studies suggest that the age of first onset has decreased from adulthood to adolescence.
This is a paradox; particularly for those who believe that well-being comes from the environment.
Almost everything is better now than it was 50 years ago; there is about three times more actual
purchasing power, dwellings are much bigger, there are many more cars, and clothes are more
atractive. Progress has not been limited to the material: there is more education, more music, and
more women´s rights, less racism, less pollution, fewer tyrants, more entertainment, more books,
and fewer soldiers dying on the battlefield. Everything is better, that is, everything exept human
morale. Depresion and anxiety are rampant, and average individual and average hapiness, which
has been measure competently for half a century, has not remotely kept up with improvement in
the world. Happiness has gone up only spottily, if at all. As professors, we should be concern about
this reallity and take all possible solutions to avoid our kids fall in the wrong life style that have
conducted human being to the actual global crisis of happiness. A crisis that is not just
environmental but mainly personal.
Before continuing, a quiz: In two words or less, what do you most want for your children?
If you are like the hundreds of parents I’ve asked, you responded, Happiness, Confidence,
Contentment, Balance, Good Stuff, Kindness, Health, Satisfaction, and the like. In short, you most
want well-being for your children. In two words or less, what do schools teach? If you are like
other parents, you responded Achievement, Thinking Skills, Success, Conformity, Literacy,
Mathematics, Discipline and the like. Notice that there is almost no overlap between the two lists.
The schooling of children has, for more than a century, been about accomplishment, the
boulevard into the world of adult work. I am all for accomplishment, success, literacy, and
discipline; but imagine if schools could, without compromising either, teach both the skills of well-
being and the skills of achievement. Imagine Positive Education.
We would like to invite you to be part of a multicultural school community that want to
share, learn, exchange and create the best things of life. To do this we can use positive language
lectures to learn on a contextualize basis, and a the same time learn by sharing the best things of
our past, present and future life. We call this movement “programme e-Happiness”, a
multicultural program that connects two geographycally separated classes of students and its
foreing language teachers trhoughout video-lectures (video-conference). To do this, as the Chilean
Department of Education we have design a simple and easy to follow program that can be use as a
starting step. Furthermore, we will contact you with a rural school and its english language
professor, so you can start this unic experience with a beautiful group of students from the rural
Chile. The programme has been design by and educational company called Effective Sustainable
Solutions (ESUS), which have being working with the department on several programs with the
department. Please I invite you to contact me as the Director of E-Happiness Program.
Thanks for using your time to think on these proposal of life prosperity,
David Ampuero C.
e-mail: david.ampuero@gmail.com