by John Cargile

Created on: September 15, 2008

Growing up is full of challenges, contradictions and pressures. It has always been this way, but these days, everything seems to be on a much larger scale. The entertainment industry fills our minds with who we should aspire to be and what we should be doing with our lives.

Advertisers tell us what to wear, how to look, and what music to listen to. Positive, productive role models for our children are harder and harder to find.

Career choices are no longer simple. Traditional industries are disappearing, while new ones arrive demanding greater skills from employees. Immediate employment out of college is no longer a "done deal". The critical thinking skills necessary to making the best career choices are not always taught in school.

For the teen making the transition from adolescent to adult, it can be a confusing and frightening time. To give our youth the tools to make this transition easier, and set them on a path to a successful, purposeful life is more than the traditional curriculum can offer them.

The fact that the University of Alabama's football program hired Pacific Institute of Seattle, WA to work with student athletes on another level tweaked my interest. There are other outstanding programs youth and adults can fulfill and complete a more rounded life. Integral Institute of Bolder, CO is another. I?ll save its system for a later date.
The Pacific Institute is committed to giving youth the best possible opportunities for achievement in school, at home and in life.

Today, school-age children spend only 13% of their time in school, 40% of their time at home (and a part of that is spent asleep), and another 47% somewhere in between. The quality of that 47% is what concerns parents, as well as community leaders. How do we make that "in between" time more meaningful and valuable?

It has long been known that children as young as five years old can develop an understanding of such concepts as beliefs and attitudes, if simplified to match their experience. The Pacific Institute's basic concepts can be utilized for age?s five to twelve, with each year becoming increasingly complex to challenge the growing mind.

With self-confidence born from a belief in themselves and their ability to succeed, our children are equipped to face each day's challenges with a will to achieve. Flexible in its implementation, either in public or private schools, community-based organizations, church groups or a single family unit, also encourages the one factor proven to increase

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