So where's DUSO when you need him!?

""Hey DUSO Come on out..."  Anyone remember the song, the dolphin and what the acronym stands for? I was thinking about doing a little contest to see what I'd get back, but anyone reading this can in a few short seconds and the help of Google, find out and report that DUSO stands for "Developing Understanding of Self AND OTHERS. I capitalized that part for a reason that will become apparent later in this blog entry.

Right around the same time as I started teaching "regular" classes DUSO was packed away never to be seen again. In the Kindergarten classrooms around the province you might find in the puppet basket  a ratty, old, blue fake-fur Dolphin puppet but in all likelihood no one can even remember his name.  But to teachers and students through the 70's and 80's, DUSO was synonymous with religious education in the Integrated Schools of this province. There were several other puppets ( but none as loved as DUSO) and lots of colourful posters, taped stories ( and we all know how much fun it is to have another voice besides the teacher reading the book!) and a scripted lesson plan for the teacher to follow. DUSO made extensive use of listening, discussion, and dramatic play to focus on feelings, communication, and problem solving. Activities include stories, guided fantasies, puppetry, role play, and music.  In today's pedagogical jargon: It taught children how to deal with conflict resolution, promoted positive self-esteem and to not bully.



It may not have been the greatest program in the world, but I can guarantee you that if you were to sing the first line of his opening song, "Hey DUSO come on out"... to anyone who had been lucky enough to meet him during those decades, it will evoke just as strong memories as "Dick and Jane" evokes for those of us who learned to read during the 50's and 60's!!


What replaced it? Well my memory may be a little rusty, but I am pretty sure that the entire concept of teaching children lifeskills and academic skills and how to behave towards other children and people in their lives, was replaced by a "child-centered" learning approach. Let them learn what they want to learn. Let them write the way they want to write.  Let them read when they are ready to read and spell the way they want to spell. Say negative things to them in a positive way...  It was CHILD- centered and throughout the classrooms in the province, three words became the focus of not just a cute little theme in their Language Arts program, but of their entire education experiences. ALL ABOUT ME.


All about me. Children were encouraged to write about their favorite things, colours, games, pets, pasttimes. A really skilled teacher could sneak in a writing topic once in awhile such as "My Best Friend" or "My Mom". But in most cases this would degenerate into a list of all the things the friend or the parent could, would or should do to enhance the child's personal existence.


Developing Understanding of Self AND OTHERS. How much we need those last two words. Empathy. Compassion. Look up Empathy in Wikipedia... a short entry but scary when you consider what it could mean to generations of children when it is absent from their lives. Now add to the mix, over indulgent parents who fail to provide strong personal development guidance and the ALL ABOUT ME syndrome gets stronger and more prevalent. 


So when I see little kids excluding other children from "The COOL Club" or pre-teen boys bossing their mothers around at the mall,  high school kids cursing and swearing outside the local convenience store, university students who feel hard done by because they have to finish their assignments on time ( and not copy it from the internet), graduates who groan and whine because they found a job in their field and now SHOCK, GASP HORROR.. they have to work, it all makes perfect sense. DUSO has not come out for a very long time. I sincerely believe that it's time for the little guy be reinstated and children  taught the value of respecting themselves AND OTHERS, tolerance of the people in their lives, developing empathy towards the people who may not be as high on the ladder of life as they are, and the benefits of hard work whether in school, at home or on the job.


We'd all be a whole lot happier if we did.


HEY DUSO, come on out. Hey, DUSO, come on out. 
We like to listen and talk with you. 
We like your songs and your stories too. 
Hey, DUSO, come on out.


And until DUSO does make a comeback. I'd like to ask all the parents who read this to do one simple thing... At least once a week love your child enough to say NO and mean it!!  The real world is going to come knocking someday and you owe it to your child and yourself to prepare him or her for it.