http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2009/07/children-full-of-life-a-moving-documentary-about-kids-sharing-emotions-in-school.html

http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonday/feature_270904.html

“In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori. He instructs each to write their true inner feelings in a letter, and read it aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates.

Capturing the intimate moments of the students’ laughter and tears, the film explores one teacher’s approach to allowing children the opportunity to discover the value of sharing powerful emotions. Classroom discussions include difficult issues such as the death of a parent or being the victim of bullying. In this “school of life,” the simple message is learning to look after one another.”

This is a documentary really worth watching. If our world is going to change for the better, ultimately it all starts from the children – and the teaching of empathy and emotional intelligence.

You may want to watch it before someone takes it off Youtube – and as the Metafilter post I got this from says, you may want to keep tissues handy.

Probably what the world needs more than anything: good parents and good teachers.