“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."In October 2016‚ that was a quote from Albert Einstein that sat atop the Facebook page of Tim McMillan‚ a police officer in Georgia. McMillan become a sensation after a post he wrote on his Facebook wall went viral in 2016. In his post‚ he explains how he pulled over a Black teen for texting while driving:“I pulled a car over last night for texting and driving. When I went to talk to the driver‚ I found a young black male‚ who was looking at me like he was absolutely terrified with his hands up. He said‚ 'What do you want me to do officer?' His voice was quivering. He was genuinely scared‚" McMillan wrote.But McMillan said he wasn't interested in harassing or arresting the young man‚ let alone inflicting violence upon him. Nonetheless‚ the teen's emotional response hit McMillan like a punch to the gut.“I just looked at him for a moment‚ because what I was seeing made me sad. I said‚ 'I just don't want you to get hurt.' In which he replied‚ with his voice still shaking‚ 'Do you want me to get out of the car.' I said‚ 'No‚ I don't want you to text and drive. I don't want you to get in a wreck. I want your mom to always have her baby boy. I want you to grow up and be somebody. I don't even want to write you a ticket. Just please pay attention‚ and put the phone down. I just don't want you to get hurt‚'" he wrote.McMillan said the interaction made him reflect on a deeply personal level about the national attention being paid to acts of police violence against Black Americans‚ particularly young Black men.“I truly don't even care who's fault it is that young man was so scared to have a police officer at his window. Blame the media‚ blame bad cops‚ blame protestors‚ or Colin Kaepernick if you want. It doesn't matter to me who's to blame. I just wish somebody would fix it."This story originally appeared on GOOD.This article originally appeared on 08.31.18

Every parent wants to see their kid get good grades in school. But now we know social success is just as important.From an early age‚ we're led to believe our grades and test scores are the key to everything — namely‚ going to college‚ getting a job‚ and finding that glittery path to lifelong happiness and prosperity.It can be a little stressful.But a study showed that when children learn to interact effectively with their peers and control their emotions‚ it can have an enormous impact on how their adult lives take shape. And according to the study‚ kids should be spending more time on these skills in school.Nope‚ it's not hippie nonsense. It's science.Kindergarten teachers evaluated the kids with a portion of something called the Social Competence Scale by rating statements like "The child is good at understanding other's feelings" on a handy "Not at all/A little/Moderately well/Well/Very well" scale.The research team used these responses to give each kid a "social competency score‚" which they then stored in what I assume was a manila folder somewhere for 19 years‚ or until each kid was 25. At that point‚ they gathered some basic information about the now-grown-ups and did some fancy statistical stuff to see whether their early social skills held any predictive value.Here's what they found.1. Those good test scores we covet? They still matter‚ but maybe not for the reasons we thought.Back To School GIF by IFC - Find &; Share on GIPHYTraditional thinking says that if a kid gets good grades and test scores‚ he or she must be really smart‚ right? After all‚ there is a proven correlation between having a better GPA in high school and making more money later in life.But what that test score doesn't tell you is how many times a kid worked with a study partner to crack a tough problem‚ or went to the teacher for extra help‚ or resisted the urge to watch TV instead of preparing for a test.The researchers behind this project wrote‚ "Success in school involves both social-emotional and cognitive skills‚ because social interactions‚ attention‚ and self-control affect readiness for learning."That's a fancy way of saying that while some kids may just be flat-out brilliant‚ most of them need more than just smarts to succeed. Maybe it wouldn't hurt spending a little more time in school teaching kids about the social half of the equation.2. Skills like sharing and cooperating pay off later in life.Adam Sandler Pee GIF - Find &; Share on GIPHYWe know we need to look beyond GPA and state-mandated testing to figure out which kids are on the right path. That's why the researchers zeroed in so heavily on that social competency score.What they found probably isn't too surprising: Kids who related well to their peers‚ handled their emotions better‚ and were good at resolving problems went on to have more successful lives.What's surprising is just how strong the correlation was.An increase of a single point in social competency score showed a child would be 54% more likely to earn a high school diploma‚ twice as likely to graduate with a college degree‚ and 46% more likely to have a stable‚ full-time job at age 25.The kids who were always stealing toys‚ breaking things‚ and having meltdowns? More likely to have run-ins with the law and substance abuse problems.The study couldn't say for sure that strong or poor social skills directly cause any of these things. But we can say for sure that eating too much glue during arts and crafts definitely doesn't help.3. Social behaviors can be learned and unlearned — meaning it's never too late to change.The researchers called some of these pro-social behaviors like sharing and cooperating "malleable‚" or changeable.Let's face it: Some kids are just never going to be rocket scientists. Turns out there are physical differences in our brains that make learning easier for some people than others. But settling disputes with peers? That's something kids (and adults) can always continue to improve on.And guess what? For a lot of kids‚ these behaviors come from their parents. The more you're able to demonstrate positive social traits like warmth and empathy‚ the better off your kids will be.So can we all agree to stop yelling at people when they take the parking spot we wanted?But what does it all mean?This study has definite limitations‚ which its researchers happily admit. While it did its best to control for as many environmental factors as possible‚ it ultimately leans pretty heavily on whether a teacher thought a kid was just "good" or "very good" at a given trait.Still‚ the 19-year study paints a pretty clear picture: Pro-social behavior matters‚ even at a young age. And because it can be learned‚ it's a great "target for prevention or intervention efforts."The bottom line? We need to do more than just teach kids information. We need to invest in teaching them how to relate to others and how to handle the things they're feeling inside.Ignoring social skills in our curricula could have huge ramifications for our kids down the road.This article originally appeared on 08.12.15

The Story of Bottled Water www.youtube.com Here are six facts from the video above by The Story of Stuff Project that I'll definitely remember next time I'm tempted to buy bottled water. 1. Bottled water is more expensive than tap water (and not just a little). via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTubeA Business Insider column noted that two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States is in individual 16.9-ounce bottles‚ which comes out to roughly $7.50 per gallon. That's about 2‚000 times higher than the cost of a gallon of tap water. And in an article in 20 Something Finance‚ G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4‚787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10! So if he paid $1 for a bottled water‚ he'd be paying 2‚279 times the cost of tap. 2. Bottled water could potentially be of lower quality than tap water. Fiji Water ran an ad campaign that was pretty disparaging about the city of Cleveland. Not a wise move. The city ordered a test of the snooty brand's water and found that Fiji Water contained levels of arsenic that weren't seen in the city's water supply.How was that possible? Sarah Goodman of the New York Times explains:" Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water‚ and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA."3. The amount of bottled water we buy every week in the U.S. alone could circle the globe five times!That sounded like it just had to be impossible‚ so we looked into it. Here's what our fact-checkers found:"According to the video‚ ' People in the U.S. buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.' National Geographic says for 2011‚ bottled water sales hit 9.1 billion gallons (roughly 34 billion liters).A 'typical' water bottle is a half-liter‚ so that's about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that's based on a smaller 'typical' bottle size‚ it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate.The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around‚ so yep‚ half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times."4. Paying for bottled water makes us chumps.Beverage companies have turned bottled water into a multibillion-dollar industry through a concept known as manufactured demand. Bottled water advertisements used a combination of scare tactics (Tap water bad!) and seduction (From the purest mountain streams EVER!) to reel us in.Well‚ we now know their claims about the superior quality of bottled water are mostly bogus. And research shows that anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water (which‚ to reiterate‚ is so cheap it's almost free).5. Bottled water is FILTHY.It takes oil — lots of it — to make plastic bottles. According to the video‚ the energy in the amount of oil it takes to make the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. in one year could fuel a million cars. That's not even counting the oil it takes to ship bottled water around the world.And once we've guzzled our bottled water‚ up to 80% of the empty bottles end up in landfills or noxious-gas-producing incinerators. The rest is either recycled or shipped to countries like India where poor people without environmental and labor protections have to deal with it.On top of all that‚ the process of manufacturing plastic bottles is polluting public water supplies‚ which makes it easier for bottled water companies to sell us their expensive product.6. There are 750 million people around the world who don't have access to clean water.A child dies every minute from a waterborne disease. And for me‚ that's the core of what makes bottled water so evil.The video wraps by comparing buying bottled water to smoking while pregnant. That may sound extreme‚ but after learning everything I just did about the bottled water industry‚ I can't disagree.If you're properly disgusted‚ here are a few ways you can help destroy the bottled water industry: Don't buy bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle. The savings will add up.Rally your schools‚ workplaces‚ and communities to ban bottled water.Demand that your city‚ state‚ and federal governments invest in better water infrastructure.This article originally appeared on 5.7.15

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