My name is John Hamery. I'm the president here at CSIS, and when Kim and Chris asked if CSIS would be willing to host this, I said, yeah, absolutely. We have a very proud to say that CSIS, this is before I came, that CSIS was kind of a starting point for the intellectual foundations for Youth Challenge. At the time, I was up on Capitol Hill in transition to become the Comptroller, the Chief Financial Officer for the Defense Department. And I was one foot out and one foot not yet in, and all of a sudden, here come my friends from the guard and say, we got this deal called Guard Challenge. I went, oh gosh. Because I'd been living in this environment where people just show up and say, we need money for this, we need money for that. I was going to become the Chief Financial Officer and thought, I don't know about this. But there were some very important people who I respected enormously who were pushing it. And so honestly, it was on the basis of that, that I went along with it and we started putting it in the budget. I'm glad to know that I lived long enough to say I was wrong. You know, there are things in America that work. Right now, we celebrate things that don't work. And we make them everybody's headlines. And we don't spend enough time looking at things that really do work and why they work and what they do for us. And I think that's what we want to develop in this little conversation. You're looking at two people that have been more influential in shaping and advancing youth challenge than anybody. Now, Hugh, of course, was present at creation. He was on the commission that helped invent the idea of the concept of youth challenge. And the good general has been leading the guard, but was instrumental throughout in nurturing this program. And it takes, things just don't happen. Everything in the world around us started off as an idea in one person's mind. But you have to translate that into something that's real. So let's start, Hugh, let me ask you to begin. And to say, go back to when you were on this commission 20 years ago, you were thinking, 21 years ago, you were thinking about this, your vision then, and what has worked? And what would you like to potentially change now? Well, let me go back even beyond then, if you don't mind. You reach a certain age, you start reminiscing, and so you've got to indulge me on this. My interest in this whole issue of what we can learn from the military and how it's very powerful education and training models might be adapted dates back to the mid-1970s when I was a partner in an urban affairs consulting firm. And we got a grant from a very small foundation called its iconic foundation to examine the issue of why so many young African-American males, particularly, were locked out of the labor market. It was something called the dual labor market back then. And I always start with the research, but as soon as I read that and consume it, I want to know, OK, what are we going to do about it? And what we're going to do about it dawned on me based on my experiences growing up here in Washington DC when a number of my classmates would drop out of school. I'd run into them a couple years later, and they had joined the army. And these kids that we used to call knuckleheads and thugs were ramrod straight in their army uniforms full of purpose and raring to go. And I never served in the military, but I said something happened to them. The military did something with them and for them and to them. That was obviously very powerful. So in the mid-70s, we got the idea of wouldn't it be fascinating if the military would create a quasi-military youth corps for kids who had dropped out of school? We started shopping that idea in the mid-1970s, but it was a non-starter then because the country was coming out of the Vietnam War. And anything associated with the military and connected to civilian kids was just a non-starter. 15 years later, I joined the Rockefeller Foundation as vice president. I went to a conference in Stanford University. I'm telling this because it's very interesting how ideas blossom. I went to a conference in Stanford and a very dear friend of mine and a mentor by the name of Edmund Gordon, who is a great psychologist and an avowed pacifist, said in one of the panels, I think the conditions of kids growing up in cities are now so horrific, we need to consider conscripting them for their own good. And I said to myself, have I got a conscription idea for you? So I went down to the freezer, pulled out this idea that we tried to sell in the mid-1970s, thought it, put some fresh spices on it, and said, let me see if I can use my position now as vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation to help put this idea in play. Through a variety of contacts, including Larry Corv, your former contact colleague, I got an introduction to Bill Taylor here at CSIS. I was shopping for an institution that was deeply rooted in the defense community and that if it embraced this idea, that might have a chance to new. Because my view was that there was no way that an ostensibly progressive foundation like the Rockefeller Foundation would be able to make this happen. And Bill, anybody who knows him here is a very enthusiastic guy, very effusive. And we clicked right away. And so I said, I have the ability to write some checks. And he said, I want to create a study commission. And I said, we'll finance that study commission. And we teamed up CSIS with a group called Public Private Ventures, which was deeply involved in youth development programs. And that exercises after the races. Again, thanks to Larry Corv got an introduction to General Temple, went into the Pentagon. I'd never been in the Pentagon before. I told my wife, if I don't show up in five hours, send in the police to try to find me. I don't know what will happen. And in that meeting with the general was the fellow named Dan Donahue, who had dreamt of doing something like this. And General Temple shocked me when he said, as I mentioned, 10 minutes into it, I get it, we'll do it. And then he also said, we train young people to be soldiers, but we can train young people to be anything. And that's how powerful our systems were. And that confluence of the keen interests of, and he said, we'll do it. So we'll work with CSIS. We'll develop the model, we'll go up on Capitol Hill and get the funding from the subcommittee that oversees the Guard. And that's the dawn of the challenge program from my experience. I was fascinated by the idea of an entity like the Guard, which has both a domestic and a national defense focus. I was fascinated by the potential to operate at scale, to build systems and consistent delivery. Because one of the issues that we see in many programs is the uneven implementation, the live at the improv, the unstable funding bases and all that. And the idea that the Guard might take this on, offered a great deal of potential and does to this day. So it's been very exciting to watch. And I'm proud to claim just a little bit of parentage for it. But it's been very exciting to see how it has blossomed. And I've run into people from the challenge program all over the country and the enthusiasm and determination to make it work. This is another thing, is that the determination of the folks who are involved in this program and have that missionary zeal is something you don't find in a lot of education programs. I'm glad you brought that up, Hugh. And I'm glad you also mentioned the kind of unique quality of the Guard because it's a military organization, but it's family. I mean, it's us. It's community. It's the people that are every day around us, probably a third of them are policemen or firemen or maintenance people for the school buses and all that. They're in the fabric of making American society work. So giving them this mission was a genius idea. And Craig, you led this.  You've been championing the Guard. I'm sure when you first heard about it, you said, Jesus, and I don't need this now. I've got so many other things. Why this? How did you think about this when you first heard about it? Well, first of all, Dr. Hamry, thanks to UNCSIS and the Kim Wynn Cup and the entire team for hosting us today. I think I speak for all the prior chiefs of the National Guard. We're going back to Herb Temple, but John Conaway, Ed Baca, Russ Davis, and Steve Blum and myself, and now our new chief, Frank Grass, when I say this is a deeply seated value that we believe is one of our crown jewels in the National Guard archive. It is different when you come up in a state system that has both a state and federal mission to look at youth challenge and say, is that one of our core competencies? Especially in my case, as a fighter pilot, training to fight the former Soviet Union. But once you visit a youth challenge site and once you see the work that's done there, no matter what your job skill is in the National Guard, you know because of our deep roots, which you said so eloquently, are in our community and what John Conaway used to call the Community-Based National Defense Force. That's who we are, 376 years worth of it. It just makes sense to put it in our enterprise. And then as I was fortunate enough to come up through the bureau, spend time in the Pentagon, and see firsthand as chief our programs, which we have program directors here today and graduates, who you will hear from later, it only reinforces the value of the National Guard to our nation and to our states. The governors retain the right to be the commanders in chief. Therefore, that panel discussion we had earlier about the state piece of this, the governors are very interested in it. It just makes sense. You know, I spent a little bit of time in a seminary and I was a failed seminarian. But one concept that still dominates my own personal life is the idea of redemption. That you can take somebody that's broken and give them a second chance. And I think that's a lot of what this program is about. This constituency, this is not, this is not the favored constituency in American society. This is a constituency that struggles. Tough, strong headwinds. And yet that's who we're trying to work with. Yeah, one of the remarkable, one of the many remarkable things about the program and Dan and General Temple and many others have reminded me. The Guard and the architects of this program espouse the idea of developing the whole person long before that phrase entered into the lexicon of K-12 education. When you look at the eight program components of the Guard, it's the essence of social and emotional development, which people are beginning to talk about. The program focuses on getting kids up to snuff academically, but it also focuses on leadership, which everybody understands, but followership. What is that? Well, that's functioning in an organization, knowing that you're not always gonna be a top dog and anybody who's married knows that, anybody who's got a mother knows that, anybody who's got daughters knows that. But you've got to function in an environment where you have to produce, be productive and be part of a team. The elements of that focus around job skills, community service, civic responsibility. So there are many elements of the Guard program that contribute to the development of the young people. And then the Guard's course members who are sort of like drill sergeants are the ultimate mentors. Nobody thinks of them that way because of the image on television, but their job is to transform young people into successful young adults. So I think that actually, and I'm working on a book about this for Brookings, I think there's a lot that can be extracted from the way in which challenges are organized that could be helpful in civilian contexts where kids who have a hard time in traditional schools and for whom traditional schools just did just the design and support systems are not right. And it's a very powerful intervention. Dan once said to me, and this is a very vivid image, he said, you know, in essence what we do in the challenge programs, we've got the kids for about five months, we systematically, you're gonna love this and I hope nobody gets indigestion, we systematically freeze dry the brains. Then we go in and systematically scoop out all the bad stuff and we inject good stuff in it. He said, now I get it, now I get it. But it's a very powerful transformative experience and for kids who are having a hard time in life and a hard time in school and don't have the supports they need at home and in their communities, they need powerful transformative experiences and powerful, the second shift of adults who need to be part of the first shift working with these young people. But my, and I've only touched lightly on this, but I had a chance to see it a bit when I was in government. It's not just that you're putting them through a mold, it's that you're giving them a sense of their possibility, what they can become. What it takes, you have to earn it, but you can become that. And I think that's a powerful, powerful incentive for young people, that they're not worthless. They can be something. Craig, you deal with this all the time with guardsmen. You're taking people, these aren't not necessarily the winners in life and yet you turn them into winners. Well, you know, the advent of the all volunteer force created a whole new image of what being in the United States military was all about. Nobody forces anybody to do these jobs anymore. Conscription is a word that a lot of young people don't even understand anymore. And as Gail Dady and our board members know, there's no fences around the youth challenge academies. These kids can come and go as they want if they wanna check out. They can leave on their own accord. But the majority of these young men and women stay because they want this new adaptive structure built into their lives, because they missed it somewhere along the line. They want to grab it, they want to seize it. And for the foundation members who are here today, our goal is to try to take them from that point where they are successful and move them on into more successful job skills later on in life, but you're absolutely right. I remember Dan and I attended the first graduation ceremony for the first unit in the challenge program. And it was the Connecticut unit and it was held on the campus of the Coast Guard. And CNN came, it was a very big deal. And to see the kids who had dropped out of school, parading down to the front in their caps and gowns, hundreds and hundreds of parents and children and well-wishers there, saluting the kids who had been written off as having no hope. To see some fellows, I don't know where they came from, maybe from a nearby barber contingent of guys from the American Legion with the hats and everything, came now, I'm not a military guy, so you gotta give me some space on this. Came over and awarded top cadet citations to these kids.  The other interesting experience was Dan and I and a bunch of cadets went on the Montel Williams show. Montel cared deeply about this program, Navy Vet. And it was a typical staging thing. And at one point, off in the background offstage was a father who said, I never thought my son was gonna mount to nothing. And then the father comes out and there's this warm embrace between the father and the son. And it was just a purpose of the transformation is quite remarkable and it's the acknowledgement that if we invest in our young people, there's all sorts of enormous potential there. And but we've got to invest. Let me, there's such strong positive resonance between you. Let me try to get a little division here, but it's not, it's to draw, I think, a stronger point. You know, one of the early elements of resistance to this was that it was gonna be a farm league for military recruiting.  Tell me, how did you internalize that? And Craig, how do you think about that? We really want young people to succeed. It really depends on where they wanna take themselves. And if they do choose, which less than 10% of our graduates have choose to go to the military, great, we love it. But that's not our purpose. Our purpose is to turn out wholesome citizens who understand the value of education and a desire to continue that. You know, I look, Mike Mullen was my boss for a while, former chairman of Joint Chiefs, and Mike used to always look at things in national security structure. And I look, as a former 38 year veteran, less than 1% of our citizenry in this great nation have the ability to serve now, the propensity to serve. Out of recruits, only one out of four young people today qualify to become a member of the United States military. Various reasons, drugs, they don't have a degree, they've gone astray. We have a national problem here that we talked about all day. I think about it in security terms. Others think about it in terms of relevance to our nation, but I really believe that youth challenge gives young people the chance for the second chance, but to succeed in our country's history and fabric. Hugh, how was your- Well, I just think when you think about the domestic side of the Guard, when it goes in to help put communities back together again after hurricanes or storms or tornadoes, they're not going in to recruit soldiers. They're going in pursuit of a domestic mission that the governor has asked them to do. So that's the hat that I think they have on when they're doing this. And the fascinating thing is, early on there probably was some doubt in the Pentagon about whether they should be doing this amongst some folks in the Pentagon. Probably some doubt in the education community, but it's been fascinating to see the members of the Guard who get involved in this become just real true believers. And in a sense of mission, we are going to get this done for the young people. And so that's why they're there. They're not doing this in order to recruit. They're doing it to help young people get turned on to productive lives. And that has overtaken any other concerns that I have. That still doesn't mean I probably have a lot more progressive friends than you do. And these are some hard conversations that have been going on. I mean, I've been in this conversation for 40 years. And my view is if the program works, let's not worry about this. And in some school system, for example, around the public military academies, which are like high schools that are patterned after military, there are people who object to that. But my view is when you've got a ratio of 10 applicants to one slot, the parents are speaking, the kids are speaking about what they want. And that needs to be respected. And the young people who are signing up for the challenge program are speaking. And if this is a powerful option for them, it ought to exist. I'm worried about where this is going to go in this land of sequester where we don't care about substance and it's only about the political posturing around budgets. Where, Craig, you're closer to this. You struggled with funding issues in the department. How do you think about that? I guess timing's everything. I retired on the 1st of November last year. This was before the word sequester was even out in public. So our budgets have been very sustainable thanks to support from Senator Landrieu and others, Congresswoman Napolitano. There are great supporters on the Hill. But it's all gonna come under scrutiny. Every dollar is gonna come on the table. And so I think the previous panel talked about the rigorous evaluation of the program and the statistics that show that this works. If we can continue, and we certainly always will open our doors, I speak for the former chiefs but even the current chief. We open our doors. Come look at us. If it isn't working and if we're not spending the money wisely, I think then we have to be held to account for it. Yeah, I don't live in Washington. So I- Don't brag.  I'm jumping on a train at four o'clock, I can't believe it. But I mean, I worry about that. And hopefully the sequester phenomenon is a short-term phenomenon and more rational budgeting will prevail. It is delightful to know that the folks at OMB are very close to the program and believe it and understand the power of the evidence. And certainly that's a great affirmation to have both the MDRC evaluation and the RAND study just as an aside, my wife works for MDRC and she didn't work on this study.  So don't come up with any insignificant findings on this. I can't. No, I don't, I don't. But it was exciting to see the results. And just to see, I mean, sometimes instinct affirmed by evidence is very, very powerful and anybody who sees the program and operation understands the power. It's not for everybody and not every young person can get through it. I'm not sure that high at that age would have gotten through it. But it's exciting to see the young people who wanna do it. I do think, as I mentioned earlier, I think there's a lot that can be gleaned from this that could be applied in education and financed in some innovative ways. I mean, yes, federal government and labor and all that. Bob Delfast made a very interesting point about the money that's not well spent on ninth grade retention. That's a pool of money.  That money can be repurposed because, you know, so many young people are headed that way if we don't intervene successfully. A lot of money is spent on trying to get folks who don't graduate from high college into GED or some other kinds of alternative services. If these are more effective, that's a potential source. And I think the key is, and this is why the RAND study is so important, if we don't figure this out, we'll spend multiples of the costs of these programs on the consequences later. Yeah, I read the cost-benefit analysis studies and I was very happily surprised. Frankly, I used to put a lot of budgets together for defense things and we wouldn't have had such strong cost-benefit analysis on some of that stuff. So it's a real testament, the fact that this is a program that's been well run and put itself through the rigor of being tested that way. And the guards deserve very high marks for this. But I have a sense that when programs get to be 20 years old, they start to lose the founder's impulse. The people that invent the idea want to sustain it, they step back and we don't necessarily transition this to a new leadership cadre to give them a sense it's their program. They've inherited it, it isn't necessarily theirs. What do we do? Is this an issue, Craig? Sure, I think it's an issue with any organism, organization that has to continue on beyond the visionaries. I give great credit to Gail and the board members in here who focus and continue to look for ways to improve what we can do for graduates. But we still have those five former chiefs that you started with Herb. And if Herb were here today, he would show you the passion that started this. If John Conaway were here, he'd be up here correcting me to 100%. The point is these gentlemen and the ladies who participate in this program are all in. They have been from the beginning and we will carry on. But that means we have to have a 21st century approach to this and that's gonna take the things we've learned about today in the panel discussion and the board and us and the chief of the bureau now to go forward and make improvement. I think also a way to do it if you're part of the expression is to present fresh challenges. The idea that challenge is beginning to work with adjudicated youth. There was an effort in Oklahoma some years ago to do that. I forget the project Bravo or something like that. Well, that's a whole population a bit tougher than the cross section and the challenge program. But if challenge as we know it is affected with those kids, that's a whole other funding stream arguably a lot cheaper if you can keep young people out of prison, get them out or get them out earlier. States save a lot of money, a lot of money. That can be a fresh funding stream for the application of the idea. And again, I think that there are ways in which the challenge approach could be used in creating different kinds of daytime educational institutions that could work. And this is where I also think that governors can step in if you've got populations of young people who are clearly not being served by schools as we know them and are out there floating in the disengaged community. Governors can step in and say, well the schools as we know them and love them don't work for those kids. So we at a state level are gonna take responsibility for that just as governors are taking responsibility for failing schools in some communities and what Paul did down in Louisiana creating new kinds of schools. I think states can exert a lot of leadership there filling voids. And frankly, liberating the schools that are wrestling with the kids are basically in the building to perform even better if there are more powerful alternatives. But the states can take some leadership there I think and bring their own funding streams and call upon the guard which has got these powerful systems and experience to bring to bear on those young people. You know, last, I guess it was earlier this week we had Frank Grass here who was the current chief. He is. And he on his own endorsed the youth challenge program. And it, so I'm very happy that it's continuing with this strong support from the top of the guard. I do think we need to find a way that we are communicating to the Congress to give them, I'm delighted that Senator Landry was here, but we need to find a broader base, I think in the Congress going forward. I mean, the half life and the house now is about nine years and the half life in the Senate's 11 years which means that we have fewer than 25% in either body probably down to 15% in the house that were around when this challenge was created. We've got a reeducation issue. That's part of what we're doing this for. Part of why we're capturing it on film. It's part of what we're trying to give all of you, you know, in your own mind the talking points of what's important to be sharing for this. Again, let me just ask you to, with Eddie, because we're at the hour when we need to pass on to the panel that's now coming and it will be the most exciting part in a way. But what's the vision that each of you now has? Where we are, this is a success. And we can be satisfied with it, we can grow it. We can build it. Just a little bit of an inspirational vision that you have for us. Well, I think there's a vision, there are a couple of ways of thinking about the vision. One is there is challenge. There are ways in which challenge, as we know it, as it's structured as a residential program can grow and should grow. And then there are lessons from challenge, implications of challenge that have the potential to influence how we think about young people who will never participate in a program like this. And I think we ought to consider those possibilities as well. What can we learn from it, glean from it that could be used in other settings to create other kinds of entities that are a service to kids? And that's the focus of the book. I do think there's a very powerful constituency for challenge. When I went to the Challenge Foundation gala, I was stunned by the number of governors. I don't want to call First Lady significant gubernatorial others, depending on the gender of the governor. Members of Congress who believe passionately in the program and they believe passionately in the program because everybody knows young people who've got an issue. Every politician has constituents who've got issues, nieces, nephews, et cetera. So that can be marshaled. There is no K-12 education program I know of that could stay to gala like the one that the Challenge Foundation stages with that kind of zeal reflected in that room with several thousand people who are passionate. And we're governors and first, whatever's traipse in and talk about the program and we're NASCAR drivers too. So there's a powerful base there and a powerful story to tell. And there was once more bipartisan, vocal bipartisan support. I remember going to one of these dinners in Washington and I walked up to President Clinton and introduced myself even to who I was. I said, I've got a connection with the Challenge Program. He lit up like a light bulb, he loved the program. Then Trent Lott was there and I'm not a Republican but I walked up to him and said, I've got a connection with the Challenge, he lit up like a light bulb. So their political people across the aisle have constituents who need challenge and that needs to be marshaled in some way. Thanks again for the opportunity to be here. I think I can give credit to Gail and the board for that Gaila, they do a great job. And we just recently did a new vision and Dodie did a new strategic plan for us because we have to be ready now for the next challenge that's out in front of us. But quite frankly, to bring back the memory of Congressman Sonny Montgomery who I think was there at the birth. Yes, he was the chair. And you take that passion and bring it to modern day we'll be just fine. And your National Guard will continue to support as you saw in Frank Grassley for our chief whatever endeavors that we can do and we're looking for new and better ways to take young men and women beyond the initial challenge experience. I think that's our goal. You know, our country's got a lot of problems these days and the world has a lot of problems but if we each try to find one within our grasp to fix it, every person in the world did that we could solve them. But you need a vehicle for that. You need something that can help amplify your own personal passion to make a change in the world. I think you've challenged that. I want to thank you both for making it possible. Would you all with your applause, please thank them for this remarkable. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for your vision. Thanks Dr. Hammer. I appreciate it very much.


So you've gone and done it. You bought a donkey. Maybe you had planned that out well, or maybe you just surrendered to impulse when you saw that lovable creature you now own offered for sale on Craigslist. Either way, you would hoped it would be useful around your little homestead or country acreage. But now all it does is just stand there and eat, and you wish you could put it to some practical use.  Hi, my name is Dick Corto. I'm an old horseman, 85 years old now, and I've worked with horses and mules, donkeys and ponies for three quarters of a century. So along the way, I've gained a lot of experience, and I've benefited from the experience of generations of horsemen that have gone before me. Now I'm headed over the western slope, and I'd like to pass along a little of that accumulated knowledge to those that follow.   So over the past 37 years, I have worked and trained, and trained for other folks as well, several good donkeys to till the garden, to skid light logs, and to do general touring like hauling firewood or hay. In my training, I have employed the methods and techniques, modified somewhat for the donkey, that I learned, studied, and practiced as a professional horsebreaker and trainer for about 50 years. We start out with teaching the young donkey to lead and proceed onward till we introduce her to real work, pulling a soft, safe load. Along the way, I pass along tricks of the trade, including a couple of tricks I learned from old timers much older than myself. Long forgotten lore, now lost to time. We talk about harness and other basic equipment, and show how to fit the all-important collar. We demonstrate the simple equipment, with which even a novice can pack their donkey to carry things around the homestead, or a tent in bedroll up the trail to a campsite. We get the donkey to pull a cart, and glimpse ahead to the future accomplishment of working two animals harnessed in a team. All of the above is clearly explained in words and clearly illustrated with diagrams and photos.


Hello dear learners. I welcome you to this lecture session today. The topic of which is society, religion and cultural development in early medieval India. The lecture is meant for the BA for semester learners of history. The lecture session on this unit will be divided into three parts. The first part shall cover the topic of the society and religious development in the early medieval India, followed by the cultural scenario prevalent at that point of time and then a detailed discussion on the later part on the topic of feudalism and jati pratha or the caste system. For today's lecture session, we shall focus on the first part. Dear learners, I am Dr. Sakmaya Lama, assistant professor in the discipline of history under Surya Kumar Bhunya School of Social Sciences. In the lecture today, we will be discussing the social conditions and religious development in the early medieval period. Let us begin with the social condition in the early medieval India. The nature of the society during this period of study has been termed as feudal, raising much debates among the historians. We should discuss about it in our next class. We shall discuss about it in our next class. Similarly, the discussion on jati pratha or the caste system which is essential to the understanding of the society for this period shall also be taken up in the following sessions.  A feudal society is dominated by a class of people who derived their income from the surplus produced by the peasant. In a feudal society, the peasant is the primary producer of wealth, but his position is that of a dependent. While looking into the societal conditions, let us understand the condition of people. The literary works of the time reveals to us that ministers, officials, feudal lords, even big merchants live the life of luxury with fine houses, domestic servants to look after them, and attendants who would accompany them wherever they went. There are, however, literary accounts that tell us that such prosperity was limited to only a few. Kalhana mentions that the ordinary people did not have the luxury of eating good food and often these poor men and women took to rubbery for the survival. As for the rural folks, the peasant's life was burdened with numerous taxes and cesses over and above the land revenue. Slavery existed during this period and mostly consisted of prisoners of wars, debtors who were unable to pay their dues, women who were sold for domestic services, etc. Coming to the question of women, let us discuss a little bit about the condition. Child marriage was prevalent and under certain conditions remarriages were allowed. Women were more honored in the domestic roles where their life was regulated by the male members of their household. Pardha system wasn't in practice. As mentioned in his writings by Abu Zaid, who was an Arab traveler of the 10th century, he writes how most Indian princes allowed their women to attend the court proceedings without any pardha. Regarding dresses and accessories, men and women in general wore dhoti and saree respectively. Coats and trousers, including shoes, were mostly worn by the men of the upper class in North India as it appears from the sculptures. As for jewellery and ornaments, both men and women were fond of it. We are informed of this from the writings of the travelers. In the matter of food, vegetarian foods were consumed in certain areas and by a certain section of the population. But eating of meat was not cancelled totally. Smriti writers have mentioned the lawful consumption of meat on particular occasions. Likewise, drinking wine was popular among a certain class of people during feasts and such other ceremonial gatherings. For leisure, fairs and festivals, cockfighting, etc. were popular among the common people. The upper class indulged in activities that were royal in nature like dicing, hunting, etc. Now let us discuss about the religious development of this period. One significant development during this period was the decline of Buddhism and Jainism. The monks from both this faith faced persecution. We can trace this development to the decline of the patrons of this faith. Especially Buddhism. The decline of the Pala rulers in the east gave a serious blow to Buddhism. However, Buddhism itself was undergoing certain internal transitions. The rituals became more elaborate and the focus was on the belief in mystical practices and gestures. Tantric Buddhism thus became a tradition. It soon caught the tension of Hindu yogis and it was Gauraknath who made this tradition popular among the masses. Nathpanthis as his followers were called were able to garner a huge support base as they welcomed everyone from different castes and privileges to its fold. It can thus be said that Buddhism, though not popular, yet took a different form which was very similar along the lines of Hinduism. As for Jainism, as long as it gained the patronage from the ruling class, it thrived. The Chalukyas of Gujarat, the Paramaras of Malwa and the Ganga rulers of Karnataka were among the few ruling dynasties that favored the Jain faith. The result of which led to the building of temples, Jainalayas or rest houses for the travelers, images of Jain saints and of Mahavira, building of pillars or Mahastambas etc. However, with the increase in the rigidity and along with the loss of patronage, Jainism started to lose its popularity. The other important religious development of this period was the revival and expansion of Hinduism which took two forms. One was the growth of an intellectual movement, emphasizing the Vedas and the Vedic rituals. On the other hand was the popular movement. In North it was based on Tantra and in South India it was the Bhakti movement that disregarded the caste inequalities. There was rise of the worship of Shiva and Vishnu who were considered the chief gods and to claim their supremacy many grand temples were built. This led to the process of the Hinduization of many local and tribal gods and goddesses who were now worshipped but more of as a consort or subordinate. Thus goddess Tara began to be worshipped as the consort of Buddha and goddess Kali and Durga as the consort of Shiva which gained prominence in eastern India. This developments within Hinduism increased the power of the Brahmins who grew arrogant and as a result of which popular movements emerged targeting them and aimed at preaching the principles of human equality and freedom. Now what popular movements are we talking about? We are talking about the Bhakti movement that grew in South India and led by many saints like the Nayanmer and Alvars. The emphasis was to give away with the austerities and advocate the bond of love between the worshipper and the god. The emphasis was to give away with the austerities and advocate the bond of love between the worshipper and god. Shiva and Vishnu remained the chief objects of their worship. The Nayanmer worshipped Shiva the Alvars worshipped Vishnu. Tamil became the medium of speech and writing which made it popular among the people. The saints who mostly belonged to the lower class preached the message of love and devotion and emphasized that the path of Bhakti was not exclusive to any caste. Tamil became the medium of speech and writing which made it popular among the people. The saints who mostly belong to the lower class preached the message of love and devotion and emphasized that the path of Bhakti was not exclusive to any caste. The success of the Bhakti movement lies in the fact that it could bring the followers of Jainism and Buddhism within its fold along with the followers of the tribal cults. The teachings of the Alvars were systematized and declared as equivalent to the Vedas by different acharyas and Nathamuni was the leader of these acharyas. These group of saints and acharyas began to be worshipped in the temple and later it developed many rituals which is still practiced today. Another popular movement was the Lingayat or Vir Saiva movement of the 12th century founded by Basava and Channa Basava. Worshipers of Shiva, the Lingayats were strictly against the caste system. The elaborate rituals of fasting and feasting. On the social front they opposed child marriage and advocated for widow remarriage. The biggest blow to Jainism and Buddhism was on the intellectual front and it was brought upon by Shankara. Born in Kerala, Shankara is said to have won an intellectual debate against the Jain scholars leading to the loss of their influence. His reformulation of the Hindu philosophy is called Advaitavada or the doctrine of non-dualism. His philosophy is also called Vedanta as it considers Vedas as a source of true knowledge. According to Shankara, the road to salvation was devotion to God knowing that God and the created beings were one. It did not gain much followers among the masses as this philosophy stressed on Jain or knowledge to clean the soul for the attainment of salvation. Nath Muni and other Acharyas who followed him claimed that the path of Bhakti lay in the study of the scriptures and practicing the rituals prescribed by the Brahmins and hence limited only to the three upper castes. Another Acharya named Ramanuja made an attempt to assimilate the Bhakti movement to the Veda tradition on the basis of his argument that for attaining salvation God's grace was important than Jnana or knowledge about the superior being. According to him the path of Bhakti was open to all including the Dalits and the Shudras. This tradition continued to flourish towards later period under Madhavacharya, Ramananda, Vallabhacharya etc. So with this we come to the end of this lecture. For reference books or any suggested reading I would request our learners to go through Satish Chandra's history of medieval India and Romila Thapar's early India from the origins to A.D. 1300. As for questions and answers segment the common questions under this segment would be the condition of society during the early medieval period. The other questions that may be asked would be on the Bhakti movement or the reason behind the decline of Jainism and Buddhism. Bullet points may be used for answering these questions. The answers should also ensure that all relevant points are included. For example while writing on the society the conditions of women slaves must not be excluded. In the next session we will be discussing the architectural traditions of the early medieval period focusing on the Nagara, Dravida and the Vesara style of architecture. Before leaving let me give you a brief summary of what we have discussed so far. We have discussed the society of the early medieval period and the religious development that took place during this time. We discussed the living condition of the people, the condition of women and the activities pursued during leisure. During this discussion we understood that the society was stratified and feudal in character along with the presence of the caste system. With regard to the religious matters we discussed the decline of Jainism and Buddhism due to the intellectual and literary challenges coming from those who aimed at reviving Hinduism by laying stress on Vedas. We also discussed the Bhakti movement that grew in South India which opened the gateways to attain salvation for all people irrespective of their caste. Dear learners, that is it for today. We will meet you soon in yet another interesting session. Till then take care and stay safe. Thank you.


Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game are about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today is the founder of the hugely popular Roy's Restaurants. He is Super Chef Roy Yamaguchi, and today we are going Beyond Restaurants. Hey Chef Roy, how's it going? Going well, Rusty. Thank you very much for the invitation to Beyond the Show. Oh, super good to see you, and I know that you were born in Japan, but how did you like growing up in Japan? Well, Japan to me was great. Going into Japan gave me the opportunity to learn kind of both sides, both cultures, and, you know, I lived on an army base, a US army base, and being involved with the military aspects earlier on at the same time, being able to walk off base and go right into Japan and Tokyo and everywhere else was incredible part of my life. Well, I'm sure the food had a lot of influence on you, because the two times I've been to Japan, I just absolutely love the food over there. Well, the food is great.  And then the days that I didn't go off base and stayed on base, now I'm going to go to the cafeteria and eat the hamburger with gravy on French fries. So Chef Roy, how did you get interested in becoming a chef? Well, you know, I have to say at the age of 16, I took home Mc in high school, and a friend of mine said, hey Roy, you want to take home Mc? And I said, well, what is that? He goes, don't worry about it, we'll meet a lot of girls. Oh, that's a good reason, that's a good start. I didn't meet a lot of girls, but I really did like cooking. You know, I had invited my school counselor to this luncheon that I made. You know, it was a turkey lunch, and he really enjoyed it, and he said, hey Roy, you know what, I think you have a Mac for cooking. And so, you know what, let me do some research and find out some culinary schools and that's all that all came about. So Chef Roy, when and why did you start Roy's restaurants? Well, I have to say, you know, I was in Los Angeles for about 11 years working in different types of restaurants. And then I went to, of course, I went to school in New York, culinary school in New York. And when I went to Los Angeles, you know, working a lot of different restaurants, I ended up working in this one restaurant where I became the chef. And after that, you know, I opened a restaurant in Los Angeles and it was a failure. I lost a lot of money. Our group lost a lot of money, almost went bankrupt. And I decided that after that happened, you know, I would open another, my next restaurant I would open would be something different, and it would have more of my personality input.  And that's how, you know, the restaurant got open. Well, I got to say, I absolutely love your Roy's Hawaii Kai restaurant. I mean, I try to go there as much as possible when I can. And your dishes, your food, it's so good. It's so consistent. Your service is great. Why is that? Well, you know, I can't take all the credit for that. But you know, my vision many, many years ago, my open Roy's 33 years ago, was to make sure that we had a culinary culture and that we would put all of our emphasis on making sure that we have creative food. But yet we have a lower service.  Now, how often do you change your menu? Well, our menu has changed, you know, of course, it's changed time to time. You know, there's a lot of things that we look on, look at on a day to day basis to make sure that we can get the ingredients in. So the core menu is always going to stay where we have eight items that we call plastics that we keep on the menu. And then other than that, depending on what we get in and what we're able to get fresh is what goes on the menu. But, you know, the menu does stay sane pretty much all year round. So maybe about four, five, six, seven different things that may change from, you know, every month or every couple months. Yeah, no, that's key because, you know, we all love to have our favorites from your restaurants. And Chef Roy, you know, during this COVID time, how have you been able to adapt and survive during this challenging time? Well, I think what's extremely important is that, you know, our team came together. That's number one. And number two, you know, the community came together. And we have a huge support from our community, you know, at our restaurant. But with that, you know, I have to say that, you know, we doubled down on social media. And we doubled down on trying to get the message across to our customers and for future customers that, hey, we're open. We have takeouts. And, you know, when the time comes, we're able to reopen or indoor dining again, we're going to be here. So that was our message. So what are the status of your Hawaii restaurants now? How many do you have open? Oh, in Hawaii, we have 10 scattered among the four islands. And we currently have eight open out of 10. So I think that's a pretty great number. When you think about, you know, we have many restaurants that are in the first concentrated areas. Yeah, no, that's really good. I'm happy to hear that.  And I want to know, you know, people define success in various ways. How do you define success?  Of course, you know, you have to look at the future and you have to plan and all of that good stuff. But, you know, I look at how, as my success as making sure that, you know, we take care of each guest in one dish at a time, because we find success on a day-to-day basis. I mean, we have to make sure that we do great things today, or else we have no tomorrow. And so, success, of course, is, you know, having our customers come back and back and building that conduit, but at the same time, you know, we can easily lose that by serving a plate that's not to what our customers are used to or what they would like it to be. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And in my books, you know, I talk about leadership and creating a superior culture of excellence, and that's exactly what you do, you have done, and you continue to do. So, I want to know, what do you feel the best leaders do? Well, you know, I think number one, they lead by example, and they listen. So, you know, I'm always a person, you know, I mean, I truly believe that my leadership skills are defined, and our culture is defined by my actions. What I do is an individual, whether it be at work or off of work, and I'm a type of person that likes to lead by what I do. And definitely, my work ethic has always been strong from day one, and I believe that we built a culture around it. Well, that's so true. I mean, hard work works, and hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. And another thing in my book that I talk about, Chef Roy, is, you know, every successful team is a reflection of their leader, and the leader is a reflection of their team. It goes both ways. What do you look for when you hire employees? Well, number one, I look at and look for a sparkle in your eyes. You know, I look for someone that really has interest. You know, someone that knows it all to me is really not good for our culture. I mean, we need someone that has a lot of passion, a lot of life that wants to learn, that wants to do good.  And I think that, you know, we want to make sure that they have that sparkle, because with that sparkle, they can do a lot of different things and make a lot of changes.  So, when you reflect back on your years as a restaurant owner, why have your restaurants continued to sustain success? Well, I always say people. I have to say that, you know, that's our number one asset, and that's our number one resource. You know, I have to say that it's our people that continue to work hard and embrace my vision, my goals, my dreams, and those dreams are kept alive through the people that have worked for us and continue to work for us. And Chef Roy, who would you say is a leader that you greatly admire? Well, this leader that I really admire and respected was one of my instructors, one of my so-called teachers over at the Culinary Institute of America, you know, the cooking school that I went to, and Mr. Lee Roy Folsom, Chef Folsom was definitely one of the individuals that really inspired me to continue to learn what I've learned and to continue to work hard to, you know, make sure that, you know, our culinary culture never goes away. Wow. You know, great leaders are never complacent. They're always trying to find ways to improve themselves. So, what do you do to continually improve yourself as a great leader? Well, one thing I always do is work hard.  But to me, I always, I'm a firm believer that we can do things better all the time. And, you know, we work on recipes, we work on our service standards. And all of those things, I believe, help make me better on a day-to-day basis, because we're trying to always achieve great things. And we're always trying to make sure that our customers, if you walk through the doors, because they have high expectation that we can deliver and give them the welfare. Yeah. No, I totally agree. And your grandfather, did he, did he have a restaurant as well? Yes. Thanks for asking. My grandfather actually was in the grocery business. And, but in the early 40s, he opened a restaurant in Wailuku, you know, serving meals to the plantation workers.    And he goes, oh, that's nothing. And he goes, I used to work 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 hours a day. And when I used to stand up, I used to stand on just a cement floor. That's amazing. That's, that's so true. I mean, they, they work hard back in the days. And what, what are some qualities that you admire from your grandfather besides that hard work? Oh, he was very humble, very humble, humble man. So that's why, you know, I opened this restaurant in Wailea called the Humble Market Kitchen, because it was to honor my grandfather, who was very, very humble. And, you know, he had to work in a restaurant, and he had his own restaurant, which is the kitchen, and he also owned the market. So, you know, humble market kitchen. Wow, that's really good to hear.   Oh, you know, I'm not so sure it was an adversity, but, you know, my, you know, we didn't really have a good family life when I was growing up. And, you know, I never really spent time at home. And I was, I left home when I was 17. And, you know, I haven't looked back and, you know, I've made it on my own after leaving home. So, you know, I think that family life that I didn't have, and, you know, being on my own since the age of 17, I think, you know, it taught me a lot of different things about life and how I needed to work hard. And then, you know, I couldn't trust anybody else but myself. And if I didn't do it on my own, you know, I wouldn't have anything. So, that kind of propelled me to view what I do today.  How do you get everybody to have that, that right mindset to really welcome challenges? You know, rather than thinking, oh, why is life happening to me versus life is happening for me and to really look forward to challenges. How do you as the leader get your team to really stay positive and how do you inspire them? Well, I think from day one, I've always been vocal about, you know, how I want things done and how I need it done now. Not tomorrow, I need it down today.  So, you know, timing has always been an issue for me. And to make sure that we get it done today, not tomorrow. So, so, so those are the things that I've always worked on. So being vocal about it. But yet, you know, sharing our goals. And at the same time, you know, I don't know when it was maybe about seven, eight years ago, you know, I hate being on television.  But I said to my guys, you know what, I'm going to take the leap of faith and enter, you know, top chef master.  But, but anyways, you know, that's, you know, I said, you can't be scared.  So, you know, use that, you know, that, that energy and that attitude to overcome and do things that normally you wouldn't do. Well, that's definitely an adversity there that you overcame. I mean, so overall, how did you like that top chef experience? Oh, it was great.  You know, as I had a great feeling, and I just was so proud to been able to not, not only been selected as a contestant, but because it was the first year, it was the first season and the first episode that I was on. So of course, you know, I mean, it was, it was, it was really rewarding in that sense. But, you know, I wish I would have lasted a little longer than the minutes. I mean, if you would have blinked your eye, I would have been off screen. Now, Chef Roy, earlier, you mentioned the first restaurant you ever started, it failed. Why, why do you, you know, when you look at these other restaurants that are failing, what are some of the reasons they fail? Well, I mean, I can't speak for others, but you know, for myself, you know, it was a lack of teamwork. We didn't know what we were doing, meaning that I myself was not a good leader. I couldn't put the team together. I couldn't gel everybody together.  And, you know, we were relying on too many of the outside factors, and we didn't control what we should have controlled and planned for the future. Oh, no, those are great insights. And what would you say is the best advice you ever received? Well, I mean, there's a lot of great, great advice, you know, that I receive all through my life.  I agree. I like to keep things really simple and clear. I mean, clarity is key, right? Your direction. Your direction for sure. Yeah. And, Chef Roy, what would you say is an example of you taking a risk? Well, I mean, so, you know, being on that show was one of them.    So, to me, is to think it and to really do your performance, you know, do what you need to do, do what you have to do, because the consequences could be worse. And you don't want to take the risk of not doing it when you can do it. Yeah, I totally agree with you.  Well, yeah. Well, thanks for asking me because that's one of my passions also is that, you know, because I actually started the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival with my wife, Denise, and also Chef Ellen Wong. And, you know, we used to do this dinner at Roy's Hawaii for many years. Chef Ellen and I, it was called Roy and Friends. So Ellen and I would invite other, you know, chefs and we would have these dinners. And it was for the Farm Bureau.  I said, you know, I think the event is going to be kind of too small. I mean, and it could be larger.  And so, you know, at Roy's, we used to do these anniversary parties where we even invite chefs, you know, our 10th anniversary or whatever it may be.   And Denise said, hey, maybe I'll, you know, see if the state wants to get involved, because festivals has always been used as a promotional effort for a certain entity, meaning maybe a hotel or something or a restaurant, right? So I said, let's do it for the state. Why don't we do it for the state? Why don't we have something that the state can be proud of and the state can provide some seed money. And then we can have everybody involved to make this festival a great festival for the state, not for a certain entity. And then that's how it came about. And, you know, this year was the 10th year of the festival. And, you know, of course, unfortunately, we couldn't do a large event. And it was smaller events, which was just as successful. When you think about all the different events that Denise had planned at individual restaurants, and the outcome was great. Well, I find it so interesting to see how, you know, how it all began, because that, I mean, you're so right. It just ended up growing in every year into this huge, a huge event. And I had so much fun with that. And it's amazing to see how much everyone else is supporting. How does that make you feel? Oh, it makes me feel great. You have to understand that the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival is the 501c3. So all the money that we raise, it's given back to the community, to the different charities that we, you know, support. But more importantly, it trickles down to a lot of people, because you have to understand that the hotels are involved, the restaurants are involved, you have the airlines involved, you know, the different tourist segments, and then you have the different purveyors. So it trickles down, and it's touched by a lot of people. And at the very, very end, the consumer is able to enjoy it. And all that money that we raise goes back to the community as charity. So it's a good thing. Yeah, it's truly a fantastic event.  And I like hearing that. So Chef Roy, personally or professionally, what's something that you want to do, but you just haven't done yet? Well, I've always wanted to skydive or bungee jump, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I'm not so sure if the risk is rewarding. Well, you know, I got asked to skydive before, and I was like, oh, I don't know about that. I like the earth, but you want to go, huh? Well, yeah, I've thought about it, and you know, I'm scared of heights.  Well, you got guts. I want to make sure that when you end up doing the skydive, make sure there's pictures. I want to see it. Now, Chef Roy, you know, when you look at a lot of these young chefs that, you know, are aspiring to become successful like you or, you know, want to follow a path to really having their own place, what advice would you give to these young chefs? Well, I think most importantly, don't be scared. You know, I mean, to me, you know, when you have talent, you know, you need to showcase it, and you need to work with it. So, don't be scared. But at the same time, you have to be smarter about it.   So, because there need to be an audience. An audience has to be there to receive it.  So, I think to, you know, to a lot of younger chefs, let's not be, you know, egotistical.  But at the end of the day, you know, let's be humble. Yeah, no, that's great advice. And Chef Roy, you know, looking at yourself now, okay, today versus you 20 years ago, what are some, what are some things that you learned about yourself today versus you 20 years ago? Well, I mean, I learned about myself one more every day, I guess.     Well, Chef Roy, I want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today.   Don't you think? Well, I appreciate that. You know, well, I do think that, and, you know, I really appreciate you saying that because, you know, our team works extremely hard on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we do things right.    And, you know, we're secondary to all of that. But, you know, please understand that restaurant people are good people and they want to help you and take care of you. So, you know, for everyone out there, all your viewers, please support all of the restaurants that you enjoy going to. Well said. Thank you, Chef Roy, and I'll see you soon, okay? Thank you, I appreciate that. Thank you, Aloha. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com, and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Chef Roy and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.


This is stock number HA394. We are here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, your new and used Jeep headquarters. Today we are checking out this brand new 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited JL Rubicon. This color is Ocean Blue Metallic. And from this HD video, we're going to see just the color from all the way around, see the vehicle inside and out, and hopefully get a really good idea of the options and styling on the Wrangler. This of course is the new body style for 2018 and for the foreseeable future. Very good looking Jeep. This is our second Ocean Blue that we've had that wasn't sold already before it got here. It's a really bright blue with a lot of metal flake in it. Really a good looking Jeep all the way around. So on these new ones I do like to do the zoom out walk around so you can get a good idea of the overall styling and look at the vehicle and then we get up close and go over some of the options. So on these Rubicons they come with the BF Goodrich all-terrain tires. These are 285 70 R17s and they are LT grade. They have the painted M kind of flat alloy rims. They got the little Rubicon and a little Wrangler symbol, the red symbol on the wheel there. Pretty aggressive tread on there. Take a look at the suspension because this is what really makes a Wrangler a Wrangler. I don't know if there's a good way to get a look in there but can disconnect the sway bars, lock the axles and all that good stuff. You get the red tow hooks with the Rubicon package. Of course the seven-slotted grille. This one just has the normal halogen headlamps but you can see it has the little Jeep logo in the center there. Pretty cool. You notice that that front grille has a little bit of an angle to it. It's to help out with the aerodynamics. They have the lights in the fenders now. You have the little air induction right here. You get the sport hood. I really like the new Rubicon lettering on there. You notice that the windshield is angled back as well and that's to also help out with the aerodynamics of the vehicle. They have the little T50 torques to let you know which bit you need to use to take your doors off. They've also made these windshields easier to fold down. The Rubicons come with the rock rails so you're not going to damage the body of your vehicle if you're going over big boulders and stuff. Of course four-wheel disc brakes. This one has the black hardtop. You can get a really good idea of that ocean blue metallic. Really good looking color. Depending on how the light hits it, it changes the color of it. You can see it's dark and then when the sun's shining on that angle it's really bright. Just a really good looking color. You get the four pin and the seven pin wiring on the towing package. This is where your backup camera shows up. We'll check that on just a little bit. Very high definition backup camera on these Wranglers now. The back storage area I think is a little bigger than the old JKs. Got a little bit more room back here. You still get the storage underneath here.  One thing they did, I always like to point out, is they have holders now for your electrical and your windshield washer fluid. You can put that in there. Before when you used to take your hardtop off your JK, you weren't really sure where to put those wires. They kind of just laid around. Well now you put them right in there. There's a little spot to secure them in there so that they're not flying around. Actually on the other side is where you put it in, but it stays nice and secure there. You got the roll bars there. Still have three bolts on each side. I went to this crushed eggshell type design on the hardtops. It's a really good looking design. Finally they made the rear gate a lot lighter. I think it's 200 pounds lighter. No the whole vehicle is 200 pounds lighter, but they've made this lighter just by making it an aluminum alloy. You got the stamp right here for the JL telling you the overall length, the wheel base for both the two door and the four door. You got the water fording and where it's built and everything. So a lot of cool stuff on the new Wrangler. Which I'm sure if you've been watching videos you've heard all about, but those doors they really are smooth to close now. Not much effort involved with closing those. Take a quick look underneath here. Get the red shocks there. More off-road suspension with that Rubicon package. Once again just that color is really good. You get the red outline Jeep emblem, the red outlined trail badge, trail rated badge, the red outlined Rubicon. They kind of continue that theme inside. You got the red stitching with the black seats, the Rubicon stitched into the backrest there. This one has a driver's seat height adjuster. You got your lumbar right there, factory floor mats, power windows, power locks. The new thing on the Wrangler is that they never had before. This steering wheel tilts and it also telescopes out. So they added the telescoping steering wheel for the JL. I haven't seen that in anybody's reviews and I've been meaning to put it in mine. So they also added the 7 inch TFT display into the Wranglers this year. You got your compass, you got your outside temperature. You can also do your mileage and digital speedometer and all that good stuff right there as well. So take a look at this design on the dash here. We don't have much time left in this video. You got the red matte finish. Dash trim looks really good. You got the 7 inch radio right here. This one has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Just wanted to quickly point out that HD camera on there. It's a very high definition. Looks really good. Those grid lines are dynamic so they move. And then of course the sway bar disconnect, the front and rear. You can lock the front and the rear or you can lock just the rear axles right there. You have four upfitter buttons, part of that towing package, 4x4 shifter on the floor, the 8-speed automatic transmission. This one does have the 3.6 so you get the start-stop technology, dual climate control, downhill assist control. And in the media here you have an AUG's USB and a USB-C. So very cool stuff. They have the enter and go on here and you also have the remote start. Just wanted to quickly point out the back seats. I have about 40 seconds left but lots of room in these back seats now and very good looking. So a lot more leg room back here as well. And to see more pictures of this Jeep or one of our other 400 new and used cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans, Wranglers, you know what we got to go to our website www.SummitAuto.com full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle on our lot. Videos of every single used vehicle and select new vehicles all at www.SummitAuto.com thanks for checking out the video. If you want to check out more you can go to www.youtube.com slash www.SummitAuto. Remember to like, subscribe and share on this video and all the videos that you see there. In fact in a second you'll see a link to subscribe to your YouTube channel on your left and more inventory on your right.


Us teachers today, who feel like testing is dragging us down. I think you're listening to the right webinar. In today's Wednesday webinar from ESU 8, I will attempt to give you some additional options of classroom tools for formative assessment. These technology-based tools are readily available, mostly free. They're fast and easy to incorporate in the classroom. They make learning fun. And most importantly, they make the process of assessment informative for the teacher. So it truly is assessment for learning and instead of assessment of learning. And that, by definition, is what formative assessment means. Unfortunately, this quote is what we often see happening in our schools today, that we promote the best practices in teaching, but push the worst practices in assessment. We can change that by just a few simple formative assessment tools. I'm going to highlight for you a few of them. This article highlights even a few more. It's an Ejitopia article from Vicki Davis. And I will share this link and others in the notes below this Wednesday webinar on our YouTube channel. But test scores should not be a surprise to the students. And teachers don't have to be mind readers. We just need a formative assessment toolbox. And you need to use it every day. Every day or definitely often. The six tools that I'm going to share with you are just scratching the surface of what's available, what we have access to, and what we should pull out of our toolbox and use from time to time.  But I know and I want you to realize that there are many more than what I'm going to show in the next half hour. We'll start with Socrative. And on each of these tools, you'll notice the URL for teacher setup, the URL or the way that students access the tool. And I've attempted to give a quick snapshot of my personal pros and cons of each of the tools. And then I'll give you a demonstration. Here's a really quick look into Socrative from both the teacher side and the student side. When I go to Socrative.com and sign into my account, I'm able to right away from the dashboard, start a quiz that's already been created, do a quick question, do a space race, which is playing a quiz as kind of a game show competition, and do an exit ticket. When I go to manage quizzes, I can create a new one from scratch, import one that's been shared with me from someone else, go to my quizzes and edit each one or duplicate them and download any reports. The live results tab is here. Let's go back to my dashboard and let's start a quiz. I'll just start the subjects and predicates review. And my options for delivery include student paste where they immediately get feedback, student paste where they're able to navigate through the quiz and then submit at the end, and teacher paste. For each of these, I can change these additional settings like disabling student names, randomizing the question order, the answer order, making it so that students can't see feedback or can't see the results when they're through. I'll hit start and I'll start this new quiz and wait for my class to enter the room and get started. On the student side, this is on an iPad. You can use the app if you want, but it really is just a direct link to that website, to Soccerative.com. From here, you put in a room number and the nice thing about Soccerative is it keeps your room number the same no matter which quiz you are currently in. So they'll enter in my room number, join the room. They will have to enter in their name here. I'll just put me. And instantly I start seeing that random questions, randomized questions are being offered to the student. I'll just select some answers here and submit it. Notice with each one, I do get the feedback immediately along with an additional explanation if it applies. And on my teacher side, you can see what each student is guessing and completing and their overall score. And I'm sorry, because I'm not reading the questions, I'm missing them all. But this is a nice progress to watch from the teacher side. And then of course, when it is finished, download those results. Another nice feature about Soccerative is the ability to take any quiz and download it as a PDF so that you can have that print copy or that print version of your quiz as well. So multiple choice questions, a lot of different options, that's Soccerative. The next one is Kahoot. And I was excited when this one came out because it definitely added the game-like feel in the competitive element to doing questions like my class was used to on Soccerative. Let me show you how this looks. For Kahoot, you'll notice that the URL for the teacher device is slightly different than the student device. For the teacher, you'll go to getkahoot.com, whereas the students would log in to kahoot.it.  It doesn't require an account, which is one nice feature. But Kahoot is completely teacher-directed. In other words, you need to go ahead and project your quizzes onto a projector and play them while their class is in session. Let me show you how it works. On the dashboard for Kahoot, when I've signed in with my account, I can see my Kahoot's that are saved here and I can play any of them. Let's go ahead and try this vocabulary one. When I hit play, then it tells me it's loading and I have the classic mode or the team mode. I can then see a game pen that will come up on the screen and that is unique to this instance of this quiz. So in other words, if I start another instance of it, that number will change. When I join the room with a nickname here, then the teacher sees how many students or players have joined and has control over when to start the game. I'll hit start. This one has 15 questions and it's teacher-controlled. So the question appears on the screen, eating way too much. I have time to think about what the answers might be. And then I might see a picture, an image, and the answer choices. On the student side, all they see are the symbols or the colors of the choices they're going to enter. I'll choose one and it tells me right away if I'm correct or incorrect and based on my speed and accuracy both. So I get them right and how quickly I got them right. It adds me to the leaderboard. When the teacher clicks next, my screen automatically or my name shows on the scoreboard and my screen automatically changes with the next question. So let's just get one wrong here. And you can see the difference in the student screen and now the leaderboard will display to reflect if anybody has risen above me. So that's how the Kahoot looks like when a quiz is in session. Back here on my dashboard, there's also a great feature called public Kahoot's where there's 7,300 plus Kahoot's that are shared by people where you can just do that quiz with your class straight from whoever's created it. You see, it looks similar and again, it'll give me a game pin that my students can enter. So there's a lot of great resources here which is a great place to start before you even create your own is just play some of the Kahoot's that other people have created. And you can search for topics here and see what's available as well. But the last thing I wanna show you on this Kahoot dashboard is super important. When you are at the home screen in the upper right hand corner, there is a wonderful PDF about created by educators about creating and playing the best Kahoot's. Download that, it's well worth your time at several pages, it's all free and it'll give you another guide to making these quiz discussion or survey experiences with your students. Come alive and be a lot of fun. For quizzes, the key difference is that the questions can be seen on student devices. So instead of having to look up at the projector screen, they can control the answers that they're inputting and see them right on their own device. This allows them for homework options as well. Let me demonstrate quizzes now. When you first try out quizzes, you'll notice right away that it's very similar to Kahoot and it is. But probably the biggest difference is the fact that the questions and the answer choices appear on the students device instead of the teachers. This allows you to assign a quizzes as homework for the students and allow them to complete it repeatedly or outside of class time. A lot of the rest of it is very similar. Here's the teacher side after I've logged into my account. I can search public quizzes and there's lots of them here as well, although maybe not as many as Kahoot yet. Here's my quizzes and so it has the quizzes I've created or saved to my account and I can start any of those. Here's where I create a new one. My reports lets me download past quizzes and even quizzes that I've left open as homework options. I can get those results and check on them later on. And so when I go ahead and go to some of my quizzes let's go ahead and get one going here. Let's do this technology in the classroom. I have the option to play it live or assign as homework. I can also share that link, put that link on Google Classroom or Canvas or some way so that students can remember how to get to it. I'll hit play live here. On the student end they will also log into quizzes.com and then click in instead of log in they'll join a game or alternatively they could go to join.quizzes.com. Here's the game code. I forgot to mention on the teacher end that these are the question settings. Whether or not you jumble the questions, jumble the answers, show the answers after each question or show the review at the end. You can turn these off and on as well whether the leaderboard is showing, whether there's a question timer, whether the memes show, so let's turn off a couple of these and whether there's music playing. Let's go ahead now and click proceed, get this quiz started so that we have the quiz code that will enter on the student side. Now they don't require a login, this can be good and not so good. If you do decide to share it on Google Classroom they would be required, students would be required to use their Google accounts to sign in. So that's one way to track them if you wish to do so. Okay and I'll enter my name here and join the game and just like Kahoot, I can see how many students have joined this live game and I control when it starts. Now you'll notice the questions being showed on the student device as well as the choices and we'll go ahead and choose one here. On the teacher board, I can see what each student has answered whether they got it correct or incorrect. I can also see the leader board as well but the students could be getting the questions all in random order, so in different order from their neighbors. Let's go a couple here that don't have points associated. I'm still seeing my rank on the leader board based on time and accuracy and I'm also seeing my feedback and what the correct answer is after each question. So that gives you a sense of what it's like to be in a quizzes quiz. I'll go ahead and end this game now and I wanna show you back on the main dashboard of quizzes that there is how you use the public quizzes. So if I were to search for some of the featured quizzes that are available or even one that's on a certain topic that I'm interested in, I can hover over the quiz and preview the questions on the side. Now I really like this because I don't have to go in and play the quiz or start the quiz. I can just get a quick sense as to whether or not this might match my needs and then if I do choose one, let's choose this multiplying decimals. I can play it live. However, what I would advise is to just duplicate it because by doing so, it'll save it into your my quizzes and then you have the ability to edit it. So maybe I didn't want to use all the questions or maybe I needed to add in a question that would better match my students' needs. So that is able to be done within my quizzes and then saved there as well. Great features, great options, kind of combining the other two tools, some of the things we've seen and that's quizzes. Paradeck is a slightly different formative assessment tool and that you mix in with your teaching the different assessment questions. This is tied to Google accounts and has a few free capabilities with a lot more available if you pay for the paid version. Paradeck.com does require Google accounts on both the student and the teacher end. So here's the teacher view at Paradeck.com. I'll sign in with Google and I'm gonna use my teacher account that I already have started. Let's go ahead and ignore this session that's already in progress. So you can see my quizzes that are saved here, different sessions that have been set into motion there, my account and add-ons. You do have the ability to create a new slide deck here and you can even upload Google slides or PowerPoint slides as a starting point. And there's oftentimes inside of the Paradeck app that they encourage you to upgrade to premium. I'm gonna try to just show you the free features as much as I can. On the student side at Paradeck.com they might be encouraged to go to the student login. I'm gonna use a secondary Google account here so that I can show you what it looks like for the student point of view and it's just waiting for a code. So it's already got me signed in with my name through my Google account. We're gonna do this Paradeck demonstration. I'll click start presenting and it's already in session. So let's just start a new one and those slides are coming up on the screen. It wants to make sure that my screen is connected to the projector and I do see it and now it generates that code for the students to enter in. Five letters and we hit enter. And just like the other tools we can see when students have joined but now we control the pace and we advance the slides and it matches on their screen as well. So this is the first slide. When I hit next, it shows the question maybe an image or a video to go with it and on the student devices they also see the question and they have the ability to answer their answer here.  So if you can imagine the whole class entering their numbers then they would show up as dots on this grid and I can actually change this answer. Let's say that I thought about it a little bit longer and I want to try a second guess and that will automatically then change it on the teacher end as well. So it works well for flexible dialogue and discussion. Now I'm going to advance the slide to the next question. This is a free response and again, if I show the student responses I'll see each student's input and answer and they have the ability to try again and post that and it shows that they change their mind from their first answer to their second. You can hide those questions at any time and again, advance the slides. Now another nice thing that you can do is do a quick question while a Pear Deck quiz is in session I can ask a question about this slide or about anything and on the fly, while I'm teaching my students I can maybe do a agree or disagree, thumbs up and thumbs down. We can have some slides in here that are just presentation content. We'll watch a video together, have a discussion and then really quick gauge where they're at with their thinking. So on the student device they drag their dot and on the teacher device we would see their responses and as soon as they change it and you have to imagine numerous dots here right now we only have one student in it obviously. So that's Pear Deck in a nutshell but it's a nice way to mix in both your teaching with your formative assessment right in the same set of class materials. Nearpod definitely captured my interest when it went from being simply an app to web based and so that any device can access a Nearpod lesson via nearpod.com. There's a lot of content available in the Nearpod content library much of which is free and I will demonstrate Nearpod to you now. Nearpod started as just an app when it opened up to be web based and anyone could access the lessons via nearpod.com it made it more accessible for students and teachers alike any device. It's very similar to Pear Deck in that there's a good portion of the content that's free but then you can upgrade for more paid features however I personally feel that there are more free features on Nearpod than Pear Deck. Another key difference is that students do not have to sign in with a Google account in order to access the Nearpod content. So teachers would sign in at nearpod.com I'm signed in right now to my free account I'll go to my library in here are all of my lessons that I've either created or saved to my library from somewhere else. For each lesson I can start a live session I can assign for homework so that students can complete the activity anytime, anywhere and I can edit each lesson and add additional questions or slides of information. So any of these are ready to go I'm gonna go back to the main screen so you can see the other options. One of the most exciting features about Nearpod in my opinion is the content library that's available. Now again not all of them are free so that I encourage you if you're searching here to search the filter and right away put on the free filter unless you're willing to pay for content you just pay for it on the teacher end and then give it to students as many as you wanna use it with. In the subject area and grades those offer additional features filters. Then you can search for specific topics and find really good starter lessons that are either made by publishers or content providers or maybe just give you an idea of a lesson that you can model your own after. Let's go ahead and check out one of the top free lessons that are here. Let's try out this money Nearpod lesson for grades one and two and when I click on it I can preview the slides and see if it matches my objectives for teaching. I'm going to go ahead and add it to my library now and now it shows up back in the my library. So along with the other lessons I now have the money lesson. I'm gonna start this as a live session so we can see how it looks on the student end and it gives me a pin which my students then enter into the nearpod.com website and they do not have to sign in if they just click join lesson or enter pin to join lesson. They can bypass that need to create an account which is nice. Here's my code and I'll go ahead and enter into this show. I do have to enter in my name and now I control it by the teacher device. So when I advance the slide it also advances it on the student side. So it lets us know here that there's gonna be a slideshow information to teach with to begin. You can see how it changes and I can be instructing students about the different coins and their values and students can actually navigate that slideshow independently of the teacher. Next up is a quiz. Here's a multiple choice example. So the student gets to hit go, decide which coin this is and the teacher device will then see what they answered. I can do several things here. I can navigate to additional slides with the bottom menu. I can definitely see all the students and what they answered. I can also share the results. If it would be a poll that I would want the students to see the results I can push it back to their devices. When I advance to the next slide it lets me know what's coming up and it changes it on the student device. In this case it's a video that they would watch independently with their headphones on. There's a bit of information and now a different type of question type. This is a draw it question type and so the students have the ability to actually use the drawing tools on their device and count up or add together how much the money is and then hit send to send it to their teacher and you can see that the student drawings in pretty close to real time are displayed. Any student that would be in the lesson right now would have a small screen showing the teacher what their response was and you can see it populating here and there's my 26 cents. And I would advance to the next slide and therefore advances for the students too. All right, so we will end this lesson and remove the students from the presentation. You can see that that happens over there and just one final reminder that if you're on your Nearpod home dashboard it's very easy to create. You just get these slides, these blank slides and on each slide you can add content you can add a web link URL information and you can add an activity and the question types are an open-ended question, a poll, a quiz, a draw it, fill in the blanks and a memory test for the draw question you can add an image in the background give instructions if you want or just use a blank file and a blank whiteboard page for the students to work out a math problem on or draw their response to your prompt. So that's this first slide then I would add another slide and it's very easy to create Nearpod lessons. Go Formative is probably the tool that teachers know about the least but in my mind it has the most extensive options. A lot of question types, a lot of delivery methods it's a great all-in-one formative assessment solution in my mind because it does so much however you might feel like it's a little more complicated but I'll let you be the judge of that. Let's take a look at Go Formative. The final formative assessment tool I'm gonna show you today is called Go Formative and I'm excited to show all of the many options it offers. It's entirely free and I definitely think it's a tool to add to your toolbox. To access it you go to goformative.com on my teacher side I've already logged in to my free account and I can visit my dashboard. Now here might be some of the quiz sets or the formative lessons that I've saved to my library as well as some that I have created myself. We are gonna go ahead and demonstrate the area and perimeter quiz that I just made up not too long ago. Here I have the option to edit it and add more questions to assign it and to go into live results mode or share it with other teachers. So there is a public library or there's publicly shared formative assessments inside of Go Formative and there's a lot of capabilities here for sharing them with others as well. If I assign it, I do have a couple of options here that are different than some of the other ones in that I can set up classes inside of my formative account and I can actually input student names ahead of time so that when I assign it to a specific class those students would get the notification that it was ready for them. In this case, since I'm doing it for PD purposes I'm just going to enable for everyone and make it publicly available so that anyone can respond without a login and they won't see their feedback or their scores. They're just taking it as a guest. However, it does generate a quick code. I can send out a link assigned on Google Classroom or use embed code. And on the student side since I don't want to create student accounts in this example, I will just enter this code into the quick code box. It's a little bit longer of a code but it does stay the same for this quiz so that makes it easy to assign and share. Let's go ahead and go. I do have to enter a name, a first and the last name if I bypass the sign up or the login with Google here. So I'll continue without logging in but I will put a first and the last name so that it lets me through. Now the students in this case I've chosen to let them see all four questions at once so they can take this formative assessment in any order and at their own pace. When they do enter a response for example on this first question they will go ahead and click their choice and then in the live results the teacher would see what everyone had answered. Actually even people that have taken this in the past but the newest response will show up soon. I can see the average score and what each student answered. Here's the me, me that is this current answer. I put an A area and it shows up that it's red. Let's scroll down to the second question in this one. You have a video to watch and then a drawing underneath of it. So after I listened to how they figure up perimeter and area then I would draw the rectangular figure that has the area of 24 square inches. This could be made to be as nice looking as they want it to but the general idea here is that their drawings are instantly displayed on the teacher's screen. Now on the teacher's screen I do have to navigate to each question individually and here are all my students drawings that they've entered. There's me right in the middle. You can see that it's instantly up there and students don't have to hit send or wait for the teacher to advance to the next question. On this question type question three students are asked to calculate the area and perimeter of each rectangle and then mark their answers on the side. This is honestly just a worksheet. It's a PDF. So Go Formative allows the teachers to add traditional worksheets to their questions and then students can annotate on top of them. This one might be a little bit hard because it's kind of small spaces but you could do this as a map where students would need to highlight or circle answers or it could just be work out the math problem one question at a time to give them more space and more room to submit their answers. And again, when we go to question three on the teacher's side we'll see everyone's submitted responses. Then as we scroll down the fourth question is just an enter your response type question and so students would actually be able to type and then the teacher would see all of those type written responses there. So Go Formative has some really great features in here. If I go back to the main dashboard on the teacher's side go on here's the submit button. There we go. So my work has been submitted. On the teacher's side there are some really great reports as well. You can find some pre-made quizzes in the public quizzes, view video tutorials. Here's where you set up your classes all inside of here and the community is up as a very top. So I encourage you to try out Go Formative. It might be a new tool that will just be enough to allow some flexibility in your teaching. Maybe help create some more blended learning experiences for your students and definitely give you some feedback that you as a teacher can help assess students' learning and take them to even greater depths of learning. And so there you have it. Six simple tools with options for maximum flexibility for formative assessment in your classroom. I've compiled a snapshot chart with several different criteria and the complete chart is available online at the shortened URL. Now this is obviously something that tools are often changing and you might have different opinions or updates. Please send them to me, kdeadsu8.org and I'll try to maintain this comparison chart. But it's an easy way to look at all of them side by side and decide which one you want to try tomorrow. So I'll conclude today with a reminder that if we design our lessons and we design our teaching with starting with the end in mind, this is important. The assessment of the learning, that summative assessment that we know we're reaching for with our learners. But then we plan backwards and that allows us to decide on our assessment for learning. All of these formative assessment opportunities along the way. And if we're incorporating many of these tools and experiences for our students, then assessment as learning approaches. I hope that you can see with these six tools for sure that students would be learning as they're completing them, as they're competing in them, as they're giving us as the educator, as the teacher information about what they know, they're also learning in the process. To me that's a win-win and it's the reason why that formative assessment practices can and should be improved on. I hope this gave you a few tips to get started in doing so. Thanks for listening.