Dear friends,

Thank you for visiting here to learn more about WISEA. Maybe you are a teenager, parent, educator, or even a friend who is interested in WISEA's vision.

As the founder and leader of WISEA, I am honored to share with you how WISEA was birthed, our vision, and what possible connection there is between you and WISEA?

In 2017, as a middle-school student, I spent a big amount of my pocket money to buy a very expensive ticket for a live basketball game that I had looked forward to for a long time. During halftime of the game, a horrific brawl among elite players happened in front of thousands of audience. Tall and strong men became angry lions…Finally, the game was halted and the fans left angrily.

The impulsive behaviors of the basketball stars motivated me to research the root causes of violence. Then, I led a team to investigate five different groups of boys and men, including those in a juvenile detention center and reformatory schools. I was totally shocked by the cases in the detention center and the boys whose families were almost destroyed because of their serious indulgence in video games. Their impulsive behaviors had made a greatly passive impact on their personal development, their families, and society. With the support from experts, I started to design a series of programs to help boys who struggle with personal challenges in self-management, to become self-disciplined and self-driven as responsible and mature men. This is the story of how Boy to Man was born.

When I led the teams to help each boy, I found that their common challenge was poor communication, unstable emotions, and conflict with others, especially with their parents. We tried to approach two well-known social & emotional learning (SEL) organizations to tailor solutions, which did not work well for the boys. This experience inspired me to discover another truth: the effectiveness of SEL solutions in China and worldwide. After we interviewed several teenagers who had taken SEL programs/courses in schools or business institutes, the new findings triggered me to observe existing educational solutions; many girls and parents were facing the similar challenge as boys had. We searched for the answer to the question: Why were there so many teenagers and parents struggling with emotional management and conflict with others? Most SEL solutions were delivered with the same educational techniques and prescribed coursework; these are not the best framework to alter behaviors and build new habits.

How about the effectiveness of other learning programs for young people nowadays?

We can see that so many young people are just following instructions from schools and parents. They are spending almost all their time gaining knowledge and skills (coursework is the main learning model), striving for exclusive colleges. But, they have no time to explore themselves, the real world, or even daily life. Because of the lack of self-awareness, self-acknowledgment, solid observation, and learning principles of how the world and daily life work, they can't make high-quality decisions. Then it causes many young people and adults to live in a vicious circle. This challenge drove me to determine to be an innovative educator, contributing to a crucial improvement within the education field.

Therefore, I would like to call on youth who are more than 10 years old to participate in this meaningful experiment together. You will initiate your research on how to continuously develop your best self, using the “autonomous growth model” instead of the “passive growth model”.

Even though Boy to Man and WISEA have impacted hundreds of families with teenagers, I know I have just approached the tip of the iceberg of education innovation, and my study in profound adolescent development just starts. If you are a teenager who is eager to change yourself, a parent who is pursuing an effective growth model for kids, or an expert who is passionate about education innovation, I sincerely invite you to join this valuable experiment!

Here, I would like to send my sincere thanks to every collaborator in the past five years. Without you, Boy to Man and WISEA would not have achieved the best practices today. Your trust and encouragement are motivating me to bravely explore further. Let's work together continuously to empower more boys and girls.

Dacheng Zhong