The Goodness Factor
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Acts of kindness for students, by age

The Goodness Matrix

What counts as an act of goodness, for which age, worth how many points, verified how, and what costs points and how they are earned back. Version 0.1.0, draft. Values marked proposed are for Mohanji's decision.

Age bands

Trees: Grades 9-12. Entry by self, teacher, mentor.

Point tiers

TierPointsDefinition
Harmony proposed+5 / weeklyA week in which the child harmed no one in word or deed.
Everyday act +10A single witnessed act in any category.
Sustained effort proposed+25The same act kept up for a week or more.
Initiative proposed+50Something the child led that benefits others beyond themselves.
Deduction proposed-10An act that harmed someone. Proportionate, entered by the teacher with the counselor.
Deduction, serious proposed-25Violence, bullying or deceit.
Restoration restoresCompleting the Four-Way flow and the restorative acts returns the deducted points.

Domains and categories, examples for Trees

1. Peace (Ahimsa)

Mohanji: everybody gets five points for non-violence; picking up a fight is very easy, preventing is very difficult. Book Ch 4.

1. Harmony 5 / week baseline
  • Same
2. Peacemaker
  • Led a peace circle
  • Trained younger mediators
3. Kind words
  • Led a respectful-speech effort in the school
4. Including others
  • Designed an event everyone could join

Sustained efforts: Two weeks as class peace helper; A month of sitting with a child who is often alone

Initiatives: A peer-mediation program; An anti-bullying circle; A kindness campaign with measurable reach

2. Sharing and Generosity

Mohanji: somebody doesn't have food, you share the food; somebody doesn't have paper, the pencil, share the pencil.

5. Food and water
  • Organized a community meal
6. Things
  • Organized a donation drive with a real beneficiary
7. Time and knowledge
  • Ran a tutoring or skills program

Sustained efforts: Two weeks of helping the same classmate with reading; A month of bringing water for the class plants and the birds

Initiatives: A sharing shelf; A book bank; A tutoring program

3. Kindness and Compassion

Book Ch 2: acts of compassion, generosity, and cooperation. Mohanji: being connected, being loving.

8. Comforting
  • Started a peer-support circle
9. Caring for the vulnerable
  • Sustained volunteering with the sick, the elderly or the differently-abled
10. Welcoming
  • Hosted visitors or exchange students

Sustained efforts: A week as a new student's buddy; A month of visiting an elder

Initiatives: A buddy system for newcomers; A regular elder-visit program

4. Respect and Etiquette

Mohanji: like in Japan, they always do with both hands, they respect you. The core of the first two years.

11. Courtesy
  • Hosted an appreciation event for staff
12. Patience and listening
  • Facilitated a meeting so every voice was heard
13. Shared spaces
  • Ran a campus upkeep project

Sustained efforts: A week of classroom cleaning duty done without reminders; Two weeks of greeting every adult properly

Initiatives: A clean-classroom system the class runs itself; A staff appreciation week

5. Honesty and Integrity

Book Ch 2: honest communication. Ch 7: owning a mistake is the start of restoration.

14. Truth and owning mistakes
  • Led an honor-code effort
15. Fairness and promises
  • Ran a fair process such as a class election

Sustained efforts: Two weeks of honest self-reporting on homework; A term of fair refereeing

Initiatives: A lost-and-found system; An honor code the students write

6. Care for Nature and Animals

Mohanji: taking care of animals, birds, environment, plantation; something which nurtures nature. Book Ch 10.

16. Animals and birds
  • Volunteered at a shelter
  • Coordinated a rescue
17. Plants and trees
  • Ran a community green project
18. Clean earth and water
  • Led a plastic-free or water-saving campaign

Sustained efforts: Watering plants daily for two weeks; A week of reusable bottles for the whole class

Initiatives: A school garden; A bird-water project across the school; A neighborhood cleanup with a before-and-after record

7. Service and Responsibility

Mohanji: supporting the fellow students. Book Ch 2: volunteerism, mentoring, and social service; Ch 6: children suggest and implement local initiatives.

19. Duties and home
  • Held a responsibility role for a semester
20. Community service
  • Sustained service with a local organization
21. Initiatives and mentoring
  • Led a project with real beneficiaries
  • Mentored younger students for a semester

Sustained efforts: A month of reliable class duty; A term of weekly mentoring

Initiatives: Anything in category 21 at Saplings and above; the book's Meena is the model

Deductions

Proportionate, entered with the counselor, always paired with the Four-Way flow and a path to restoration.

  • Hurting another minor
    Hurtful words, Teasing, Taking or breaking another's things, Excluding someone on purpose
  • Violence, bullying, deceit major
    Hitting, Repeated bullying, Lying that harms someone, Cheating
  • Harm to animals or nature minor
    Hurting an animal, Deliberately damaging plants, Deliberate littering or waste
  • Neglect of responsibility minor
    Repeatedly abandoning an agreed duty that others depended on
Restoration

Restoration returns the deducted points and does not exceed them. Both stay in the ledger; visibility is private by default.

  1. Samam: peaceful persuasion
  2. Danam: encouragement and reward
  3. Bhedam: constructive correction
  4. Dandam: compassionate consequence
  • Counseling conversation and a drawn or written 'what I will do next time'
  • Apology plus repair: fix, replace or clean what was damaged
  • A week of helping the person who was harmed
  • Teaching younger children what was learned
  • Service to the class or school connected to the harm

Verification and badges

  • T Teacher-witnessed
  • P Peer nomination, confirmed by a teacher
  • S Self-logged with reflection, verified by a teacher or mentor
  • F Family act, verified by a parent; larger acts by the community. Recorded at family level.
  • Leaf: 3 witnessed acts in the category
  • Flower: 10 acts in the category including at least one sustained effort
  • Fruit: One initiative in the category

Suggest an act of goodness for your school or community: support@goodnessfactor.app