To
fulfill our mission and intentions for education, there
must be a course of study that directly reflects the importance
given to the "development of person" as well as
that given to the development of intellect. It follows from
these priorities that the development of capacities should
take precedence over the accumulation of specific knowledge.
For example, it is more important that children come to
appreciate the power and beauty of language and develop
their command of it than it is for them to know well any
particular book, poem, or author. Some students do not come
to such appreciation or command through reading Shakespeare,
Wordsworth, or any other author considered classic, but
perhaps from lesser known authors who share with the student
some life experience, ethnicity, or geographical location.
This
approach allows teachers to respond to the uniqueness every
child possesses, respecting their interests and inclinations
by reflecting them in the specific content of courses.
At
the same time, we could not allow a child to choose to pass
through their education ignoring some of their capacities
in the name of respecting individuality. For instance, it
could not be acceptable for a child to decide that they
did not want to develop appreciation and command of language,
or logic and mathematics. It is the responsibility of teachers
to help the students understand the importance of wholly
developing themselves, rather than using the pressure or
the coercions of rewards and punishments to force them to
study something they don't want to study.
Students' understanding of what they need for their well-being,
as well as self-motivation, are important qualities that
need to be developed along with academic capacities. This
must always be approached while respecting the individual's
stage of development and quality of person.
Understanding
Children's Developmental Needs
As education at The Holistic Education Elementary School
is based on the understanding that children go through different
stages in their development, it follows that such education
would reflect those stages. As many developmental specialists
have convincingly demonstrated, children in different stages
relate to their world and themselves in very different ways.
In a very real extent, a six year old lives in a different
world than a twelve year old, who again lives in a different
world to that of a seventeen year old. Many educators have
seen the frustrations and problems associated with asking
all students, regardless of their developmental stage, to
ignore the world they live in and understand, and to learn
in the same way (e.g., sitting at desks with the written
word).
Six
year olds, twelve year olds, and sixteen year olds not only
have to learn different things, they need to learn in different
ways that respect who they are. During the youngest ages
children are very sensorial and much learning needs to be
experienced sensorially or the learning is too abstract
and difficult to absorb. To meet such needs, things such
as learning objects, vegetable gardens, domesticated animals,
and a variety of physical experiences are important.
At
a later stage, children become more socially conscious,
and learning needs to be a social activity with cooperative
activities and community engagement rather than competition
characterizing this important developmental stage.
At
a still later stage, symbolic reasoning comes to the fore,
and learning that utilizes logic, reasoning skills, and
philosophical augment is often very attractive to students
at this stage in their development. At all stages, the key
is understanding the child's world and their capacities,
and working from that base rather than from some fixed standard
that ignores each child's uniqueness and developmental stage.
Classes
and Age Groupings
As is true for many aspects of education at The Holistic
Education Elementary School, the approach to classes is
unusual. Children will not be divided strictly according
to ages, but will be in groups of overlapping ages.
