It’s time to let the wholeness of the child engage with the wholeness of the world.
WHAT IS
AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
To the extent that we narrow the purpose of schooling to what can be measured, we fail to
engage those sides of children that must be developed in order for them to pull learning
from life. We also increase the likelihood that
they will be bored, question the value of school,
and in some cases even drop out.
Instead of starting with the questions “How do we prepare kids to compete in the 21st century
global marketplace?” or “What will insure that graduates all have command of basic skills?”,
suppose we start by asking what qualities we want to encourage in children as they grow toward
adulthood.
Mission Hill School
Jamaica Plain, MA
The superior guiding social, emotional and academic principles and practices at Mission Hill are clearly reflected in student behavior, teachers’ professionalism, and parent involvement. Together these factors ensure that every student at the school is engaged, nurtured, and loved each day.
City Neighbors
Baltimore, MD
The learning environment in City Neighbors schools deserves special recognition because it has been achieved despite formidable challenges, especially entrenched poverty, and lack of funding for innovative educational programs and practices.
OUR
RESOURCES
Catching Up or Leading the Way
For a broad look at why whole child education is important and how it fits into global developments and America’s ability to compete, see Yong Zhao, Catching Up or Leading the Way, particularly Chapter 7, “What Knowledge Is of Most Worth?”
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Letters to a Young Teacher
Jonathan Kozol’s Letters to a Young Teacher contains a distillation of a lifetime’s work in education. It builds on the premise that the best teachers refuse to see their pupils as so many “pint-sized deficits or assets for America’s economy.”
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