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Holistic
Education:
An Introduction, Page 4
Helping Children Learn What
They Need to Learn
One of the tools that holistic education uses
to help children learn what they need to learn is 'meaningfulness'.
People of all ages find it difficult to learn things which are
not meaningful to them, and conversely, they find that it requires
much less effort to learn things that are meaningful. This means
that a holistic school will respect and work with the meaning
structures that a child comes with rather than begin from a
perspective of what "should" be meaningful to a child.
Events and dynamics (fear, conflict, friendships, etc.) are
part of every child's life and they are interested in these
things. These can be the starting point for learning any of
the academic skills that every child needs to master.
Another tool that holistic education uses
to help children learn is flexible pacing. Not all children
learn at the same speed, and no child learns at the same speed
all the time. Learning is an inherently creative act, and it
requires a system that can move with the individual meaning
making of each child. When lessons are too slow, a child gets
bored, and when it is too fast, the child gets lost and then
loses interest in the subject. If children are seen and treated
as individuals, there is no need to have groups move at some
arbitrarily determined learning pace.
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1: Purpose
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2: Why
Holistic Education?
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3: What Do Children Need to Learn?
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4: Helping Children Learn
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5: Other
Pressing Issues
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The
highest function
of education
is to bring about an integrated individual who is capable
of dealing with life
as a whole.
-J.
Krishnamurti
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