Holistic Education

Jennifer Bardell

Pioneers and supporters of holistic education insist that: 'Education should be

understood as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical, psychological and
spiritual dimensions of the developing child. A holistic way of thinking seeks to
encompass and integrate multiple layers of meaning and experience rather than defining
human possibilities narrowly. Every child is more than a future employee; every person's
intelligence and abilities are far more complex than his or her scores on standardized
tests. Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and
a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an academic "curriculum" that
condenses the world into instructional packages, but through direct engagement with the
environment. Holistic education nurtures a sense of wonder'
(http://www.infed.org/biblio/holisticeducation.htm)
The concept of holistic education is by no means new, but the term holism was
introduced during the 1970s. At this time, an emerging body of literature in science,
philosophy and cultural history provided a framework to describe this way of
understanding education. (http://www.infed.org/biblio/holisticeducation.htm) Although
dialogue regarding holistic education began at this time, it is important to note that
holistic education was likely the norm prior to the industrial revolution and was not
therefore a new concept, but rather a newly coined concept.
One of the goals of holistic education is for each child to learn through their own
experiences how to reach their own human potential. As described in a parable told over
thousands of years, a Taoist story involves a traveling carpenter who notices a herd of
cattle resting under an ancient trees shadow. Taking its size into account, the carpenter
dreams of the money to be made from selling the wood. On closer inspection, however,
he finds that the tree is unusable, noting its knotted wood, bitter leaves, and lack of fruit.
Considered worthless, the tree was left to grow in its own way, uncultivated by human
needs. The moral is that so-called worthlessness can be a great resource. In Taoist
philosophy, unusable things often come to have hidden value in this case providing
sanctuary from the sun. (Adbusters, Sowing the Seeds of Change, July/ August 2005)
It is my opinion that a holistic education is one that teaches students to question the roles
and importance of everything in their world and not just the roles and importance of those
things that are seen as valuable. Some people believe that education has become a
product which is geared not toward the needs or desires of students, but to the
improvement of test scores. It is holistic education which aims to de-emphasize the
factory model of education while emphasizing the importance of the human experience.
It seems that we have come to value only those kinds of intelligences which can
be tangibly traded for good jobs and as a consequence, money. When we look at
education from this perspective it is easy to see how it could be confused with any other
commodity that is traded for capital. I feel as though we may have forgotten that the
people who make up this world were meant to be different and that those differences need
to be nurtured in order to avoid a future of monotony and factory produced human beings
with no sense of what it means to actually be human. It is also important to emphasize the
similarities that humans share around the world that tie them together in the human
experience.

One of the problems or difficulties with holistic education is that it is difficult to

define this concept in practice. Holistic education represents a way of thinking that could
be interpreted and implemented in a variety of different manners even by like-minded
educators. It is a theory and can not therefore be defined in absolute principles and
practices. The goals of holistic education are righteous and commendable, but in a society
that has been built around opposing principles, the obstacles for successful
implementation are innumerable.
Although many educators may consider themselves to be somewhat holistic in
terms of their approach to pedagogy, I would argue that due to our increasingly capitalist
society that this is becoming further and further from the truth. According to ideas
expressed by Karl Marx, education should be viewed as a means to develop a person's
whole potential and to make him a better human being. It is his contention that in a
capitalist society, the educational process causes misery and only exists in order to
perpetuate the power of the rich. (Paula Allman, 2001) This ideology seems to be based
roughly on the same principles as holism. In my opinion, we do not need to learn how
to incorporate holistic practices into our education, but rather we need to return to our
holistic practices of the past. It seems that our education system has been hi-jacked in a
sense by our capitalist desires and practices, and that we have stripped the human element
from education in order to replace it with a more robotic element that is much more inline
with our factory-model capitalist principles.
It is probably important to note the inherent disconnect and impracticality of an
entirely holistic education in our modern capitalist society. Our society is one where
people are trained to do specific tasks, jobs or careers that dont necessarily require
moral, emotional, physical, psychological or spiritual dimensions. The possession of
these dimensions might even be considered to be opposed to the progression of capitalist
society, so it could be perceived as anti- capitalist to be in favour of holistic learning for
all.
It is also important to look at the economic success of students from alternative
holistic schools in relation to their socio-economic level. Students with the opportunity
to experience holistic learning in an alternative setting likely come from elevated
economic backgrounds in which they will be able to fall back on should their alternative
education fail to offer any economic success. (The Journal of the National Coalition of
Alternative Community Schools) There are obviously several impracticalities to creating
a holistic education system for all in a capital driven society like ours.
I feel that all educators need to be aware and critical of our capitalist society
and the morals that it teaches our children. It makes me wonder if we are raising children
to fill empty spaces in our machine, or if we are raising them to think, love, learn,
examine and exist, as we should be. Instead of theorizing about the validity of holistic
education, educators should be asking the questions: How can we build a truly human
society? Where is the alternative to our current disconnected reality? And, Can I as
an educator help to build a better future? If educators begin incorporating critical and
creative methods into their own practices, then students will undoubtedly be able to learn
through example.

References
Allman, Paula. Critical Education Against Global Capitalism: Karl Marx and
Revolutionary Critical Education, 2001, Bergin Garvey/Greenwood
Leue Mary M., ED360126 - SKOLE: The Journal of the National Coalition of Alternative
Community Schools, 1988-1992,
Adbusters, Sowing the Seeds of Change- The Game of Life, Kier Miner, #60-July/
August 2005
www.adbusters.org
Miller, Ron. Holistic Education at the Encyclopedia of Informal Education., March 2000
http://www.infed.org/biblio/holisticeducation.html

For further information :

Schools
Eagle Rock School (http://www.eaglerockschool.org)
Summerhill School (www.summerhillschool.co.uk)
Books
Forbes ,Scott H. Holistic Education: An Analysis of Its Ideas and Nature
Capra, F. (1982). The Turning Point. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Clark, Jr Edward T (1997) Designing and Implementing an Integrated Curriculum:
A Student-Centered Approach Brandon, VT: Holistic Education Press.
Glazer, Steven. (1999) The heart of learning: Spirituality in education. New York:
Tarcher/Putnam
Ramon Gallegos Nava (2001) Holistic Education:Pedagogy of Universal Love
Pearmain, E.D. (Ed.) (1998) Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales From Around The
World Ohio: The Pilgrim Press
Magazines
Encounter- Education for Meaning and Social Justice