Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Every age has its philosophy and way of bringing up children. Today's educational approach depends largely on materialistic, nineteenth-century ideas derived from the notion of "knowledge as power." The education of children in beauty, wisdom, and culture forms only a very small part of the modern curriculum. When we consider a child's full humanity of body, soul, and spirit, however, we emerge with a very different balance in our approach to education.
The author of this book tells us that our children cannot become happy, wise, and skilled adults unless their education--from the very beginning--take into consideration the development of body, soul, and spirit. Drawing on the educational ideas and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, Goethe, and Schiller, the author describes the three main stages of child development and the genetic and biographical potential revealed at each stage. He goes on to explore the practical application of these insights as an educational method in harmony with the child's developing relationship with the surrounding world.
This is the essential, classic resource for all parents, teachers, and care givers.
Synopsis
How can education work in harmony with a child's developing relationship with the world around it? How can education take account of body, soul, and spirit? Bernard Lievegoed takes a child's full humanity -- body, soul and spirit -- as his starting point. From this, a philosophy and pedagogy emerge in which, he argues, children can become happy, wise and skilled adults only when education takes the development of these three aspects into account from the very beginning.Drawing on the educational ideas of Rudolf Steiner, and on a philosophical tradition going back to Goethe and Schiller, Lievegoed turns away from the materialist nineteenth-century notion of 'knowledge is power' which still pervades mainstream education today. He describes the three main stages of child development -- pre-school, schoolchild and teenager -- in a clear and concise way. Lievegoed shows that each stage of roughly seven years has its own character, and its own genetic and biographical potential.The author goes on to explore the practical application of these insights as an education method in harmony with the child's developing relationship with the world around them.