Necessity of a Holistic Education

I walked into my old school, excited about the prospect of “being on the other side.”  I had a great elementary experience going through the public school system, and I learned a lot and made a bunch of friends.  I was excited to share with the students I would be teaching all the fun experiences I had as a student going through school.  Being in the same classroom as one of my former teachers, I expected to see enthusiastic teachers and students excited about learning.  I was disappointed. 

What I witnessed in the public schools was almost the complete opposite of what I grew up to love and enjoy most about school:  a holistic education.  I loved school.  I was a great academic student, getting A’s in all my classes, but this wasn’t the reason that I enjoyed school.  I enjoyed it, because it was fun, engaging and I learned beyond the three “Rs (reading, writing, mathematics).”  There wasn’t a stress on standards and test scores.  The core of the student’s experience was based on their relationship with the teacher and with other students.  6^th grade was my most memorable year.  Not only did we improve in the three “Rs,” but we also went through a team system where all the subjects were integrated.  We did plays, activities, and projects, and we went on numerous field trips to get first-hand experience of what we were studying.  Our school year was broken up into units of focus.  These units were based on historical eras (Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa and the Middle Ages).  I wasn’t a big fan of social studies then, but the overall perspective it gave me, a “whole” perspective verses fragmented understandings, made that year the most memorable.  To add, our 6^th grade class had the highest test scores of any school in the district. 

Today’s public school system is creating students that I refer to as “machines.”  As a result of “No Child Left Behind,” schools are standards-based and test-dominated.  Student success is based on if these students test well and meet government-created standards.  Worksheets have replaced activities and field trips.  It is a left-brain favored system.  If students aren’t left-brain dominate, they are at a disadvantage.  Is there anything wrong with tests and standards?  Of course not.  As the major focus of today’s educational system, however, students are being limited and discriminated against.  All students are judged on the same standards and expected to meet them.  When students don’t meet these standards, they’re viewed as poor learners.  Students with special needs are being integrated into the regular classroom more and more with less one-on-one time, and they’re being lost between the cracks.  Students who over-excel have few programs to support their expanding mind.  The public school system is trying to create “machines” that all think and act alike.  Students are uninspired and bored.

Where do school standards come from?  They’re not from the interest of students but from politicians.  What better way to keep order in a society than engraining in the younger generation monotonous thinking and welcoming authority?  The “machines” that we are creating are in danger of not thinking for themselves.

The left-brain focus of the educational system has created an imbalance in the upcoming generation.  Imbalance, as health professionals declare, leads to disease.  ADD and ADHD are rapidly rising.  The education system deems this a problem.  Students who aren’t able to sit still in a desk and focus on left-brain education are suffering from an unfavorable policy.  These same students may excel in other areas.  Yet, all other areas outside the three “Rs” are seen as secondary. 

Our schools are in desperate need of a holistic reformation.

Great test taking doesn’t lead to success in the real world.  I am an example of this.  I was in the top 15 of my graduating class.  I got a scholarship and headed to college.  After I got my degree, I was left with substantial student loan debt.  I had hope of getting a job quickly to help pay off my loans.  I landed a teaching job at a small private school, but the school closed its doors due to financial issues.  I was left jobless.  For the next two years I applied all over to various school districts.  I hoped to just get a chance at another teaching gig in the public school system to help pay off my student loans.  I was never hired, so I became a substitute teacher.  I went through many emotional battles over the next couple years.  If it weren’t for my family, who raised me in a great home where I learned to do many things and balance all areas of my life, I would have remained a “victim” of my own mind.

School should be a time of discovering oneself.  If a student doesn’t learn and know about their self, all their left-brain education would be meaningless.  Holistic education doesn’t merely focus on the learning of one aspect of the self.  It explores all aspects of the self.  Instead of centering education on the interests of politicians, teachers can center education on the interest of their students.  How would we feel if we’re told our greatest interests are secondary to the interests of others?  Another component of a holistic education is differentiating instruction.  Holistic teachers come into the classroom knowing all students are different and require different methods and instruction.  Along with differentiating instruction comes flexible pacing.  Deadlines are a great way to teach integrity.  When these deadlines become a primary assessment, integrity is turned into unnecessary stress.  One just needs to step outside of America to discover that speed and time are relative.  There is no one correct speed.  Promptness is about harmony.  In some cultures, harmony is being fifteen minutes late with everyone else.  Just as cultures differ, so do students.  Some students may work well with deadlines.  Others may need more time.

Holistic education stresses the oneness of all life and experience, that we are all connected to each other and everything.  At the core of a student’s understanding of the world are the deep questions of being.  Students are on a mission to learn about themselves, their purposes in life, and achieve happiness, inner peace and a passion for life-long learning.  Teachers don’t need to preach or tell students how to believe; this would be just as limiting as a lone left-brain education.  Teachers need to inspire and motivate students to ask questions and establish a fine balance based on their unlimited potential.  

A whole-brain education is not guaranteed at home.  How will students learn about the other aspects of themselves?  Will students grow to understand the power that they are?  Or will students come out of the educational system on their toes wondering if they have any power at all?  Are we setting the next generation up for failure?  Students are constantly learning about themselves, and if there are no motivational and inspirational people to help guide them along the way, these students will enter the real world lost and unequipped. 

While it may be some time before a systematic reformation occurs to enable whole-brain learning, individual teachers can step up and incorporate a holistic approach in their teaching.  Instead of simply focusing on educating the student based on standards, teachers can be an inspiration and motivate students to expand beyond the limits of the public school system and reach their full potential socially, physically, academically, psychologically, and spiritually.  Humans are social beings, and because of this we know that we have a duty to help a brother or sister out.

What do we want the future of our students to look like?  What do we want the future of the human race to look like?  Are educators even asking themselves these questions?