The emergence of a postmodern civilization, with its many unsolved economic, technological, moral, and ecological problems, is a global phenomenon. The degradation of the earth affects us all. The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of transnational corporations and their elite managers affects us all. Our amazing new powers to manipulate information, communication, [...]
Ron Miller
RSS feed for this section
Educating the child’s inner power
The original meaning of the word “education,” according to its Latin roots, is to lead out or bring forth that which lives within the human being. To truly educate is to nourish the unique and unfathomable possibilities that each child introduces into the world. Many teachers and most parents know this and, as individuals, seek [...]
Education for a culture of peace
I am continually astounded and dismayed by the persistence of murderous violence in the world. Humanity seems to be trapped in a deepening spiral of hatred, vengeance, and militarism that will ultimately lead to the horrible destruction of life on this planet. For centuries, our greatest teachers, from Jesus to Gandhi, from St. Francis to [...]
Alternative education comes to Turkey
Turkey is a nation where schooling is highly centralized and serves the interests of the state. The revered founder of modern Turkey in the 1920s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, proclaimed that education should promote modern, secular, “scientific” ideas including an ideal of national citizenship. Consequently, the educational system has not been especially open to alternative approaches. [...]
A new culture needs a new education
The transition to a postmodern culture will bring about significant changes in all areas of society. Our ways of thinking about healing, spirituality, food, community, the natural world, and even economics and business are, in a broad sense, turning from the materialism and reductionism of the industrial age to a more organic, holistic, person-centered and [...]
A brief history of alternative education
Why are there “alternative” schools? Our system of public schooling was first organized in the 1830′s to provide a common, culturally unifying educational experience for all children, yet from the very beginning, certain groups of educators, parents, and students themselves have declined to participate in this system. Their reasons are various, and the forms of [...]
