Happy Friday everyone, and happy start of the school year!
As you embark on yet another year filled with great work and great achievement—both for you and for the children you support—I wanted to remind you of our basic vision for what it means to educate the human potential.
Every educational program has an implicit view of what it means to help children prepare for mature life. Some emphasize “college and career” readiness, others citizenship, others self-expression.
For us, the key ambition is the Montessori idea of normalization. Our vision for what it means to be a happy, healthy, capable, successful adult—a normal adult—emphasizes a life of agency made possible by competency at living well. We make a big distinction between normal-as-in-healthy vs. normal-as-in-common, and our goal is to help the second become the first.
To achieve this vision, we must fully understand and appreciate what truly normal development looks like from birth through adulthood. So, as we start fresh for a new school year, I’d highly encourage everyone to watch or re-watch Matt Bateman’s two wonderful talks on human development, and on our vision for what it means to build a new normal in education.
This vision is at the core of who we are, and there is no better spiritual fuel to animate or sustain us as we chart our path in the coming year (and all the years ahead).
Enjoy!
Part 1 of “A New Normal”: The Montessori Adult
Part 2 of “A New Normal”: Normal Development
Enjoy your weekend!
Ray Girn
CEO, Higher Ground Education
Two great talks. I wish they could be featured at the next AMI and AMS national conferences.
I really enjoyed this definition of the purpose of education. Well put.
Our vision for what it means to be a happy, healthy, capable, successful adult—a normal adult—emphasizes a life of agency made possible by competency at living we