- Rhodes practices and uses the
holistic education approach. Holistic education is a philosophy of education
based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in
life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to
spiritual values such as compassion and peace. The term holistic education is
often used to refer to the more democratic and humanistic types of alternative
education.
Robin Ann Martin (2003) describes
this further by stating, “At its most general level, what distinguishes
holistic education from other forms of education are its goals, its attention
to experiential learning, and the significance that it places on relationships
and primary human values within the learning environment.
The purpose of holistic education
is to prepare students to meet the challenges of living as well as academics.
Holistic education believes it is important for young people to learn:
- About
themselves
- About
healthy relationships and pro-social behavior
- Social
development
- Emotional
development
- Resilience
- To
see beauty, have awe, experience transcendence, and appreciate some sense
of “truths.”