rules and structure in holistic education
In my first few weeks back (after a 2 year break) at PSCS, I have been struck by how sophisticated some of the structures/rules have become. At the heart of the education at PSCS is the belief that according freedom to students' in making a large majority of the decisions connected to their education is critical to their development into becoming responsible, self-aware beings of high-integrity. So, when I noticed a greater number of "mandatory" requirements (rules so to speak of), it made me pause and wonder what effect these requirements can/are having on the learning experience of students.
In my own reflection on the topic and through discussions with Andy (the Director of PSCS) I have arrived at some level of clarity. To begin with, it is essential to recognize that structures are not all bad. Structures and essential for practical reasons. For example, the fact that school starts at 9 am and that everyone is implicitly (at PSCS explicitly) expected to arrive at 9am is a practical essentiality for running a school. So, one has to accept some basic structures that are essential to making a place run. However, how do you decide what "basic" is? What is basic for one person and one place is not basic for another.
I have let my mind run in circles to answer this question and the only thing point of clarity that has arisen from all my musing is that the essential need for a structure is determined on a case-by-case basis. There is no structure and no rule for determining how and when to create a structure. There are however some aspects to consider based on what your goals are.
In talking to Andy, I learned that he weighs in to identify the needs of the community, over those of the individual when creating any structure. If a structure makes the community stronger he is more likley to be convinced of its need than if it doesn't. He believes that without a strong community, the individual can do nothing. I completely understand where he is coming from. I do myself consider the presence of the larger whole essential for the existence of any being. That said, I think understanding and experiencing community is essential for any individual to completely accept and uphold a structure. Otherwise, the structure is just a structure, a rule to be blindly followed and to be scorned when it interferes with individual needs. So the question now becomes, how can one understand the essence of community?
Surely, the only way to know community is to be in it. Can one understand the significance of community by not being in it? In some ways yes, but one cannot know what one is missing unless one has at some deep level experienced it at least once. So, do we first create structures to get students to experience community and then hope they experience it to such a deep level that they buy into those structures or can we do this without first enforcing structures? That remains the question on the table. Some ideas that have come to my mind as I have mulled this further are ones that engage students in defining and creating their community at the start of every school year. This does happen at PSCS. The danger however lies passing down too many pre-defined structures as the history of the school creates more and more traditions and structures that newer generations just have to accept. How far can we go back to the drawing board at the start of each school year so that students get to define and create the community that we consider so essential to their learning?
The question of community that Andy considers essential for creating structures for, I extend to a few other determinants —
— a sense of knowing yourself — who you are, your limitations, your connections to all that is around you and the idea that you are part of a grander whole … if structures enable students to experience this sense of themselves, it might be one worth considering. I doubt though that there is a structure that will enable this. I can think of more structures that come in the way of this process and so the vigilance lies in inspecting structures that endanger a sense of deep self-awareness
— freedom — Ultimately, structures that are created by "others" can interfere with an individual's sense of freedom. In fact, freedom and structures are often at odds with each other. I think it is important to understand what freedom is. Is freedom the choice to do what one wants? I think not. I think freedom is the state of a conflict-free mind. When one does not have any kind of conflict in one's mind and when one has not created external conflict, then one is free. It is a hard state to achieve. So, the question for structures is whether a structure interferes with such a state of being? If a structure creates conflict or instills fear, it is detrimental to an optimal learning situation.
These three elements — of community: or knowing that you are part of a grander whole and that your being is inter-connected with that of the whole, of self-awareness and of freedom — are those that rise to the top in terms of ones to be considered when determining whether and how to create a structure.
This question of structures touches upon the heart of many significant aspects of holistic education. I continue to reflect on the impact of structures. While my current reflection has brought me some level of clarity, my work here is not done.