The Promise of Youth
August 17, 2020Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people. -Nelson Mandela
In honor of International Youth Day last Wednesday which seeks to highlight ways that youth engage and enrich society at local, national and global levels, I wanted to reflect on the wisdom of the Waldorf curriculum. At its core it upholds the premise that each child is born unique with special gifts to offer the world. In beauty and in a belief of goodness, children engage with the honesty and truth inherent in nature, with the humanity in each other, and with learning through curiosity and creativity. Children are encouraged to find joy, and self confidence in many ways: through movement (skipping, jumping, balancing, throwing), by making (knitting, stitching, crocheting, carving, baking, building, painting- if they can make it, they do!), through performance (assemblies, plays, concerts, presentations), through music (flutes, strings, band instruments, singing, choir, drumming). These are just a few of the ways the students learn that they ‘can’. Children that love nature, each other, believe the world is good and know that they can make a difference grow into adults that feel the same way. Nothing can be more important than this.
-Becky Brownlie (Enrollment & Outreach)