Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Soul of Education: Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School by Rachael Kessler ISBN: 0871203731 Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-have on the Bookshelf
Comment: This book triggered angry feelings for me. I wished I had a teacher like Rachael Kessler when I was growing up. Indeed, so few young people do. I caught myself recollecting my teen years, when I asked the very same questions the youth explore in the "Council"-an integral part of the Passages program described in the book. The youth in my generation had no Council for raising these questions; no safe place to tell stories, reveal the mystical, ponder meaning, or explore differences. Yet, as I later learned in my undergraduate studies in philosophy, it is the exploration of precisely these questions that provides the insight, sensitivity, empathy, and wisdom that open the inner self to the path of a civil society and a meaningful life. This is the forerunner of virtue. A few examples from Rachael's book will illustrate the type of universal questions I mean:
Why do I feel scared and confused about becoming an adult? What does it mean to accept that this is my life and I have responsibility for it?
How do I know I am normal? What is normal?
Why do people hate others-blacks, whites, Hispanics, etc.?
What is our purpose in life?
Why do people tire of life?
How does one determine one's sexuality? Are there symptoms? Is it a decision or a natural "given"-are you stuck with it or is there a choice?
Why are people so cold in taking care of the planet?
How come people kill other people?
Where do we go when we die?
This is but a sample of a myriad of questions that young people explore in the Council in the search of the inner self and the connection to the outer world.
Spirituality is a basic ingredient to our humanity with multiple domains and forms of expression, of which formal religion is but one. This book lays out an excellent discussion regarding the education of the soul: why it is needed in public schools and exactly how to teach it without violating the First Amendment or stomping on the toes of organized religious groups. In fact, any thoughtful review of this book will reveal that the type of spiritual development Rachael is proposing is "simpatico" with most organized religions. Further, and this is a critical point, she emphasizes the emptiness and frustration in individuals that results from spiritual paucity, and how this fact may lead to severe consequences for youth and community. In this discussion the author makes a connection between youth devoid of positive spirituality and acts of violence.
It makes sense that Rachael Kessler writes and teaches about the need for spiritual education in our schools. Born to parents who learned the year of her birth that most of their families had been sacrificed to the Holocaust, the author writes,
I was carried in the womb of that grief, I grew up in a family where suffering was imbued with nobility. . . it was noble both to suffer and mitigate the suffering of others.
By her late teens Rachael had found a purpose to embrace: to reduce the suffering in this world to the extent she could. She has been working to achieve this mission ever since.
This is a must-have on the bookshelf: a good "how-to" reference, backed up by solid philosophical underpinnings and appropriate methods.
Rating: 5
Summary: Encouragement for Common Sense
Comment: In my book,PRIMAL AWARENESS, I show how and why the great values were a part of indigenous learning and in WALKING THE TALK we will hopefully make this a reality again for all learners. Rachel's book courageously has set the stage for everyone to implement character education by reminding us that without a spiritual approach to learning, values have no relationship to reality.
 |
Title: The Heart of Learning: Spirituality in Education (New Consciousness Reader) by Steven Glazer, Colo.) Spirituality in Education Conference (1997 Boulder, Huston Smith ISBN: 0874779553 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Education and the Soul: Toward a Spiritual Curriculum by John P. Miller, Thomas Moore ISBN: 0791443426 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Courage to Teach : Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life by Parker J. Palmer ISBN: 0787910589 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 21 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Schools with Spirit : Nurturing the Inner Lives of Children and Teachers by Linda Lantieri ISBN: 0807031321 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey by Parker J. Palmer ISBN: 0060664517 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: June, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
