Lately, I have been feeling esoteric and trying to discover
ways that are beyond the usual buzz words to describe what we do in
education. Yesterday, I began writing a
book/package that will help me explain my coaching philosophy and when I can to
the part about coaching the “whole athlete” I began wondering what exactly that
meant. What is a whole athlete or
student? How can I define what the
means? Is it really just an empty
buzzword that we throw around because it sounds nice?
After asking those questions, I remembered having read Aristotle
in the past and being impressed with his simple, yet defining references of the
mind, body, and soul regarding human psychology. I began connecting my thoughts and my experiences
on the soccer field and lumping some of the activities or skill building activities
I do into these categories. I understand
that this is not originally what Aristotle meant when he was discussing these things,
but I do think they can help us think about developing the children in our
classrooms.
Mind:
The activities that come to mind when thinking about
developing a student is how they think and use their brains to solve problems
we put in front of them. In the 20th
century we became really good at training people how to do jobs while in
school, but at the same time we did not develop the mind of the students as
much as we probably could have. Thinking
was not something that was always prized and compliance was the order of the
day versus allowing people to think creatively.
If you look back at ancient theories of education you will notice that
no where did the classical civilizations simply teach their students to be compliant. They taught them how to form arguments, look
up information, and how to articulate themselves. In recent years, it seems that we have begun
to rediscover what the ancients already knew to be true: That content knowledge is important, but
having a brain that is plastic enough to do mental gymnastics against an
opponent is much more preferred for individuals that will be engaged in intellectual
combat while being an active citizen in a democracy. In our educational environment of today, the
mind is being the most developed by the way we do things even if it is not
always the most effective.
Body:
This is a place as a society we tend to teach the barebones
to our students. I get it. This is a sensitive topic and lots of
different people have different opinions on what is important or how this
should be taught. Health class is often
a battle ground for how sex education should be taught or how deep we should go
when exploring sensitive topics like drugs.
But every year, people advocate for the removal of Physical Education
from the curriculum and claim that the teachers don’t do anything. This simply is not true and the professionals
that run these classes know more about the human body than I ever will and are
a great resource for our students. As
for core classroom teachers, we can probably do more on helping students cope
with the stress and the feelings they are going through while they are in our
classes. I am thinking of the students
who deal with anxiety on tests or students who are dealing with the imposter
syndrome to just name a few. At this point
in time we need to offer guidance to our students on how to deal with these
problems instead of just dumping content on their heads and then going home at
the end of the day.
Soul/Spirit:
Aristotle called the energy force that exists in our bodies
a soul and personally I do believe that each person has a spirit or a
soul. For many people, talking about a
soul makes them uncomfortable because it conjures up images of salvation or
Christianity and many people are simply not comfortable discussing their spirituality
with others. Many people think that
those who do are crazy, uneducated, or being controlled through an oppressive system
of rituals.
I disagree.
I do
believe that human beings need to develop a sense of spirit and that we are
incomplete unless we do. This is an area
that our school system fails miserably and does not recognize as an area we
should be teaching. People used to get
this sort of guidance through religion, but in today’s world religion has taken
a hit and people are less religious than they have been in the past. Now, I am not talking about instilling religious
dogma onto people, like so many critics seem to think. What I am talking about is developing a way
to help people tap into their own spiritual energy and build relationships with
other people. I believe that our spirits
are what help us connect with others on a basic level and if we develop our
system of interconnectedness it will only make the world a better place. Right now our schools leave this component out
and the results have had a civilization that now is at record numbers of
suicides, drug use, and depression. I
think it is because we have neglected our spirits that we cannot find happiness
and feel isolated. If we can help
students connect with others, develop a sense of joy surrounding life
regardless of their circumstances, and show them how to use introspective
patterns to discover their inner spiritual self we as a society will be happier
and more fulfilled.
As we continue through another school year, I implore you to
think about how you could apply Aristotle’s thinking to your classroom every
day. Remember we are supposed to develop
the “whole child” and it often helps to define what exactly that is supposed to
mean. This is my first attempt at
developing my own meaning to go alone
with Aristotle’s ancient wisdom and using these three principles as a framework for my
thinking in the classroom on a daily basis.
What do you think? Are these
categories to developing the whole child?
Let me know in the comments section.
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