Heart and soul centered education

My daughter attends an amazing school of dedicated teachers, parents, staff. We actually moved here after exploring about 30 schools over three states. To have one you love so deeply, be influenced by a system where she will spend many years is for me no small thing. The school has nourished her in so many ways and she calls her class her family. This from one who has not always been very social or outgoing. Yet for me, I still have many important questions surfacing regarding what is true education.
My daughter’s learning differences have made school torture for her, always presenting her with an image of herself as less then, never able to catch up no matter how hard she tries. As  soon as school starts she is tense and has a variety of physical symptoms arising from that stress. So I have had a lot of grief about education and a lot of questions. I realized after years of fighting with her about homework that education in general does not educate children in many of the things I value most. Her school does value kindness, creativity and originality and I salute them for that. Yet the primary emphasis was and is on the mind, academics. We as a society seem to believe that the more we can educate the mind, the more success we can provide for our children and the more they can contribute to society. Is that true? So much has made me question how to best educate not just my child with her differences but everyone. How well has our mind based, academically oriented education system contributed to a happy and healthy society? I submit not well at all.
Now mind you I have twenty years of education including a Master’s. My father valued education above all else for his children and in the only private conversation with him I can ever recall having, me asked me to be sure to educate my child. I consider that a sacred promise. Yet, ultimately I am asking myself what a true education is.
My years of fighting with my daughter, having so much tension in our home over schoolwork definitely contributed to these questions. How much value is truly given to my daughter’s deep intuitive abilities, stunning old soul wisdom and generous heart? Are the 3 R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) truly the most important way our children need to receive education?
I have heard that education actually means to draw from within.  I submit that there has to be a better way to educate our children, to draw on their natural sympathies, their innate sense of self and to truly let education be something that draws from within their deepest gifts, honoring each child for their differences. While my daughter’s differences come with special considerations, does not every child learn differently. Is there not a way to have education based on these unique soul qualities, to design an education that honors the heart and soul of our children, dare I say, more then their minds? As more children arrive with a right brain dominance, our current education system both marginalizes and traumatizes these children. I have numerous friends who are predominately right brained who were traumatized by their school experience, spending years to even begin to heal the damage done to their sense of self worth. One was called stupid, another told she was retarded. One is now a nurse, the other a licensed therapist. This is no small thing. I have spoken to many adults about the damage done to them in their earliest years in the name of education. This is a wrong that can not be allowed to continue. Yet while these wounds are most obvious in children and adults with learning differences, emotional challenges or mental disorders, they exist in perhaps all children. I was a very good student except in French. My Yale educated sister was also brilliant in French in middle school. While I received mostly A’s, I struggled hard to get a C in French. My sister was always better leading to the feeling I too was never good enough.
I do not yet have the answers. I only know that my heart, which is my truest guide, tells me I must speak out, speak for an education system that speaks to our children’s hearts and souls, not primarily their minds. I salute my daughter’s Waldorf education and all the ways they do their best to educate the whole child. Yet I believe there too, there is much room for improvement, so that no one goes to school feeling so stressed. For me this is the primary and most crucial way we can change the planet. We almost all wish for peace, for harmony, for fairness, for enough for all people. Is the best way to achieve this, to educate the mind or honor the heart? I for one am certain it is the later. Of course this does not mean to ignore or discount the mind, merely to bring more balance to what is our primary focus for our education system. For now perhaps all I can do is speak my truth and stand for what I believe. So many are seeking ways to educate the whole child. Perhaps by asking the question we can be lead to inspired answers.