No. 1948
Students Explore Their Grande Passion
The schools absorb so much nervous
strength through mere bookwork that there is
not much spirit left in the young to fashion for themselves soul-restoring
activities.
— Kurt Hahn ¹
Kurt Hahn is renowned as the founder of adventure education and the Outward Bound movement. Hahn studied both in his native Germany and in England and made powerful political connections, but never earned advanced degrees. Having suffered a disability at eighteen, Hahn built a career as headmaster of schools that challenged both mind and body, seeking to instill a spirit of tenacity and compassion in his students.
After World War I, Hahn founded a Salem school in a castle on Lake Constance in Germany. Salem means "peace" and Hahn was outspoken in his resistance to the rise of Hitler. Imprisoned by the Nazi's, he was released by intervention from the highest levels in the British government. Hahn moved to Scotland where he founded another school, Gordonston, which became the beacon of the adventure education movement. At his death, the London Times declared that "no one else in our day has created more original educational ideas and, at the same time, possessed the gift of getting them into practice."² His schools combined challenging outdoor activities, service to the community, and academic excellence. Following is a flavor of his philosophy of education as laid down in "The Seven Laws of Salem." ³
First Law
Opportunities for self discovery.
Every girl and boy has a grande passion, often hidden
and unrealized to the end of life. The educator cannot hope and may not try
to find it out by psychoanalytical methods. It can and will be revealed by
the child coming in close touch with a number of different activities. When
a child has come into his own, one will often hear a shout of joy or be
thrilled by some other manifestation of primitive happiness.
But these activities must not be added as a superstructure to an exhausting
program of lessons. They will have no chance of absorbing and bringing out
the child unless they form a vital part of the day's work. The wholesome
passion once discovered grows to be the guardian angel of the years of
adolescence, while the undiscovered and unprotected boy rarely maintains his
vitality unbroken and undiluted from ages 11 to 15. We do not hesitate to
say: often the spiritual difference in age between a boy of 15 and a boy of
11 is greater than of a man of 50 and a boy of 16.
Second Law
Meeting triumph and defeat.
Let them learn to treat these two impostors' just the same. It is possible to wait on a child's inclinations and gifts and to arrange carefully for an unbroken series of successes. You may make him happy this way — I would doubt it — but you certainly may disqualify him for the battle of life. Salem believes you ought to discover the child's weakness as well as his strength. Allow him to engage in enterprises in which he is likely to fail, and do not hush up his failure. Teach him to overcome defeat. "To him that overcomes, I will give the right to eat of the tree of life." (Revelation 2:7)
Third Law
Servicing in the common cause.
Even the younger children ought to undertake tasks which are of definite importance for the community. Tell them from the start that you want a crew, not passengers, on the thrilling voyage through the New Country School. Let the responsible boys and girls shoulder duties big enough, when negligently performed, to wreck the school state.
Fourth Law
Periods of silence.
Follow the great precedent of the Quakers. Unless the present-day generation acquires early habits of quiet and reflection, it will be speedily and prematurely used up by the nerve exhausting and distracting civilization of today.
Fifth Law
Activating the imagination.
You must call it into action, otherwise it becomes atrophied like a muscle not in use. The power to resist the pressing stimulus of the hour and the moment cannot be acquired in later life; it often depends on the ability to visualize what you plan and hope and fear for the future. Self-indulgence is in many cases due to lack of vision. Whoever fails to look ahead finds grief near at hand.
Sixth Law
Keeping sports in perspective.
Athletics do not suffer by being put in their place. In
fact, you restore the dignity of the usurper by dethroning him
.
Seventh Law
Free the offspring of the wealthy and powerful from the nerve-racking sense
of privilege.
Decadence is not always an unavoidable decree of nature, more often it is a willful waste of a splendid heritage. The "poor" rich girls and boys wholly thrown into each other's company are not given a chance of growing into men and women who can overcome challenge. Let them share the experiences of an enthralling school life with sons and daughters of those who have to struggle for their existence. No school can build up a tradition of self-discipline and vigorous but joyous endeavor unless at least 30 percent of the children come from homes where life is not only simple but also hard.
KURT HAHN (1886-1974)
NOTES
1 Miner, J., & Boldt, J. (1981). Outward Bound USA: Learning through
experience in adventure based education. New York: William Morrow Company,
p. 47.
2 Downloaded from: http://www.essington.nt.edu.au/Associations/RoundSq.htm.
12/11/06
3 Adapted from an English translation and copies of the German language
original were secured by Dr. Stephan Lhotzky, Chair of Modern Foreign
Languages at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from his research
in the archives of Salem Castle School.
From Reclaiming Children and Youth, 16,1, Spring 2007, p.7-8
