Becoming One With the World:
A Guide to Neohumanist Education
By Kathleen Kesson, LIU-Brooklyn
A volume in Transforming Education for the Future Series
Editors Jing Lin, University of Maryland; Rebecca L. Oxford, University of Maryland; Vachel W. Miller, Appalachian State University; and Amanda Jane Fiore, State Department
Becoming One With the World: A Guide to Neohumanist Education responds to an urgent need to reconceptualize the fundamentals of education in light of the many social, ecological, and political challenges facing humanity today. It answers the call for a new educational paradigm, one based on a far richer, more insightful understanding of human possibility, one that decenters human “exceptionalism” in favor of a new ecological consciousness, one that promotes harmony and cooperation between humans and non-human others, and one that cultivates wisdom. Neohumanist education strives for a harmonious balance between spiritual development and critical engagement with the world, in the belief that an awakened conscience translates into transcending differences and creating a sense of unity with all beings.
The book is designed to enhance the spiritual and pedagogical knowledge and skill of teachers, parents, and school leaders who are seeking more holistic approaches to educating young people. Both richly theoretical and eminently practical, the book applies the primary commitments of Neohumanist education—cultivating love and kinship with humans and non-human others, freeing the mind from dogma and limitations, fostering a balanced approach between inquiry into the outer, objective world(s) and the inner, subjective world(s), and awakening the desire for social and environmental justice—to the full spectrum of traditional subject matter. It draws upon a wide range of new research and scholarship to illustrate an educational model capable of maximizing human potential and inspiring young people to create a future that is just, joyful, and sustainable.
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Praise for Becoming One With the World: A Guide to Neohumanist Education
What a wonderful book! Packed into its pages are decades of experience as a meditator, yogi, parent, educator, and Neohumanist. This latter is the crux of this text, designed to lay out in clear accessible language the fundamentals of this rich and inspiring philosophy and to touch on ways it can find its way into the daily flow of the classroom and school. A philosophy worth its salt is one that actually makes a difference in the day to day lives of people. In Kathleen Kesson and her comprehensive book, we find just this: practical, pragmatic insights into a philosophy both new and ancient! It is a gift to educators and anyone committed to wholesome futures for children, society and of course, the planet.
—Dr. Marcus Bussey, Senior Lecturer in History and Futures, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Becoming One With the World is an extraordinary book. While its primary aims are explaining the philosophy of Neohumanism and detailing a Neohumanistic approach to education, it is simultaneously a comprehensive summary and synthesis of scholarly literature in the field of holistic education. Unifying knowledge and methods from many curricula areas, including spirituality, ecology, aesthetics, literacy, cultural diversity and ethics, it offers a clear orientation to a way of educating young people that seems key to human surviving and thriving.
—Dr. Aostre Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Education, Saint Michael’s College in Vermont, USA. She has taught courses and published in the areas of human development, holistic curriculum, creativity, mindfulness, and contemplative and spiritual education.
This book by Dr. Kathleen Kesson is beautiful, wonderful, and powerful. I am sheerly impressed by the spectrum of Kathleen’s mindset and the depth of her spiritual wisdom that reaches into all dimensions of learning, teaching, being, and the “cosmic mystery” including human and non-human lives. Kathleen is a visionary educator and a leader for a New Era of Neohumanism. Her immense mind, incredibly deep scholarship, unfathomable wisdom, master level of writing and analytical abilities, and her ability to integrate many disciplines and incorporate new sciences and knowledge, makes her a rare modern-day polymath. Anyone who has read this book will feel elevated, intrigued, cleansed, broadened, enriched, and better equipped to bring positive changes to the world.
—Dr. Jing Lin, Professor, International Education Policy, University of Maryland
Dr. Kathleen Kesson is a senior educational consultant and a long time Professor of Education. She has won the hearts of students around the globe through her introductory course on Neohumanist Education that she has delivered at The Neohumanist College of Asheville. Becoming One With the World is a superb introduction to this subject, a perfect entry to understand the philosophy, pedagogic principles and methods of Neohumanist Education. It is a long awaited book and we are pleased to see it finally made available to a larger audience.
—Dr. Acharya Shambhushivananda, Chancellor, A.M. Gurukula, Anandanagar, India.
Kathleen Kesson has written a book that presents a path to building an education based on the interdependency of life on the planet through a Neohumanist lens. I am not a scholar of Neohumanism, but this is a book that I have been longing for. The writing is clear and compelling, easing the reader into comfort with unfamiliar concepts. Kesson makes a strong case for the necessity of making a shift away from the standpoint of human exceptionalism in every academic discipline. As a former scientist and science teacher, I am most impressed by her ability to hold open the value of the traditions of scientific study at the same time she challenges the largely positivist and materialist approaches in the sciences that have so often led to our alienation from non-human nature.
—Dr. Susan Huddleston Edgerton, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Kesson has put together a remarkably engaging and superbly practical educational blueprint for our returning to Oneness. A must read for teachers, coaches, yogis, parents, children and corporate leaders who recognize the plight our separation from the rest of Nature has caused.
—Four Arrows, co-author of Restoring the Kinship Worldview and of Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education.
Kesson’s Becoming One with the World is a timely book in this planetary transition. The transition is from a world created through patriarchy, capitalism, and the nation-state – a dominator world – to a world of gender partnership, cooperative economics and global governance/bio regions. The transition cannot be accomplished without a shift in worldview, a shift to Neohumanism. Kesson takes us on a brilliant tour of this new framework – her work is theoretically edgy, practical, beautifully written, and much needed.
—Dr. Sohail Inayatullah, UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, IIUM. Professor of Futures Studies, Tamkang University. Researcher, Metafuture.org
In Becoming One with the World by Kathleen Kesson we are introduced to Neohumanist education in a powerful and engaging manner. This book guides us through the theory and practices of Neohumanist education. In these difficult times educators around the world can benefit greatly from this book.
—John (Jack) Miller, Professor, University of Toronto and author of The Holistic Curriculum
Becoming One With the World by Professor Kathleen Kesson is simply outstanding. It is the kind of book that is epoch changing with ideas whose time has come. The book is an answer to a long dream of humanity. Education, as said by Nelson Mandela, is still the most potent weapon for social and global transformation. I commend this book to all well-wishers of humanity and deeply thank the author for having put together what may be the best work to date on Humanistic and Holistic education. Like her, I believe that it is up to us human beings where we lead the planet. I am deeply convinced that humanity will prevail and bring forth a sustainable planet in all aspects. This book is a great guide in that direction.
—Acharya Jinanananda, Yogic monk serving in Brazil
Dr. Kesson’s newest contribution to the field of pedagogy, Becoming One with the World: A Guide to Neohumanist Education offers a window into both the theory and practice of a critically important approach to education. The first part of the book reminds us of many principles of holistic education, updated with a powerful analysis of colonization and what is needed to decolonize our work in this field. Kesson then brings these ideas to life with many nuanced and richly textured examples of integrating specific practices of yoga, music, art, story, and a reconceptualized STEAM and how these disciplines support a Neohumanist education. This book offers its readers a hopeful and coherent vision for a pedagogy for today, and well into a beautiful future.
—Paul Freedman, Senior Editor Holistic Education Review
Dr. Kathleen Kesson’s Becoming One With the World offers a profound vision for a new, different education based on Neohumanist principles, which include social, ecological, and spiritual values, and promises to lay a foundation for the development of our society as a whole. Her vast personal and professional experience has led to the production of knowledge from multiple perspectives which are seamlessly woven together in a fashion that echoes a significant theme which guides her pioneering work in the field – “unity in diversity” – while at the same time reflecting the (trans)modern spirit of the ancient dictum Sá vidyá yá vimuktaye—“Education is that which liberates.”
—Dr. Marco Oliveira, Instructor in Liberating Humanities & Arts, Neohumanist College of Asheville, United States of America
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Across the country, millions of parents are deeply dissatisfied with the education their children are receiving and see that too many bright, creative, and energetic children are falling through the cracks, losing interest in learning, or developing “behavioral issues.” They know intuitively that if kids are not engaged in learning, they will not develop the capacities to deal with the multi-faceted problems of the 21st century. Between 1.5 and 2 million families have taken the dramatic step of opting out of public and private schools altogether and assuming the enormous challenges of home schooling or “unschooling” their children.
Praise for Unschooling in Paradise
Unschooling in Paradise gets to the heart of teaching and learning because for Kathleen young people are flesh and blood minds, bodies, and spirits set in the context of their time, not some researcher’s construct. And she tells one mean story along the way.
—Chris Mercogliano, author of Making It Up as We Go Along and In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness
Dr. Kesson’s thinking and writing create useful bridges between leading edge educational scholarship and the practical concerns of teachers and parents… it’s a vitally important book for helping the general public understand the possibilities of education beyond mass schooling.
—Ron Miller, Ph.D., author, What Are Schools For?: Holistic Education in American Culture and Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy After the 1960s.
Kathleen Kesson is a poet—a lyrical, beckoning and righteously angry poet…(she) is uncommonly generous in her willingness to so vividly share the magnificent stories of her children learning the world.
Sheri Leafgren, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Miami University, author of Reuben’s Fall: A Rhizomatic Analysis of Disobedience in Kindergarten.
..a masterful memoir-manifesto that takes the baton from the great thinkers in and on education–including John Dewey, John Holt, Ivan Illich–and races forward. Her masterpiece reads as a “love letter” of sorts, one that could not have come at a more needed time.
—Dana L. Stuchul, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Penn State University, co-author of Teaching as if Life Matters: The Promise of a New Education Culture.
Every page of this book is written to celebrate the fact that genius is as common as dirt — once we begin to walk on our own feet on soil with common sense for regenerating our cultural commons.
—Madhu S. Prakash, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Education, Penn State University, author, Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures andEscaping Education: Living as Learning at the Grassroots
…the descriptions about how her children learned through their own curiosity and play will encourage homeschoolers, and her knowledge of education theory and practice will help those who are on the fence about trusting their children’s self-directed learning.
—Patrick Farenga, president and publisher, John Holt Growing Without Schooling
Kathleen brings together in these pages a deep wisdom for an integrated and nurturing form of education that is eminently do-able. Read this book, share it with friends, and put its insights into practice!
—Marcus Bussey, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in History and Futures Studies, University of the Sunshine Coast, author, Alternative Educational Futures.
In this captivating and informative narrative, Kesson answers many questions that those contemplating or practicing unschooling often have…a rich and helpful book.
—Carlo Ricci, Ph.D., Professor, Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University, author of The Willed Curriculum, Unschooling, and Self-Direction: What Do Love, Trust, Respect, Care, and Compassion Have To Do With Learning? and founding editor, Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning.
This remarkable family experiment with unschooling illuminates the role of creativity and joy in children’s education, and the depth and breadth of knowledge and experiences available to children in alternative learning contexts.
—Kellie Rolstad, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education, University of Maryland.
Curriculum Wisdom: Educational Decisions in Democratic Societies
Written by two of the most-recognized names in the field, the heart of this book revolves around the seven “modes of inquiry” that serve as guiding principles for designing curriculum that meets the needs of students, educators, parents, and the community at large. Coverage carefully balances theory and practicality, draws inspiration from a wide range of disciplines and contexts, and incorporates the wisdom of practicing curriculum designers from this country and others. Chapter titles include Curriculum Wisdom in Democratic Societies, Pragmatism: A Philosophy for Democratic Educators, The Arts of Inquiry: Toward Holographic Thinking, Personal and Structural Challenges, and Implications for Educational Practice. For teachers and administrators responsible for designing and implementing curriculum.
https://www.amazon.com/Curriculum-Wisdom-Educational-Decisions-Democratic/dp/0131118196
Understanding Democratic Curriculum Leadership
This volume integrates critical curriculum theory with best practice — extending John Dewey’s and Maxine Greene’s progressive educational philosophy into the domain of curriculum theory and practice. The authors select four significant theoretical topics, and then apply this knowledge to the work of practitioners. The practice of these educators is examined closely to determine how they engage in reflective practice, collaborative decision-making, and curriculum construction informed by diverse curriculum studies.
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Democratic-Curriculum-Leadership-Henderson/dp/0807738271/
Defending Public Schools: Teaching for a Democratic Society
Teachers today are faced with critical challenges: Standards and testing that limit the exercise of professional judgment; increasingly intrusive management and surveillance of teachers’ work; underfunded mandates; scripted curricula that discounts teacher creativity and ingenuity; and critical social factors, such as the resegregation of schools. A system of strong, well-funded public schools is the core of a true democracy, and well-trained, empowered teachers are key.
Centering on the theme of teaching for participation in a democracy at a time when the foundations of democracy are being shaken by global and domestic factors, Teaching for a Democratic Society focuses on issues of power, decision-making, representation, and control of the profession from a multiplicity of viewpoints.
https://www.amazon.com/Defending-Public-Schools-Vol-Perspectives/dp/0275982971