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School Philosophy | Page 3 |
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The Nature of Tempo School and
its Philosophy Aesthetic, physical and vocational It must be stressed again that the intellectual development of the child is by no means the sole aim of education. Character training, aesthetic or cultural development, vocation training, physical development - all these are of fundamental import in the education of the child. But it must be stressed equally as often that the primary function of the school is intellectual. For two reasons, then, Tempo School leaves the afternoons free. First, because the principle of "concentration in time" requires that study be concentrated but limited in time - that is, the mornings. Secondly, the afternoons are well suited for these other educational activities, music, drama, art, physical activities. In a sense the teacher - particularly the elementary teacher - is (as is so commonly said today) the pivot of the school. But, this is true only insofar as the teacher personifies the education philosophy which inspires him. The teacher has the mental, and even the moral and emotional, life of the child in his hands because of his intimate relation with that child during the period of instruction. Entrusted with this inescapable responsibility by parents, he must be in no sense inferior to, say, the doctor in skill and professional stature. In passing, it is well to note that "paper qualifications" are no guarantee of this stature. The main point to remember is that the teacher is only the delegate of the parent. He is an assistant to the parent in the job of education. The parent does not - or should not - "turn over" the child to the teacher to educate. The teacher is there only to assist the parent to carry out his primary responsibility. Hence the staff of Tempo School welcome - insist upon - parental cooperation and supervision. Parents are expected to show an interest in their children by actually visiting classrooms during class periods. Only in this way can the fullest confidence be maintained between teacher and parent. And only in this way can parents understand and play their part in what is going on in formal classroom instruction.
In the last analysis, the underlying philosophy of the school is that there are certain principles which do not change from age to age. Not that the school attempts to maintain the "status quo" - quite the contrary. Merely because a principle is old, however, is no reason to discard it as one does an old worn-out garment. On the contrary, its very age and resilience in surviving thus far might well be taken as a measure of its perennial value. Modern education has discarded many of these firm and wise principles and has embarked upon a new course under the philosophical banner of Pragmatism. This is the philosophy which holds the only measure of truth to be the test of actual results obtained at any particular time. In other words, truth is what works here and now. Without going into this underlying philosophy of modern education, it is only necessary to point out here that Tempo School holds for the absolute nature of many standards - standards which are not subject to the winds of constant change. Only those parents who likewise believe that these principles upon which Tempo School is founded are sound and timeless should concern themselves to investigate it further. top...
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