Who is kurt hahn

Participants can gain bronze, silver and gold awards, in return for volunteering for community service, learning physical activities and skills and going on an expedition, such as a mountain trek or a sailing trip. Almost 2. Duke of Edinburgh's Awards are offered in more than countries and territories.

Another aspect of Hahn's thought was internationalism. A lot of the thinking behind the trust was to get people from different countries talking. It's a fantastic message and it's still appropriate today. In , the US book Leadership the Outward Bound Way described its philosophy, handed down by Hahn, as "a unique blend of two traditions: the Greco-Roman way of tenacity, physical challenge, courage, and perseverance, and the Judeo-Christian way of compassion, self-sacrifice, love, and tolerance".

Hahn, unlike other educational innovators of the early 20th Century, such as Italy's Maria Montessori and Austrian Rudolf Steiner , claimed no originality in his ideas, arguing he had picked useful elements of the works of figures such as Plato and the 19th-Century British headmaster Thomas Arnold.

Since the s, the Round Square organisation, with member schools around the world, has promoted Hahn's experiential philosophy.

And the enthusiasm of his best-known pupil has not dimmed, more than seven decades after he left Gordonstoun. Follow Justin Parkinson on Twitter justparkinson. Image source, Getty Images.

He diagnosed six societal ills:. Image source, Alamy. On this Web site you will find biographical information, links to schools inspired by his philosophy, and a selection of his writings. Our goal is to provide materials about the history of Hahn-inspired schools and reflections on the relevance of his ideas in meeting the challenges of our day.

In addition, many other institutions, such as the Atlantic Challenge, the Kurt Hahn Trust, and Round Square, were initiated by others who were inspired by his ideas. We seek to help facilitate connections — the exchange of ideas and resources — between these institutions. The Kurt Hahn Prize is awarded in recognition of an exceptional act of service to others, immediate or long term, either within or without the school community. The Kurt Hahn Prize has been awarded to Heather Chisholm from Rothesay Netherwood in Canada for her initiative to build a school out of upcycled shipping containers.

This eco-friendly solution helps to repurpose around 3,kg worth of steel per container and hugely benefits a community in need. How does the application process work? It was virtually a duplicate of the report card Hahn had developed at Salem, according to Joshua Miner, an American teacher who taught at Gordonstoun in the s. Ability to follow out what he believes to be the right course in the face of discomforts, hardships, dangers, mockery, boredom, skepticism, and impulses of the moment.

Presumably boys were graded in English at Gorsdonstoun. Kurt Hahn believed that learning required challenge. One of the ways Hahn challenged his students was to send them on expeditions to the woods, the mountains and the sea. These were multi-day trips where boys learned to face the elements.

Experience in nature is so important in teaching people to be more resourceful and more grounded in themselves. Plus est en Vous: There is more in you than you think. Hahn had once seen that line etched into the stone of a Belgian church. It became the Gordonstoun school motto.

The most important element of education at Gordonstoun, according to Hahn, was the rescue service. Philosopher William James inspired the idea. In , reflecting on the horror of the American Civil War, James had challenged educators and statesmen to come up with something that would unite young men for the purposes of good rather than destruction. For Hahn, the rescue services were that moral equivalent. There was a coastal rescue service, a mountain rescue service, and a fire rescue service.

Boys were required to join one of the services. They learned how to provide emergency assistance and were actually involved in fighting fires, tracking down missing hikers, and rescuing sailors whose ships had wrecked along the rocky coast nearby. Students were on duty whenever catastrophe called.

Think about that for a minute. High school kids, pulled out of class or awoken in the middle of the night, to go fight a fire! And this, according to Hahn, was the most important element of education at Gordonstoun. More important than preparation for exams. More important than projects. Students at Gordonstoun still serve in rescue services.

There are twelve services now. What Hahn was doing at Gordonstoun caught the attention of a man named Lawrence Holt. It was , World War II had just begun, and Holt — the owner of a large British shipping company — was gravely concerned about how many of his young seamen were dying in the North Atlantic after German submarines torpedoed their ships. And the older sailors, the more experienced ones who had been trained in the old wooden sailing ships, were hardier. They had a stamina and an ability to survive that the young did not have.