Encourage students to compete, not against each other, but with their own personal best and with rigorous standards of excellence. Diversity and Inclusivity Diversity and inclusivity in all groups dramatically increases richness of ideas, creative power, problem solving ability, and acceptance of others. Encourage students to investigate, value, and draw upon their own different histories, talents, and resources together with those of other communities and cultures. Keep the schools and learning groups heterogeneous. The Natural World A direct and respectful relationship with the natural world refreshed the human spirit and reveals the important lessons of recurring cycles and cause and effect.
Students learn to become stewards of the earth and of the generations to come.
Reflection and Solitude Solitude, reflection, and silence replenish our energies and open our minds. Be sure students have time alone to explore their own thoughts, make their own connections and create their own ideas. Then give them opportunity to exchange their reflections with each other and with adults. We are crew, not passengers, and are strengthened by acts of consequential service to others. One of a school's primary functions is to prepare its students with the attitudes and skills to learn from and be of service to others.