THE SCHOOL DOWN UNDER

5. Symbols and creativity are the essence of language and art.

StoneFire honors speech in every way it can and fosters artistic and creative expression in every avenue it can find. This is not an extra or “add-on” in this program. Indeed, the whole program is itself a creative symbol and art form, just like a flower, human being, atom, sculpture or star.

6. Education should not be a “one size fits all” approach.
Over the years I have come to marvel at the “unusual learners” who are called geniuses in one educational setting and yet called “dumb”, “learning disabled,” and “rebellious” in another educational setting----witness Edison, Einstein, Charles Schwab, Ted Turner, and a host of others.

StoneFire In New Zealand is not a program merely for the gifted, any more than it is a program only for dyslexics, or those with ADHD---although, over the years, we have had tremendous success with each of these types and feel that this approach reaches and honors all different learning styles.

We have established a new educational program for students (and teachers) who wish to identify their gifts, to revel in life, to prepare for rich and fruitful futures of joy, satisfaction and service. Show me a student who will look me in the eye and sincerely promise to “try”, give us some time to identify the strengths and the gaps, and again and again, I have seen it possible to show you a student on the road to learning, success, and the next stage of life.

7. Rites of Passage
In myth and legend one often finds that the years between 16 and 19 are the time of the Vision Quest, the finding of the “Inner Name,” the time of going within and “into the ashes” before washing off and emerging. It is a stage of life when one can either unfold one's wings, or have them clipped. StoneFire is full of questing: both outer and inner.

8. True education has to do with alignment and balance.

· Alignment with others
· Alignment with Self
· Balance of body, mind, and spirit
· Resonance with nature, family, and ..community

	9. A Sense of the sacred Finally, one more point must be made, and made carefully. In our view one cannot study the human past or present, the history of art, architecture, culture, politics, or scientific progress without encountering the concept that indeed there are immense and larger forces to life. StoneFire is most definitely not a religious or church affiliated program. Yet, we believe that there is a place and a space in learning for each to seek, as each sees fit, a “sense of the sacred.”

	Back