The Whole Child and Urban Education

Educators would ask, "Why are you visiting us?" I said, "I see that your students are 100% children in poverty, but they are doing as well as your higher wealth comparables." What I found was that the students were involved with the arts. They weren't doing the narrow curriculum of drill and kill.

An unexpected invitation to Betty Peck and her daughter Anna Rainville’s home for an intimate conference on education, specifically on Waldorf education, is what led me to Ida Oberman. There were a few of us at the gathering who were not especially knowledgeable about Waldorf education, but Betty and Anna have always liked expanding the circle. For decades, Betty Peck’s weekly salon has been a meeting place for a wide range of creative individuals from a variety of perspectives in the thick of Silicon Valley culture.

This particular gathering was more focused than Betty’s regular salon meetings and no less interesting for that. It was a chance both for new connections among like-minded people and the emergence of new ideas—and possibly new beginnings.

As it turned out, one of the people I’d hoped to talk with at greater length, happened to need a ride home to the East Bay. Perfect. That would make four of us for another hour of conversation. And on the ride home a number of unexpected new connections emerged, which continue to evolve as of this writing. Not the least of the developments that came out of the ride home is the interview that follows.

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