Fragilis et mollitiam

 Mannaz Agora

Dr Kurt Hahn

Plus est en vous

"There is more in you than you think" is an inscription found on the wall of a family home in Belgium before World War II.

It became the motto for the school Kurt Hahn founded in Britain, Gordonstoun, and the leitmotiv of his philosophy: that each of us has more courage, more strength and more compassion than we would ever have fathomed.

Kurt Hahn's calling in life was to help people around the world realize this truth about themselves.

Kurt Hahn was a key figure in the development of experiential education. He was the founder of the the Atlantic College, the first United World College, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Gordonstoun, Outward Bound, and Salem. 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.

He was born June 5th, 1886 and died December 14th, 1974.

Kurt Hahn wrote very little in his life and believed that his ideas were not original, that his ideas were drawn from many other great thinkers. It was the "living" of ideas, of experiencing and implementing them oneself, that was so important to him. Nevertheless, his words are very inspiring.

The Quotes Gallery is a multimedia gallery of vintage Outward Bound photographs and Kurt Hahn quotes.

These are a selection of Hahn's writings, biographies of him and bibliographies. The first three speeches provide an excellent overview of his ideas.

http://www.kurthahn.org/writings/writings.html

Educational principles
 These 10 principles, which seek to describe a caring, adventurous school culture and approach to learning, were drawn from the ideas of Kurt Hahn and other education leaders for use in Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) schools.
 1. The primacy of self-discovery
  Learning happens best with emotion, challenge and the requisite support. People discover their abilities, values, passions, and responsibilities in situations that offer adventure and the unexpected. In Expeditionary Learning schools, students undertake tasks that require perseverance, fitness, craftsmanship, imagination, self-discipline, and significant achievement. A teacher’s primary task is to help students overcome their fears and discover they can do more than they think they can.
 2. The having of wonderful ideas
 Teaching in Expeditionary Learning schools fosters curiosity about the world by creating learning situations that provide something important to think about, time to experiment, and time to make sense of what is observed.
 3. The responsibility for learning
 Learning is both a personal process of discovery and a social activity. Everyone learns both individually and as part of a group. Every aspect of an Expeditionary Learning school encourages both children and adults to become increasingly responsible for directing their own personal and collective learning.
 4. Empathy and caring
 Learning is fostered best in communities where students’ and teachers’ ideas are respected and where there is mutual trust. Learning groups are small in Expeditionary Learning schools, with a caring adult looking after the progress and acting as an advocate for each child. Older students mentor younger ones, and students feel physically and emotionally safe.
 5. Success and failure
 All students need to be successful if they are to build the confidence and capacity to take risks and meet increasingly difficult challenges. But it is also important for students to learn from their failures, to persevere when things are hard, and to learn to turn disabilities into opportunities.
 6. Collaboration and competition
 Individual development and group development are integrated so that the value of friendship, trust, and group action is clear. Students are encouraged to compete not against each other but with their own personal best and with rigorous standards of excellence.
 7. Diversity and inclusion
 Both diversity inclusion increase the richness of ideas, creative power, problem-solving ability, respect for others. In Expeditionary Learning schools, students investigate value their different histories talents as well as those of other communities cultures. Schools learning groups heterogeneous.
 8. The natural world
 Direct respectful relationship with the natural world refreshes the human spirit teaches the important ideas of recurring cycles and cause and effect. Students learn to become stewards of the earth and of future generations.
 9. Solitude and reflection
 Students and teachers need time alone to explore their own thoughts, make their own connections, and create their own ideas. They also need time to exchange their reflections with others.
 10. Service and compassion
 We are crew, not passengers. Students and teachers are strengthened by acts of consequential service to others, and one of an Expeditionary Learning school’s primary functions is to prepare students with the attitudes and skills to learn from and be of service to others.