During the first ten to fourteen years of a child's life, a foundation of the relationship between the world of meaning and the world of expression is drawn forth into the child's consciousness. All educational experiences are designed to provide for the next step in each student's development These steps are created and understood through various processes of evaluation which explore the relationship of educational experiences to personality development As this foundation stabilizes, the educational process evolves into a synthesized means for knowing and using (or working with) this relationship between the world of meaning and the world of expression.

The synthesis of academic and psychological development within the principles of the World Core Curriculum provides educational experiences which meet each student's needs. Through this synthesis, students learn to know and use the relationship between the world of meaning and the world of expression in daily experiences.

The following methods and concepts are utilized in the development of educational experiences within the World Core Curriculum:

• An educator's philosophical understanding of the concepts that define the World Core Curriculum precedes the development of educational experiences through which the manifestation of these methods and concepts flow.

• The goal of broader educational processes is the integration of personality development with the synthesized absorption of various psychological and academic skills. Lesson plans are designed to be interrelated in such a manner as to best facilitate this integration and synthesis.

• The development of educational experiences is initiated through contemplation of the psychological processes and academic-skills currently associated with the student or group of students. This contemplation forms a meditative template in the teacher's mind, which is necessary for the proper precipitation of the educational experiences.

• The Four Atmospheres (love, patience, ordered activity, and understanding) are key factors —when they are correctly demonstrated, then right relations and right communication become "alive" and the Four Harmonies can be "known" in the heart.

• The synthesis of the various subject matter in different disciplines is most easily demonstrated by using trans-subject or inter-subject terminology and concepts.

• Academic objectives and skills development are conventional and are integrated within the cycles of psychological development

• Individual student interests are allowed to unfold naturally.

• The goal of the teacher and the parent in relation to the young adult is as follows: The development of a mentally polarized, integrated personality, educated to be a global citizen, and guided to fulfill their right and proper place in service as contributing members of a responsible and mature humanity.

The application of the principles of the World Core Curriculum to the education of young adults is a continuing process of experimentation. Future goals include the development of an individualized community apprenticeship program and the extension of these principles to the university experience.

Many teachers work within standard academic subjects. The World Core Curriculum can broaden the scope of these subjects without necessitating a major redesign of the topic being taught. At first glance, it may seem that only one or two of the harmonies apply to any given subject. However, careful thought about the other harmonies will lead to very interesting enhancements of any subject.

Teaching a Foreign Language

For instance, teaching a foreign language can become an exercise in language skills with very little relation to outside life. The teacher may be hard-pressed to find a new way to vitalize a course, which has become routine in presentation. A study of the four harmonies will produce new topics for lessons which can expand the scope of the course, Examples, out of many possibilities, flowing through these harmonies which might be taught in the subject of language, are:


The Miracle of Individual Human Life:

• What are the physical, moral, mental and spiritual values of the countries speaking the language?

• How are these values expressed in the daily life of the people?

• How do these compare to the student's native country?

Our Planetary Home and Place in the Universe:

• What are the geographic forms, climate, plant and animal life of the places in the worId which speak the language?

• How does this compare to the student's native country?

The Human Family:

• What are the standards of life in the countries speaking the language? . What are the demographies?

• What are their towns, villages and countryside like?

• What are the qualitative characteristics of the country?

• Compare these with the student's native country.

Our Place in Time:

• What were the towns, villages and countryside like in the past?

• How might they be in the future? . What changes in the form of human freedoms exists in the country?

• How can these be broadened?

• What changes in the standard of living might be made in the future? . Compare with the student's native country.

Teaching Science:

Another subject, for example, whose scope can easily shrink into near-irrelevance for some students, is science. Introducing elements of the Worid Core Curriculum into a science class expands the perspective and creates interest. For instance:

The Miracle of Individual Human Life:

• This could relate to biology and health.

• Moral values, which might be agreed on in advance by the class, can be the basis of interaction during activities in the science (or any other) class.

• The mental aspects, including thinking, questioning, communicating, imagining, and creating, are a reminder of the thinking skills essential to any class.

• The class may be led into a scientific discussion of the subtle energies available through the heart.

• Students might be encouraged to attempt to find a scientific basis for belief or disbelief in God. (One can scientifically think in areas where objective measurement is not yet possible.)

Our Planetary Home and Place in the Universe:

• This harmony offers a wide range of possible opportunities for expanding student awareness, or a global concept, of life on the planet through the study of Astronomy, Zoology, Botany, Physics, Chemistry, Meteorology, and Geology, all from a planetary perspective.

The Human Family:

• This harmony seems harder to relate to standard science, but has possibilities for a teacher willing to extend an offer of greater awareness to the global interconnectedness of all learning possibilities. For instance, what are the handicaps found around the world?

• How do they vary in different places? How are they caused and how treated?

• What is the effect on the life of the handicapped, their families and their place in society?

• Similarly, standards of life, races, human settlements and demographies can be investigated from the point of view of scientific observation and attempts to understand cause and effect.

Our Place in Time:

• The history of science fits nicely here. Some of the ancient experiments may be duplicated —the failures, as well as the successes. Knowledge of the early efforts to understand the universe —through science, myth and dogma— is worthwhile for understanding the modem views of the universe,

The possibilities for using the World Core Curriculum in these ways are only partially tapped. Many exciting, as yet undiscovered, experiences await students of adventurous WCC teachers.