Sport plays a crucial role in personal and collective development, reflecting core values and serving as a platform for holistic growth. As athletics, especially intercollegiate sports, face increasing pressures and challenges, the need for leadership training and character development has become more critical than ever. This article emphasizes…

This essay explores the concept of mentoring communities in the context of Christian higher education. It delves into the importance of forming mentoring communities for faculty, administrators, and students that embrace love, empathy, and a shared commitment to justice, particularly in light of systemic injustices within academia and in the…

In Pangbisa village in Paro, Bhutan, a unique institution is a testament to His Majesty the King's recognition of the critical role of education in enriching the lives of people and the society, nurturing successive generations of leaders and building a strong, secure, and prosperous nation. The Royal Academy consists of three centers--the School,…

This article embeds the study of character development within the two-decades-long research program framed by the Lerner and Lerner model of positive youth development. Character development involves attaining the feelings, thoughts, and skills needed to act coherently across time and place to serve self and others in mutually beneficial, positive…

This article traces the evolution of holistic student development as the centerpiece of the college experience in the 1960s to its current all-too-often overlooked function in postsecondary education, and it explains why students, employers, and the democracy all benefit from educating the whole person. Holistic student development encompasses…

Scholars conventionally find play difficult to define because the concept is complex and ambiguous. The author proffers a definition of play that takes into consideration its dynamic character, posits six basic elements of play (anticipation, surprise, pleasure, understanding, strength, and poise), and explores some of their emotional, physical,…

Adolescence is a period in everybody's life that is usually referred to as "time that everybody must go through" or "parents' hell". Transition between childhood and adulthood is indeed of great importance in everybody's life, but it is usually accompanied with a variety of questions, problems, dilemmas and a constant need to…

In the summer of 1899, [John] Dewey gave two series of talks at Honolulu High School on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 8:00 to 10:00. The first set of five lectures was entitled "The Life of the Child;" the second set, "Movements in Nineteenth Century Thought." The first talk of the lecture series was delivered on the evening…

Character development has become an important component of physical education that contributes directly to the affective learning domain. However, teaching character development can be challenging. The purpose of this article is to suggest that character development be promoted through the teaching of wrestling, due to the unique moral development…

Contemporary culture has wrought profound changes--especially in the lives of children. In today's world, more than ever, schools need to think about what it takes to educate children to be psychologically healthy and of good character, to give them the tools that will enable them to find meaning in their lives both in school and after they…

Sometimes a single word changes everything. In his groundbreaking book "Choice Words", Peter Johnston demonstrated how the things teachers say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for the literate lives of students. Now, in "Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives", Peter shows how the words teachers choose affect the worlds students…

The use of the notion of "decolonization", applied to indigenous people's schooling, is somehow misleading. It refers to a certain period, namely the colonial period, which officially ended in New Caledonia in 1946, then a French colony and now a French overseas territory. It also refers to contemporary efforts to address the colonial…

Most of the scholarship on gifted Black children focuses, legitimately, in a disproportionate way on underrepresentation, namely, identification and placement issues, barriers, and recommendations. Comparatively speaking, less attention has focused on socio-emotional (or affective) and psychological needs and development of these students.…

This book brings together a group of extraordinary educators and scholars who offer important insights about what we can do to defend childhood from societal challenges. The authors explain new findings from neuroscience and psychology, as well as emerging knowledge about the impact on child development of cultural and linguistic diversity,…

Dominion High School opened its doors in fall 2003 in the highly diverse, fast-growing region of Loudoun County, Virginia, with a student body of nearly 700 students in grades 9-11. A dedicated faculty and a supportive community welcomed students to the school and began working toward a collaborative vision that promoted the success of every…