Ecole d'Humanité

The Ecole d'Humanité is a progressive international boarding school located in Hasliberg Goldern, Switzerland, in the Berner Oberland. It was founded in 1934 by the progressive educator Paul Geheeb and his wife Edith Geheeb Cassirer. In 1910, Geheeb had founded a similar school, the Odenwaldschule, in his native Germany, but he fled to Switzerland to found the new school after the National Socialists came to power.[1] The Ecole d'Humanité was located first in Versoix in Geneva before Geheeb moved it to its present location on the Hasliberg in 1946. Key elements of the school since its inception in Germany were the absence of grades or required courses and coeducational dormitories for students of all ages. The school places a heavy emphasis on the arts, ending academic classes by noon and dedicating the afternoons to all types of arts and crafts, theater, music, and dance. Sports reflect the school's location with the heaviest emphasis on hiking and skiing.[2]

In 1956, Natalie Lüthi-Peterson, a Wellesley graduate and a protege of the Geheebs, took charge of the Ecole's American Program, allowing students to earn a prepare for exams needed for entry into American colleges through their studies in Switzerland.[3] Following the death of Paul Geheeb in 1961, directorship of the school passed to Natalie and her Swiss husband Armin Lüthi, and together they oversaw operations at the school until 1993. Approximately one third of the student body at the school today is enrolled in the American Program, with the remaining two thirds being enrolled in the Swiss education system.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Dennis Shirley. The Politics of Progressive Education: The Odenwaldschule in Nazi Germany. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1992. 171-185.
  2. ↑ Personal reflection of Neale McGoldrick, former student 1962-4 and teacher 1970-71 and 1980
  3. ↑ In Memory of Armin and Natalie
  4. ↑ Ecole d'Humanité: History

External links

Coordinates: 46°44′23″N 8°11′52″E / 46.7396°N 8.1979°E / 46.7396; 8.1979

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