Nitai Deranja founded the first Living Wisdom School, in Nevada City, CA. He spoke to teachers and parents on how emphasizing consciousness transforms every aspect of the child’s school experience.
Listen to the audio:
Watch the 40-minute edited video.
During the talk, four girls from the Living Wisdom High School near Nevada City, California performed an 11-minute chanting kirtan. We’ve placed the performance in a separate file for those who only want to listen to the talk. Here’s the kirtan:
Nitai says…
“Consciousness matters. It matters to the young child who enters school with a shining sense of adventure and is told to sit down and open a workbook.
“It matters to the teenager, yearning for an expanded experience of life, who is supposed to study for a standardized exam.
“It matters to the college graduate who wonders whether the huge investment of time and money in education was really worth it.
“What if schools focused on cultivating that youthful sense of adventure, opening up new avenues of experience for teens, and really preparing graduates to meet the challenges of today’s world?
“You would have a new paradigm of education that integrates intellectual training with a balanced development of the body, feelings, and will to prepare young people for a life of accomplishment, satisfaction, and the joys of a continuously expanding consciousness.”
About Nitai Deranja
Ever since Nitai founded the original Education for Life School in Nevada City, California in 1972, he has been in the classroom full-time pioneering and applying these ideals in childhood education.
He cofounded the Living Wisdom High School in 1997. Since 2004, he has helped establish the Ananda College of Living Wisdom in Laurelwood, Oregon, near Portland.
Nitai holds a B.A. in Humanistic Psychology from UC Berkeley and a lifetime Teaching Credential and M.A. in Education from UC Davis.
He is the author of two books:
- For Goodness’ Sake: Supporting Children & Teens in Discovering Life’s Higher Values
- The Art of Joyful Education