Home [oikos, eco]

"We can be content with no less than the old summary of educational ideal which has been current at any time from the dawn of our civilization. The essence of education is that it be religious. Pray, what is religious education? A religious education is an education which inculcates duty and reverence. Duty arises from our potential control over the course of events. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice. And the foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity." The Aims of Education, AN Whitehead

At Northfield, we believe a secondary education should enlighten and equip students to seek and serve the following reality.

• All subjects are ontologically connected and dynamically ordered [logos] ... just as all gardens share one earth-in-process ... one organic household [oikos] for all ... ecology [oikos-logos].

• All persons are equipped with common, cognitive abilities ... tools of learning ... which invite them to explore and articulate a life-long, ever-widening understanding of ecology [ie. of various subjects of interest to them in the organic world] ... furthering their education.

• The aim and result of education is to inspire and enable duty and reverence in each person's individual and collective management [nomos] of our shared organic household [oikos] thereby transforming them into a local economist [oikos-nomos] who sows, grows, harvests and consumes [or invests] in ways that are rich in justice, mercy and humility.

We hope you agree ... and that you will join us in the work of helping secondary students become local economists ... by learning economy from ecology thru education ... every day in every way of their lives.