Holistic Education

Education, like all the other fields in society, is influenced by social, technological, political happenings. The catastrophic environmental crisis and nuclear destructions in the 1960s and 1970s and the increasing corruptions, the breakdowns in family life, moving away from traditional, social and religious values worried people. Besides all these undesired changes, people began to lead a more routine life and devote their lives to values of materialist world. A group of sensitive educators reacted against people’s moving away from traditional values and losing their “spirit” and they insisted that education should nurture development of the whole person in terms of intellectual, emotional, physical, social, aesthetic and spiritual. In addition, they also believed that in educational process human values such as peace, honesty, equality, cooperation, love, and understanding should be taken into consideration. Emerging from such opinions, holistic education has gained importance among the educators in the world. This study is based on the historical roots, definitions, philosophies and principles of holistic education are explained.