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THE STELLE GROUP
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
GOVERNING STATEMENT
The Stelle
Group, established in March, 1963, is a not-for-profit, tax exempt
corporation registered in the State of
The purpose of this governing statement is to present a factual and philosophical overview of The Stelle Group’s educational program, including its major goal, its general educational objectives, and a brief description of its program areas. “Truth is the seed of advancement; a sound, serene civilization is the climate; and man’s Mind is the fertile soil—together they give rise to human perfection.”
(The Ultimate Frontier, p. 35)
THE GOAL
A major goal of The Stelle Group is to aid its members’ advancement toward excellence in awareness, character, manners, and appearance, while encouraging each individual to manifest that excellence in the community of Stelle. The Stelle Group’s educational program is designed to strengthen the desire to pursue this goal by fostering education on every level. Within The Stelle Group, education is understood to be a lifetime activity.
The growing understanding of cosmic principles and the development of inherent abilities are essential to the achievement of our goal. Thus, Stelle’s educational program incorporates a thorough treatment of the Brotherhoods’ cosmology, sound training in the Twelve Great Virtues, and the study of the principles of Natural Law, especially as they apply to man’s social, political, and economic institutions.
The design of an educational program must be based on a realistic view of the nature of man. One of Stelle’s realities is that man is basically and foremost Mind, and that through the balanced development of all the qualities of Mind, he can achieve perfection; oneness with God. Man has a built-in striving for perfection and can learn perfection. It is the responsibility of the educator to help the student develop his Mind, so that it will serve him positively in his striving for that perfection. Also, every Ego has an inherent desire to visualize and achieve goals, the most valuable and important of these being a greater understanding of himself and his world. It is in the early years of an incarnation that this desire is awakened, and while the primary responsibility lies with the family, the school can be instrumental in nurturing and strengthening this desire. With this understanding of the nature of man, we can continue developing an educational program attuned to the student’s inherent aspirations and capabilities. THE OBJECTIVES
As a first step towards accomplishing our major goal, a set of general objectives was established. These objectives form the foundation for our curriculum and teaching methods.
In establishing an educational institution that challenges the student’s capacity for greatness and speaks to his ideality as well as his mentality, we wish to:
· Work with joy, confidence, love, care, enthusiasm, and excitement.
· Be responsible to the parents by enhancing, augmenting, and broadening their educational efforts with their children.
· Have the student progress with the guidance of proficient teachers committed to the optimum spiritual, intellectual, and practical development of each individual.
· Recognize, acknowledge, and encourage the student’s abilities and aspirations, while in turn, have him do the same for others.
In establishing a curriculum which guides the student towards self development, we wish to:
· Help the student understand and use his innate ability to shape and maintain his personal environment by helping him develop in a balanced manner the ten qualities of Mind: memory, desire, will, curiosity, consciousness, conscience, creativeness, intuition, emotion, and reason.
· Provide maximum opportunity for the student to turn information into knowledge through experience.
· Impart a sense of competence to each student through the acquisition of practical skills that will enable him to understand his world and function productively in it.
· Help the student develop and strengthen his body that it may be integral with a sound mind and healthy being.
· Nurture the desire and develop the capability to visualize and achieve goals.
· Encourage self-determination in the student as the level of responsibility increases.
· Help the student acquire skill in logical reasoning, and be an inspiration to others as a result of his perceptive judgment, enthusiastic desire to learn, creative dexterity, and humble thoughtfulness as to the rights of his fellow man. · Help the student come to appreciate the exhilaration of discovery, and experience fulfillment in the completion of self-conceived and self-developed projects.
In establishing a program which fosters the development of social skills in the student, we wish to:
· Help the student learn effective communication, so as to promote a free interchange of thoughts throughout civilization.
· Provide the student with rich experiences in trade skills, the arts, and the sciences of the physical universe, while emphasizing social, moral, and political areas, that he may gain a deep understanding of human affairs and thus harmonize with the civilization of which he is a part.
· Enable the student to develop the full potential of his polarity, that he may function optimally in social, marital, and parental relationships.
In establishing a learning environment which encourages a growing awareness of the student’s relationship with his total environment, we wish to:
· Give the student an understanding that there is a purpose to human existence, so he will learn that there is an order to the universe and that this order is guided by a Loving Intellect whose Mind is actually the highest refinement of his own potential.
· Foster in each student an appreciation of his own value in the universe.
· Help the student exercise perception of beauty, give aesthetic expression in artistic endeavors, and recognize and appreciate creative abilities.
· Help the student develop a reverence for all life forms.
· Have the student learn and put into practice a balanced life plan in accordance with Natural Law and the Brotherhoods’ Philosophy expressed in THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER.
THE PROGRAM AREAS
The following descriptions of the
various programs in the Stelle Educational System reflect the current state
of their development. It is understood that as these programs are
implemented, tested, and
THE EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM:
The Early Learning Program is designed to provide training and resources for parents to supplement their efforts to educate their children prior to entering the Elementary Program.
One of the most significant ideas underlying the Early Learning Program is that the parents are responsible for the education of their child. Parents are encouraged to begin teaching their children to read and count before the child is 3 years old. The parents are viewed as the single most important factor operating in the child’s learning environment. In his early years a child is most impressionable and forms many of the attitudes and habits which will accompany him throughout his life. The Early Learning Program’s teachers, equipment, facility, and professional assistance are tools which supplement the efforts of the parents to provide their child with a superior education.
To supplement the parents’ efforts, the Early Learning Program operates a classroom utilizing the Montessori method for teaching young children. Children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 6 years old attend classroom sessions five days a week. The classrooms are supervised by teachers and aides specially trained in the Montessori method. The Stelle Group has provided a modern facility for the Early Learning Program, which is also equipped with approved Montessori materials designed to nurture order, independence, coordination, and concentration in the young child.
In addition
to the Montessori classroom, the Early Learning Program is helping the
parents of early learners to educate their children at home. This is
accomplished through such programs as “Mothers’ Study Group,” “The Parent
Workshop,” and the “
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY PROGRAM:
The
Elementary/Secondary Program offers a broad, inter-disciplinary, and experiential
education for children between the ages of 6 and 18. Children, 6 years and
older, enter the elementary level when they are able to read, write, and work
with numbers on at least a second grade level. When the
In addition to interrelating the subjects taught, ways are sought by which a student can practically express in the community what he is learning in the school. For example, a student can apply what he is learning in chemistry by getting involved in laboratory testing at Stelle’s water treatment facility. Practicality is further fostered in activities such as cooking class and the work-study program at the secondary level.
At both the elementary and secondary levels much attention is also given to the spiritual development of the children. A period of discussion and meditation starts each day. The teacher and the students gather and discuss their experiences in relation to each other and the Brotherhoods’ Philosophy. This process increases the exchange of communications between the students themselves and with the teacher. Our aim is to guide the student in developing a strong sense of personal worth and motivating him to the desirability of personal growth.
The full range of mental capabilities with special emphasis upon reason, memory, and awareness are tested and exercised as these qualities are essential to the development of an Ego’s Mind. Topics such as the memory techniques of Jerry Lucas are explored, and investigations into the techniques of Raja Yoga and other mental disciplines are used to increase awareness as recommended in THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER.
It is important to emphasize that throughout the educational program, the philosophy outlined in THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER (which teaches the unity and interrelatedness of knowledge and the balance between ideality, mentality, and practicality) remains as a central focus.
ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM:
Courses of
general interest are offered to adult members through the Adult Education
Program. This program is designed to aid in the further development of the
adult members of The Stelle Group. The adult program has offered mini-courses
and seminars in attitude development, energy studies,
Adult education is beginning to receive more emphasis with classes being developed in the areas of practical technology, family development, and personal management. Members of the community with special skills and knowledge are encouraged to aid in the development of these new programs, as one of several ways available to them for serving the community.
ORIENTATION PROGRAM:
The Orientation Program exists to help new members adjust to the environment of Stelle. Each new associate member is assigned to an orientation class which meets once a week for twenty-six weeks. During the course, trained instructors and new members discuss in depth the philosophy of The Stelle Group and how it relates to the individual, his family, his livelihood, and the community. New members are enjoined to commit to personally testing the basic principles of The Stelle Group’s philosophy through the conscious application of these principles in their daily lives.
Orientation seminars also give the new member an understanding of The Stelle Group’s organization and history as well as the various customs and traditions that have developed in Stelle. The Orientation Program provides the means by which the past growth experiences of other members can be synthesized and presented to each new member to aid their transition into an environment which is often found to be quite unique from anything experienced prior to joining The Stelle Group.
LIBRARY/RESOURCE CENTER:
The Stelle Library/Resource Center is being planned to become the nucleus of an ever broadening system of resource materials, media, and tools for use by all members of the community. It will be aimed at maximizing individual advancement, as opposed to “mass education” commonly found in public institutions.
The Stelle Learning Center Library currently has a growing and highly diversified collection of approximately 6,000 books in the process of being catalogued, and serves as both a school library for the students and a public library for the community. In addition to the standard library program, a resource center is being designed to accomplish the following goals:
· To
provide and coordinate the
· To make materials for learning accessible to both teachers and students.
· To provide and teach the use of all equipment necessary for the utilization of these materials.
· To stimulate and extend the interest of students in reading, listening, and viewing experiences which contribute to their growth, appreciation, and critical judgment of varied media and materials.
· To schedule and monitor the use of instructional instruments, small group conference rooms, carrels, and similar facilities as needed.
· To set-up special programs for those interested in pursuing a field of independent study.
· To guide teachers and students in the production of educational materials.
· To serve ultimately as a “clearing house” of all resources for learning.
The
THE PARENT/TEACHER COUNCILS:
As part of The Stelle Group’s philosophy, the education of the child is primarily the responsibility of the parents. The school acts as a service for the parents, providing facilities, materials, and professional assistance for extending the experiences of the child. To enhance the role of the parent, both the Early Learning Program and the Elementary/Secondary Program have respective parent-teacher advisory councils which assist the program administrators in implementing improvements, formulating policies, and maintaining the highest quality education possible.
GROUND RULES
Freedom and discipline are two
aspects of the same thing; we cannot have one without the other. The purpose
of disciplines (clear and consistently upheld ground rules) is to provide the
means by
1. No one interferes with the work of another.
· One student may observe the work of another, or work with another, if the working student invites the second student to observe or work with him, or the second student asks to observe or participate and is told “yes.”
· A student does not have to share his work with another. He may say “yes” or “no” to a request to observe or participate, and his answer is to be respected.
· A student is not required to join group activities when he is involved in his own work provided that the group activity is of such a nature that his non-participation does not detract from the group activity, and that the gathering is not an essential information-sharing activity.
2. A student is free to work on his own in the classroom if he does so with respect for himself, for others, and for school materials.
· He shows respect for himself by choosing work he has a readiness to accomplish.
· He shows respect for others by working in a space and within a level of sound which does not disturb the work of another.
· He shows respect for materials by handling them carefully.
3. When working with school materials, a student finishes one piece of work before he begins another.
· Everything the student does in the class has three aspects: · The beginning—taking out his materials. · The middle—using the materials. · The end—putting back the materials in the proper place so they are ready for someone else to use. 4. A student will not attract undue attention to himself thus causing an interference in the learning environment.
· He is neat and clean in appearance and dresses in the manner distinctive of his sex.
· He maintains a positive attitude and calm demeanor.
· He is not ostentatious visually, verbally, or emotionally.
FINAL NOTES
FINAL NOTES:
Two programs are being developed to aid in the assimilation of new students. The first is a new student orientation program for children, designed to give the new student a sufficient awareness of the nature of his new environment so that he may adapt to it readily and comfortably. The second is a separate primary program to be set-up for new students who require better reading and number skills before entering into the Elementary Program.
ENROLLMENT
IN THE
Enrollment
in the
EXPENSES:
The Stelle Group’s educational program is funded by The Stelle Group membership and by donations from sympathetic supporters that are sent to The Stelle Group. If you would like to get further information or to visit
the
The Stelle Group
Cabery P.O., 60919
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. . Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness.”
— Gibran |
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