I can not speak for holistic thought in reference to management in the
world of business, but in education this is the buzz word of the day. I
am an educator's educator and this is a favorite word used in context with
the restructuring of education in process. We are told to look at the
child in a holistic way... to assess or evaluate holistically...no longer
are cognitive domains the primary concern of educators but affective,
psychomotor, and aesthetic areas as well. Holistic teaching looks at the
whole child as a multifacited complex being who needs both hemispheres of
the brain nurtured. Teaching strategies must be holistic to guarantee
that a variety of modalities are addressed and different learning styles.
With holistic education... outcomes are more important than grades...
process more important than product... and experience is the foundation
of all learning.
Interestingly enough, I am involved in secular education as well as
Christian education... (although I personally see it all the same...
truth is truth, deception is deception, secular and Godly has nothing to
do with it... but that is a different issue) In Christian education,
holistic becomes wholeistic, same animal somewhat... but different name
to avoid sounding progressive in nature.
Another new angle in training future educators is to push site based
management. Helping teachers to see themselves as managers. In this light,
teachers are to evaluate and train their paraeducators holistically.
Basically, at least in education, holistic thought has to do with being
human, not looking at people as though they are stimulus/ response
animals, (behaviorism) but to view working with individuals from a more
humanistic point of view...consider all factors in the essense of being
human, rather than what fits on a check list or flow chart. Wholeistic
thought has to do with some of the same, but allows God to be at the
center with the answers, rather than man.... Interesting...
-- Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach Valdosta State University Dept. of Early Childhood and Reading Education Sheryl_Beach <snbeach@grits.valdosta.peachnet.edu>