Education for Life
At Living Wisdom High School of Palo Alto, we provide students with a balanced education of the mind, heart, body, and spirit in preparation for meeting life’s diverse challenges. Our goal is not only to fit our students for employment and intellectual pursuits, but to train them in that which is most important - how to find lasting happiness and purpose in life.
At Living Wisdom High School, we recognize life for the opportunity, the very adventure, that it is: the opportunity to develop ourselves to our full potential as human beings; and the adventure of discovering hitherto unknown facets of our own selves.
We are dedicated to the proper development of the entire individual, a goal which cannot be accomplished through academic pursuits alone. For education to culminate in wisdom, and not just long list of facts and tests, it must integrate learning into a direct and harmonious experience of reality. Our system of learning, Education for Life, is a bold approach that cultivates creative, fulfilled, and dynamic individuals, placing in their hands the tools to live a successful and expansive life. Our goal is to truly help our students learn how to live wisely, and to live well.
Academic Excellence
Academics thrive at our school. With enthusiastic and knowledgeable faculty, a vigorous workload, and a school culture of excellence, Living Wisdom High School is committed to empowering students with the fullest possible inheritance of the great ideas and discoveries of mankind.
By offering small class sizes and personalized attention, we are able to have an enriched, challenging academic curriculum that accommodates different learning levels.
Development of Willpower through Meaningful Challenges
The teenage years are pivotal in the right development of any individual, for it is the time when students really begin to discover and develop the power of their own will. Willpower is one of the most fundamental elements of success in life; without it, even the best laid plans will fail. Teenagers, with their propensity for enthusiasm and idealism, must be given appropriate challenges– to stimulate further efforts and growth– as well as an inspiring vision to help give them a sense of meaning and purpose behind the growing demands being placed upon them.
At Living Wisdom High School, we understand the importance of willpower. Our students develop will through their academic studies, where they are carefully mentored by faculty, ensuring a dynamic environment where each student is given meaningful challenges. Students also are taught to cultivate will through physical courage and energy.
Each year, students engage in at least one outdoor adventure such as climbing Half Dome, Angels Landing in Zion National Park, or hiking the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Students apply their will, also, by learning to earn a portion of the funds needed to finance their trip through entrepreneurship, collaboration, responsibility, and creativity.
Students are mentored by faculty to apply their will in learning to change themselves, letting go of self-destructive habits and learning the art of cultivating virtue through diligent application of personal effort.
Graduates of Living Wisdom High School walk away with a confidence born from direct experience with life’s challenges– experience that leads them to the understanding that they can meet, confront, and overcome all of life’s challenges.
History
The Education for Life movement began in 1917 with the founding of the first school in West Bengal, India by the noted saint and educator, Paramhansa Yogananda. Many classes were held outside, and the curriculum included academic subjects along with yoga practice, meditation, and Yogananda’s system of health and physical development. This approach was further refined by his student, J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda) in the early 1970s. In 1982, Walters published "Education for Life". Today, the Education for Life Institute trains public and private school teachers internationally to integrate these principles into their classrooms. Living Wisdom Schools in the Bay Area are a part of the international Education for Life movement. For over 100 years, Education for Life schools have provided a top-tier education in a rich context of universal spiritual values, including integrity, honesty, kindness, compassion, love, joy, patience.
