Wilhelm Schole Overview

About Wilhelm Scholê International

“We become creative when we realize the infinite possibilities within us

and when we understand that our function is not merely to exist

but to contribute to life, to improve it, and make it more meaningful to others.”

Frederick Mayer

Wilhelm Scholê International founded in 1972 by Marilyn Wilhelm, is rooted in Universal Cultural Traditions and Standards of Thought. The Wilhelm exemplar school, with pupils two to twelve years of age, included children of twenty different nations and nine religions, many with “special needs” as well as special abilities. More than ninety percent of the student population was represented by working mothers. The families formed a composite of all levels of society, socio-economic, ethnic, and geographic. Fifteen percent were on scholarships. The Wilhelm Family-oriented Approach groups pupils according to their abilities, regardless of age. The school day ran from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM in recognition of the parental work day.

Studies begin in Africa and Asia, our oldest cultures, move to the Greek and Roman eras, then to the Arabic period which made way for the opening of the New World and the many cultures of great antiquity of the Americas, setting the stage for the Modern era. In the process education becomes Tradition: the transmission of civilization, global civilization.

It takes twenty-five to thirty years to prove the efficacy of any educational approach. Dramatic breakthroughs in brain research indicating that the brain only reaches its full potential capacity by the functional cooperation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and the extraordinary success of Wilhelm Cosmopolis Curriculum and Family-oriented Approach provide a scientific explanation and a verification of the oldest ideas known in education, for all the ancient Cultures made full use of the arts to teach everything.

Wilhelm Cosmopolis interdisciplinary/intercultural/interlingual/interfaith Curriculum is no longer a theory. Former students are living proof of the efficacy of the Wilhelm mission to develop global renaissance human beings, those balanced, reasonable individuals of integrity, who are awake to Wisdom we hold in Common.

The vision and mission of Wilhelm Scholê International has evolved into a global dissemination of Wilhelm Cosmopolis Curriculum and Family-oriented Approach with a focus on Adult Education, Early Childhood Education, and Master Teacher Development.

Frederick Mayer, ( 1921 - 2006 ) renowned educational scientist, philosopher, and author of 60 Books on Education and Creativity summarizes: “The true test of the school is the character that emerges from it” .... “Marilyn Wilhelm is the most creative and most important educator of the century. I believe Wilhelm Scholê International will make not only a permanent contribution to education but also to world understanding.”

WILHELM COSMOPOLIS CURRICULUM

Developing Global Renaissance Human Beings

Wilhelm Cosmopolis Curriculum is rooted in Universal Cultural Traditions and Standards of Thought. Wilhelm interdisciplinary, intercultural, interlingual, interfaith Curriculum reflects the Ancient holistic approach wherein the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities ( including Mathematics ) are woven together and related to Universal Unchanging Values, the invariants of civilized life.

Wilhelm Cosmopolis Curriculum consists of the following Principles:

1. Family is the taproot of civilization.

2. There are fundamental, Universal Unchanging Principles which have been expressed in every Age and in every Culture and in every Language that must be transmitted to our children.

3. We are the first Cosmopolis, the first global civilization. Therefore, studies begin in Africa and Asia, our oldest Cultures, move from there to the Greek and Roman eras, then to the Arabic period and the opening of the New World with its many Cultures of great antiquity of the Americas, then to the Modern era.

4. Breakthroughs in modern physics, biology, ecology, and other sciences verify the fact that the Cosmos is a kinship system.

5. The time has come to take the great discoveries of modern Science and connect them to Universal values; to again bring Science, Faith, and Philosophy together, as they were brought together by Imhotep, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Confucius, Socrates/Plato, Aristotle, Sushruta, Hippocrates, Avicenna, Averroës, Maimonides, Ibn Khaldûn, Leonardo da Vinci, Spinoza, d’Alembert, Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Mendeleev, Marie Curie, Will Durant, James H. Breasted, George Sarton, Werner Jaeger, Rabindranath Tagore, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Lin Yutang, Alfred North Whitehead, Ruth Nanda Anshen, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Victor F. Weisskopf, Jacob Bronowski, Richard P. Feynman, David Jhirad, Joseph Needham, Kenneth Clark, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Octavio Paz, Rene Dubos, George Boas, Frederick Mayer, Norman Cousins, Jonas Salk, Michel Serres, Roger Williams, Roger Sperry, David Gustav Ottoson, Wilder Penfield, Oliver Sacks, E.O. Wilson, Kapila Vatsyayan, Isaac Asimov, Marc D. Hauser, Joseph Le Doux….

6. Brain research discloses that “the brain is a creativity machine” ( Eric Kandel ) and only reaches its full potential capacity by the functional cooperation of both the right and left sides of the brain.

7. Education should be both verbal and visual thereby facilitating constant interaction of the right and left sides of the brain. Therefore, the arts must be integrated into all curricula, and they must be seen as something beyond technique or style.

8. Breakthroughs in brain research and medicine verify that language, moral imagination, and health are inextricably one.

9. Brain research discloses that lifelong learning and multilingualism are the two most significant deterrents to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

10. " The true test of the school is the character that emerges from it.” ( Frederick Mayer )

WILHELM COSMOPOLIS CURRICULUM
Developing Global Renaissance Human Beings

“Values constitute a moral system that transcends change.”
Norman Cousins ( 1915 – 1990 ): Renowned American journalist, author of 14 books;
inspiring champion for the field of psychoneuroimmunology; Awarded Personal Medallion of
Pope John XXIII, Peace Medal of the United Nations, and Family of Man Award.

ALL PATHS LEAD TO INTEGRITY

“All paths lead back to the center.”
Black Elk/Heháka Sápa ( 1863 – 1950 ):
Revered holy man of the Oglala Lakota. “Servant of God.”

Integrity is essential to any form of creation from business agreements, to art, architecture, music, politics, science --- in short to every aspect of life, because integrity has to do with Conscience, with unifying the parts into a grand wholeness where every part supports and sustains every other part and the small is equally significant as the great.

Beauty and strength define integrity, the “masterpiece standard” for all Traditional Cultures. Einstein articulated the Traditional indivisible view of science, ethics, and aesthetics when he said, “The first test is beauty,” meaning integrity.

All Universal Unchanging Values, the invariants of civilized life, hinge on the ability to see Unity in diversity, the integrity of things. Thus integrity is the center from which all disciplines emanate and return.