Erasmus school acknowledges its relationship with SES / SOP

Discussion of the SES' satellite schools in Australia and New Zealand.
Goblinboy
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Erasmus school acknowledges its relationship with SES / SOP

Postby Goblinboy » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:41 am

Interesting to see that after years of providing no clues of the relationship between Melbourne's Erasmus primary school and the SES (AKA the "School of Philosophy" - one of several SES pseudonyms), a page has been added to their website http://www.erasmus.vic.edu.au/index.php?module=Website&action=Text&content=1133406478021-5358&parentContent=home

Seems to be the same boilerplate used by the other schools - see below. Interesting that MacLaren's involvement is omitted.

But there's still no acknowledgement that the fundamental ideology taught at the school is Advaita. This is curious, as the prevelance of Advaita is blindingly obvious if you spend any time at the school and/or discussing the curriculum with students and parents. At least half the school's students have a Hindu background, for goodness' sake. What's there to be shy about?

The Beginnings of Erasmus School

The Erasmus School is inspired by the work of the School of Philosophy which was established in Melbourne in 1977 and which is directly affiliated with the London School of Economic Science which founded the St. James Independent Schools in 1975 in London. The School of Philosophy offers courses in practical philosophy based on the great teachings of past and present and examines how these teachings can help students to realise their own potential and to understand their own nature.

Concern about declining standards and the breakdown of discipline in schools prompted parents in the School of Philosophy to seek an education which would bring out the finest qualities in their children. In 1995 it was decided to open a primary school. It would be staffed by teachers trained in the philosophy and would be open to all interested parents from both the School of Philosophy and the wider community. The school opened in January 1996.

The Erasmus School is modelled after the St. James Independent Schools, London and is associated with other similar schools in Dublin, New York, Leeds, Sydney, Auckland, Johannesburg and Trinidad.

Temporarily Duped
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Location: Australia

Postby Temporarily Duped » Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:43 am

Yes, Very interesting indeed.
Last edited by Temporarily Duped on Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

mgormez
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Re: Erasmus

Postby mgormez » Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:35 pm

Temporarily Duped wrote:It is now more diffiult to find this Forum. In the past I discovered it when i searched for the School of Economic Science , and it said "critical -------. " Now you need to know "Forum. WATD .net" to find it. It needs to be easier for people to find . Often you're just looking for information without knowing what exactly you are looking for.


I agree, we had a good placement for years with the critical pages on Geocities and at the top of the search results. But those pages are gone and I can't wave a magic wand that will put is right back there again.

You can help however by searching for pages which still link to
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9169/SES/
and ask them to change it to
http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/SES/

Wiki is updated and I just have asked these folks to update it too
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcece ... /s/school/

Only when enough quality sites link to the new location will it come floating again to the top of search results.
Mike Gormez

ross nolan
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Erasmus -- SES etc

Postby ross nolan » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:43 am

Goblinboy et al -- the school "prospectus" available at their open day gives the one liner "modelled on the St James school" and I think form memory (not handy as I write this) also made a perfunctory reference to the SOP without giving any information on what St James or the SOP were themselves . The School of Philosophy has a room at Erasmus indicated by a small sign -- there was no 'brochure' on the SOP available at the school open day when asked about -- individual parents/grandparents of children enroled were noticeably cagey about 'explaining' the school's curriculum or aims and similarly for the SOP .

No one seems to be able to encapsulate the fundamental objectives of either school's teachings ('you've got to try it' ..) but I suppose that is not untypical of many 'esoteric' organizations like say the freemasons or even an average church or other fringe schools like the Rudolf Steiner or Montesorri --- the very vagueness of it all creates curiosity and interest .

The "Erasmus' title is telling in itself -- look up 'Erasmus, Civility for Boys' or 'E on marriage' etc to get a view of the strict disciplinarianism that underpins their teaching methods -- I encountered a chance conversation from a bloke who does 'presentations' to various schools and he stated that he felt that Erasmus was noticeably more constrained and the children were less boisterous , more subdued and well mannered than the typical state or private school he visited. There was a sort of disquiet in his relating this as though he was just reflecting on it when he made the observation.

Note also they talk of "the" philosophy again in passing in their 'self protection' 'boilerplate' as you describe it -- "no one can claim they were'nt told... it's there in black and white"..)

I'll chase up the best of the Erasmus 'philosophy' websites and post them on the "Origins..." thread with a link from here just as soon as ....

(Meanwhile anybody else with better familiarity or links is invited to post some links and/or comments on the "Erasmus connection" to both day and evening schools )
Skeptic


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