"Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too"

SHARING GOALS, DIFFERENTIATING RESPONSIBILITIES

While children do bond together to some extend during their co-curricular activities, they also critically need other, less rigorous environments in which to understand mutual dynamics, realize the potencies of one another and work together. Regardless of whether these groups relate to specific subjects such as mathematics of language, aesthetics, social service, interactive engagement, being part of such groups is essential for the overall wellbeing of children and gives them excellent ideas real worlds that they will soon have to live in for in each of these groupings, they will find a microcosm of that world stage.

Within these groups they learn to help one another, excel in skills, identify themselves with the greater social order, give of their time and their resources to help communities, increase their ability to lead, understand where they must follow, work towards guiding those that require it and be guided by those who can. Membership in such student clubs and societies therefore help them to work within new roles and help firm up relationships between adult leaders and peers.

However, as with many things these days, we have seen an alarming trend in kids being literally forced to join one or more of these groups simply to “put something on their resume”. Recent research has shown that while there are many who officially belong to this club or that society or the other group, only one in five are actively involved with the rest being there simply for the purpose mentioned above. At Steiner Learning, we discourage such shallow reasons for joining up and are ever watchful to see that those who do become members of our extra-curricular groups are active and positive contributors.