Lifelong Integrated Education as a Creator of the Future: The Principles of Nomura Lifelong Integrated Education, Volume 1

Yoshiko Nomura began to reflect on the negative consequences of conventional education system in 1962, which led her to the concept of lifelong integrated education, and progressively refined the concept to form the basis of reforms similar in spirit to those advocated by UNESCO. She has used it as a basis on which to add another dimension of education to bring peace to all lives --- peace being the state of harmony between mind, body and nature. Her conviction that "Oriental philosophy" could universally benefit humankind, if it is taken seriously, is one of her guiding principles of lifelong integrated education. The Nomura Centre for Lifelong Integrated Education has a wide appeal because it represents the return to the basics of peace. In this book, Mrs. Nomura questions much of the thinking underlying current practice on education. She denounces the "globalization" trends in society which threatens to submerge us in information, and promotes instead an education oriented towards emphasizing wisdom. She challenges the pursuit of the formal system of education, which is time bound, and adopts in its place, the goal of holistic development of a human person. She suggests the move away from educational based on the transmission of one's own tradition towards such a system that sees individuals as the creators of their own culture.