Education as Initiation: In Search of Self©

VisionQuest – Johannus Boots

In the recently published book In Search of Self: Exploring Student Identity Development, editor Chad Hanson writes: “Students become new and different people through the course of their education. When students earn the right to say, ‘I am a college graduate,’ that new status becomes a part of who they are.”

Graduation, whether from high school, college or even the transition from primary to secondary school has been regarded as a rite of passage. And, just like rites of passage these public graduation ceremonies affirm an individual’s transition and entrust them with a different set of responsibilities and status within their culture and social setting.  However, the process of education does not focus on human development, nor does it feature a process of initiation that adequately guides an individual’s transformation and transcendence towards maturity. (more…)