Educational Ideals of Paul Geheeb and Rabindranath Tagore

The focus of this chapter is on a comparison of the two educational systems—one, Odenwaldschule–Ecole d’Humanité, and second, Rabindranath Tagore’s school in Santiniketan. For both, the most important underlying principle was freedom of the students to express and develop themselves. The similarities between the two systems are obvious: emphasis on a natural life, the role of religion, of asceticism, of music and singing, of co-education, of the ritualizing of daily life, and the reverence of the child’s personality. The idea of seva (social service) distinguished Tagore’s school. The importance of manual work and of the crafts has an important place in Geheeb’s school, but not so much in Santiniketan.