1963 Philosophy Seminar

George Roeper shares his thoughts on the Philosophy

Original Publication Date: February 7, 1963

Those who encounter George and Annemarie’s ideas about education have always been challenged to understand the meaning and implications of their philosophy. In 1963, the school faculty asked George to lead a seminar on the subject and, fortunately, he recorded it.  In it, George, with his German phrasing, acknowledged that even though visitors to the school sense that it is a different kind of place, “we have difficulty to formulate it.”

George doesn’t provide a point-by-point explanation of the Philosophy here — or anywhere, actually — but this recording provides a unique opportunity to be part of a conversation with George, who died in 1992, and gain insight into the way he thought. George’s frame of view was always the future and how to educate children to meet an unknown future with flexibility, insight and tolerance. Note that the catalog George refers to is the document that eventually became the 1965 Statement of Policies.

Recording of the 1963 seminar

https://soundcloud.com/user-287878501/1963-philosophy-seminar/s-dgJ4zYnYSpB

Partial transcript of the 1963 seminar

Citation: Roeper, G. (1963). “Seminar with Faculty,” The Roeper School Archives, Bloomfield Hills, MI. 

Top photo by Carlos Goodman ’80