A World Village

The Ecole d’Humanité is located in Hasliberg Goldern, just off the rail line between Interlaken and Lucerne. Surrounded by the awe-inspiring peaks of the Bernese Oberland, our international village for living, learning, and growing is home to children and adults from some 25 different countries. The stunning natural setting provides both a wholesome learning environment and exceptional opportunities for hiking, skiing, climbing, and other outdoor activities.

130 students are at home in fifteen “families” in the Ecole d’Humanité. Each family is headed by two or three teachers and lives in one of the school’s houses or chalets. Families eat together in the common dining hall. Once a week they spend time together playing games, cooking, or working on projects. Living in a mixed group including students of both sexes and various ages and cultures helps everyone to see beyond stereotypes and to appreciate individual differences. The comfortable atmosphere in the families helps new students feel at home within a short period of time.

Students at the Ecole take charge of such important tasks as organizing weekend activities, delivering firewood, taking care of the donkeys, and running the library and the fire brigade. Some are active in the Student Council or involved in peer counseling. Everyone participates in the weekly school meeting, which is chaired by a student. Here students can address both individual and community concerns, learning to find their own voices within a public forum.

The Ecole d’Humanité strives to realize a simple, environmentally responsible lifestyle. By strictly limiting both material and electronic consumerism we attempt to create a space where students can engage directly and honestly with other people, with our common cultural heritage, and with the natural world, and where they are free to discover and explore their own unique strengths and passions.

Discover, experience, grow
living and learning in small, diverse groups

The academic program at the Ecole aims to promote meaningful understanding rather than surface knowledge. Students take only three academic subjects per trimester. This allows them to concentrate on each one with special intensity. Small classes (student-teacher ratio is 5:1) allow for individualized instruction and demand active participation. Students choose their own courses each trimester, so classes are united by interests and abilities rather than age. Classes meet six days a week for 55 – 75 minutes, thus providing adequate time for in-depth learning and a wide variety of approaches to the subject matter.

Students are not “marked” with grades, but instead receive copious feedback from their teachers based on their papers, tests, quizzes, and oral presentations. They assess their own work in regular written reflections that help them come to see their education as primarily their own responsibility.

To balance the intensive academic program in the morning students devote their afternoons to the arts, sports, and practical work, selecting from some eighty possible courses. Blacksmithing, skiing or snowboarding, woodworking, painting, pottery, rock-climbing, the annual Shakespeare production, French theater, classical, jazz, folk, and pop music ensembles, instrumental and voice lessons, gardening, and animal husbandry are just a few of the fields students can choose to explore and then concentrate on in their afternoons.

Twice a year, in the fall and spring trimesters, the entire school sets out in small groups on 4- and 6-day hikes into the mountains of Switzerland and Italy. At the beginning of November students devote an entire week, mornings and afternoons, to a single, intensive project. Traditional festivals and rituals accent the school year, imposing a living rhythm on the regular passage of time.

Diplomas and vocational perspectives

The Ecole d’Humanité offers both Swiss and American academic programs. The American Program leads to a High School Diploma and includes preparation for the College Board SAT exams, for which the Ecole is an official testing center. Students can also prepare for exams leading to the AP International Diploma (see facing page) and entrance to universities around the world.

Recent graduates of the American Program have attended a wide array of colleges and universities, including Bard, Bennington, Dartmouth, Hampshire, Boston Conservatory, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, New York University, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence, and the universities of Southampton, Richmond, and Bristol in England.

Under normal circumstances a graduating student will have completed 20 course credits, including 4 years of English, 3-4 years of mathematics, 2-3 years of science, 2 years of history or social science, and 3 years of a foreign language. He or she will also have written 2 Source Themes -- extensive research papers on topics of the student’s choice. In addition, most students will have completed several electives. Arts, sports, and music courses are required throughout each student’s academic career. Extended hiking trips every fall and spring, an annual project week, and regular community service round out the program.

Our Swiss Program offers primary and normal secondary school diplomas which are recognized throughout Switzerland. Older students can prepare for university via the Swiss Matura exams or the College Board AP exams, or they can take courses that increase their chances of winning a place in a demanding apprenticeship or a vocational college.

	Our diplomas at a glance The Ecole d’Humanité is an international boarding school that has been legally registered with and recognized by the education department of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland since 1946, and has been accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement [NCA CASI]. The school offers the following academic programs. • U.S. High School Diploma and College Board SAT exams leading to admission to universities and colleges in the United States and throughout the English speaking world. • Exams leading to the AP International Diploma (APID) and admission to universities in Switzerland and over 40 other countries. • Swiss Matura Preparation for admission to Swiss and EU universities (in German). • Preparation for Swiss apprenticeships and vocational colleges (in German).

Overview | Mission Statement | Education and Philosophy | Application Documents

© Ecole d'Humanite 2002