Kurt Hahn – An Efficacious Educator

Abstract: Kurt Hahn is one of the most important school reformers of the 20th century worldwide and yet he is largely unknown and underestimated. This fact is amazing since Hahn, who incidentally began his career as a politician, was not only the founder and headmaster of famous boarding schools in Germany and Scotland, but also the initiator and organizer of international schools and programs across the continents which still flourish today and which – at a time of intensive discussion on violence, drugs, and missing perspectives for youth – deserve our attention more than ever. All the foundations of Hahn: the „Round Square Conference Schools,“ the „Outward Bound Schools“,  „The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award“, and the „United World Colleges“ try to impart two basic insights to the participating adolescents: (1) You are needed and (2) You are able to achieve more than others think and you believe yourself.