Introduction
We live in a world of appearances – in a world where values are distorted, political systems and beliefs are constantly reevaluated, economies are collapsing, more and more families are driven into poverty, extremist ideas and deeds are gaining ever wider support, and where people are ruthlessly massacred day by day on the pretext of racial, ethnic, religious, social or even sexual differences.
Our world is populated with malformed and inhumane societies, circumscribed by randomly drawn borders and unintelligible restrictions, blind to one another’s lives, problems and troubles, but always ready to inflict violence in the name of asserting their own rights and interests.
We are selling out the future of our children today for a mobile phone, a seemingly well-paid job, and the untruths of false morals in an artificial world where there is no weight and responsibility attached to one’s words, and where we are made to cry at a soap opera but avoid a starving or dying man in the street. We spend a fortune in web stores, on media, fortune-tellers or reality shows, but refuse to give a dime to someone in need.
We are too blind to see and too deaf to hear, and we cannot comprehend the world, since even though we may be able to imagine what the apocalypse would be like, we fail to conceive a present where we are not concerned solely with ourselves and our own needs and desires, but with a future for which we are responsible, a future that our children must have – or more generally – in which they will have to live.
In this world and society of ours, the role and significance of the school is bigger than ever before. It must map out a clear path as well as a viable alternative for future generations so that they can grow into concerned, socially active and responsible adults, who can relate to society and are capable and ready to contribute to a better and more peaceful world in the future.
We aim to establish and maintain international programs and relations with schools and organizations abroad, and cooperate with them to foster the development of our students into environmentally conscious, responsible, proactive, cooperative and unbiased persons, who are open to other cultures, traditions and values, who can think creatively and critically, and who will make ethical decisions.
We deem it highly important that our students become open-minded and cooperative individuals in a multilingual fashion. It is vital that they grow to respect other people and communities, with their differing opinions and points of view, while they also learn to stand up for their beliefs and convictions, being able to adjust them when necessary.
We would like to arouse the children’s curiosity and familiarize them with the importance, challenges and values of lifelong learning, and make them interested and motivated to learn and understand the complexity of the world around us. We wholeheartedly believe that our school cannot endorse these values if we struggle to train our students into champions or competitors, and where the only things that matter are individual success and results. Rather, we would like to become a safe haven, an institution that is naturally integrated into its students’ lives, and where they can be prepared for what lies ahead of them in real life. We want our students to become independent, responsible, critical but open-minded, generous individuals, who are physically and mentally healthy and wish to aspire for harmony both with themselves and others, as well as with the world around them.
In our educational work we strive to prepare our students for life and the “real world.” In order to achieve this, it is important that we improve their self-knowledge and enable them to see their strengths and weaknesses clearly so that they can find the right direction to personal growth. We think it is vital to equip them with a value system and set of skills that will help them to survive and tackle possible failures, and carry their burdens without crushing under them. We must teach them how to look back on such experiences of hardship as useful and positive episodes in the improvement of their personality.
We put special emphasis on developing our students’ sense of empathy; our aim is to make them capable, even in today’s fast-paced world, of bonding with other people, attentively listening to them, and being ready to respond to their problems and needs with an intent to help, if need be.
It is our priority to help our students to develop a sense of honor, integrity, self-awareness and perseverance; we want to teach them how to remain honest, generous and faithful individuals in a world driven by self-interest. We wish to equip them with sacred values that stand the test of time in helping them make a difference between right and wrong (and its many shades).
In the fulfilling of our mission, we rely on a wide-scale social cooperation in which all participants of the school – students, faculty and staff, parents, the operator, and non-profit organizations – must take a share, since it is hardly possible today to effectively run and develop a school without such a community. Thus, we work on building and maintaining close cooperation with parental and civil organizations, as well as with the local government and the operator of our school.
Being a member of the Kőrösi community, or rather, the “Kőrösi awareness,” is a real mystery. Beyond doubt, the well-being of the school has always been a common cause for its students. It is not surprising that this sense of mystery has been passed on from parent to child as generations after generations have grown up in our school. We believe that in today’s world of chaos and unprecedented speed, such close-knit and value-based communities are of paramount importance. Moreover, the school community is one of the most vital motivating factors for the students in the process of learning. The unifying power of the community and the activities that the students engage in for the sake of the community makes them socially sensitive, more tolerant and open-minded. This is why we also endeavor to maintain and develop a strong sense of community among the students, faculty and staff by organizing as many engaging programs and communal activities as possible.