全人中學是台灣第一所民主教育實驗中學。這是一所不斷在面對問題，想辦法因時制宜，討論出比較適合的作法的學校，所以不會僵化。也許您可以視為實用主義（pragmatism）的態度，如同Williiam James引述的：“The TRUE is only the expedient in the way of thinking, just as the RIGHT is theexpedient in the way of behaving.”。這是民主的核心價值：民主是大家一起尋求共識，找出解決問題方法的過程。這篇文章有兩個主題：生活和學習。前一個主題會聚焦在「民主生活」、「寬容、善意的環境」，是從學校做為一個公共場域這個面向來看的；後者聚焦在「邁向自由的學習」、「教育的本質是傳承」將學校視為以學生為主體的、文化傳承的場域。
民主是一種生活方式，一種協同溝通的經驗。在民主學校中，小孩有很大的自主權，自己去決定如何與他人溝通、如何採納別人的意見。這樣的小孩會有一種精神氣質：不會對他人無動於衷。在這裡，小孩擁有免於恐懼、免於受到強制脅迫的自由，這是為了保護小孩身上潛藏的新的可能性的種籽。自由是人從自我設限的牢籠裡掙脫出來的行動。學習的目的在於行動：勇於認知、行使批判的權利、無所依恃地為自己做決定、成為獨立而主動的學習者。
最後，教育的本質是什麼？是文化傳承。小孩擁有信任人的能力，因此，文化的傳承是可能的，小孩對已知世界的理解也才是可能的。全人中學的教師應該是文化傳統的代表，而且是小孩心目中的權威。這權威應該無愧於小孩的信任。只有當他願意承擔起對這個世界的責任時，他才會具有權威。教師做為一個權威，瞭解這個世界，並承擔起對這個世界的責任，也就是保全（conserve）這個世界最美好的部分，並把它交棒給新的世代。

HES (Holistic Education School) is the first democracy high school in Taiwan. The philosophy of HES may describe as what William James said: “The true is only the expedient in the way of thinking, juet as the right is the expedient in the way of our behaving.” That may be the core value of democracy: a process to seek consensus, to find out problem-solving methods. There are two themes in this article: the daily life and the learning. The first theme will focus on “democratic life” and “tolerance, well-intentioned environment”. The second theme will focus on “learning: toward the freedom” and“ the essence of education is cultural heritage”.
Democracy is a way of life, a collaborative communication experience. In a democracy school, students have a great deal of autonomy to decide how to communicate with others, how to adopt the view of others. These students will have a ethos: not be indifference to others.
Here, children have freedom from fear, free from coercion, in order to protect the seeds of new possibility. Freedom is an action to break free from the prison of selfhandicapping. The purpose of learning is an action: dare to know, dare to exercise the right of critique, dare to make decisions for themselves, to be independent and active learners.
Finally, what’s the essence of education? It is cultural heritage. Children have the ability of trust, so cultural heritage is possible, also the children’s understanding of the known world is possible. A HES teacher should be in behalf of the cultural world, and behave as an authority. This authority should be worthy of the trust of children. Only when a teacher is willing to assume responsibility for this world, he would have the authority. To assume responsibility for the world is to save (conserve) the world the best part, and passing the baton to the next generation.