Global Bildung Day, September 21, 2022: I’m all in
In short, I had a great time. I listened to so many different people present different types of educational programs, as well as relate their experiences and cultural knowledge. Around the world, we heard such a range of stories and views on how the challenges to educating and understanding could be adapted and overcome in different situations around the world.
This was Global Bildung Day, on the Fall Equinox, in 2022 — when we saw and heard presentations from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, Europe, as well as both of the Americas. Most of these presentations were based on the idea of a different type of education. An education about growth and development of the entire person as opposed to accreditation, job skills or focusing solely on grades. And amazingly, people contributed from all over the world with different takes on what such an education can be. Some even have their own independent institutions that are changing the lives of young people in many places. Some were educators from conventional schools with conventional subjects, but even here, there were other things to help their students increase their well-being, and improving their lives. Living their life in a just, cooperative and environmentally friendly way — this purpose came up many times.
Once I started to digest it (bildung), I related it to our South African philosophy called Ubuntu.
I was glad to be invited to the event by the Global Bildung Network. Lena Rachel Anderson was very supportive in helping me to attend — it is not as easy as sitting at your desk and clicking Zoom where I live, here in Africa. I think what stood out for me right away was when we were asked to create a world map by clicking where we come from. You could see so many different people from across the world. Over the 24 hours of the event — literally a whole day — education, theories, and history from various teachers, mentors and leaders. Some actually brought their students to participate, and share their experiences as well. Those learners just spoke directly without rehearsal and the power of their experiences was obvious.
It’s one thing to teach, but it’s another getting through to learners who are from different backgrounds. A couple of institutions stood out for me. But first, I’d like to talk about how these institutions dealt with bildung and how I relate it to where I’m from and my own experiences. I see bildung as a philosophy of combining formal education with a lifetime of informal knowledge to thrive in your community and society. It also means gaining the moral and emotional maturity to both be a team player and leader. At first, bildung was a very foreign word to me. But once I started to digest it, I related it to our South African philosophy called Ubuntu. Growth is important in life, and the truth is we all are going through the process of bildung. Whether we realize it or not, every human being is ever-changing, ever-forming, reforming, and self-cultivating. From infant-to-elderly, this never stops. However, the wisdom appropriate at life’s stages of growth cannot be the same, hence bildung addresses this. The manifestation of growth and maturity means realizing that education should address these growth phases as much as anything else. It’s not about educating people for jobs only. It is more about what true education means in the bildung sense — about the whole person. Bildung makes us consider simple questions like, “what is it to be a teenager?” or, “what is it to be an adult in this society?” And while bildung is never about grading, we can start to imagine why we should take such questions seriously. If we fail to transition between different stages in our lives, how does that affect us and the people around us and can we really say that we are growing? If we don’t know, or if we do not have the wisdom of growth from one phase to another, we then we must rely on the wisdom of our elders and our community to support and link us. So, that sets the stage and this is my understanding of bildung. For me, Global Bildung Day really addressed these things in the context of education.
One of the institutions that participated, School of Humanity, is an online school based in Turkey, with students throughout the Middle East. They stood out for me, in part because they really are school for humanity. Their students learn deeply about how to be a human being in the 21st century, and are not focused on exams. This seems truly aligned with the theme for Global Bildung Day, Educating for Happiness, Beauty and Responsibility. The School of Humanity emphasizes total education for their learners. Some of the students shared how the school was helping them out in their own personal lives. I found this inspirational, and believe it is something that should be behind all educational systems. The second presentation I greatly appreciated was by Deepa Avashia, a School Leader at The Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. She had a student with her as well. Deepa’s focus was transforming schools using a systems thinking approach to impact the lives of children inside and outside schools. The enthusiasm of her student was unforgettable.
We need to pass on the survival codes of wisdom, strength, self-cultivation and happiness, and make them thriving codes.
Another great part of the Global Bildung Day was having small break-out sessions after each presentation, so we could meet other attendees and compare our experiences. During one breakout session, I met a wonderful woman from Denmark who shared her experience at a folk school she attended during her adolescent years. I came to understand that in Germany and Denmark, attendance at folk school is common — an amazing thing to me. Students attend and often live at school at an outside location, maybe sometimes far away from their home. There, they learn how to be full human beings and how to relate to one another in their daily lives. We definitely need an education that is more aligned to what it means to be a lover of other human beings! In my opinion, education has lost such values, and has become more about capitalizing, monetizing and grading. We need to instead learn wisdom and how to treat each other in a more humane way — that is what a society is based on. Initiatives like The Riverside School are innovative, inspirational, and should be spread around the world, because it was clear to me that they work. The best practices in education can be used by everyone. This is exactly what the Global Bildung Network is about and why it resonates with me.
Global Bildung Day was also about cheering on great successes. We saw a moving presentation from Nayombe in Zambia. A young woman karate champion spoke about the GIRL KICKS Foundation and and how it has empowered her to achieve great things and be brave in her life. We saw Ziad helping some of the poorest communities in Lebanon strengthen themselves. Even the hosts were diverse: we had an American, Robert, host one session and Ines, from Brazil, host another. Of course, Lena from Denmark who put it all together, and people participating from around the world, in different time zones; all during The Equinox, with equal length of day and night everywhere. I think that really let us appreciate our true connection and how we are all human beings. We can think the same thing and be together in such a time for one purpose — it really is possible. I found it intriguing to see how the light shined through the windows of people in the different countries while we were together. Seeing through Zoom how the sun was moving felt exhilarating to me, and brought it all together:
Teaching us how to become happier and more responsible in our communities.
Teaching us how to grow, how to move from one step to another one stage from the next.
Teaching us how to relate to other people and sharing it with one another. These are what I truly feel the word Bildung means.
A better way of thinking, doing and quite frankly, a better way of educating all of us in how to be human. We need updated knowledge to help us to withstand, or mitigate some of the challenges that we are bound to face in the 21st century. We need to pass on the survival codes of wisdom, strength, self-cultivation and happiness, and make them thriving codes.
All these challenges call for a new beginning. I’m in. Are you with me?
