Education at the Edge of History
Where do you go to have a friendly coffeehouse conversation about what really matters? The big questions, our education for it, what it means to be human in the 21st century?
At the European Bildung Network, you can do it Monday evenings (20:00h CET) every other week on Zoom.
I joined my first European Coffee house meeting in December when we discussed this presentation by Dr. Zak Stein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPhA3mXuMnI.
In his input during the Global Bildung network, Dr. Zak Stein was talking about education at the edge of history. Giving a quick overview of the life and work of Johann Comenius, Zak points out how Comenius back then, just like us right now, is existing at the edge of “an old world”, morphing into something new. Just as 500 years ago, we are now facing the necessity to radically change our image of the future. Additionally, as educators, we also have to convey this changed image into how we approach education. This means we have to think about an approach that will give us not only a globalized but a planetary community.
Based on Zak’s input, we discussed how we could educate children about sustainable and environmental protection issues without traumatizing them; and what role the concept of Bildung plays in this.
Understanding Bildung not as a tool to reach a specific goal (e.g., better “employability”) but rather as a means in itself, we see the great potential that continuous learning and education can have for people (e.g., their happiness, their health, and even their life expectancy). Taking this idea of Bildung further, we could consider that the Bildung approach can support adults to gain a better understanding of “the bigger picture”. Meaning that even if not all details are known by a person or recited by them off the top of their head, they will develop an understanding of how different systems work together and how they are interconnected.
Having this in the back of our minds, we suggest the following in order to communicate sustainability and environmental protection to children without traumatizing them. It is necessary to provide comprehensive and true information on the matter. Honesty is key. However, there must be a continued emphasis on each individual’s potential and possibilities to support the issue, to not put too much pressure on the individual to solve global problems. For this, one has to create a mentally safe environment. The children need to be given room to reflect on and express their emotions. Only when being able to express emotions and being guided in putting them in perspective, healthy and productive processing of this complex issue is possible.
As mentioned, it is crucial that working on solutions together with the pupils must always consider individual living circumstances as well as emphasize that the responsibility for change lies not within the individual but is a shared effort. This means, any actions required should be based on what can be done by each pupil within their particular life situations — in our opinion, this is essential in order to avoid traumatization.
If you are in North America or Latin America, there are monthly meetings online; more information here: https://www.globalbildung.net/
