|
|
From the Soils of
Culture:
The
Qalb El-Umour Project in the Arab World
Every human being lives in and from
a natural and cultural environment; i.e., from the soil of earth and the soil
of culture, which s/he grew up in, lives in, and tries to make sense
of. These two ‘soils’ are what sustain life and human communities, and
also where real learning is embedded and takes place. After almost 40 years of
working in education, it is very hard for me to talk about learning
detached from these two soils. From this stems the importance and
relevance of talking about learning spaces/environments/societies.
The soil of culture includes
both a language/vernacular (which is usually very rich in history and meanings)
as well as nonverbal modes of expression. In general, the current dominant
language in education, knowledge, development, the professions, and mass media
(which, unfortunately, is infiltrating even our everyday languages and lives)
ignores these soils and their accompanying aspects. It is often divorced from
history, life and ethics. Under claims of objectivity and universality, this
dominant language often robs knowledge and understanding of the layers of
experience through which people express what is human and real. It is usually
handicapped in its ability to express and reflect the richness and complexity
in life and cultural traditions, the diversity in human experiences, and the
multiplicity of ways of living and making sense.
Although I did not use any of the
above terms then, it was in 1971 that I started experimenting with learning as
a life activity, separate and distinct from education. The expressions I used
then included learning within context and how education
confiscated learning, but I feel both of these expressions lacked the
roots that the term “soil” has.
It was the ‘discovery’ of my
illiterate mother’s math and knowledge, around the year 1976, that first turned
things around in my head. Her math and knowledge were so embedded in her soil
of culture that it is almost impossible to teach her type of math and her type
of knowledge, using the means, methods, concepts, and structures of what we
refer to as education — no matter how much we improve education! Her type of
math and knowledge can only be learned and acquired through life itself;
through living and doing in real settings and with real people. It would have
been impossible for me to do what she was able to do, even if I spent another
20 years of study in the ‘best’ schools and universities and in the most
prestigious math departments! Another significant aspect of my mother’s type of
knowledge is the fact that she was able to make a living with her knowledge, in
almost any setting, while my knowledge was ‘meaningful’ and earned money only
in particular (mainly artificial and hegemonic) settings.1
That ‘discovery’ made me realizes
that the problem with education is not only with what it offers but also, and
more importantly, with what it conceals, marginalizes, makes invisible or
renders worthless. The problem is with the values that education embodies in
its assumptions and practices (which are very different from what it espouses
in public).
The first Palestinian intifada,
which started in 1987, provided the opportunity to work with these convictions
at a community level. The intifada was a spontaneous collective popular
way of saying “no more” [or bas in Arabic, or basta in the way
the Zapatistas express it] to Israeli occupation and oppression. That response
embodied values, relationships, attitudes, convictions and perceptions that
sprang more from the two soils I referred to above. People, for example,
depended more on what the earth soil produces and on what the cultural soil
has. The first took forms such as boycotting Israeli goods and communal farming
(which was banned by Israel through a military order in August 1988). However,
what the intifada regenerated within the cultural/social soil is of
greater significance, and thus is worth elaborating.
It was the first time in my life,
during that first intifada that I lived in a community where all social
structures were closed down or banned, and completely stopped functioning,
except the family structure and the jaame’ (the mosque), both of which
Israel could not close. (There are two words in Arabic, with two different
meanings and functions, for what is referred to in English as mosque: masjid
where people pray, and jaame’ where people assemble to talk, discuss and
act, i.e. to run their affairs — which to me represents the real meaning of
what is referred to today as democracy.) These two structures (the family and
the jaame’) were the basic elements that kept the Palestinian community
surviving and functioning during that period. They are basic elements in the
cultural soil in which people live and are nurtured by..Due to the closure of
all institutions (for example, all Palestinian schools and universities were
closed by Israel for more than four years), the jaame’ was the only
place where people of all ages, walks of life, and backgrounds, could meet.
After an attack by the army on a village, for example, medical groups would
establish a temporary clinic in the jaame’ and start attending to the
wounded. The jaame’ was the place where food was distributed to the
needy. It was the natural medium, with its minaret and loudspeakers, to inform
people about what was happening in the community and about approaching dangers.
It was one place where popular education took place in the neighborhoods (which
also was banned through an Israeli military order in August 1988). The other
‘cultural structure’ that Israel could not close down, was the family structure
with the tremendous resourcefulness that that institution has: human warmth,
hospitality, generosity, mutual support and the spirit of giving and sharing.
In 1989, in response to and as an
inspiration from the intifada, I established Tamer Institute for
Community
Education in Palestine, whose
philosophy and work revolved around creating learning environments and
community building. A basic principle we worked with was to build on what is
available and abundant in the community. This includes: working in small groups
(formed by people’s own initiative), reading, reflecting on and expressing
experiences and life as people live it, telling stories, writing, acting/
performing, singing, and working with the elderly. The Reading Campaign within
Palestinian society has been the most comprehensive project within Tamer
Institute. It embodied the spirit of the intifada in the sense that
people felt the responsibility and took the initiative to do what they felt
needed to be done and which they could do. The Reading Campaign embodied
learning and building community by stressing the basic elements of the learning
environments that the Institute was working with: reflection, expression,
discussion, and small groups formed in various places that directly interacted
with one another. Such environments also embodied working within a vision and
seeing interrelationships within the bigger picture. Vision here refers to
seeking to know the reality in which we live, our place in and interactions
with it, and the direction we want to go – including the values we choose to be
governed by. It does not include goals, in the sense of controlling the
outcome, because that is incompatible with learning.2
It is also worth making a distinction
here between reflection and analysis (which is one form of reflection that is
usually stressed in academia). The difference is basically related to
assumptions and values. In reflection, for example, we start with real people
and situations, rather than with abstract theories; we start with the natural
and cultural/social soils, rather than with decontextualized concepts. We seek
meaning, truth, harmony, simplicity, goodness, diversity and interactions and
interrelationships among the various elements, rather than seek control,
winning, consuming, progressing along a linear path that usually stresses
technical aspects and verbal and ideological complexity. In reflection,
happiness is not generated at the expense of others; where between 10-20% of
the people ‘win’ and the rest are labeled failures. In reflection, the basis is
what nurtures life. Obviously, analysis sometimes is needed in reflection. We
need it, for example, to avoid what pollutes our bodies (such as the nicely
packaged foods and drinks), our minds (such as the concept of progress and the
belief in one right ready answer), our hearts (such as feeling superior to
others,); and our souls (such as getting value through measures that are
symbolic, external and built on comparison with others). The main difference
between reflection and analysis is thus related to where we start: do we start
with life, i.e. with our experiences and interactions with people and nature,
or do we start with some theories, concepts or abstractions? Do we start with
living that could lead to change, or do we start with the changes that we
desire in life?
The above were the roots and
elements of two projects which I worked on as a visiting scholar at Harvard
University’s Center for Middle
Eastern Studies, in 1997-98: the Arab Education Forum and Qalb El-Umour.
In the following I will describe the Qalb El-Umour (QU) project. It may,
however, be helpful to say a brief word about the Arab Education Forum (AEF),
of which QU is one manifestation.
AEF is an Arab initiative which, in
September 1998, came under the sponsorship of the Contemporary Arab Studies
Program at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. It is an
initiative to develop a shared vision related to education and learning in the
Arab world; a vision that springs out of authentic initiatives in the Arab
world, which start with and build on what people do and what culture has. AEF
differentiates very clearly between education and learning and strives to end
the equation of the two as well as to end the confiscation of learning by
education. It strives to regain learning into people’s lives and communities.
It starts with the premise that people are builders of meaning, understanding,
knowledge, cultural expressions and social groups. It is worth stressing that
learning as used here embodies constructing the ‘inner world’ of persons
(through reflection and expression); stitching the
social-cultural-intellectual-spiritual-economic fabric of communities (mainly
through small groups. involved in actions, interactions, dialogue and
production — especially of knowledge and cultural products); and constructing a
shared vision.
In short, AEF tries to give value,
visibility and legitimacy to initiatives that embody learning and that go
beyond education — initiatives that can contribute to the building of learning
environments and learning societies in the Arab world. Another basic conviction
of AEF is that, since learning is almost synonymous to living, then the issue
of learning is everybody’s business: teachers, educators, students, parents,
governments, peasants, workers, artists, business people… The issue of learning
cannot be monopolized by any one group or one view or one path. It can only be
dealt with as a ‘harmonious collaboration’ among all.
AEF, including QU, is one way of
reconnecting with one’s cultural soil and of contributing to the construction
of a shared vision concerning learning in the Arab world. Such reconnection and
construction can only come from deepening our understanding of our own human
experience, including people’s histories and the history of ideas. They come
from regaining the layers of experience through which we express what is human
and real, from the various means of making sense of life, as well as from
regaining the historical, the ethical and the contextual in our thinking and
work.
Qalb El-Umour
QU provides spaces and opportunities
for people, especially young people, to reflect, express, interact, learn,
build and network. The ‘raw material’ in the project is people’s lives and
experiences. The terms learning and building here refer to what I mentioned
above, concerning building the inner world of individuals and the
social-cultural fabric in society. We consider reflecting on one’s life and
experience and expressing that to be the most important elements in learning
and in building the inner world of individuals. Developing meanings of words,
and agreeing on measures in accordance with people’s lives and experiences,
form the most crucial elements/aspects in building the inner world. The
formation of small groups at their own initiatives and doing things in the real
world of their own choice, and reflecting and expressing and discussing and
sharing, form the most crucial aspects in stitching the fabric in society. QU
can take various forms through which people express and share their lives:
magazines, videos, photographs, drawings, songs, dancing, music, drama.
In fact, QU can be in any form, as
long as it is sincere and authentic, as long as it reflects honestly the lives
of people, and as long as the expressions are in harmony with the principles
and values that people have agreed to be governed by. These of course can
always be debated and reformulated. Moreover, there are no copyrights for the
magazine, no editor-in-chief, and no higher authority to tell people what is
allowed and what is not. Those in charge of a particular issue decide. The only
two requirements they have to abide by are the values and that the subject of
the magazine is life itself. There are no sections and no fragmentation; each
contribution is a ‘whole’ in itself, reflecting an aspect of the life of the
contributor. The design of the project does away with the values of control,
winning, defining things unilaterally, uniformity, universality, hierarchy,
progress along a linear path, and comparing and judging according to some one
external measure. Thus, there is no voice that can be suppressed and no
experience that can be ignored. And there is no meaning for words such as right
or wrong experience, nor for success and failure. Every experience is an
opportunity for learning; what is needed is to reflect on it, express it,
communicate and discuss it, and build on it.
The Various Meanings of “Qalb el-Umour”
in Arabic
It is instructive to mention here
the various meanings that underlie the choice of the name of the project. The
first meaning is “the heart or essence of matters.” There is so much junk going
on in almost all aspects of modern life, and we often forget the essence of
what we do or talk about. This meaning also includes the function of the heart
in the human body: it treats all parts of the body as important. It knows that
if it ignores one part, say the small finger, and does not pump blood into it,
then the whole body suffers. The same with society: any person or experience
that is ignored will affect the whole society negatively. Second, the name of
the project means turning things around, so that we see them from as many
angles and perspectives as possible; in other words, stressing the wholeness in
knowledge. Third, qalb el-umour means looking into the consequences of
things, of what we say, do and think. If things seem attractive, that is not
enough. We should ask how they affect other aspects in life as well as future
generations. And, fourth, the name of the magazine embodies the meaning of
ploughing the soil. Whether it is the soil of earth or the soil of culture that
we are talking about, without turning it around, it won’t be able to give. If
we ignore the soil of earth or the soil of culture, they would be hardened and
become suffocating. And, if we try to replace them with foreign soil, they
would lack the ability to nurture the way natural soil does. In addition, in
turning the soil around, we ‘clean’ it from what could be stifling in it to the
growth of plants or human beings.
While still on the subject of soil, I
would like to comment on the concept of identity, which many today try to
tackle and clarify. I don’t like the term identity when it means purity of
belonging to a particular group. I would rather talk about belonging to a
cultural soil, which nurtures all that belong to it. If a tree belongs to a
certain orchard, that orchard obviously nurtures all the trees that belong to
it, and not only one type of trees. There are no ‘super’ trees or ‘chosen’
trees. In fact, the beauty of a certain orchard is linked to how much diversity
it contains. In this sense, I belong to the Arab-Islamic cultural soil, with
all its diversity that has always been part of it (Christian, Jewish, Kurdish,
Persian, Assyrian, Berber, Amazigh…). This was interrupted at times, especially
in modern times, and replaced with harmful and artificial concepts, such as
that of nationalism and the nation-state, and the ideologies associated with
them. The difference between nations and soils of culture is worth clarifying.
The first is an abstraction that we fell into through the influence of western
domination and hegemony. The second is all that real people do, their
knowledge, their ways of living. The first stresses uniformity, which is false
and impossible. The second is as diverse as people make sense of life. The
first bolsters systems of control. The second nurtures people…The first is like
a soil in which only one type of trees can grow. The second is the soil of
earth we know where many and different kinds of trees and plants grow.
Principles,
Convictions and Values that Govern the Thinking and Work of Qalb el-Umour:
(which appear on the back cover page
of every issue that carries the name of QU)
- My life is the object of my
reflections and expressions…and my reflections and expressions are the basis of
my learning.
- Every person owns his/her
experience and every experience is valuable. Life is made of
people’s stories and not atoms. Life and experience are the basic elements in
learning.
- People’s lives and experiences are
transformed into “stories” and understanding through contemplation, reflection,
expression and dialogue. Reflection is crucial in learning, because it
necessarily connects thought to action and context.
- Human beings are builders of
meanings, expressions, knowledge and social groups. Such building
is crucial in learning.
- The building we aspire to happens
at two complementary and intertwined levels:
- building the “inner world” of
the individual (reflection is fundamental), and
- stitching the
social-cultural-intellectual-economic fabric of society (working in
small groups is fundamental).
Thus, we try to avoid any thing that
tears the inner self of human beings or the social fabric in society.
- Learning, like breathing,
can only happen inside and outside human beings as parts of one holistic
process, i.e., learning cannot take place solely inside the person nor solely
outside her/him.
- Starting the building process with
what exists and what is inspiring (and not with needs and what is negative and
lacking, nor with ready answers, models or solutions).
- Knowledge is constructed
collectively, through interaction with the
natural-social-political-economic-cultural environment in which people live,
and through conversation, reading and dialogue.
- Life is one whole, society is
interrelated, and knowledge is integrated. The diversity in people’s
experiences, expressions, and knowledge is a fundamental manifestation of this unity.
- Respecting the human body
and Nature, and acting with responsibility towards oneself, others and
Nature in the sense of protecting them all, as much as possible, from avoidable
harm.
- Sharing in all aspects of
the work.
- Reclaiming our senses in
the learning process, and seeking truth, wisdom, simplicity
and happiness in life, and avoiding monopoly in opinion or
interpretation.
- Although the main language in the
magazine is modern standard Arabic, contributions could be in local
languages spoken in Arab countries as well as languages of countries where the
magazine is produced.
- Arabs are known for their hospitality
and generosity. Reading is a form of hospitality: it is inviting ideas,
perspectives and experiences of others into your innermost home — yourself. At
the same time, reflecting on and expressing one’s experiences is a form of
generosity: it is giving the dearest thing you have — your innermost self. QU
is a forum for reflective reading and writing: a place where our
greatest treasures — our lives and experiences — can be made visible, shared,
and built upon. One expression mentioned in these principles which probably
needs some elaboration is what I mentioned about learning is like breathing.
Breathing cannot consist only of inhaling or only exhaling. Similarly, learning
cannot only happen inside the person by figuring things out in his/her head,
nor can it only happen outside the person in the form of involvement in
activities. It happens when actions and experiences are intermingled with
reflections and expressions and seeing interrelations.
The Story of the
First Issues
The first issue came out in
September 2000. Five students from four different schools in Beirut, Lebanon,
produced it. I met with two of them in June and told them about the idea. They
spoke with some friends and started writing themselves and asking others to
write. They were frustrated at times and even thought of quitting. In the
process of producing the issue, several questions came up. “Who is going to
decide what is accepted and what is not?” was the first question. I said, “You.
We are governed by shared values and not arbitrarily by an editor-in-chief or
whoever.” The second question was, “Some can’t express themselves in Arabic,
what shall we do?” I said, “We want honest expressions of people’s lives.
People can choose whatever means they feel comfortable with.” Then came the
question, “In whose name should we produce it?” to which I replied, “Your
group’s name; you choose whatever name you like.” They chose leash la [why
not]. Lastly, they said, “We have all the articles ready, but no money. What
shall we do?” I said, “This is part of the challenge. If all what you have is
enough for making five copies, then make five copies. Send us one or two.” Each
of the five students contributed what is equivalent to $13 and altogether made
100 copies. They sent two copies to some Arabs who were preparing for a
conference for all Arab students in the universities in the Boston area, and
who made 300 copies and distributed them to participants. Other copies were
made in Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Tunis, Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, and Germany,
among other places. In all, so far, more than 1,500 copies were made. Expenses,
thus, were shared, and copies were distributed as “seeds” in fertile soil. In
addition, the magazine will be put on the Internet once the web site is ready
(in the early part of 2001.)
The second issue was produced in
October 2000, by a group of young people in Jordan, from different geographical
locations and various settings. At least five other groups (that I know of) in
various Arab countries are working on their own issues. In a conference,
organized by UNICEF in Amman, at the end of October for youth from 15 Arab
countries and Iran, I spoke about the idea, and several groups (including Iran)
are working on producing issues of their own. In addition, Manish and Vidhi
Jain, from Shikshantar in Udaipur, India, whom I met in Germany, saw relevance
of the idea in their own setting and mentioned it to some Indian youth they
work with. Their young friends have already produced three issues in Hindi, two
of which are about how globalization is affecting their daily lives.
In a very true sense, the magazine
is already taking a life of its own. What seems to make it attractive,
especially for youth, is that, first, the design is very simple (any group can
produce it); second, it is totally devoid of any form of control (other than
being about life and guided by shared values and principles); third, its
production depends on what is available (if all what is available is the
stories of four people and the ability to produce only five copies, that
constitutes an issue); and, fourth, the fact that every issue is an authentic
creation of a group of friends. A gathering in the summer of 2001 is planned
for groups that produce, by that time, at least one issue. They will reflect on
and discuss their experiences and ideas concerning all aspects related to the
magazine, including design, values, and various ways into the future.
Originally, the idea was to produce
an Arab QU in conjunction with the local ones. However, after the two issues in
Lebanon and Jordan were published; we thought that we better wait until several
more issues are produced in various locations and countries. The Arab QU then
would be an expression of what is taking place at the various locations, rather
than just an additional issue. The local issues, then, are like springs and
streams, which feed into the Arab issues, which would be like a river formed
from the various springs/streams. And, just like rivers, the Arab issues will
not be ‘above’ the local ones, but ‘below’ them. The local ones are the
sources, the real thing. Without them, there is no meaning to the collective
Arab issue.
The first two issues that were
produced capture the values mentioned earlier. They embodied, for example, new
meanings for words, including the word magazine itself, editor, value,
learning, vision, etc. They did away with other words, such as copyrights.
People throughout the ages shared their stories freely; the concept of
copyright is disgraceful to the social majorities of the world. Moreover, the
two issues that were produced in Lebanon and Jordan helped in building the
inner world of each participant (in the sense that most of them — according to
what they said — started reflecting on and expressing life more regularly. For
some, almost daily). The issues also helped.in building a convivial spirit
among the members of each group. The absence of control and of labeling,
measuring, and judging led to the absence of bad feelings, jealousies,
humiliation, defensive behavior, verbal accusations, lying and dishonesty. The
spirit that grew within the groups was one of conviviality, of friendship, of
joy, of freedom, and of creation (including creation of meanings).
Another value, which the project
adheres to, is the value of responsibility towards self, others and nature in
the sense of avoiding doing harm to them knowingly. In practice, this means
that if a cola company, for example, offers to support financially a certain
issue in lieu of an advertisement, the response will be a big NO because it
violates the above mentioned value: cola is simply harmful to the body,
especially for children, some of whom drink it several times a day! Moreover,
in addition to robbing people their health, cola robs them their money (a
barrel of raw cola is $100 compared to $36 for a barrel of oil at its peak!),
and robs them a good deal of clean fresh water which is desperately needed in
many countries — as is the case in most Arab countries.
In addition, the two issues were
built on what people have and what is abundant in every community: experiences,
reflections, expressions, communication, reading, dialogue, etc. They are built
on giving and not only taking: each person gave part of him/her self. There are
no sections in the magazine; every story is part of a ‘whole’ which is the
contributor’s life. In this sense, each contribution reflects both the unity
and diversity in life. In addition, the magazine is a beautiful and honest way
of reflecting the sense of belonging of people to their respective soils of
cultures.
There is one last comment that is
worth mentioning here. People may have noticed that we did not include
democracy, human rights (as expressed in the universal declaration), and
development… among the values we adhere to in the project. We don’t play the
game of democracy. Participation in the project does not take the form of
voting or choosing a person to be in charge. No one represents another. No
voice is suppressed. Every person, with no exception, can get together with
one, two or ten friends and start an issue of the magazine by starting to write
their stories, in addition to stories from others. In this sense, any one can
be an ‘editor-in-chief’! Moreover, they all share in the various aspects of the
work. The project is built on the belief that there is no experience that is
valueless, and there is no honest expression which is worthless. We don’t play
the game of comparing, judging and giving prizes. Moreover, we don’t play the
game of one of the greatest hypocritical creations of modern times: the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was declared in the name of all
people without discussing it with any! One of the most obvious and fundamental
rights, anywhere and at any time, is to ask people before you declare something
in their name. The Universal Declaration didn’t bother to do that. What is
worse is that most advocates of human rights don’t even notice this hypocrisy
and try to justify it if they do.
The Universal Declaration represents
neither the perspectives nor the interests of the social majorities of the
world. In this sense, it is also understandable why the Declaration stresses
the right to education rather than the right to learning. Education, in the
form of schools, curricula, etc, has acted as the Trojan horse, conquering many
communities around the world, effectively defeating them from the inside. It is
also understandable why the rights of children do not include the right to be
protected from the junk created mainly by western countries (including foods,
drinks, entertainment, and education as well as development experts.) Children
and youth need to be protected from labels, such as failures, which
educational systems, all over the world, are ‘generous’ to give to students at
an early age! In this sense, QU project is one attempt to bring out the
diversity in human experience, including the diversity in conceptions and
practices of the meaning framework of rights themselves, so that they are more
in harmony with people’s experiences.
One issue which is related to the
above discussion is the slogan, free expression and free thought, which
the ideologues of the dominant ideology parrot every time they have the chance,
and which ‘experts’ on democracy and human rights constantly preach. The main
issue in today’s world is not so much free expression and free thought, as it
is freeing both (our thoughts and our expressions) from the junk ideas and
‘plastic’ words that fill current thoughts and expressions in academia, mass
media, and infiltrating everyday language. This pollution of minds and
expressions rots us from the inside and obstructs learning. Free thought and
free expression, in the forms they are practiced, are like telling people that
they have the full freedom to choose what they want to eat from a table that
has nothing but junk food!
The example which I usually give to
illustrate the difference between free thought and freeing thought, between
free expression and freeing expression, is what happened when Israel closed all
schools and universities in the West.Bank and Gaza for four years during the
first intifada. Israel didn’t mind Palestinians shouting and demanding
the opening of schools. It even allowed conferences to be held in Jerusalem to
criticize the order of closure and demand the opening of schools and
universities. That was a manifestation of free thought and expression that does
not usually bother oppressors. In fact, if anything, it beautifies the
oppressor’s image by demonstrating that such expressions are allowed. In
contrast, when some people freed their thinking from demanding to doing, from
blaming to creating, from reacting to acting, and started teaching children at
homes and in the neighborhoods, Israel issued (in August 1988) one of the most
notorious military orders in its history. Any one caught teaching children at
his/her home or in the neighborhood would have faced the possibility of
demolishing his/her home and up to ten years of imprisonment!
Referring to the cheating of others
as a ‘science’ taught in the most ‘prestigious’ universities under the name marketing
is another example of free expression/enslaving thought. Similarly, calling
cola ‘soft drinks’ is an example of enslaved thought, while calling it
‘polluted water’ is an example of freeing both expression and thought at the
same time. Freeing one’s mind from the confines of where and how learning can
take place (i.e. ‘breaking the conditioning’ process, in the words which my 22
year-old son reminded me of) is a totally different and much more fundamental
act, and a meaningful manifestation of freeing thought and expression.
For learning societies to grow, we
need to spend more time in conversations face-to-face with one another, in
doing things together, in dreaming beautiful dreams, and in building shared
visions. We need to reclaim our lives and regain our cultural soils and spaces.
QU is one attempt at this. The basic topic in learning is life and people
living in its midst – not outside it and not above it, but in its midst. The
basic social unit for learning is small groups engaged in actions (of their
choice) in real life. The basic act of learning at the individual level is to
reflect on one’s life, express it and communicate and discuss it with others.
Today, to regain our cultural soils and spaces, we must dismantle certain myths
and affirm certain realities:
* We need to dismantle the claim
that learning can only take place in schools.
* We need to dismantle the practice
of separating students from life for at least 12 years, but then still claiming
that learning is taking place.
* We need to dismantle the myth that
teachers can teach what they don’t do.
* We need to dismantle the myth that
education can be improved by professionals/experts.
* We need to dismantle the hegemony
of words like education, development, progress, excellence and rights, and
reclaim instead words like wisdom, faith, generosity, conviviality, friendship,
hope, learning, living, joy and duties.
* We need to affirm that the vast
majority of people go to school not to learn but to get diplomas. We need to
create diverse environments of learning.
* We need to affirm our capacity for
doing and learning, not for getting degrees.
* We need to affirm and regain the
concept and practice of learning from the world, not only about the
world.
* We need to affirm that people are
the real solution, not the obstacle and not ignorant.
1 For details, see my article
“Community Education: To Reclaim and Transform What Has Been Made Invisible,”
in Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 60, No.1, February 1990.
2 For more details; see my article
“The Reading Campaign Experience within Palestinian Society: Innovative
Strategies for Learning and Building Community,” in Harvard Educational Review,
Vol.65, No.1, 1995.
Munir Fasheh
Director, Arab Education Forum
|
|