Old dreams or transformative education

Abstract

Facing global challenges of climate change, armed conflicts, growing inequalities, and AI encroachment on humanity, the biggest challenge for the educational systems in the affluent countries in the west is to help the young and the old to dream differently. Despite the constant changes that humanity has witnessed since the dawn of the industrial revolution, changes some say are happening faster than ever before, the dream of mastery over nature has remained remarkably stable. But now we are falling victim to this very dream. The dream of making nature provide for our daily needs, and turning it into a safe, gentle, and foreseeable world – the dream of comfort and security – is now turning into a nightmare.

The dream of controlling nature has been realized with such thoroughness that nature is not only a servant, but has been oppressed in such a way that its position is more aptly described as slavery. Nature has been exploited in all imaginable ways, for while we have striven to realize this dream of mastery, we have lost all sense of a limit. While gaining dominance over nature, we have lost control over ourselves. We must now learn to dream differently, rather than focusing on mastery, our new dreams must aim for harmony. Such dreams require changing the fundamental values of societies around the globe.

Rather than craving more consumption driven by unsustainable conceptions of the good life, we need a new conception of the good life. We need education where learners are encouraged to adopt a critical attitude towards their own needs and wishes, where flourishing is not conceived of as winning the race against the person next to you, and where quality of life is not measured by economic wealth but in terms of moral and political values such as equality, democracy, and harmony with nature.

For a green future, we need not only new knowledge, new technology and new politics, we need a new conception of the good life. This calls for a fundamental change in education. Conventional education is about reproduction – reproduction of knowledge, values and culture, and thereby replication of the old dream of mastery over nature. Now many call for transformative education, and conventional has been transformative – but in the wrong way. Education has been about transforming the earth and not the mind and heart. Yet perhaps it is actually about transforming the heart since little children enjoy simple pleasures; they enjoy playing in nature, gambolling together, jumping in puddles and admiring colourful stones and beautiful flowers. Perhaps our educational systems have been about transforming those little hearts that beat naturally in harmony with nature, into something that beats to the fast rhythm of the clock, the demands of the labour market, and the call for ever more consumption.

When we talk about transformative education in the context of sustainability education, it is transformation of the heart that is called for. We need not become smarter at managing the earth, we must instead learn to love and respect it. Rather than seeking green growth it is us – the people – who need to grow green. Instead of growing bigger, ever more demanding, ever needier and more competitive, we need to grow within; we need to cultivate our perceptive abilities, our capacity for empathy, and our capacity for love. This is not a technical task, it is not a matter of absorbing more knowledge, it is nothing AI can do for us. The Nordic societies are societies of abundance, even if the goods are not fairly distributed. In such societies, growing green should be an obvious goal. Who does not want to live a caring life, in harmony with nature and other people, enjoying leisure and access to nature? Who does not want to live in a world which they love, and which nurtures their body and spirit through relationships of mutual respect and care?