Thorsten uses the internet for his studies

My family members have taken different paths through the German educational system. To offer you more insight, I interviewed my cousins and my brother. In my first interview, I’m speaking to my cousin Thorsten, 26, who went to school in Germany and Canada. He thinks schools should offer a broad-based education to further society’s cohesion.

What are you doing at the moment?

Thorsten: I’m working on my Master thesis in IT Management at a University of Applied Sciences.

How do you finance your studies?

I’m doing a dual program which means I’m working for a company, earning money there, and I’m studying at the same time.

Did you receive your high school diploma in Germany?

No, I got my diploma from Bishops College School, a Canadian boarding school. Before that I had gone to a Gesamtschule in North-Rhine Westphalia. [An overview of the German school system is available here.]

Comparing your experiences from a Canadian boarding school with those from your German Gesamtschule: What aspects should the two countries learn from each other?

Well, when I compare sixth form in Canada to the Abitur in Germany, I think there are two approaches: The German system still tries to give their pupil a very broad education, while the Canadian (Ontario equivalent) system at my school tried to prepare us for university. In Canada, that meant I only had six main subjects which prepared me for a scientific degree at university, while the German system has many more subjects.

So, which system do you prefer?

It really depends on what one wants to achieve: Do you want your pupils to have very broad knowledge and to deepen their understanding in a specific subject at university? Or should the subject area narrow itself at the end of sixth form to prepare for university? I personally believe it’s better to have a very broad knowledge base at the end of your school career and deepen your knowledge in specific subjects at university.

Why do you think so?

Because I think that society can be more united if everybody is able to communicate with one another. Moreover, everybody personally can profit of a better education because you can develop your own opinion.

Have you felt lost out because you went to a sixth form and got a more specialized degree?

No, thanks to today’s technology I was able to acquire a lot of knowledge. If I want to know something, I can Google the basics of a particular subject within minutes.

In Germany, children of parents without a college education have fewer opportunities to receive an Abitur or to study. What should be done against this inequality, in your opinion?

A football game at Thorsten's Canadian school

I think one of the problems is the way the German system divides students very early into three different kinds of schools after elementary school. I believe every school system should leave it open up to the end whether pupils want to do their Abitur, whether they want to study or not. Thus, all children should be taught together at one school which supports children according to their individual strengths, as the school did that I went to in Germany until tenth grade.

Should the Gymnasium be abolished?

No, it can be kept. But what is important is that all children are individually supported, and this is required at all schools. And here the way of teaching becomes important.

How should teachers teach their students?

I think it’s time to completely re-think schooling. This will happen anyways. It’s only a matter of time. Technology opens new opportunities.

What kinds of opportunities do you mean?

For example, means that enable us to learn from any location. By using those, a five-year-old could theoretically already participate in a university course. In particularly, I’m thinking of models of the Khan Academy, which are already used at schools.

What is the Khan Academy?

Speaking broadly, it is an online platform to study. Kids can acquire the theoretical basics of a subject with videos and digital exercises. Afterwards they put it into practice in group works, discussions, and so on. Teachers follow their students’ progress with the help of the platform and see what kind of individual support their students need.

Do you, therefore, see the key to more equality in the smart use of technologies?

Yes – combined with a good mentoring system. The future of education is in Web 2.0, and the country that uses this potential first will be the first to profit from it – first within its society and then in an economic way.

At one of the training days in Potenciar Comunidades

Apart from my work at the NGO, I have time to freelance as a journalist from time to time. Last week I interviewed Silvio, the director of Los Grobo Foundation. We talked about the role of NGOs in society, the different actors in a community and how to present them to benefit social development. I thought it was worth sharing some of his ideas here!

I need to provide a bit of context. In Argentina, for the last 10 to 15 years, NGOs focusing on a variety of areas (housing, education, social inclusion of disabled people, environment, etc) have flourished. These organizations come about by way of different initiatives: by people in society or by a private company, for instance. In the first case, professionals with an entrepreneurial side take the lead. These NGOs dedicate a lot of efforts to fundraising and attracting donors. Most of these organizations manage to carry out all of their actions with very little money of their own. In the second case, the NGO is an example of Private Social Investment from a particular company. This is true of Los Grobo Foundation: Los Grobo Agropecuaria is a private company (one of the most successful in town), and its NGO has a percentage of the company’s income at their disposal.

Most programs point at developing skills that are core to local economies

One of the programs Los Grobo Foundation runs is called Potenciar Comunidades (“Empowering Communities”). I found it most delightful, and I thought it was worth sharing this initiative here because their work involves a very interesting viewpoint on social inclusion. They evaluate projects that come from different communities and seek out private companies that are willing to support these projects with money and also management know-how. Silvio told me how they generate a context where they bring together the different actors of society (everyday people, company employees, NGOs, and sometimes also government officials) and try to take the best from each sphere.

You can hear more about it in Silvio’s own words here: http://youtu.be/QUG4iAltIO8

Conductor Paul MacAlindin and a soloist

As I promised in my last entry, I did an interview over the Internet with NYOI’s musical director Paul MacAlindin, from Scotland and now living in Cologne, Germany.

– Mr. MacAlindin, how has the NYOI’s music improved academically since the orchestra’s founding?
Paul MacAlindin: Arab, Kurdish and classical music have systems that need to be internalized before you can really connect your soul with sound. The war and a generally negative perception of the arts has kept people from learning those systems. However, no one can prevent that part of the human brain which exists only to make music from finding a way to express itself. So young Iraqis have found their way intuitively to making music through difficult times. Music has become a comfort, a barrier against the chaos and violence. The Internet has replaced teachers.

NYOI brings teachers into Iraq to coach young players. We do this in a very intense course, which shows players what’s possible when they are given a chance. Those teachers who left Iraq during the invasion may never come back, but we have given those that are courageous enough to stay hope that they can get real support, now and in future.

Sustained conflict conditions people to be helpless, afraid and focused on survival, even when war is over. NYOI players and friends have set up their own projects to start challenging that mentality, and learn empowerment. I believe that some of the current good practice in Iraq is directly and indirectly inspired by NYOI courses. NYOI players are already teaching what they’ve learnt from our tutors.

– What needs to be done or to be changed in the Iraqi musical schools?

Simply, a respectful dialogue with musicians outside Iraq; perhaps allowing a young teacher to come and work there for 6 months, or a visiting ensemble to be allowed to do a short residency.  Fundamentally, music brings people together. That can only happen when people feel safe enough to do so, and when they do, they create demand for more performances and better teaching.

Only then can musicians discuss what they need, and who to work with. At the heart of every musician’s success is mobility, and whether going to the next village or the next continent, is absolutely necessary.

Paul MacAlindin and I in Arbil

– What sounds strange when you try to make room for classical music inside people’s minds in the East? And how difficult is that at this moment?

If we’re discussing orchestral music, that’s easy because it’s already everywhere: film sound tracks, advertisements, hotel foyers, pop music all over the world. Kurdish and Arab music continually mixes clarinets, violins, cellos, flutes with traditional instruments, creating mixed orchestras. Do people really want to listen to a whole concert of orchestral music in silence? A lot of people in the West can’t even do that. But again, live music of all kinds, traditional or orchestral, brings people together, and doing so again and again creates the fabric of society, creating emotions and ideas instead of conflict.

– What you would like to say in closing?

A friend of mine, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who wrote NYOI a piece last year, said that a place doesn’t really exist if no one is performing music about it. The choice is to continue living in fear, half alive, or to allow your home to flourish with music.

Click here to head to the NYOI YouTube Channel.