Writing: Huang, Wu-Hsiung｜Author of School Outside the Window, Childhood and Liberation; Former Professor of Mathematics at National Taiwan University; Initiator of the 410 Education Reform Movement
Reading: Chen Zhen-kan｜Founding Director of the Formosa Alternative and Experimental Education Association
Translate: Sophia Morales｜The Tutorial School Teacher
Upon birth, every individual is confronted with two worlds. The first is "the world of struggle between person and thing." Every child initially lives in this world, learning quickly and living vibrantly. However, within a few years, family, society, and school compel the child to move towards the second world: "the world of struggle between person and person."
1.
In this life, there are two different worlds.
The first is a world of "people engaging with things". Every child is born into this world, filled with passion and curiosity for everything around them. They desire to engage with the world, even to change it. They play with mud, shaping it, transforming it into various forms, sometimes into something unrecognizable, and while doing so, they might say, "This is mommy." In their own way, they become part of the world, they shape it, striving to improve everything they touch.
They are interested in everything, and able to concentrate on anything. During this time they progress quickly, including in the acquisition of l language. They are highly sensitive to everything around them: sounds, words, contexts, imagery, and the expressions of speakers – all these are absorbed into their understanding, constructing their knowledge of language, things, and the world around them.
This is the most effective learning, and also the freest, most natural, and happiest stage. They are fearless and confident.
However, soon they are pushed into the second world, the world of "people in contention with people". They begin to be demanded from, judged, rewarded, criticized, and ranked. Everyone is comparing themselves to each other.
This is the second world.
Family, school, society – everywhere is a world of "people in contention with people," whether tangible or intangible.
Upon entering the second world, their enthusiasm for the world diminishes, and their direct desire to engage with the world fades. It is replaced by questions like, "How do I perform?" and "What are the standards for evaluation?"
They strive to conform to these standards, seeking external affirmation.
Insecurity grows in their hearts and their original fearless, inner-confidence disappears and is replaced by a reliance on others.
2.
As they grow up, their values and thoughts unconsciously shift to those of the second world. They pursue fame, status, wealth, influence, and the attention of others. "People in contention with people" becomes the core of their values and beliefs.
Regardless of whether they succeed or fail in this second world, they pass these values and beliefs on to their children.
If they are successful, they present their glamorous life as a model, urging their children to learn and pass on their legacy.
If they fail, they transform their setbacks into insecurities. These scars, in various complex and intertwined forms, seep into their children’s lives.
Perhaps they were mediocre, content or discontent with their mediocrity. But despite their mediocrity it is difficult for them to recall their journey from the vibrant first world to the second world, to look back and understand the deep significance of this transition, and to warn their children not to repeat the same mistakes.
Instead, they justify their mediocrity.
3.
The so-called “childlike heart” is nothing more than the values of the first world, "people engaging with things": a passion for the world, a focus on what they engage with, an absence of prejudice, and the ability to immerse fully in the moment.
The first world nurtures human creativity and stimulates imagination, but it fundamentally conflicts with the second world's thoughts, values, and perspectives on issues.
The phenomenon of "refusing to grow up" occurs in many sensitive children. These children are aware of the conflicting values between the two worlds and are reluctant to be pushed into the second world.
The history of human civilization is chronicled with a long list of names: Van Gogh, Mozart, Byron, Galois, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and extends to the 20th century with figures like John Lennon and Alexander Grothendieck. They all lingered along this line of conflict, burning with passion for life and exuding soaring imagination, leaving monumental contributions to civilization.
Alexander Grothendieck, in his book "Harvest and Sowing," stated, "Too much emphasis on pursuing credit hinders creativity." He was a genius, first-class mathematician and a legendary figure.In his later years he herded sheep in the Pyrenees mountains and passed away there only a few years ago.
His statement illustrates that being overly concerned with competing against others can suppress one’s original passion for the world and shift the focus from understanding, delineating, and molding the world to competing with others. This shift causes people to avoid the challenging entry points in creative activities, dodge the difficult thorns within, and just choose "achievements that are easily seen."
The first world represents the world of imagination, where children are passionate, curious, sensitive, and brave enough to try new things; they are unafraid of the unfamiliar and unbiased; their world is vast, and they bear wings of imagination on their shoulders.
I once depicted the world of children in a book titled "Childhood and Liberation." This is a world of imagination and also a world of creativity.
4.
These precious traits of childhood, once the second world is entered, are quickly overlooked, diluted, and suppressed because they cannot easily be transformed into "visible external representations."
For instance, children can no longer hold up their mud sculpture and say, "This is mommy." Only they know what feature of the mud represents their mother, and only top-tier art educators or artists of Picasso's caliber can truly appreciate and understand what the child is expressing.
The world's standards of evaluation do not focus on the child's perception of their mother or how it is conveyed.
Typically, the world's evaluation criteria are: "Does the child's mud sculpture look like their mother?" "Is it symmetrical?" etc.
However, the problem is more than just whether the evaluation standards reflect the imagination.
The issue also lies in the fact that as children step into the second world, they begin to change their thinking; they learn to seek praise from others while avoiding their criticism and denial. Thus, losing the freedom of imagination.
The second world of "people in contention with people" detaches people from the reality of life and distorts their perception of existence.
5.
What is democratic education? Democratic education isn't just a vague notion of helping individuals "become themselves." Rather, it's a concrete way of connecting people with the world, with history, and with human experiences across different times and spaces, thereby helping them develop into mature, independent individuals.
Mainstream human society belongs to the second world. This is an inevitable reality. We cannot extricate ourselves from this world of "people in contention with people," but we can live in it with the passion, thought, and values of the first world to make ourselves and this world better.
In my book "Childhood," I attempt to depict how individuals can use their innate creative traits from childhood to open up their understanding of the world, forming a dense network of experiences. With the "courage to be," they continuously experiment and learn from their own experiences, readings, observations, and travels, repeatedly evaluating and seeking the meanings of all things. This helps them develop a universal, abstract understanding of the world, becoming adept at independent thinking and maturing comfortably.
Democratic education involves children (including adolescents) learning as equal peers. Through dialogue, reasoning, and shared lives within a caring and respectful atmosphere, it facilitates individuals' maturity and independence.
It enables them to possess complete integrity and critical thinking skills. At the same time, educators mirror learners, honing and accumulating their skills in self-reflection, observation, and self-awareness.
The realm of democratic education is open, free, and respectful. Educators do not avoid problems or pretend; they engage in genuine interactions to explore issues and absorb various valuable experiences, whether intellectual or practical.
At the same time, we must not forget the systematic accumulation of knowledge from thousands of generations of human activity.
Because of the nature of systematically acquiring knowledge, individuals gradually develop the ability to think abstractly.
6.
Abstraction and imagination are the two wings of human creative activities. Abstraction is not naturally inherent. It belongs to civilizational skills, developed through human civilization.
Abstraction is a hallmark of human civilization. From birth, we are bombarded with a myriad of complex and trivial experiences. How do we integrate these into "meaning" to further understand the world? This process relies on abstraction.
Abstraction involves searching for the universality in things and assigning "meaning" to them. It then applies this universality back to specific instances to check for errors.
Through this dialectical process between the universal and the specific, a higher level of universality and further abstraction are gradually formed. Simultaneously, this process enhances our understanding of the world on a more profound level.
Educators cannot teach abstract ability directly because it cannot be taught; it must be realized through immersion in the accumulated experiences of human civilization. In other words, abstract ability must be developed by learners immersing themselves in "systematic knowledge," through observing, comparing, thinking, and integrating, slowly forged through continuous trial and error.
Why is systematic knowledge necessary? Because it represents knowledge accumulated over time, where causal relationships are layered upon each other. The content of such knowledge, with its interreferences and disputes, is not merely a scattered collection of information.
Subjects like history, mathematics, and philosophy immerse individuals over time, continually challenging them to think and naturally cultivating a proficiency in abstract reasoning. This helps people to see the essence of complex matters and find the key points amid the noise that can clutter thought.
The agency of the learner is crucial in developing abstract ability. One reason for the failure of academic education in traditional schools is the reliance on rote learning and memorization to impart systematic knowledge, rather than encouraging understanding.
Abstraction and imagination enhance each other in the process of human creation. Both are essential for comprehending the world.
In Taiwan, experimental education over the past two or three decades has somewhat neglected the role of systematic knowledge, leading to graduates who have high expectations but low practical ability. I have been advocating awareness of this issue for decades.
7.
Since abstraction is a characteristic and capability of civilization, children are not born with abstract abilities. Learning language and symbols (including mathematics) presents a significant challenge for children, requiring educators to create an environment conducive to autonomous learning and free discussion. This environment enables children to gradually master language and symbols, along with abstract thinking and the necessary foundational knowledge.
Democratic educators should not overlook such training. In "The Four Books of Education," I have dedicated a chapter to discussing the details of effective training, which everyone is encouraged to reference.
Educators "open the world of experience" for children with the aim of deepening their imagination; "cultivating abstract ability" is intended to integrate the deeper meanings of various phenomena in the world, thereby fostering the maturity of children's minds.
Combining these two elements with a third—allowing children "to have free time"—enables children to develop the values of free and independent thought as well as sound judgment.
8.
Regardless, the second world of "people in contention with people" is the mainstream of human society.
Given the limited resources for living, competition among people is inevitable. Many of the world's frustrations, pains, anxieties, and hatreds stem from this competition.
Educators, especially democratic educators, must protect children, delaying their entry into the second world; they should first equip children with a mature mindset, thoughtful values, and strong critical thinking skills.
Such maturity and capabilities will enable children to know themselves when they enter the second world, to effectively utilize their abilities, and to manage their lives comfortably and confidently without being overwhelmed by the values of the second world.
9.
In the real world, only a minority manage to maintain the values of the first world in their daily lives. The vast majority have long been engulfed by the values of the second world without ever realizing it.
From our youth, we become accustomed to competing with others, especially starting from elementary school, where being ranked based on exam results becomes a norm and is taken for granted.
Even when university students engage in "career planning," their considerations are not "I want to study this subject" or "I want to enter this industry"; instead, they think, "What benefits does studying this bring?" and "What are the career prospects in this industry?"
The so-called benefits and prospects are about competing with others for limited resources, unlike a child molding clay simply to mold clay and to create the image of their mother in their heart.
It is not about developing one's own interests and abilities, with the courage to be oneself and the passion and curiosity to dive headfirst into a field of study.
This highlights the different values of the two worlds. Even today's often-heard mantra to "be yourself" usually refers to a self that ranks well in the second world, not the self that one truly wishes to commit to and develop with "the courage to be."
Once individuals enter the workforce, even if they choose a unique path on the social margins, their thoughts are still often hijacked by the notion of "competing with others." The idea of "being different from others" takes precedence over the motivation to "engage with the essence of the matter."
In reality, most of us spend our days thinking, making decisions, and taking actions largely within the framework of the second world's "compete with others." Yet, we are mostly unaware of it.
10.
It's absurd that even universities are ranked.
The world has gone mad, especially with the propulsion of globalization and "hyper-capitalism."
Education is a century-long endeavor. How can we rank the effectiveness of university education? By what standards?
What can universities use to evaluate the quality of faculty? The number of published papers? What can be used to evaluate "educational effectiveness"? The number of certain types of courses offered? Or the nature of employment and career paths of students a few years after graduation?
For large-scale rankings, "quantification" is the only option. Many feel uneasy about quantification, but this is the second world—a world of competition among people, a world of rankings.
I am not naive enough to completely oppose all this. What I want to point out is that rankings have infiltrated our cerebral cortex, our consciousness and subconsciousness.
The various bizarre phenomena of "people in contention with people" has drowned out the original human creative activity of "people engaging with things."
In the first world of "people engaging with things," people focus on how to do things well, striving to delve into the essence of matters, to understand themselves, and to understand the world. Then, to delineate and mold the world, which in itself is the meaning of human existence.
In the first world of "people engaging with things," people's ability to manage civilization and the world is naturally cultivated.
When they step into the practical second world, they can naturally survive, have the basic resources for life, and live leisurely, because their abilities, "cultivated in the first world, are needed in the second world."
They clearly know their place in the world, not desiring to possess the wealth of the planet or aspire to a social status beyond their abilities and contributions.
They know how to enjoy a creative life. They will spend their lives seeking truth, beauty, and goodness, never ceasing.
Let me conclude this lecture on "Two Worlds" with a poem I wrote many years ago.
This poem pulses from the first world, untainted by the gunpowder of the second world.
The narrator is a child.
Footprints
In the forest, birds settle into quietude.
Night descends, thick and brooding.
The trail is wet, the darkness dense.
Traveler, where are you bound?
By the well, a young girl draws water,
stoops to scrub laundry on the stone.
Sister, have you seen—
the birds that rest on branches,
how do they sleep?
A child swings, gazing towards the eastern sun
rising anew.
The sun climbs higher,
Sister, do you hear?
Who plays the harp hidden behind the rosy clouds?
Starlight slips through the leaves,
casting long threads to the unknown,
weaving into the underbrush of our path.
Traveler,
you have crossed the creek,
entered another forest, deeper, more obscure.
Sister, do you know?
Spring has passed,
yet that solitary firefly
still wanders, restless.
What is it searching for?
Could it be looking for its mother?
The girl at the clothesline,
casts enigmatic glances,
as the swing sways, indifferent to her gaze.
In the shadowy, blurred woods,
a distant flute plays,
silver moonlight reveals a clearing.
Children with clown caps,
play flutes under the moon,
their feet patter a light dance.
Traveler, you step out of the dark woods,
moonlight easing your weariness.
You walk into the clearing,
surrounded, spun by dancing children.
Do you see?
Their eyes twinkle with laughter within the flute's melody.
Isn’t this more than
just a stop on your journey?
Can their laughter
not hold you here?
The night grows colder,
hailstones blanket the earth,
the sun a distant memory.
A girl leans out to secure the windows.
On the windowsill,
several bees lie frozen.
Sister, sister,
why do branches hang heavy with icy tears?
Why are there still footprints in the snow?
— Ah Nan, December 26, 2021
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