Farewell to fun education

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Farewell to fun education: An educational book by the pedagogue Albert Wunsch , published in Munich in 2003, is for a change of course in education .

Starting with educational problems such as deficits in the areas of self-regulation , delayed reward , resilience , expectation of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation , which are widespread in Western societies today and are at the center of social education discourse, the author develops his personal philosophy in this book Character education . While other authors have mostly blamed unfavorable economic or sociocultural conditions, a lack of knowledge about upbringing or simply individual human weaknesses for the problems listed , here Albert Wunsch instead draws up a comprehensive criticism of the hedonistic society devoid of real meaning of life and of a welfare state that keep the citizen in underage. He names the causes and culprits and proposes solutions for discussion.

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Social and educational criticism

In the first two sections of the book, which are titled “Findings” and “Causes”, Wunsch presents the reader with a panoptic of current German social and educational deficits and describes the groups of people who, in his opinion, are responsible for them.

With reference to Horst W. Opaschowski , he names the basic evil, first of all, the hedonistic basic attitude of a fun society that arises from “satiety”, from “being over-supplied” , in which one's own person, one's own material advantage and cheap, fast pleasure are valued higher than fellow human being; secondly, the care mentality of the citizens of a rich country, who still want to be supported by the welfare state even if they are quite able to look after themselves. The consequences of indulgence and “excessive self-centeredness” include obesity , over-indebtedness , addiction , prostitution , “body cult”, bizarre amusements such as speed dating , failed partnerships, mental disorders and “affluent diseases” such as depression and fear . The over-alimentation of citizens would lead to "denial of service" to the "power rip-offs", a lack of self-responsibility and to be that "more and more anti-social elements to concentrate on the business" and that the social network "as indwelling hammock or fun trampoline abused “ Will. Despite all the fun and material carelessness, people are internally empty and profoundly dissatisfied with themselves, which indicates desire, along with the factor of egoism, as the main reason that they come into conflict with other people: in the partnership, in the family, at work, at the national level even up to war. The makeshift whitewashing of the mental burn-out through ever new forms of amusement compares Wunsch with the "plague orgies" that were celebrated in the Middle Ages in the end times mood of the Black Death . Society is already paying a high price for its hubris, and Wunsch foresees its downfall, although he does not shy away from references to Oswald Spengler's work The Downfall of the West and Ulrich Beck's criticism of risk society, or a comparison with the downfall of the Roman Empire .

Desire names the following as the originator of the abuses listed:

  • The advertising psychologists and media who lead “consumption attacks” against the consumer.
  • The welfare state, which does not promote the self-responsibility of its citizens, but hampers and virtually produces "anti-social behavior". In order to avoid “necessary reforms”, he calm people down with “welfare measures”.

This social situation leaves dramatic traces in the educational outcome. In agreement, Wunsch cites the education critic Dietrich Schwanitz , who described today's students as a "horde of unwilling to learn , naughty beasts used to television entertainment" . He himself writes: "The heads are full of rubbish, the view is empty, the mind remains underdeveloped, the future is bleak." The young generation is hedonistic, consumer-oriented, selfish, "unfocused and slack", uncreative, dependent, unmotivated and incapable of deferring needs and developing long-term projects. You escape reality and avoid responsibility, but make high demands on others. The young people are not resilient, which leads to frequent dropouts in training and studies . If personal responsibility is also low and expectations are high, this often leads to a life with welfare .

Desire names the main culprit:

  • The parents, for whom their career and “participation in consumption” are more important than the interests of the children. The child is perceived as an "incident" and is carelessly "disposed of" in day care outside the home. That this is not in the child's interest can be seen from the fact that children do not want to be cared for outside the home . On the other hand, they coddle and incapacitate the child out of a "misguided instinct for care", set no limits, spare them challenges, convey excessive demands and lead them "consistently into incapacity" instead of preparing them for life and independence. "Indifference, selfishness, lazy compromises and inconsistencies shape the way we deal with children."
  • The school , which does not educate, but only teaches knowledge and with its “dry material communication” destroys any interest in learning.

Counter-draft

Many research-oriented psychologists and educationalists, including Daniel Goleman , Gerald Hüther , Lynn A. Karoly, and James H. Bigelow ( RAND Corporation ), are now convinced that children - and especially children from unfavorable sociocultural backgrounds - benefit significantly when they are not brought up exclusively by their parents or in school, but receive additional professional support, be it in the context of early childhood education in good nurseries and preschools or in programs for emotional education . Wish, on the other hand, sees the ideal way to solve the problems outlined above in an increased effort on the part of families to raise children on their own, whereby he primarily demands the mothers, as they are better for childcare and family work "due to their biological-cultural history" are more suitable than men. To compensate for income inequalities, he proposes - in addition to a consideration of raising periods in the pension and long-term care - a state subsidy of the housewife of work ahead, with this " educational content " will be but only paid in full if the parents training visit and an "education certificate “Prove. More than the traditional breadwinner model, the author envisions families with two parents working part-time; That is why he not only calls for an improvement in morning kindergartens, but also wants employers to be responsible for giving fathers and mothers more flexible working hours and easier return to work.

The biggest problem faced by schools - besides a lack of “learning culture” and insufficient cooperation with parents - is the desire that they fail to understand how to motivate students to learn. He therefore demands of them "a radical reduction in dry teaching" and a "greater focus on life in learning processes".

The positive educational concept that Wunsch develops in this book and which he describes as “ personality development ” amounts to character education , but draws its inspiration from such heterogeneous resources as Christianity , Alfred Adlers and Rudolf Dreikurs ' individual psychology and Hans Jonas ' philosophy of responsibility. Like Wendy Mogel two years earlier, the goal of upbringing is the ability of adolescents to leave their parents' home and lead an independent life. The competencies he wants to develop through upbringing represent an eclectic mix of desiderata from the Judeo-Christian tradition ( unselfishness , helpfulness), the psychology of emotional intelligence (“ self-control ability” , “ deferment of needs ”, “personal and social competence”) and of modern American character sociology (" adaptability ", "resistance", " diligence ", " willingness to take risks "). While Wendy Mogel has a moral , socially valuable person in mind as an educational goal , Wunsch is more likely to stick with positive psychology and is the last The goal of education is life satisfaction . The how-to , the instructions that Wunsch offers for character training, takes up a relatively small amount of space in the book and is limited to general advice. He recommends parents a “benevolent” attitude towards the child and an authoritative style of upbringing . Upbringing must be characterized by consistency , parents should be approachable and present for their children, give them a good role model and teach them appropriate social behavior, limit children's media consumption , encourage children to make efforts, to help in the household and to explore the world.

Appearance and reception

The first edition of the book was published on February 13, 2003. Five further editions followed by 2009.

The reception of the book in the press was largely positive. The social pedagogue Claudia Haider only complained about the author's tendency to make mothers more responsible than fathers. Frank Müller from literaturkritik.de was somewhat offended by Wunsch's “Idiosyncrasy against refusal to perform , aspirations and abundance” , but he praised his pampering psychology, which he had trained in Adler . In the left-wing newspaper Junge Welt , Anja Röhl accused the book of gross polemics.

Context of creation and reception

The book was published at a time when a dispute about a so-called “ cuddle pedagogy ” had broken out in the German public , during which some journalists and politicians exercised massive school criticism. Albert Wunsch contributed to this dispute with the thesis that the "legacy of the 1968 ideology" is responsible for current school grievances . In his book, however, it is not at all about an examination of educational science concepts, but rather about social criticism and criticism of the current home education .

The ultimate cause of the social grievances presented in the book is the secularization of the modern world. The turning away from God and Christian principles had led to "rapidly spreading nihilism ". While the Jewish American psychologist and family therapist Wendy Mogel , who deals with very similar upbringing problems in her book The Blessings of a Skinned Knee , did not hesitate to base her upbringing philosophy consistently on the principles of her faith, Wunsch has in his book a cohesive Christian foundation waived. In this respect, the book offers no instructions for a Christian upbringing .

Wunsch's plea for “personality development” also overlaps with the insights of modern character sociology, a field of research that has gained in importance in the United States since the 1990s through positive psychology , but also includes social theorists such as James Q. Wilson and Amitai Etzioni and developmental psychologists, therapists and educators such as Thomas Lickona and Michele Borba have contributed. Wunsch does not mention their findings in his book.

Another scientific concept that deals centrally with the educational desiderata mentioned by Wunsch is that of emotional intelligence . John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey developed this theoretical construct based on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences in the 1990s. It was popularized in 1995 by Daniel Goleman's bestseller EQ. Emotional intelligence . Wunsch addresses the subject of “personal” or “emotional competence” in his book, but only brings it together with Ingmar Bergman and the controversial Jirina Prekop , while references to the much more relevant American authors are missing.

A discussion with other educational book authors who are widely read in Germany - such as Bernhard Bueb , Jan-Uwe Rogge , Jesper Juul and Michael Winterhoff - is largely dispensed with in the book.

output

  • Albert Wunsch: Farewell to fun education . For a change of course in education. 4th edition. Kösel, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-466-30619-0 . Hardback edition

See also

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 19-21, 64, 94
  2. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 29f
  3. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 25f
  4. ↑ a b c Farewell to fun education, p. 22
  5. ↑ Farewell to fun education, p. 27
  6. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 45
  7. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 38-40
  8. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 40-42
  9. ↑ a b c Farewell to fun education, p. 30
  10. ↑ Farewell to fun education, p. 33
  11. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 35f, 57, 82, 85
  12. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, p. 85
  13. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 27, 33f, 64, 47, 83-85, 199
  14. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 24
  15. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 29, 31
  16. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 82
  17. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, p. 108; The misery of the students: annoyed, bored, distracted Der Spiegel, June 6, 2002
  18. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 109
  19. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 52f, 61, 66f, 75
  20. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 53-56, 69
  21. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 60
  22. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 74f, 78
  23. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 37f, 97, 105, 125, 131; see. Susanne Mayer : Germany - poor children's country: How the ego society is gambling away our future. Plea for a new family culture , Frankfurt: Eichborn, 2002, ISBN 3-8218-3964-3
  24. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 103
  25. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 51, 63, 65, 69-71, 76, 200
  26. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 67
  27. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 51, 202
  28. ↑ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 15, 18, 101, 112, 118, 121, 124, 127f
  29. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 102, 126, 129f, 132
  30. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 102, 123, 132
  31. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 112, 120, 200
  32. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 61
  33. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 94f
  34. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 79-81, 148
  35. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 94
  36. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 13f, 167f, 171f, 199
  37. ^ Farewell to Fun Education, pp. 209–211
  38. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 204f
  39. ^ Farewell to fun pedagogy, pp. 199, 206
  40. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 211-213
  41. ^ Farewell to fun education, pp. 68, 102, 146‒153, 166, 183‒186, 196‒198, 201
  42. ↑ Albert Wunsch: Farewell to fun education  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Publisher's website@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.randomhouse.de  
  43. ↑ Dr. Albert Wunsch is retiring . Retrieved February 29, 2016
  44. ↑ Press quotes: Farewell to fun education KIDOH; Review by Dieter Smolka in Psychologie heute , January 2004
  45. ^ Albert Wunsch: Farewell to the fun education socialnet
  46. ^ Frank Müller: Books on the subject of "Kind & Consumption" , Literaturkritik.de, February 2004
  47. ↑ Anja Röhl: spoiled children? - toughness and consistency? Hands off! , Junge Welt, February 11, 2010
  48. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 109
  49. ^ Farewell to fun education, p. 43
  50. ↑ Farewell to fun education, pp. 160-163, 204
  51. ↑ Only Rogge is mentioned briefly (Farewell to fun pedagogy, p. 56f).