Strengthen people, clear things up

The font strengthen the people to clarify things by Hartmut von Hentig is a collection of lectures from the period from 1973 to 1984. With this title, the author explains the basic criticism of current methods in pedagogy einfachster form.

An education of the human race?

The first lecture An education of the human race? was held in the summer of 1984 as part of a series of lectures on "The misery of the Enlightenment". It has 44 pages (pp. 5 to 48).

The central thesis of the first lecture is the proof of the necessity of the “New Enlightenment” (p. 47), which is an “Enlightenment of the Enlightenment ” (p. 13), for science and everyday life and for thinking (and speaking) and acting:

People only have their common sense to promote the success of their actions (as individuals and as a society). This promotion of success is subject to clear limits ( finiteness and fallibility of human reason ), recognizing these limits is part of the "New Enlightenment", which admits that, for example, nature can by no means be fully understood by reason (natural science) and that natural science in turn (factual) knowledge but no (moral) meaning .

Since the 'Old Enlightenment' (of the 18th century) saw education ("Education for the Enlightenment" p. 39) as the main means for the purpose of the progress of mankind (to the "New Man" (p. 21)) (the 18th century is also considered to be the great century of education), the “misery of the Enlightenment” (p. 3) (also “ dialectic of the enlightenment ”) is blamed in the current discussion of education.

The misery consists of acute problems that the rationalization of the living environment (e.g. industrialization ) brought with it, such as the destruction of nature, alienation , unemployment , disenchantment with politics (p. 14f.). This misery makes an “enlightenment of the Enlightenment” necessary and not a rigid adherence to the old enlightenment progress thinking (“the continued headless flight forward” (p. 15)). The old Enlightenment should therefore not be completely rejected, but rather learn from it and adapt the social institutions (such as the school ) to the changed historical circumstances ( e.g. the climate crisis ). The core ideas of the Ancient Enlightenment, which are still important to us today, are not regulations (e.g. what a happy life should look like), but (ten in all) restrictions (p. 37). Its points are shown here in reverse order for the sake of clarity :

1. Today's Enlightenment is different from that of the 18th century.
2. Enlightenment urges progress (away from what has been recognized as false to what has been recognized as true).
3. The Enlightenment is not directed against any kind of religion , but it refers to the areas that are inaccessible to reason (e.g. whether there is a God ).
4. People are free, but responsible for one another: one's own freedom ends when others are harmed. No one can relieve you of this responsibility .
5. Enlightenment (reasonableness) is a "way of life " (p. 30) that encompasses all (private and public) life and requires practice.
6. The world can be explained by means of reason (possibly never completely, but definitely to a certain extent).
7. People are individually different, but have the same dignity and therefore the same rights .
8. The individual is by birth neither good nor bad.
9. Reason is both individually and socially necessary ("Man is ... subject to reason." (P. 23))
10. Man is not born free, but has to work for his freedom (mainly through individual learning and the transformation of social circumstances).

After Hentig has clarified what, in his opinion, enlightenment means today, he turns to the current criticism of education , which feels obliged to enlightenment. He also summarizes this criticism in ten points.

1. Pedagogy from the child leads to a lack of knowledge. 2. pedagogy of autonomy (the child) would lead to a lack of independence (un maturity ). 3. Pedagogy of self-fulfillment (of the individual child) leads to irresponsible insubordination. 4. Pedagogy without selection harms the gifted in favor of the untalented. 5. Pedagogy without a performance principle leads to "parole aversion" (p. 42). 6. Pedagogy on the “ ability to criticize ” (p. 42) leads to “dissatisfaction hostile to the state” (ibid.). 7. Science- oriented pedagogy prevents understanding (child-specific, concrete) learning (through abstraction). 8. Pedagogy for the training of the formal mental powers leads to the loss of the common history (culture of remembrance ). 9. Pedagogy, which puts the individual interests of the child in the foreground, leads to the destruction of bourgeois morality ( nihilism ). 10. Pedagogy of lifelong further education (economic schooling ) does not lead to deeper life wisdom .

Hentig all these allegations against the Enlightenment holds undertook education is important, but not for hitting. They would have to be thought through and adapted to the specific historical situation of our society.

He sees his project at the Bielefeld Laboratory School as a concrete application of his proposal.

Strengthen people, clear things up

The second lecture was held in 1984 to mark the tenth anniversary of the laboratory school and the Oberstufenkolleg Bielefeld under the title Strengthening people, clarifying things . It appears in the collection under the title Is Reason Teachable? It has 78 pages (pp. 49 to 126). Due to the scope, Hentig's structure is used here for an initial orientation. The central thesis of the section is named and then the most important arguments are presented together.

1. "A changed language" (p. 49 to 59)

The central thesis of the first section of Hentig's lecture is: At the end of the 20th century we need a new pedagogy in Germany (p. 58). This new pedagogy needs a “new language” (p. 58) because the old language of the pedagogical discussion of the 1960s and 1970s has become blind to important parts of education .

Hentig concludes from the language changes in the pedagogical discussion (moving away from “essential words” to “functional words”) in the 1960s and 1970s to the strengthening of functional rationality (“functionalist mentality” (p. 54)). Purposeful rationality does not care about the meaningfulness (or the moral point of view) of action goals (in the field of pedagogy, the " learning goals " (p. 106)), but only asks about effective means that produce the most profitable results ("input-output Ratio ”(p. 125)).

The new key concept " science orientation " leads to the development of teaching methodology as image didactics (as reduced image (didactic reduction) of the respective scientific reference science). Key terms such as “ love ” (p. 51) are disappearing from the pedagogical discourse because they cannot be operationalized ( i.e. not clearly accessible to sensory perception and subsequently not calculable): There is no thermometer that shows a student's degree of love before, during or after class could determine for sure. This narrowed view is justified with the contemporary modern learning theory of behaviorism , which banishes all inner-mental processes as speculative, because they cannot be precisely measured, from science . Nevertheless, according to humanities pedagogy , a loving pedagogical relationship is a basic requirement for “education” (p. 53), and education is “shaping of consciousness” (p. 53).

Overall, the areas of both the good ( morality ) and the beautiful ( aesthetics ) fall victim to this purpose-path rationalization . In view of the “ Sputnik shock ” (p. 54), these essential areas of humanity were sacrificed for higher economic-technical education (“exhaustion of talent reserves”, p. 55). But education not only has to promote individual and social (economic) prosperity, but also to arm the individual against economic exploitation, political adjustment and cultural self-loss ( identity formation ). The contemporary criticism of the system ( Marxism and depth psychology ), however, are directed against their only weapon of their own, consciousness-forming education: They condemn education in general because it is supposedly always an instrument of the rulers who thereby secure their rule ( indoctrination ).

2. "A constant problem?" (Pp. 59 to 71)

The second section provides information on the “main goal” (p. 60) of the new pedagogy: “Strengthening people and clarifying things” (p. 59). Science (and pedagogical science orientation) clarifies things, but does not automatically strengthen people, because it does not answer vital questions of meaning . It informs people about effective means ( technology ), which they can then use as they wish. Since technical progress has reached a level that produces means for world destruction (e.g. nuclear weapons ), the New Enlightenment must ask about the responsibility of science. Scientific and technical progress has to face the question of meaning (is or would this or that technical invention be good? ( Impact assessment )), blind letting progress does not provide a solution, it just accumulates more problems.

People need factual knowledge, but no “piece of knowledge” (p. 70) (specialist scientific knowledge), but an overview of those social conditions that determine their daily lives and which are now often presented as “ practical constraints ” without alternative and the strength for this as moral right and true or, if necessary, to stand up against what is recognized as morally bad and wrong, also against the majority.

The (mistakenly still) value-free science cannot solve the pending social problems in the sense of technical progress, because it was never objective itself, but as a social institution itself is interwoven with the systemic constraints (research results, for example, depend not insignificantly on the sponsor of the research institute as e.g. the Academy for Tobacco Studies shows).

In normal life, social systems today still reward conformal adaptation and not nonconformal self-determination . This sabotages the basis of democracy ( Böckenfördsches dictum ), which is dependent on the independent expertise ( maturity ) of its citizens, because the citizens have to make political decisions (e.g. when choosing a party ). School has to create a “safe space” (p. 113) that is so free from systemic constraints ( pedagogical freedom ) that it allows the students this non-conforming independence and they can build up enough self-esteem to last for the rest of their lives (as adults Citizens) stand up for what has been recognized as true and good, even against the majority. It must impart the willpower and knowledge necessary for this so that the students as adults can change the social systems (through democratic participation ) in such a way that the social problems ( key problems ) can be solved.

3. "Skepticism and Confidence" (pp. 72 to 82)

The central thesis of the third part is: The New Enlightenment must sharpen our awareness with systematic skepticism . “Skepticism means [...] understanding why you can't do something.” (P. 72). In his first lecture it is insistently pointed out that the New Enlightenment must not just consist of skepticism, but must also include action (which changes the social institutions criticized). In his 3rd lecture, Hentig also points out that skepticism as a means of enlightenment always needs a positive standpoint (trust in reason) from which it criticizes: So there are always positive evaluations and consequently it is not one nihilistic total skepticism (which is simply against everything).

3.1 Progress and Democracy (p. 73 ff)

Social systems (e.g. laws) come up against moral limits due to scientific progress in certain technical developments (e.g. embryo and human genetics discussion). Here people (as citizens) have to change existing institutions or introduce new ones with which they want to live together. This decision-making process ( deliberative democracy ) must not be taken over by systems (e.g. by experts from business or science) over which the people affected have no power .

3.2 "Understanding versus Reason" (p. 76 ff)

The people in a democracy have to take a stand against obvious social undesirable developments. The nuclear arms race is an example of such an undesirable development: there is only thought about means (bigger, faster, further, more) and no longer about ends (destruction of the world as an inevitable consequence of the use of nuclear weapons ) ( rationality ). The step-by-step elimination of these undesirable developments with specific, immediate individual measures is better than ambitious goals ( utopias such as eternal world peace ).

3.3 "Reason versus nature" (pp. 78 to 82)

The problem of overpopulation in the world in the foreseeable future does not help the economic progress thinking that population growth decreases with increasing prosperity, because our planet does not have enough raw materials for all people for such a level of prosperity (as today's western industrial nations offer their citizens) are (cf. The Limits to Growth ). Without political intervention, the earth could (technically speaking) feed 12 billion people. However, nobody wants to live under the conditions necessary for this (very low quality of life ). Birth control and euthanasia are still taboo topics for Western politics . In order for that to change and for the New Enlightenment to also deal with these taboo subjects, strong people (educated by the New Education) are needed.

4. "Revolt against the mind?" (Pp. 82 to 91)

The central thesis of the 4th section is that reason has to rebel against the currently autocratic ruling understanding (functional rationality) and clarify the goals (questions of meaning and value) that society should pursue with the technical means available to it ( e.g. promote solar instead of coal power plants through environmental protection laws ).

Understanding is purposeful rationality and "indicates how something can [...] be done " (p. 88). For the many problems (e.g. identity crisis, alienation , environmental destruction , danger of world destruction, overpopulation, unemployment, juridification) that have arisen today through purposeful rationality (of eternal technical progress without clarifying questions of meaning ) are political solutions that change social systems , necessary (and not just individual individual actions). The political ( democratic ) voting processes necessary for these changes require a common understanding of the problems ( common understanding ) among the voting people (i.e. the citizens and not bodies made up of experts ), which means the main educational goal of "clarifying matters" for public education ( General education ).

Reason clarifies " what [...] should be done " (p. 88). Hentig sees the value basis of reason in human dignity, which " is spelled out in human rights " (p. 88). Human rights are the " Basic Law " (p. 88) of the New Enlightenment . Questions of value that cannot be clarified must be endured with “tolerance” (p. 89), because human reason can always be wrong (fallibilism). Tolerance is therefore the “most important task” (p. 88) of the new pedagogy. What cannot be clarified can only be determined by the individual's own critically endeavored reason (and not, for example, a social system from above).

5. "Alternatives to reason?" (Pp. 91 to 99)

In section 5, Hentig examines the contemporary “counter-enlightenment” (p. 91), which refuses to accept rationality . The counter-enlightenment contradicts the main educational goal of "clearing things up". Consequently, the Counter-Enlightenment offers no alternative to reason (the New Enlightenment) in the field of education.

Prototypes for counter- enlightenment are esoteric clairvoyance ( e.g. through meditative enlightenment or orgiastic intoxication), scientific technical jargon (“abstraction” (p. 93)) and myth . Clairvoyance is a vision of truth that cannot be understood by other people . Technical jargon is incomprehensible to all non-experts. Myth, for example in the form of popular literature (e.g. fantasy novels ) is generally understandable , but shows the individual acts of heroes with moral integrity often with magic as a panacea and ignores the political cooperation necessary to solve current problems with really available means.

6. "Can reason be taught?" (Pp. 99 to 105)

Reason can be taught when school prepares people for life (outside of school). This preparation consists of informing them about the things that determine people's living environment ("clarifying things") and at the same time strengthening their self-esteem ("strengthening people").

The contemporary mainstream school measures (comparative tests), selects ( digit censorship ) and overwhelms (hierarchical school structure ) people. The bureaucratic separation of subject knowledge (e.g. in the school subjects physics or biology), questions of value (e.g. in the school subjects social studies or ethics) with regard to the subject matter and virtue (understood as a personal attitude to the subject matter dealt with) (e.g. by top grades ) is paired with Declining importance: While specialist knowledge is decisive for school- leaving certificates, questions of value play only a minor role and the virtue of the student consists only of conformism (obedience). Personal commitment to things that are important to you (e.g. environmental protection ) remains a private matter .

The new pedagogy for the end of the 20th century calls for holistic, unsupported teaching ("universal teaching " or "life teaching " (p. 101)), which is based on real-life situations and always creates the broader context (e.g. to human history). The shared experience is the focus and not the teaching. People's confidence in their own common sense is to be strengthened and skepticism towards the purposeful rationality of social institutions is to be sharpened.

7. "13 learning conditions" (pp. 106 to 125)

In the 7th section, Hentig formulates “learning conditions” in contrast to his “learning goals” formulated in earlier works (p. 106), because the term “goal” is too closely related to feasibility-oriented pedagogy. All 13 learning conditions can only be met if the schools are given more freedom in their design ( pedagogical freedom ) than is currently the case. All learning conditions serve the New Enlightenment, which expands learning by the dimension of meaning and not shortens it to the mere acquisition of knowledge or skills (through learning by heart and practicing).

1. Confidence must be built through your own successful actions.
2. Time for individual learning paths must be left in the school (no hurry for apparent effectiveness or bureaucratic synchronization), away with the 45-minute cycle.
3. Employment is becoming less and less, so social work must be upgraded (and paid), as must learning work (and non-commercial scientific progress ). As a society on a small scale (Polis concept), schools must prepare for this life.
4. For life you don't learn in mass classes, 15 students per class is optimal.
5. School must not be an educational institution, it should be a place of life where students can learn how to gradually improve the school (as a small society) through democratic means.
6. Systematic subject teaching about social problems only takes effect from puberty , before that only observing the rules in daily life can be practiced. Nevertheless, it is important to have the basic experience that these rules are decided democratically, otherwise they will remain alien to the students and cause maximum external conformity for fear of punishment.
7. The main task of the school is to educate: Pupils must learn to understand, so they must always be able to substantiate the knowledge they have acquired. Students must be able to prove that unfounded beliefs (e.g. existence of God) are unfounded and at the same time learn to tolerate the meaning of belief.
8. Social inequality is inevitable for today's society (e.g. because of the division of labor). School should take this into account, but only in the upper secondary level, before that individualized lessons and the development of self-esteem for each individual are necessary.
9. Physicality has to be taken into account again in school: Young people have a great need for physical activity , which has to be taken into account differently than is the case with competitive sport- oriented school sports.
10. The new media (e.g. the Internet) must be recognized as a provider of information, but must not be misunderstood as a provider of knowledge: Knowledge requires the information to be organized independently in thought and language. The more information you use, the greater the effort ( information overload ).
11. Teachers have to exemplify a (possibly) good, that is, happy and just, life for children. You are not allowed to participate in the youth cult. "Growing up is not a [...] condition, it is a duty" (p. 122).
12. Teachers have to work against “therapism” (p. 122), which turns factual problems into relationship problems (i.e. individual problems from social problem states) and thus deprives people of the strength to change social systems. If there are social circumstances that make people sick (e.g. ADD from excessive media consumption, but also in the case of depression or burnout through bullying ), then these circumstances have to be changed and not just the sufferer treated as an individual case.
13. Children need time for themselves. Eternal drive and time pressure disrupt learning by reacting with fear of school , aggression or truancy .

About the difficulty of enlightening a society that considers itself enlightened

The third lecture was given in 1973 at the time of the student movement before the Humanist Union under the title On the Difficulty of Enlightening a Society that considers itself to be enlightened . It has 53 pages (pp. 127 to 179).

The central thesis of the lecture is that enlightenment is an inconclusive process and not a final state. The enlightenment process cannot be concluded because it can only identify a wrong opinion as wrong from another (unquestioned absolute) point of view. However, this point of view can also turn out to be a wrong opinion, which in turn can only be determined by adopting a different (unquestioned absolute) point of view, etc. For example, the Enlightenment questions what the authority of religion or state consists of. The aim of the education is always the same: Individual and common happiness (good life) should be promoted. Happiness is promoted in an indirect (negative) way by recognizing what stands in the way of these target states and then taking concrete measures to gradually eliminate these grievances ( piecemeal social technology ).

The old Enlightenment (of the 18th century) is no longer sufficient today because it was limited to recognizing the grievances and leaving changes in social institutions to the authorities (cf. 158–162). Although many taboos have been cleared up today, the findings have no influence on the everyday actions of the majority of people (who continue to believe in God unconditionally or blindly obey the state). The ancient Enlightenment judged the errors of its time from the standpoint of rationality. This one-dimensional point of view has to be expanded today, as the importance of emotionality (e.g. for our actual actions even against better knowledge) has been proven by modern psychology . This also has concrete consequences for the school: Younger pupils (before puberty) are not yet able to deal with formal arguments, an emotional foundation of habits is the responsibility of the teacher here. The explanations required at this level can be conveyed in the form of stories (such as fairy tales ). In later school life, however, these rules and the values ​​they are based on have to be discussed more and more deeply, because the pupils can only understand their meaning through their justification. Moral independence (coming of age) cannot arise solely from “passive enlightenment” (p. 167), that is, from rules prescribed by an authority and as true, guaranteed knowledge (without justification). Two basic virtues are necessary for enlightenment to become self-enlightenment: Truthfulness and kindness (p. 170) for "spiritual and emotional confidence" (p. 170).

In the course of time, the means of enlightenment have themselves become "counter-enlightenment" (p. 128), which undermine trust in one's own sensory perception and one's own common sense and generate obedience to authority instead of claiming for general intelligibility: science is "technical jargon" incomprehensible to the general public. In addition, it gets rid of its moral responsibility in political decisions by referring to statistics , which only say what IS and cannot say what SHOULD be. This way of thinking goes into everyday life when teachers strive to produce the statistical normal distribution (Gaussian bell curve) when grading class work , because in this way of thinking it is unthinkable that, for example, almost all students receive the top grade (but always only a few very good and very bad grades may be awarded).

In connection with the natural sciences as a contemporary ideal of scientificity (especially mathematical physics ) in general, the causal method of explanation is the only recognized one. Alternative modes of explanation (such as hermeneutic interpretation ) are devalued. However, certain things cannot be explained causally (e.g. human free will), others cannot even be clearly grasped by sensory observation (e.g. fear of school ).

Criticism and emancipation as a means of enlightenment do not turn into counter- enlightenment only if they remain gradually and always within the range of the possibilities of those who exercise them, otherwise they quickly turn into resignation or aggression .

In order to avoid the undesirable developments in school listed above, Hentig gives five rules, which are summarized here: 1. Always be “ honest and friendly” (ie truthful and tolerant )! 2. Clarify only those social problems that are in the area of ​​the pupils' “possibilities of experience and action” (p. 173) and clarify in a “vivid and discursive” (p. 175) manner ( weighted according to the level of development of the pupils) on! 3. Let the students themselves find possible solutions to societal problems that involve actions that are within the students' ability to act!

literature

• Hartmut von Hentig : Strengthening people, clarifying matters. A plea for the restoration of the Enlightenment (= Universal Library 8072). Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-15-008072-X .