Tutzing '99
Tolerance - Basis For Democratic Societies In A World of Difference
Dr. Thomas Henschel
Coordinator of the
International Network
Listen to an extract of his presentation
Thomas Henschel pleads for a new form of education. Schools and
other institutions should enable teachers to be equipped with new
competencies which are not primarily based on communicating knowledge.
Teaching forms are necessary which make it possible to experience
knowledge to be communicated. Education toward tolerance involves
pursuing the complex path of conflict. And books alone are not in
a position to communicate this:
"It is not merely a matter of willingness to be tolerant. It is
also very strongly dependent on having the competence to actually
live tolerance. This means: when values collide with each other,
the simple method of aggression and violence is not chosen but rather
the more difficult and complex method of conflict, articulation
of individual needs, the ability to listen intensively to the other
person's needs and then find creative solutions. And I can not learn
this type of competence from books. Nor do I usually learn it when
a teacher says to me: You have to be tolerant. I obviously need
some kind of human situations which need to be created in which
I can actually have live experiences and learn how to deal with
conflicts by getting to know myself and how I react to conflicts
- and thus discover new methods and alternative ways of dealing
with them.
Over the years, we have also collaborated with teachers in our work
here in and from Munich. And the fact is that you do not simply
go to a seminar lasting a full day or half a day and receive a handout
containing five points which when fulfilled make you the most tolerant
person in the world. No, you have to subject yourself to a process
during which you question yourself. But this is not really about
meeting strangers. It is much more a form of meeting yourself. I
have to learn something about myself. I have to learn something
about my own identity and how I deal with unfamiliarity. This is
the real objective of this kind of training. And I do think this
requires some rethinking."
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Conference in Tutzing
Dinner speach by
Micha Brumlik
Day of Tolerance in Munich
Contributions by:
Christian Ude
Michel Friedman
Cem Özdemir
Thomas Henschel
Julian Nida-Rümelin
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