I’m attending a conference in Thimpu, Bhutan entitled “Educating for Gross National Happiness (GNH).” TTF is in fact a sponsor, as we are very interested in the science and environmental literacy component. This opportunity was made possible by a generous gift from the Avis family. Attending the conference are education experts from all over the world including some real stars: Dr. David Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College and Vindana Shiva, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize) for placing women and ecology at the heart of modern development discourse.
The task is enormous, but if Bhutan can begin to cobble together a real framework and viable road map, then educating with the principles of GNH could help shift the priorities of this westernizing country and offer this model to the world. By teaching children the principle that unless every living being in your community, ecosystem, country, continent, world, is “happy,” then we all are responsible in making it so. GNH is really revolutionary and really beautiful, BUT IS IT POSSIBLE?
Monday:
Before the conference gets rolling tomorrow, I spent the day with Lam Dorji and the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN) staff. We are creating a 5 year project plan for Bhutan, starting with the Phobjikha Valley (winter nesting grounds for the amazing black-necked crane) and setting up a beta model for monastery nature club programs throughout the country. I’m headed to the project site next week to meet with monks and the Phobjikha Valley project coordinator for the RSPN. The Nature Clubs are the first step for the monastery schools—but Lam is also interested in forming seminars on wildlife-human conflicts (with tigers, leopards and elephants) in areas of rich biodiversity, engaging farmers in water quality testing, and even training locals in traditional dances for nature festivals and eco-tourism. We are all interested in setting up a small grants program for monks working on conservation efforts, a program that we have established already in Mongolia. Now we only need to raise funds! The RSPN has offered to set up eco-trips for donors—I can bring folks to Bhutan in 2010. Any interest?
Tuesday:
Drinking a Bhutanese beer because red wine is $40 a bottle here, so I’m sticking with beer. I’m no conference type, but its so interesting to hear people from all over the world grapple with Gross National Happiness. Parts of the conference are more productive that others. Oh, did I mention chatting up the Prime Minister about Montana, fire ecology and Yellowstone? He was very interested in the Yellowstone fires and said that fires are often started by monkeys rolling stones down hillsides—resultant sparks start fires!
The best thing about being here is reconnecting with all these folks I met in April. One gal, Kim McCormick, an education expert working with the Bhutan Foundation, is very aware of the Teton Science School (TSS) program—she’s working on education reform in Thimpu. TSS is where we trained Mongolian monks last spring and they also are very involved in training Bhutanese teachers. They have an amazing program and facility in Jackson. Hopefully Sue and I can go to Jackson in January to help TSS train a group of Bhutanese teachers. We’d also love to meet with our Jackson supporters and friends!
Few choice quotes from first day of conference:
“We are shifting from a culture of carelessness to a culture of care. We are shifting from a culture of consumerism to a culture of creation. We are shifting from a culture of alienation to a culture of interconnectedness. We are shifting from a culture of appropriation to a culture of sharing. We are shifting from a culture of waste to a culture of conservation...”
“Education is not for getting a job, but for creating jobs.”
“If you have too much pride, you cause global warming. If you have too much greed, you cause drought. If you have too much ignorance, you cause earthquakes.”
“If I want peace, I must get rid of ‘I want.’”
Wednesday:
Sitting in the lobby of my hotel after an enormous vegetarian lunch with lots of ema daste (hotter than hot chilies with Bhutanese cheese). Folks have broken up into small working groups to begin to craft guidelines and direction for curriculum development on history, science, language and math. This morning’s discussion was combative (for Bhutan at least), though incredibly interesting. Their are pragmatists who want to make sure that the conference is grounded in the realities of global trends and the visionaries who continue to make the case that all things are possible.
I have met extraordinary people for all over the world—three amazing educators from Vermont... The director of India’s Barefoot College, the founders of the Alice Schools, and the founder of the Ladhki based Students Educational and Cultural Movement are all sitting knee to knee with Bhutanese ministers, chancellors, principals, and teachers to make headway on the seemingly impossible task of preserving their culture from the maw of modernization.
Few choice quotes from ongoing conflicts between the practical and the visionary conference participants—all wonderful points!:
“What we have today is Faustian science and Faustian technology—what we are missing is Faustian music.”
“We need to sharpen brains, but also character. I feel a good system combines the efficiency of the head with the warmth of the heart.”
“The importance of education or democracy is crucial. Its fine to talk about head and heart, but we need to prepare children to make choices on politics, on economics and society. We are are really thinking about urban society and making rural society an afterthought. This is a very serious discrepancy. How do we educate for equality in an extraordinarily unequal this society? How do you educate for volunteerism? How do we get kids or adults out at time in national crisis? How do we educate about corruption? How do we educate that corruption is not acceptable? It may be a spiritual corruption, but its also material. We need to advocate for a civil society. All the prayers in the monastery will not erase corruption. We need to educate for creating jobs. No matter how well the kids are educated, without jobs, it doesn’t matter how spiritual and educated the kids may be, they will be a discontented society. Its fine to talk about people staying in the village—their is a romanticism about villages. We need to make the best schools in the village so that people stay in the village and not Thimpu. “
“How many hours do children walk to get to school—1, 2, 3 hours? They are exhausted. The same with teachers—imagine a teacher walking 3 hours to get to to school. How can a teacher teach?”
“The whole idea of education is that things are possible.”
“I hope no one leaves this conference thinking that GNH is a substitute for GNP. GNH is a way of thinking about GNP. We need revenue to do all the things we need to do for educational reform reform. “
“I think that the world world should be embedded with GNH. The world is filled with seeds, they are all capable of growing apple trees and other fruit trees. Now they are dormant. But these seeds are capable of growing these fruits. Everyone is embedded with these seeds.”
That’s it for now...
Say tuned for conference outcomes, the considerations involved with combining theological principles with academic study, AND quotes, anecdotes and tales from the last Kingdom of the Himalaya!
Best,
Betsy
Betsy Gaines Quammen, TTF Executive Director
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