Dialogue Education™ as a Philosophy of Life
by Chris Pullenayegem
Director of Leadership Exchange, CRCNA
I remember my dad’s opinion on education. He reminded me
constantly that it really didn’t matter how "educated” one is, if education
didn’t teach one how to live. I guess this is one of the reasons I regard
Dialogue Education™ (DE) as more than just a process; it is becoming a way of
life for me. When the principles it teaches and espouses become part and parcel
of how you approach life, I believe DE crosses the threshold from being merely
educational to a philosophy of life.
One of the most valuable aspects of DE is its attention to
“the whole”. As a systems thinker, it is an important skill to be
able to move seamlessly from analysis (separating) to synthesis
(putting together). DE not only gives you the tools to do this but
is by its very design holistic. This characteristic seems to
position DE uniquely by giving it the ability to situate itself in
both the collectivist and individualistic cultures in a way that few
other processes can lay claim to. I have used DE and its principles
in all sorts of settings and environments, not just as an education
tool but as a way of engaging complex issues.
One such tool is an approach to peace and reconciliation in my
original country of birth, Sri Lanka. After the government disarmed
the terrorists in March 2009 and ended a 26-year-old
ethnically-based conflict, many groups of well-meaning and
peace-seeking people needed a process to help bring reconciliation
among the people of the land; one that would establish an enduring
and sustainable peace that would be foundational to social cohesion,
mutual well-being and help nurture the common good. The issue was
that the government, in its obsession to eliminate the terrorists
(who belong to a particular ethnic group) also began to exhibit
paranoia towards anyone who belonged to this ethnicity or who
questioned the actions of the government. This, together with the
fact that people had lost hope and had tethered themselves to the
past, didn’t help. One of these concerned citizen groups approached
me for ideas.
Reconciliation, as we know requires people to agree on a
common narrative or at least, have a willingness to consider one. I
suggested that we help people to get there by asking them to
construct a grand narrative of hope for the future by contributing
their own “mini-stories”. The stories would be of what they would
like see in 2020; visions of hope, trust, justice and equality. By
doing this, people would have a chance to shed the handcuffs of the
past and move to a place where they could begin to hope again, in
community and for the community. The idea had immediate acceptance
and success. The group has plans to collect 10 million such stories
and weave them into a grand narrative. (More on this in a later
communication.)
How does DE figure in all of this? As I explained earlier, it
has become a way of thinking and approach for me; a culture. Call it
what you want, but it’s an inseparable part of my psyche. As its
principles continue to influence my work and life, it is bound to
grow and develop further as a process, in and through me. As Jane
Vella so wisely states in her most recent book On Teaching and
Learning: Putting the Principles and Practices of Dialogue
Education into Action (Jossey-Base2008):
In my understanding of this education method, the
means is dialogue, the end is learning, the purpose is peace. (p. 214)
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