@School - Actions Taken

Erasmus University: Wisdom-based leadership lecture

As part of the Erasmus honours programme: Grand Challenges, DOWN to EARTH was shown to the Honours students, and Rolf gave a lecture on wisdom-based leadership. The students who initially only came for a 3 hour session stayed for 6 hours until the janitor had to lock us out.

“We’ve shown DOWN to EARTH to a class with 25 Honours students from Erasmus University, to close off a module on Leadership. After the movie, Rolf Winters gave a class on leadership followed by an in-depth discussion with students, reflecting on the movie, on their journey and their challenges. This session was amazingly rich and provided insights and change on a very deep level. Students were energized, inspired and empowered by the combination of watching, listening and feeling. The session has made a lasting impact, so we will definitely keep it as part of our honours programme and are now looking at other curricula and ways for collaboration.“
Drs. Eva Rood
Rotterdam School of Management

Primary school pilot programme day

Primary education, started with a pilot-school-day on November 6 2016, to tune into the needs of the students, teachers and parents about what the impact of the film could be in schools, and what the programmes could look like. One thing was stated very clearly from the teachers' perspective: We do NOT need another ready made programme!

We worked with a group of 14 kids, 15 teachers and 8 parents. The atmosphere and synergy was great, and we could really feel the urge to make a difference. It was also clear that the way to make this difference was reached via very different roads. So this was our challenge: To make a program with a clear perspective, but with enough space to create your path to your (schools) own goal. This isn't something that can be ‘fixed’ in one day or afternoon, but its a proces we have to facilitate over time.

A six-year-old boy present that day wrote a note about his view on DOWN to EARTH and the world we live in today. It translates:

  1. special
  2. truths
  3. if you think about it people always say the netherlands is a free country but I think our life has been planned out by people and we will be stuck in there forever if we don't change anything

We are drafting a programme now from what we learnt and will do more pilot programmes in schools. Later in 2017 we will be ready to roll out programmes for the 2017/2018 school year!

The Nature of Things

 

Hi, I’m Orly Seagull. I’m the founder of The Nature of Things. The Nature of Things is a house of education, as we call it.

My story begins with DOWN to EARTH. I spent probably some of the most life-changing hours in the cinema while watching the film here in Tel Aviv. I felt everything that was said in the film was so central and important for the understanding of what education is and what our responsibility toward the planet is. It felt like something needs to be done, and it felt like this is what I owe my children. I owe them the possibility and the privilege of education that comes from the heart, with responsibility towards themselves, their community, the nature and the earth. And so we’ve made a decision to open up our own school, so we can give our children the opportunity to understand what learning is actually about and develop to be good human beings, and finding their own truth.

There’s a change we can generate. I think it’s a matter of just doing it and understanding that we have the power to change. And I think that’s what the film gave me. There are 220 people involved in this initiative and another 120 people active in making it happen. Daily activities for the kids include building mud-houses, cleaning the dishes, exploring the nature and emotional-education classes.