Well, since most of MSLS has fled Karlskrona and spread around Europe, we had to make the most of it. Coming back to Cafe Porslinan, thank you MSLS mates for making us aware of it! - literally downstairs from my place! There young people get together after school and can have a space out of school and home to be creative, play games, play music, paint, or do whatever they like. Everyone is welcome. They serve superb value-for money lunch (Karlskrona Kommun offices are just above), and cheap tea, coffee etc... They also organise many events; concerts, games nights (including LAN computer games) and other stuff.
The idea is that it's a place where people can come together and really communicate and enhance social skills, as opposed to what our friend Behrad calls the 'facebook bullshit'. Sure, everything has its use, but nothing beats face to face and group interaction - ideas and information just fire and spread, the space is there.
We met a local named Max, in his 30s I believe, and he volunteers to help the kids (mostly teenagers) be comfortable and get things happening. We're all on holidays now so there's not that many of them around, leaving us to enjoy the spot for ourselves.
We've been there twice so far and just talking to Max gives a good 'breather' from our sustainability bubble. He's one sharp guy, never been to university, always been free to read and learn whatever he wanted - not biased by any specific systems or frameworks, growing to whatever suited him best. Today 3 of us had a good deal of conversation about education, funny because we had talked about that a few days before with another group. I think we can all agree that there is a lot of pressure on kids for performance in specific areas and I really appreciate this freedom to take time and seek what makes most sense for people as individuals. From there they can make their best contribution they can to society. The question is how do you provide the opportunity - 1st to everyone to explore a vast array of areas, 2nd to adequately provide the means for people to reach their potential? (within the many constraints you could think of in day to day life - for parents, supporting institutions etc..)
Also we talked about how grading in the education system is bad - kids forget about the value of their teachings because they freak out about the grades! Or people make use of there learning very well without having to spit it all out in a prescribed way - it may just be counter-productive to them! Yet you want to be able to make some sort of assessment. Even if they were given the opportunity to focus on what they loved most, if they are really inefficient for example, they might not be able to make a living out of doing that!
This is fairly complex but every problem has a solution, society is changing in many ways and old systems are crumbling. Most of you may have noticed that a couple of decades ago, if you had a degree, you had a job! - and if you didn't have a job in that case, it was likely because you didn't want one!! Today having a degree is far from guaranteeing a job. Sir Ken Robinson in this TED talk points this out and covers some of this topic - really worth a watch:
Good to challenge thoughts, discuss, hear from others, and hope you enjoy the food for thought anyway! Young people out there looking to make something meaningful of their time, get onto TED and listen to these brilliant people. I challenge you become one of them!!
Make sure you create space, similarly in the case of mechanical inventions, they were often made in backyard sheds by people just free to interact and do what they do best.
I'll probably post again before Christmas, if not; God Jul från Karlskrona!
