ABSTRACT
We mentioned above (see Chapter 1) that our aim is to develop the foundations of a kind of environmental education that enables people to recognise themselves and their world, as well as to encounter nature. Environmental education is, as the name indicates, a form of education. But what is ‘education’? For many, the word may sound a little obsolete. It is more modern to speak of ‘training’, as economics and politics often do. ‘Training’ refers to the imparting of knowledge and skills in a specific field. A person is trained to become a salesperson, a nurse, a computer specialist, etc. But what is one ‘educated’ to become? You occasionally hear that someone is an ‘educated’ person, but that does not necessarily mean that he or she is suitable for a particular and clearly defined useful purpose. Thus one does not apply for a position because one is ‘educated’ but because one’s training matches the profile. Once again the question: what is one educated to be? The answer should be: a human being. Education is part of a programme that had its climax, at least in the German-speaking world, in the Enlightenment and Classicist period of the eighteenth century. Education in the sense of this programme means the advancement and accompaniment of a development, at the end of which a human being is truly a human being – that is to say, he or she has brought their personal talents to maturity, recognises themselves, understands the world they live in and knows where they have come from, what they are ordained to be and what they are doing. Training is also part of education. No one is educated who does not possess concrete learning and specific skills in special areas. Yet education is something fundamentally different from training: training is supposed to leave those who are trained basically the way they are, apart from the fact that they receive certain knowledge and skills. Training relates to only certain aspects of a human being. Education, however, relates to the whole human. Contrary to training, it is to change the person who is to be educated. The goal of the process of education is to form the person in such a manner that he or she becomes what he or she is according to the best parts of their potential – in the same way that a block of marble is changed by the sculptor until what is concealed in it, the complete
statue, is revealed. The word ‘education’ includes the concept of ‘taking form’. In the educated human being, the truly human form has materialised, a form which previously existed in potential, but was yet concealed. Education is not completed until the human being has not only been educated (formed), but has also formed his or her world – that is to say, shaped it until it has become the beautiful thing that lies within its nature. Thus in the eighteenth century the concept existed of an ‘educated nature’, one which has been shaped according to its own inherent potential into a hospitable habitat for human beings.
So, understood in this manner, what does the expression ‘education’ mean for environmental education? In a certain respect environmental education is training – namely in the respect that it aims to impart information and skills. In its true nature, however, it is education. Why we regard it in this manner will become clear in the course of the following deliberations. We would like to begin by giving a formal description of what environmental education is, or should be. In most cases, environmental education means that knowledge in regard to certain aspects of humankind’s dealings with nature is to be increased and deepened. Furthermore, it is expected to provide suggestions that contribute to solutions to problems caused by humankind’s dealings with nature. Both aspects are important. Special emphasis, however, is to be laid on a third. Environmental education is to create in people an awareness for who they are and what they do as beings who live in nature and with nature. Thus it is not only the task of environmental education to present and pass on existing knowledge in regard to the environment in an ordered, systematic form. Rather, those who receive such knowledge are also to become capable of dealing with it independently, developing it creatively and applying it in an appropriate manner. They ought to hereby develop a clearer sense of awareness of themselves and their immersion in their social and natural worlds. The knowledge environmental education imparts, therefore, is not an end in itself: it is, rather, a means of advancing an appropriate self-perception on the one hand, and presenting a foundation for correct behaviour on the other. Of course, this task could seem impossible. Knowledge about the environment is to be found within a large number of different disciplines. These include those sciences dealing with the processes that take place in nature such as physics, geology, chemistry, biology, ecology, medicine and geography. However, taking into account that the source of environmental problems is almost always the behaviour of humans, then – in order to understand what is taking place in our environment – it is necessary to draw upon those sciences that deal with human behaviour. These would be psychology, sociology, politics and law. These sciences and humanities differ greatly from one another in particular ways, be it in their terminology, or in their methods and approach.
