Glück

The contribution reports central thoughts of the American psychologist Csikszentmihalyi from the book “FLOW“, and it sharpens the statements on the reality of learners and teachers. “Flow“ stands for the “optimum experience“. Therewith Csikszentmihalyi indicates a feeling of high spirits, of deeply felt joy that lasts long and that occurs when body and soul of a person is strained to limits in the voluntary endeavour to achieve something difficult and something valuable. In this condition, order is established in the consciousness. This eventuates when mental energy is utilised for realistic aims and when the skills match the possibilities of action.

The author has collected self-reports of functional illiterates and questioned them on their “joy potential“. Three qualitatively set up analyses of the 1990s serve as sources. The contribution shows that the participation in literacy courses can cause a significant increase of self-confidence by overcoming experiences of deficit. The experience of attention and support is seen as encouraging and it contributes considerably to take over responsibility for one’s own life.

The contribution shows that, why, and in which way adult education in clerical sponsorship deals with joy. Though in the biblical tradition, ideas of a fulfilled life occur, they are always completed by the promise of the salvation to come. The present occupation with joy in educational practice consciously and vigorously distances itself from a tendency of fleeing from the world. Because “joy“, as brain research and philosophy emphasize, is not thinkable without sensual quality. The contribution arrives at the result, that the search and the question of joy takes a significant place in the denominationally, here protestant educational work. The societal task of adult education in clerical sponsorship is to create spaces in which people can bring in their ideas of joy and can critically validate old and new ideas of joy in a conversation.

Similar to the literary cafés there is the model of “philosophical cafés”. It first came into being in France in 1992 by M. Sautet. By now it is also recited by adult education. It is based on the statement “All people are philosophers“ and it animates a daily routine of philosophical discussions. With the example of the theme “joy“, the author sketches his experiences as a manager of such a café.

In a small “philosophy story of joy“, the author bends a bow from Aristotle across Kant to utilitarianism. Aristotle had defined joy as that, where a person finds himself. Kant on the other hand accents, that a person can only be satisfied with himself who lives in unison with his moral beliefs. With the utilitarian the author retains: “It is not questionable, whether we are all strive for joy, but what joy is.“ Here the task of (adult) education affiliates: It must first enable people to judgements on joy by “debate with the world“. Yet it is not constituted, that people with education would be happier.

The contribution contrasts interview statements of further education managers of the car industry from the years 1994 and 2004. The expert interviews draw a sober picture of the reality of operational education in the branch: the methods of determination of requirements and of the educational controlling are barely more elaborated than ten years ago; innovations of the industrial relations law do not grip; group work and e-learning are no longer favoured forms. Therefore the further education of the branch is no “innovation driver“ for vocational and operational education in Germany.

In the present contribution the final report of the Expert Commission on Financing Lifelong Learning is compared to a firework: it has provoked a short-term enthusiasm and attention. What is there to do in order not to let the ideas deflagrate but conserve chances for their implementation? The author asks the actors of further education to help oneself offensively with the arguments of the report (“public interest“, “more investments necessary“, “increase sovereignty demand“) and to advertise to the broad population for more educational investments and the benefits of education. Because from neither companies nor from politicians one can presently expect that they would introduce the theme actively into the discourse.