Worldwide Voyage crewmembers explore the unique Bali Green School where open learning space fosters sustainability and creativity among students and teachers.
“We are looking at this issue about mālama honua, taking care of the earth, [and] we don’t fully know how to do that. That’s why we sail. We’re on this voyage of trying to find how to become those values. And so when you come to the Green School it’s one of those extraordinary moments in time in a particular place that helps you see it. That helps you see the possibilities and believe that you can make it happen,” said master navigator Nainoa Thompson.
“The Green School sits kind of in the middle of Bali in Indonesia. Our school’s purpose is making our world sustainable,” said teacher Aaron Eden.
“We have people come to enroll their kids in school here from all over the planet not because we can guarantee their kids can get the best future and be able to go to the best universities. Rather we’re prepping these students with a new vision of more a sustainable lifestyle,” said Noan Fesnoux, a teacher at the Green School.
“Not having walls and having the air, the natural air flowing through and seeing the natural world around us, I think that thatʻs important and that it does help us make sure that when we’re learning things in a classroom that we realize that it has impact outside,” said Aaron.
“We can take the kids out of class without even having to open the door. You can be discussing metamorphosis and a butterfly floats into the room. Teaching in a really dynamic space like this, it is definitely non-linear and you find all of these incredible points where the kids become more engaged and more inspired by what’s around them,” said Noan.
“In normal schooling we hide the thinking process, our thinking process, our training process, and how we work together as adults and the relationship with the students is we give you directions and you follow them. If we want a sustainable world it’s not sustainable to teach people to only follow directions,” said Aaron.
“You need a place that helps children believe that they can really move and get to a future that they deserve by themselves. This is a school for leaders. This is a school for innovators. This is a school for the kind of future, the kind of thinking that we need today. So this place starts with dreams and it turns into realities, and it’s really that simple,” said Nainoa.