Mette and Lars Højland - Human First!, Menneske Først, LifeDialogues, Danish Folk High Schools

In this episode of the podcast I spoke with Mette and Lars Højland, a Danish couple with decades of experience in folk high school education who are exploring new ways to take the essence of this transformative pedagogy beyond the walls of formal institutions and beyond the borders of Denmark, including to China and other lands. Mette grew up within the world of free schools and folk high schools inspired by the ideas of N. F. S. Grundtvig, the 19th century Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, and instigator of the folk school concept. Drawing on 22 years of teaching in several folk high schools, Mette has written a short and engaging book entitled What you say, makes me think: Folk high school from within, which uses anecdotes from her own teaching and insights from Grundtvig and other thinkers to explore the sometimes enigmatic core elements of folk high school pedagogy and to propose ways that it might be adapted to other arenas. Lars, on the other hand, is a parish priest in the Danish national church who applies Grundtvigian models to act as what he calls a "spiritual co-walker," i.e. a conversation partner who seeks to help you in the direction the spirit wants to carry you in particular."

Together, Mette and Lars are co-founders of an organization called "Menneske Først – LifeDialogues," which works to promote and teach a kind of "home folk high school," in the form of structured conversation evenings that bring together neighbors and strangers for ice breakers, food, singing, discussion, and, above all, human-to-human encounters in a time when this is all too rare. The name "Menneske Først" can be translated as "Human First!", a ringing maxim from NFS Grundtvig emphasizing our core humanity about sectarian divisions and polarizations of all kinds.

Links -

Menneske Først - LifeDialogues - https://lifedialogues.dk/en/

Thoreau College - https://thoreaucollege.org/