Getting the chance by SOS International to join the Morim project and visit the USA, came with multiple goals for me. Firstly, as the program’s mission states, I wanted to get connected with a Jewish community from another side of the world, to discover more about the American-Jewish way of life. Secondly, I wanted to reconnect with my friends who came to Hungary at the previous phase of the project last year. And finally, as a student representative and activist, I wanted to see the American education system, and see how it prepares students for life, and contributing to society.
I come from Hungary, a post-socialist country, with a totalitarian government. As a result of our historical experiences with soft dictatorships, and the current regime’s rhetoric, the Hungarian society is suffering from strong passivism, a general attitude of being disengaged, and not raising one’s voice. Meanwhile, solidarity, political and civic activity are slowly being banished from the country, through both oral and legislative stigmatization.
I believe an attitude that is so deeply embedded in our culture can most effectively be changed through the education system – which unfortunately is also outdated in Hungary (most of the reforms done in the last decades are being reversed worsening the situation).
To express our concerns about this, we organized three major student protests this year, where I gave speeches promoting the culture of communication and cooperation for education, a cause greater than party politics. Even though the protests were heavily criticized by governmental mediums, the number of participants grew each time, reaching 50 000 on the third occasion. Through this, we helped in turning education into a topic of public discussion.
During my stay in Baltimore, I got the chance of shadowing BT students in their classes, where I was able to observe many interesting, innovative, or just simply different elements of the American education system. The biggest difference I saw was the interaction between students and teachers. The main goal of some lessons I visited was to ask questions, and debate about the current topic. The most fascinating part was that the students actually did have questions, which often took up all our time. And instead of just answering these (mostly complex, theoretical) questions, the teachers opened discussions, that led to engaging conversations and intense debates.
Even though I knew I was in a relatively elite school, encountering the differences in our cultures and education systems was a fascinating and overwhelming experience. The whole school life seemed to be encouraging students to become active and engaged. This feeling only escalated, as I was getting to know BT school life in more depth. I was delighted to see the classrooms and halls overflowing with motivational posters, and advertisements of countless student clubs, and around twenty students giving public announcements at the general assembly before Shabbat.
A day after visiting Washington DC and seeing the physical representations of the American democracy, we were given the opportunity to meet and discuss with Senator Ben Cardin, who honored us with a visit. At first we all were a bit quiet under the weight of the situation, after all , such opportunities rarely exist for us even with our own politicians. But after seeing that we were being treated as equal partners in a discussion, as opposed to the hierarchical rhetorics we often experience in our country, asking questions became easy and exciting. We openly discussed Hungary’s so-called “illiberal democracy”, and its issues with media and free speech, shifting towards Russia and violations of democratic values. These tendencies are especially worrisome for the Jewish community since at this part of the world growing authoritarianism usually means intolerance, scapegoating, witch hunting and downright racism, phenomena in which Jews are traditionally playing the victim’s role.
I feel that the values I saw in here play a key role in creating the active and conscious citizens, that are the foundations every well-working democracy is built on. Spending time in such an environment, while being surrounded by amazing friends and teachers always eager to help in anything, really inspired me and my Hungarian peers. We are coming home filled with motivation and project ideas, to progress our Jewish identity, help our community, and improve our society. ~Dani Kallo
Wow! As a teacher of writing, I am so impressed by the professionalism, clarity and authenticity of this article. Daniel, you have so clearly and passionately expressed the mission of the SOS project as well as your own goals as a student activist. I am so proud and honored to be part of a program that is encouraging such bright, well informed and engaged young people. When I think about the political situation in the world today, I feel encouraged to know young people like you are working to make the future brighter and more equitable for everyone. Yasher Koach!
Mrs. Steinberg