Description
As several studies suggest, Hungary is one of the less tolerant countries in the EU. We believe that the reasons behind this phenomenon is the lack of the democratic culture of arguing and debating and of tolerance. Therefore we put the promotion of political tolerance in high schools as the main aim of our project. Our main activities will consist of organizing a series of debate classes in 5 high schools with altogether 20 debates with the participation of 480 students. Our primary long-term aims are reaching towards the wider school communities and to produce a methodological study which includes our experiences and the most important lessons learned. As a result of the project, students will acquire the necessary tool-set for conducting political debates in a tolerant manner, while hopefully local debate clubs will be formed in the participating schools. We will conduct the project in cooperation with our long-term partner, the well-experienced and acclaimed Republikon Institute.
Summary of project results
The PoleTalk was a project based on modern methodology, dealing with secondary school students. In order to improve their democratic debate culture, LiFE (Liberális Fiatalok Egyesülete - Association of Liberal Youths) organised 17 special events for students to exercise debate situations. Well-prepared trainers, unusual solutions helped students to try new situations and to develop themselves. The Project involved more than 400 students from 9 schools (mostly in rural regions of Hungary). At the end of the Project, students became more open-minded and they will hopefully use the “democratic debate toolkit” more than earlier. LiFE has also prepared a site about the Project (in Hungarian,
www.life-projekt.hu). Wider and deeper social network, more knowledge about daily life of secondary schools, more prepared PoleTalk trainers – these were the most important benefits of the Project for LiFE.
Summary of bilateral results