Winding Brook Stories

'Another kind of education' and 'fighting with the poor to end poverty and wars' are the key themes in these teacher-student stories. The thrust is to show how thousands of mainly white Europeans and Americans from both continents together with millions of black Africans and peoples from India struggle to eradicate, or reduce, poverty and wars for profit, which is the major cause of poverty.

They do so out of “solidarity humanism” by using a unique and radical schooling, and through concrete development projects for sustainable agriculture and environment; community development; and improving peoples’ health.

Young people, who realize that formal education bypasses this perspective, find their way to the schools run by the Teachers Group (TG), which started in Denmark, in 1970. Ten newly graduated teachers and 40 students started the DRH (Danish letters for The Traveling Folk High School). They renovated five buses to travel back and forth to India—a seven month hands-on, practical-theoretical educational-solidarity trip.
In August 1972, TG bought a country house with 13 hectares of land near a rural town in west Jutland, Tvind. Here they developed a four-year educational program DNS (Danish letters for The Necessary Teacher Training College). They called this education “necessary”, in order to meet the “times are a changing”—bringing more relevant knowledge to youth, and help mobilize them to act against inequality, poverty, racism and wars. Not only a political statement then but also now.

Teachers Group makes a commitment as a family of teacher-revolutionary comrades living with a common economy, common time and common distribution. Sharing earnings, each individual takes a like sum for personal expenses depending upon needs. The larger portion pays the common bills, and helps finance agreed-upon projects to advance their ideas. Even rarer is their firm commitment not to imbibe alcohol or any drugs neither on the premises nor during their educational travels. They learned that alcohol and drugs impair people’s abilities to work smoothly and effectively.
TG did not organize a political party nor embrace a particular ideology. What is also unusual and noteworthy about these radicals is that they have survived, are even growing, and doing so despite much political opposition, including by mass media. Since their vision is teaching that solidarity and peace are essential for all, it is no wonder that The Establishment characterizes them as subversives who must be stopped. Attempts are made to imprison its members yet Danish courts have convicted only two members for tax evasion and fraud long ago.

Some leftists criticize organizations where they work (Humana People to People) for taking government aid and corporation funds to finance projects. What no one condemns them for is the Tvind wind turbine, built 1975-8. At 54 meters tall with a 54 meter wingspread it was the world’s largest. Four hundred people began the construction. It cost only $1 million in today’s value—paid for out of Tvind teachers’ salaries. It still operates today and provides all Tvind’s electric needs.

Today, there are 3000 members of the Teachers Group in 45 countries. They teach at school centers in Denmark, England, Norway, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Michigan (USA), plus several schools in Africa and India where governments help finance this schooling for many thousands.