**The Seven Centers of Excellence - A Concept of Educational & Entrepreneurial Excellence by Prof. em. Dr. Jürgen Zimmer** ## 8\.1 Center for Body & Soul There is no question that people who desire to contribute to world change and let specific utopias become reality must be persons possessing both leadership qualities and team spirit, who live authentically and are able to anticipate and help create change, and who clearly demonstrate a high regard for quality and effectiveness. Building one's personality means empowerment, a strong sense of self identity, the ability to engage in balanced communication, to forego role-playing, to remain tolerant of ambiguity, while being capable of empathy and solidarity. Body and soul belong together. Viewed in cultural anthropology terms, the body's entire range of expression has a great deal to do with cultural discourse, as well as with the person's emotional state. The body and the soul are continually interacting, and due to this fact the Center for Body & Soul attempts to take a holistic approach. Psychology, medicine, and physical education intermix here. It is a health center for the body and soul, and its program benefits not only students and teaching staff, but can also serve to act as a form of training module for educating other groups of people as well. This Center emphasizes the human factor, demonstrates that people can discover their own potential and make valuable contributions. The Center is meant to help make new opportunities available, and means education for self- reliance and hence the overcoming of psychological blocks which obstruct the natural realization of one's own creativity and initiative. As part of sport didactics offered at the Center, one has the chance of especially learning Asian sports, as well as engaging in sport activities which take advantage of the geographical possibilities - Outward Bound activities and being exposed to the natural elements of the seashore with wind, waves, and the entire underwater world. The medical part of the Center emphasizes the body, its nutrition and health. The psychological part will concentrate on promoting the personality and personal psychological hygiene and prophylactics, on developing the ability to both avoid and dissolve negative stress, on achieving a balance between strain and meditation, between activity and reflection. Human nature is indivisible, and the program to promote body and soul in an integrated manner is a natural response to this insight. ## 8\.2 Center for Cultural Heritage and Development The prospect of being able to travel only with suitcases from Louis Vuitton, to wear Lacoste shirts or Benetton sweaters, a Rolex on the arm, using perfumes from Lagerfeld or Joop, of having our CD software from Philips and the hardware from Sony, many children growing up, convinced that Rambo is better than the Ramayana and mango juice worse than Sprite - the whole prospect of the world's glorious diversity shrinking down to the dullness of some insipid idea cooked up in the brains of a few managers of vast corporations, and this insipidness then puffed up to huge proportions by slick advertising the world over, is a gloomy prospect indeed. The opposing thesis, which underlies the concept of this Center as well, is that difference is beautiful. The more contrast there is, the more pointedly cultural heritage and economic activity are brought into relation with each other, the richer the chances for both. The Afro-Brazilians in and around Salvador Bahia, with groups like Olodum, are currently developing one of the most interesting alternatives to the worldwide production of dull and stupidly repetitive Rockpop music, since their art is an expression of an independent social-cultural movement, just like the music of Puerto Rico in the 60's or of the South African Townships today. Markets can be diverse, and they will diversify all the more, the more cultures continue to develop along their own contours, and not just ride the dead-end train to folklore or "tourist art". Developing the differences can open new markets, deviating from the unimaginative "me too" response can bring about an economic upswing, cultural contrast and economy can augment each other as long as one works under the assumption that every culture contains elements which are felt to be enriching to members of another culture. The Center for Cultural Heritage and Development ascribes to a dynamic concept of culture. It draws considerably from the Thai cultural heritage, searching for deeper understanding and access; it aims to convey impulses and work together with Thai and international artists, with the collaboration of students who learn through participation to release their own creative powers in stimulating further development. The intention is to work on productions in the fields of music, dance, theater, painting, fine arts, and fashion, in which tradition and avant-garde, the culture of Thailand and other cultures of the world can meet and find a new kind of artistic expression. The school pupils are integrated in a plan involving all age groups, and have the opportunity to learn from true masters of the art or trade, not only abstractly and generally, but in specific artistic projects. ## 8\.3 Center for Technology & Ecology Both the standards and resource consumption of industrialized countries are far too high: the age of modesty is called for now. The fresh wind of the world market will do the job. But the developing countries also cannot afford to simply go along with the misuse and wasteful destruction of our planet's resources. It is necessary to discover the quality of intelligent modesty. The days of uncontrolled wastefulness of our natural resources are counted. The market concept does not necessarily mean that ever new needs must be enticed from us, making us slaves to an increasingly rapid-spinning spiral of consumption. The market also holds the chance of an enlightened and economical handling of scarce resources. High-quality, simple, mature, durable products are needed. What is wanted is the maximum quality for the pair of pants, the washing machine, the light bulb, the television set. The most modern knowledge is necessary to find the simplest solution, not to promote the constant production of high-tech garbage. It is not the changing outer appearance, but the core of the product that is important. The accumulation of high-tech isn't what feeds our quality of life, but high quality itself. We need equipment of highly developed simplicity, which lasts a long time - preferably a lifetime - equipment built to be inexpensively maintained and easily repaired. Whoever buys less, can also do with less income. Intelligent modesty means preferring to purchase one high-class product rather than numerous second-class products right after another, to be free of craving for something "new" at ever shorter intervals, only because the product's facade is "out" and a new one has been deemed "in". An example would be the car, simple and yet highly developed in its basic conception, which could run without fossil energy fuel, and have spare parts designed for reuse, parts which could easily be replaced and overhauled at long intervals. Without the consumer insistence on continually new car models with slightly modified marginal extras, the horrific vision of great auto graveyards of scrap metal would finally fade. Future entrepreneurs, whose education School for Life will promote, could be active on the market of diversity and good sense as role models. On the way towards a leaner economy, they could draw from their individual cultures to discover, invent, and promote those products and services which counteract overproduction and the unnecessary consumption of resources, so that the quality of life as a whole is not reduced but rather improved. If the activity of future entrepreneurs is characterized more strongly by this sort of astuteness, the people of developing countries, still marked by the after-effects of colonialism, could more easily shrug off the rest of that inferiority complex which drives them into the consumption spiral and sometimes into a regular fixation about imitating western style. The non-Western cultures contain enough potential to develop their own kind of attractive life style, so that future entrepreneurial initiative could draw on and serve the third sector as well as the fourth (think only of philosophy and religion). New perspectives then emerge which could be a good deal more fascinating than former guiding principles such as "mine is bigger than yours" or "I want one too". Intelligent modesty requires education, a comprehensive understanding of the world, the aim of taking life in one's own hands, to find oneself, and to journey with curiosity towards the center of one's own soul. Entrepreneurs who accept that our planet's natural resources are limited are not out of the market, but ahead of the market, if they concentrate on the development of high quality in the above sense. They can count on the growing uneasiness of customers who still believe that products need to be replaced, but at least are interested in recycling the packaging and can and want to be both informed about where they can acquire the best product and be satisfied with it a life long if possible. We know the dead-end we are in, and know we have to find a way out of it: despite ever increasing consumption, there will be fewer and fewer jobs, since improved machines continue to take over former human tasks. There is demand for entrepreneurial initiatives in other areas, initiatives on the part of artists, imaginative scientists, philosophers and maverick thinkers. Such people will have to replace managers who not only avoid competition, but also can only provide mousy-gray visions of how the world might function so as not to end up as a civilized junkyard. There is a demand for the citoyen as entrepreneur and artist. The Center for Technology & Ecology subscribes to the thesis that technology and ecology can be effectively combined. The Center concerns itself with ideas and first steps, considers small-scale examples, attempts to provide students with possibilities regarding the direction in which thought and action can take. The Center does not want to be Silicon Valley, but perhaps a kind of playground, in which occasional surprising designs and ideas might emerge. Competitions similar to the German program "Jugend forscht" (Youth Does Research) - illustrate that young people are capable of astonishingly original and marketable technological solutions of ecological problems when one takes them seriously as researchers and challenges them accordingly. ## 8\.4 Center for Culture Sensitive Tourism Diversity is beautiful, uniform homogeneity is not. The world is still rich in regional cultures; people travel to different countries not because they are looking for the same thing all the time, but exactly because they want to see and experience something completely different. But they are increasingly disappointed. Instead of authentic encounters, happenings, and adventures they more often experience artificially staged productions, are kept prisoners of their hotel, participate in carefully shielded outings, are exposed to tourist-oriented marketplaces and stores, feel themselves surrounded by money- hungry barracudas, and generally experience the human qualities of hospitality and cordiality, attention and friendship only in brief happy moments off the trodden path. The ethnic touch of hotels often begins and ends with the "native design" of the hotel entrance and lobby. The hotel management considers uncontrolled excursions, which could interrupt the boredom of the swimming pool and fitness rooms, rather economically risky. Group tourism has to face the undeniable reality that individual encounters are problematic to organize, special wishes of curious travelers do not fit into the plan, and that travel organizations often simply lack imagination. Tourism is frequently staged far away from the truly interesting situations and opportunities of the country. Tourism can contribute to the destruction of regional cultures. We maintain, however, that properly handled tourism can support and promote regional cultures and contribute to their development, that an individualized, authentic tourism can act as culturally enriching and serve ethnic understanding, that it can provide great pleasure as well as be the economically better concept to make intelligent friends and partners out of the previous opposing "dumb tourist" and broad mass of "natives". The Center teaches students how to organize culture sensitive tourism, while simultaneously taking care of guests. It shows the way into a most interesting reality. It allows its guests to do their own research which can lead to unexpected discoveries and experiences. On the one hand the Center is a program which brings guests together with people of the local and regional area, and allows them to personally enjoy their hospitality. On the other hand it provides guests who are looking for social and cultural contrasts with expeditions and projects concerning various regional realities. What are the common characteristics of such plans, and what are the attendant circumstances? All the projects have a playful and enjoyable character. The ‘scholarly concept’ of the Center is founded on elements of action research, discovery learning, and sensual experience. It does not assume expert knowledge, but only a healthy common sense, curiosity, and the joy of discovery. The research carried out by the guests makes sense, and is not intended as occupational therapy, and most of the projects are result-oriented for both the guests and the children. No guest must have the feeling of only standing around in the role of the goose who lays the golden eggs. The projects are variable in length. They can be long-term (in which case individual guests participate for a while, then leave) or as short-term as a single day. These projects are dramatically designed according to a varied scheme, with climax, action, and relaxation phases. One of its essential aspects is that native people and guests get to know each other, and that guests make contacts among each other as well. The guests can document the results of these activities themselves if they so desire. A guest library will be set up. so that the progress of the various projects can be followed and reconstructed for new guests who join in later, or for those guests who might return and who want to check up on what has been done in their absence. The activities will be reported on locally and internationally: on the local level, the native people experience the results of the projects (which could act as stimulus in the relationship between cultural heritage and modernization). The students act as trace-seekers, the developer of paths into an interesting reality. They take care of the guests during their research activities and learn by direct participation. In doing so they also learn how to work with the guests in an articulate, culturally competent and imaginative manner. The curriculum of this Center deals with general knowledge concerning tourism and management, as well as specific historical, religious, cultural, artistic, architectural, geographical, biological, and ecological knowledge of the region. Culturally authentic tourism as practiced here in a small-scale model also makes good sense. Tourists are no dumb animals in this model, but intelligent partners. ## 8\.5 Center for International Communication This Center deals with printed and audio-visual media. The goal is to avoid having students slip into a passive role as media consumers, but rather to allow them to work with the media in an increasingly active, creative, and professional manner. On the one hand the Center will deal with the development and sale of printed materials, for instance a journal which for the most part is to be researched, written, edited, and marketed by students. The models here are journalist schools which professionalize their students not only by imparting theory, but also by participating in the daily practice of real-life journalism. Another emphasis will be the mastery of communication within worldwide data networks, the ability to access a vast store of information via modern communication means, and then to evaluate them, design interactions, and contribute own messages into the information flow. A third emphasis will concern film and television, and the acquisition of skills in producing small and larger video productions, and the development of features which, if good enough, might even by marketed. How does one make a good documentary, or a lively video clip, what must be especially attended to in casting, how does one make a treatment or a screen play? In the best of cases such topics correspond with key topics in the curriculum, so that recourse can be taken to curricular knowledge and transfer processes thus promoted. One could interpret these Centers (as well as the others) as dramaturgical figures, which provide connections and personify and enliven the often somewhat dryer school subject matter. ## 8\.6 Center for Nutrition & Health This learning area includes a restaurant, a bakery and facilities for food processing. The center works closed with the Center for Organic Farming. The children learn to produce healthy food for reasonable prices and to prepare them so tastefully that Junk Food won’t have a chance. The practice will be enriched with theory. Knowledge of food science will be as important for intelligent cooks as biological or biochemical knowledge is. Good knowledge of chemistry is required in order to decrypt the content of "Ingredients" on the backside of the packaging of food. And mathematical knowledge is necessary to reveal the swindle for customers, e.g. when a fully blown up sealed package contains more air than chips. The center works as an invisible restaurant management school. The students learn to cook very well Thai and international dishes, to provide friendly service, to calculate, to advertise, and to maintain standards of quality. How do they prepare a multi-course meal successfully? How can the students communicate with guests from abroad? Guests are invited from time to time to participate and get to know the richness of Indonesian cuisine. There are already pre-experiences: In the eighties, "Hapag Kalinga" was founded in Manila, a restaurant in the upper middle class with dishes from different regions in the Philippines. Under assistance from adults children were managing the "Hapag Kalinga". The schooling was about learning what to buy on the produce market in order to get good products for reasonable prices, to cook very tasty food, to serve friendly, to calculate, to advertise and to keep the quality. The guests – from President Aquino to the walk-ins – admired the professionalism and the charm of the children. In the restaurant in the School for Life guests can not only observe the cooking of the children but also contribute with recipes from their home countries. ## 8\.7 Center for Organic Farming In East Thailand, in the province of Isan, there is a well known village with the name "Asoke". A highly developed Buddhist community lives there following His Majesty the King’s concept for organic farming and successfully practices "sufficiency economy" almost without needing any additional funds. When visiting the village the particular aesthetic is striking. Around the houses only growing vegetables can be seen, dense, healthy looking and penetrated with flowers. The flowers are special: with their scent they keep away insects which would be feeding off the vegetables otherwise. The ground is particularly good as the villagers are experts in decomposing. The area which is used for decomposing doesn’t smell and is free of flies. Recently those villagers were asked to reform a large compound close to Ubon Ratchathanee University which was an area covered with short grass. Within a few weeks they managed to produce so much organic vegetables that the students and staff are now supplied with it in the canteen. The motto is: Away from ornamental grass, flowers and bushes to the utilization of every free area for organic farming! "Sufficiency Economy" means to practice farming for self-production following the motto of John Button: "Healing the earth with ecological solutions". The Center will serve experimental research in possibilities for organic farming. Studies on growing agricultural products without using chemicals can be conducted here. Useful and damaging insects in agriculture can be a topic, or the process of reintroducing threatened types of butterflies and birds back into the area can be covered. The campus and its surrounding farmland is a learning-intensive setting that combines ecology and economy – besides creating consuming products, the goal is also to sell the products, to find niches in the marketplace in an environmental still dominated by chemically-dependant agricultural businesses. ## [Concept](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/196/concept) Chapters - **[1. Little History School for Life Chiang Mai](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/210/1-little-history-school-for-life-chiang-mai)** - **[2. At First Sight](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/209/2-at-first-sight)** - **[3. Characteristics](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/208/3-characteristics)** - **[4. The Family Concept](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/207/4-the-family-concept)** - **[5. Kindergarten](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/206/5-kindergarten)** - **[6. Schooling and Deschooling](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/205/6-schooling-and-deschooling)** - **[7. Learning Through Life](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/204/7-learning-through-life)** - **[8. The Seven Centers of Excellence](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/203/8-the-seven-centers-of-excellence)** - **[9. Think Tank and Master Workshops](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/202/9-think-tank-and-master-workshops)** - **[10. The Setting](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/201/10-the-setting)** - **[11. Teachers](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/200/11-teachers)** - **[12. Guests](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/199/12-guests)** - **[13. Partners](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/198/13-partners)** - **[14. Transfer of innovation](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/197/14-transfer-of-innovation)** - **[15 ](https://phuketer.com/s/00000600/wiki/196/concept#15.-attachments)[Source PDF (external site)](https://school-for-life.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SfL-Konzept-2003-2016_fin-1.pdf)** School for Life, 185/3 Moo 4, T. Pameing, Doi Saket District, 50220 Chiang Mai, Thailand Tel. +66 53 248194