Learning What No Textbook Can Teach
At school, we learn how to solve equations, interpret poetry, and analyze history. They tell us we are learning for life, but in truth, we learn for exams and certificates. Yet life isn’t made up of facts. It’s made up of people.
And how to deal with people? That’s something we often learn too late. We learn it when our grandparents fall ill. When we suddenly carry responsibility. Or when we realize, for the first time, how much loneliness can hurt – in others or in ourselves.
What if we learned all of this earlier? Not in theory. But for real, in everyday life. Not from books, but through encounters.
An Idea That Connects
Every young person, no matter their education or path, should complete a mandatory social year. Like a social duty, modeled after compulsory education.
Not as an obligation, but as a conscious step toward adulthood. A year shaped not by achievement, but by human connection.
For example:
- Visiting elderly people in one’s own neighborhood every day
- Listening, helping, simply being there for two hours
- No anonymous institution, no mandatory internship. Just genuine proximity, right where you live
- A binding framework with appropriate oversight to ensure accountability
What Comes From It
Maybe it starts with a conversation. A glance. A small act of help at the grocery store. But sometimes it becomes more.
A real connection. Understanding. Trust. Friendship.
Because older people don’t just need care. They need company, stories, laughter. They need a piece of everyday life. And young people don’t just need knowledge. They need role models, life experience, and a place where they feel: I matter.
Those who experience early on that humanity doesn’t weaken but strengthens won’t grow numb so easily later.
An Idea with Impact
A year like this would change our society. Not from the top down, but from the inside out. Neighborhoods would reconnect. Generations would understand one another. Compassion wouldn’t be taught. It would be lived.
Because: Knowledge makes us smart. But compassion makes us human.
