Thursday, October 30th, Pacifica Institute of Los Angeles hosted another enticing lecture series with guest speaker Dr. Tom Gage. Emeritus of English at Humboldt State University, Dr. Gage has been greatly involved in education for over half a century. He served as a teacher, a dean, and a consultant at many levels of education and has been involved in both its private and public sectors. Dr. Gage has authored several papers on education and peace building on four different continents and has taught in China, Greece, and Syria. He is also the Founding Director of two Writing Projects of the National Writing Project and the author of many enriching books including Gülen’s Dialogue and Education: a Caravanserai of Ideas, which he spoke about during his lecture.
The topic of the night was the Hizmet Movement’s contribution to education. Dr. Tom Gage began his lecture by sharing a Turkish cartoon with six panels in which the first showed an individual watching a television screen and concluded with the television engulfing the person. Alongside the cartoon he shared a proverb in Turkish that translated to “You cannot get a mature education with bad tools”. Dr. Gage was trying to share a bit of Turkish humor with the audience that while containing comical relief still conveyed truth. He continued by admitting that he was not aware of the Hizmet Movement until 2007 but was however introduced to the Turkish and Middle Eastern culture in his college days.
His introduction to the Hizmet Movement came much later with his interest in the study of internationalism and cross-culture fluency. He helped develop classes where students from all around the globe became connected via the Internet. A student from Nigeria was now doing the same course work as a student in Colorado, allowing them to communicate and recognize their humanity. To Dr. Gage this is the best way to achieve peace, by becoming aware of each other and working towards a unified future. Upon being asked to produce a paper on the Hizmet Movement, while being part of this internationalism and cross-cultural fluency program, was where Dr. Gage became fully aware of how prosperous the students involved in the Hizmet Movement are in all realms of education. With a key focus on the development of thinking by writing, Dr. Gage said, “those who write make permanent that which is in their memory”, the only manifestation of thoughts we have are the ability of speaking and writing. Meaning that by focusing on our writing and speaking skills we become more empowered, and this is a trait Hizmet schools stress on.
In specific, one of the greatest accomplishments the Hizmet Movement has provided for its students, said Dr. Gage, is the amplification of both the home and school life. It has provided that bridge between the urban and rural communities that allow students from all different backgrounds to adapt and flourish in their learning environment. By incorporating the home life it provides a sense of spirituality, which Dr. Gage said, “learning and knowledge without spirit is partial”.
As he mentions in his book, Dr. Tom Gage feels that Fethullah Gülen and his teachings provides a Venn diagram pedagogy for all theorist to be able to come together for maximum gains. In his book, Dr. Gage brings in eight modern educators and shares the development of their theories and links their ideas to those of Fethullah Gülen. The intention is to reduce the potential for alienation between practitioners of different traditions and to increase the likelihood of a prosperous cooperation.
Dr. Gage closed his lecture by welcoming our guest audience to ask several questions.
Pacifica Institute would like to thank Dr. Tom Gage for sharing with us his knowledge and experience with the Hizmet Movement and its contribution to education. We would also like to thank all of our guests for their attendance and participation.