NEW SUBJECT: HAPPINESS

THE PRINCIPAL OF A SCHOOL IN HEIDELBERG HAS INTRODUCED A NEW SUBJECT. IN ADDITION TO MATHEMATICS AND ENGLISH, HAPPINESS IS NOW TAUGHT HERE.

Mr. Fritz-Schubert, can anyone actually get a bad grade in happiness?
Theoretically, yes. But the students are so enthusiastic that their grades are generally good.

Are students less happy than they used to be?
Why the need to teach happiness? The opposite of happiness is anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that they are on the rise in our society. Pressure from high expectations is increasing.

What used to make people happy?
Simple things, such as lying in a field on a sunny day, picking the ripest apple or playing soccer with your friends. There are more opportunities today, but they are not always what they seem. You can have hundreds of friends on Facebook and still be lonely.

What exactly does happiness consist of?
There are three fundamental components: a feeling of freedom, security—including existential security—and a sense of meaning.

Do you have any tips on how to give life a sense of meaning?
You have to feel you’re being productive, either mentally or physically, or both. And then there is the ability to immerse yourself in an activity, to dive right in. Thirdly, we shouldn’t consider crises to be catastrophes. We need to see them as challenges. None of that is really so hard.

So can one learn to be happy?
One can learn the right mindset to assess a situation and deal with it. For example, I could end the day by spending the evening brooding about what I did wrong. But I can also think about what went right, and what I can do better. In other words, shift the focus from the problem to the solution.

Can everyone be happy?
Of course some people find it easier because they were born with a sunnier disposition. If you are not born that way, you might have to work at it a bit harder.

How do you teach your students the skills they need to be happy?
It is a matter of developing formative experiences and linking these with positive emotions. The experience of meeting someone, for example. Those who stand up straight and smile are usually greeted with a smile in return. That releases positive emotions. During our lessons we try out things that come from the field of theater and movement education. So the students discover their strengths in practical exercises and through feedback from their classmates. Exercises like these also improve their self-confidence. It feels better to stand up straight rather than hang your head. Try it, it’s quite easy. “How you stand, is how you feel.”

Can you find something positive in every experience, even failure?
If you ask what was good about it and how can you do it better in the future, then yes.

What’s good about failure?
It could motivate you to make a greater effort. Or provide an incentive to take another look at what you’re aiming for. Maybe you’re aiming too high. Or it could be an opportunity to seek out new strengths.

Why are feelings so important in your lessons?
Less than ten percent of the spoken word is actually sustainable. Learning takes place less at a conscious level than through emotions and physical impressions. Which is why after every exercise we ask: what did you think, how did you feel, and how does that fit into your daily life? It’s a form of implicit learning.

If the spoken word on its own is of so little importance, why does it play such a dominant role in school lessons?
That’s my criticism too. Schools must make a greater effort to ensure that they don’t focus too much on the head; they have to consider the heart and the soul as well. We have to link learning goals with experiences. For example, to try and understand minorities, you put together a group of students who then all walk forward at the same pace. One student has the task of walking slowly behind. He feels acutely alone. It’s an experience that lingers, without the need for too many words.

Your students spend a year learning happiness. Is that enough for a lasting happy life?
The students learn that positive feelings are a necessary part of setting life’s goals, and they learn how to summon them up. They learn what is good for them. And that endures.

One of your course modules is called “enjoying achievement.”
Yes, achievement makes you happy if it is based less on the expectations of others than on a goal you have chosen for yourself. Enjoying achievement means measuring success and taking pleasure in it. Achieving a goal you have set yourself gives far more pleasure than achieving one set for you.

Do you laugh a lot in happiness lessons?
Certainly. The discoveries we make bring a lot of joy. Enjoyment is the day-to-day reflection of happiness.

Do you cry as well?
That too. Without sadness there would be no joy.

How did your colleagues react when you suggested introducing happiness as a subject?
Most of them thought it was a good idea. Even though we Germans generally have a skeptical view of happiness.

Why is that?
Our religious background tells us that happiness is something to “anticipate.” Some wait for eternity. But it’s worth taking your fate into your own hands.

Interview: Eva Wolfangel, Photo: Kathrin Harms
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2011