Engin Çatık Book Excerpt Argues Radical Trust Transforms Education for Poor Families

Berlin teacher Engin Çatık, the child of a Gastarbeiter family, presents radical trust as a means of enabling educational success for children from poverty-burdened families in his new book. The excerpt published by Der Freitag recounts his own story. Çatık describes sitting today in Berlin at background discussions, panels and podiums, where he often meets academically trained and economically successful people who speak intelligently about Berlin, education and the future of the country. In those moments, he writes, they talk about the same city but do not mean the same Berlin. Many of these people encountered Berlin only as adults, having come for university study or a good job. When native Berliners are present, they frequently come from the wealthier milieus of the former West Berlin and still live there. Çatık notes that not even as a student did he hold the intellectual conversations he now participates in. The excerpt is drawn from his new book, whose subtitle asks how radical trust strengthens society. The full text is available in the current issue.