Fission-fusion

From 2020worldpeace

Fission-Fusion means the hierarchical nesting of groups where competition alternates with co-operation, from individual to society.

We are already organised into a hierarchy. There are six year groups in secondary school, and in a medium high school, each year group is divided into about six classes. This makes things more manageable. Continuing the pattern downwards, arrange classes into five or six groups of five or six students. Continuing the pattern upwards, arrange schools into geographic areas.

The operational mechanism is that there is competition at a level above the level there is co-operation. For example, a group of students may work co-operatively in a team in order to beat another team at basketball, or score the highest mark in a maths test. Hence, at the individual level, there is co-operation, and at the team level there is competition. Similarly, groups in a class may be working co-operatively in order to produce a class report, a poster, or compete against another class in a competition, say. At the top level, for example, a team may play co-operatively against another team in another school, or one school's grades compare to another school's.

To generate a feeling of belonging in a school, or in society in general, kids to feel the experience of feedback from peers at their level. It is my experience that most kids don't really mind what the school's grades are, but imagine if they did? What happens if they actually had pride in their school? They wanted to do the best themselves, so that they school they came from was excellent. They could then say, with pride, that they came from Firrhill, for example. Notice then, that competition and co-operation are intimately tied together, at the lowest level of group versus group in the class, to the highest, of one nation against another on the football field.

Note: this contravenes the current thinking which is to downplay competition. If we see competition as a higher level result of co-operation, then we can encourage competition in as much as it engenders co-operation. Note also: this is experiential in nature. This is not to be taught as a subject, such as in PSE, or Citizenship, but as a pervasive element in basic social interaction.

See 1to5 grouping, art of negotiation, Social Inclusion and six-year cycle.