Dissident Lara Staal / NTGent

The education system is a casting mould through which everyone must pass. But what if you feel alienated in that system? What if you feel as if you cannot be yourself? What if you’re losing motivation for what could interest you instead of finding it?

Last academic year, more than 26 000 Flemish students had been temporarily or permanently suspended. Why has the student dropout rate increased so dramatically? And what does that say about our current educational model?

What does it mean to constantly fall outside the boundaries of today’s education system? 

(read more after the video)

The Dutch theatre and programme maker Lara Staal, together with Ghent-based musician, beatboxer and performer Serdi Faki Alici, went in search of young people who refuse to conform to the expectations of our current education system. Young people who strain their backs against the confines, challenge authority, and question the rules.

The Dutch theatre and programme maker Lara Staal, together with Ghent-based musician, beatboxer and performer Serdi Faki Alici, went in search of young people who refuse to conform to the expectations of our current education system. Young people who strain their backs against the confines, challenge authority, and question the rules.

Dissident is a mix of live acting and documentary film material in which parents, teachers, youth workers and pedagogues are also involved. In 12 lessons, the young actors expose what they consider to be the most pressing problems of education and formulate a counterproposal.

An indictment of the mould that current education forms, in which those who are 'different' and fall by the wayside now have their say. 

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Meet the cast!

Haroun Couvreur /// Seppe Jacobs /// Isaac Van Weyenberg /// Serdi Faki Alici