It Looks Like This, But It’s Not

We’re in São Pedro do Sul, a quiet town nestled in the hills of central Portugal. It’s known for its thermal waters, rich in sulfur, naturally hot, long believed to hold healing powers. The kind of place that has drawn people for centuries, from Roman soldiers to weary locals seeking relief.

So when we arrived, we expected a certain authenticity. A connection to the Earth. Instead, what we found was… well, something else entirely.

The famous hot springs? You can’t access them unless you pay to enter the Termas complex. Just across the river, a beautiful hotel promises “thermal pools”—but the water there? It's not from the springs. It’s chlorinated tap water, artificially heated and marketed as a wellness experience.

It looks like thermal water. But it’s not.

A Teachable Moment

This might seem like a small, passing detail. A footnote on a family trip. But for us, it opened up a bigger question, one we carry into our work with young people every day: How do we help learners see beneath the surface?

In the Global Classroom, we don’t just teach subjects. We invite questions. We explore systems. We notice contradictions. We look at the world and then look again. Because increasingly, the world is full of things that look like something they’re not.

It looks like food, but it’s processed beyond recognition.

It looks like education, but it’s rote memorization and obedience.

It looks like freedom, but it’s choice within confinement.

It looks like sustainability, but it’s a brand campaign.

We want our learners to develop a skill that goes far deeper than test scores: The ability to notice when something doesn’t feel right.

Real Learning is Disruptive

In Ko Lanta, Thailand, our learners wade through mangroves and ask: Who owns this land? Who protects it?

In Lombok, Indonesia, they farm with locals and wonder: Why are these sustainable practices not taught in school?

In Vietnam, they walk through herbal gardens with an elder and ask: How did we forget this kind of knowledge?

These are not just excursions. They are the core of our curriculum. Our themes, Sustainability, Origins, Well-being, are not academic abstractions. They are lived, felt, debated, and questioned. Because if we don’t equip young people to see the difference between appearance and reality, between truth and polish, we leave them vulnerable to a world that profits from their passivity.

The Spring Is Still There, Underneath

The sulfur-rich waters still flow under São Pedro do Sul. You just can’t reach them freely anymore. They’ve been rerouted, rebranded, and monetized.

But they’re still there. And that’s the point. Truth, connection, and integrity, they’re always still there. Sometimes buried, sometimes diluted. But always waiting to be uncovered. Our work is to raise a generation that knows how to find them. That’s real learning. That’s the Global Classroom.