From John Ohliger.com
Second Thoughts Vol. 4, No. 4, August 1982
VOL. 4, NO. 4, AUGUST 1982
Second Thoughts
In this issue:
-- From Algonquin to Manikiki
-- The Compass Points
-- When Spring Returns, Who Will Be Ready?
-- A Word from Paulo
-- More on Freire
-- Regents Professor Illich
-- The Victim Freud
-- Empowering Alliances
-- Rally Independent Scholars with a “Roundtable”
-- The Needy Servicing the Greedy
-- A New Network
-- Reva’s Royal Reviews
-- Brightman Marches On
FROM ALGONQUIN TO MANIKIKI
"Education for Empowerment & Social Change" a weekend, residential, participatory workshop for the North-central region will be held at Camp Manikiki, near the Twin Cities, October 9-11.
Planned as a regional follow-up to the January 1982 Camp Algonquin meeting of "educators & researchers for empowerment" (see ST, May, 1982) the workshop is open to adult educators, labor educators, artists and culture workers, community organizers and other persons whose work involves the education of adults. Although most participants will come from the North-central region - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, North and South Dakota, Michigan, and adjacent parts of Canada - within space limitations the workshop is open to others also.
Among the issues which participants will have an opportunity to discuss are: important social issues (nuclear disarmament & peace, the hard times economy, conflicts in Central America, et al); how we and our work are affected by these issues, our responses to them, our political and social responsibility; the connections we have or can build with each other; the political directions of our work -- our linkages and alliances; the struggle against professionalism and other controlling practices; strategies for empowerment, liberation and social justice. By characterizing the conference as "participatory" the planners wish to emphasize the contributions of participants as against "outside experts", through storytelling about ourselves and our work and by dialogue about these issues.
Initial plans for the conference were made at a meeting in Madison, attended by Larry Olds and Diane Pearson from the College for Working Adults, Minneapolis; Tom Heaney, Aimee Horton and Lisa Bassett from Basic Choices, Chicago; and John Ohliger, Vern Visick, Leslie Rothaus, Tim Turner and Art Lloyd of Basic Choices, Madison. Larry and Diane have taken responsibility to implement the plans. Costs of the conference will be $32. Childcare will be provided. For further Information or to register, contact Larry or Diane at the College for Working Adults, Minneapolis Community College, 1501 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55403.
THE COMPASS POINTS
One of the few highlights of last fall's dismal National Adult Education Conference at Disneyland was the meeting of the National Association for Voluntary Learning (NAVL). A large gleam in that highlight was the offer by Phyllis Cunningham from Northern IL University to prepare a resource directory for NAVL folks and others. In association with Jack Ross and Lyn Peterson, Phyllis has just completed that directory. It's a humdinger and is available at $2.00 from NAVL, Secondary & Adult Ed., Northern IL University, Dekalb, 1L. 60115.
It's called Compass and it's designed to put people interested in alternative adult ed. in touch with each other and with useful materials and groups. Divided into four sections (People, Programs, Networks, and Selected Readings), it includes about 200 items. Since the original list was based on Second Thoughts readers, chances are very good that either you are in it, someone or some group you know is, or certainly many people, groups, materials, and readings helpful to your alternative work are.
The People section lists 100 names with full descriptions of their activities, programs, and materials available. They come from 70 localities in 22 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and Australia. Some of their interests include alternative history, the clergy, community action, continuing medical education, decentralization, deprofessionalization, experiential learning, feminism, free universities, futurism, hospices, independent scholarship, learning exchanges and networks, liberal education for workers, opposing lifelong schooling, migrants, participatory research, pedagogy of liberation, personalistic politics, poor peoples' movements, professional renewal, rural studies, self-help and self-directed learning, the Third World, women of color, and worker ownership. Their self-descriptions range through community organizer, continuing education administrator, independent library consultant, national coordinator, "now retired from academia pursuing life and learning without all the university crap," philosopher/homesteader, professor, "ragged personalist," and residential center manager.
The Programs section lists 26 groups with full information on their activities. Included are the Association of Migrant Organizations, The College for Working Adults, Dollars & Sense, Highlander, New World Alliance, The People Yes, and 20 other action groups.
The Network section lists 13 with long descriptions to help you plug into a group meeting your interests and to put you in touch with people all over the globe who share your concerns. Included are the Clearinghouse for Community Based Free Standing Educational Institutions, the Learning Resources Network, Movement for a New Society, the Public Interest Media Project, and nine other regional and international groups.
The Selected Readings section is divided into three parts providing complete information on 50 helpful bibliographies, books, articles, journals, and newsletters.
The authors note that "If the directory proves useful, we are prepared to update and enlarge it," We hope you'll order a copy, try it out, and let them know. We'll be very surprised if you don't find yourself constantly referring to it for useful leads. We think Compass is an important first step in creating a true alternative adult education movement.
WHEN SPRING RETURNS, WHO WILL BE READY?
E.E. Cummings, the great modern American poet, wrote over 50 years ago: "There are two types of human beings: children & prisoners. Prisoners are inhabited by formulae. Children inhabit forms. A formula is something to get out of oneself, to rid oneself of, an arbitrary emphasis deliberately neglecting the invisible and significant entirety. A form is some thing to wander in, to loose oneself in, a new largeness, dimensionally differing from the so-called real world."
Cummings' statement is particularly apt in these days of fundamental crisis when fresh forms are needed to replace the stale but currently dominant formulae, theories, and ideologies. Quite a few new books explore such forms, offering educators and others at least a smidgen of hope. Here are five by Michael Wyatt, Allen Tough, Ron Gross, and Charles Wedemeyer.
Wyatt, whose first book begins with a poem containing the heading for this review, is perhaps least known to our readers. But his New Age Socialism: Integrating Emotional, Spiritual and Social Liberation ($4, New Age Publishing Center, 405 N. Frances, #A, Madison, WI 53703) should make him better known. It deserves careful study and discussion for the important integrating insights it presents. Marilyn Ferguson (The Aquarian Conspiracy) finds it "scholarly but practical" in the crucial attempt "to heal the rift between two worlds: humanistic/transpersonal psychology and leftist political action." Mark Satin (New Age Politics) says it "offers a number of original socio-psychological theories." For me, it's the only book I've read which gives potentially positive meaning to that hoary cliché "The Learning Society" and the first work since Illich to make abundantly clear the political pervasiveness of compulsion as a setting for mandatory continuing education (MCE).
One important new concept that emerges from Wyatt's book is what he calls "the social structure of intentionality." Allen Tough's latest work finds positive social meaning in personal intentionality. Intentional Changes: A Fresh Approach to Helping People Change ($17.95 from Follett) moves beyond Tough's concern with self-directed learning to encompass all types of personally chosen growth and emergence. Based on 330 recent interviews, it is the first book to focus on the total array. Tough finds that people seeking change get most help from family and friends rather than from books and professionals.
Ron Gross says that the findings in Tough's new book "buoy our hopes in the self-improvement capabilities of people." Our hopes are buoyed through one of Ron's two new books for that group of people who hazard serious research outside the confines of the massive educational, business, and governmental institutions. The Independent Scholar's Handbook ($8.95 from Addison Wesley) is filled with examples of persons and groups who have made important findings without the loving grasp of those behemoths, as well as many concrete suggestions about how you can start to do the same.
Ron has also edited a new anthology, Invitation to Lifelong Learning ($18.95 from Follett). The authors of the 24 wide-ranging selections span 25 centuries from Plato to Freire. Despite the efforts of huge institutions to turn "lifelong learning" into a lifeless formula (and sad to say with the aid or acquiescence of some of the authors represented and groups cited here), Ron shows "lifelong learning" can still be a "form" in the best E.E. Cummings sense.
Finally, "lifelong learning" of the "non-traditional" kind has been the subject for study by the eminent Charles Wedemeyer for the past 30 years. Now he has gathered his reflections together in Learning at the Back Door ($19.50 from University of Wisconsin Press). Ron Gross says the book's pages "brim with intense thinking." And Dave Williams calls it a "masterpiece" with flaws. See their reviews in the summer issue of The Learning Connection (Learning Resources Network, 1221 Thurston, Manhattan, KS 66502) plus a lot more that makes TLC yet another example of the "form" Cummings was pointing to. (By John Ohliger)
A WORD FROM PAULO
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Upon our request the following article was sent us by Paulo Freire. It was written in December 1981, as an "Open Letter to Educators", to be published in a local newspaper serving a poor suburb of Sao Paulo. The word "educator" is used more broadly in Portuguese than in English and includes those doing community organizing and education. Similarly, the word translated "student" literally, "the ones being educated" refers to the participants, rather than students in a formal sense.)
This is a short, friendly letter that I send you in good faith. The space at my disposal in this small newspaper does not allow me to go beyond some brief considerations concerning one or two points that I believe are fundamental to our everyday practice. Points, furthermore, that are interlinked, one implying the other.
The first of these is the need that we educators have to live out in our practice, the obvious recognition that none of us is alone in the world. Each one of us is a human being in the world, with the world and with others. To live or to embody this obvious fact, as educators, means to recognize in others in our case the "students" — their right to speak their own word. Corresponding to their right to speak is our duty to listen to them. However, since listening also implies speaking, our duty to listen means that we have an equal right to speak to them. To listen to them, ultimately, is to speak with them, whereas simply to speak at them would be a way of not hearing them. If we always tell them our words, without ever opening our selves to theirs, arrogantly convinced that we are here to save them, we only affirm our authoritarian elitism. This cannot be the way of acting, however, for an educator who chooses liberation. Whoever does so, consciously or unconsciously, aids in preserving the structures of domination.
The second point, which is linked to the first and to which I would like to refer is the necessity that we educators have to "assume" the naiveté of the "students," so as to be able to overcome it with them.
A person who is on one side of the street cannot be on the other side without first crossing the street. If I am on this side I cannot reach the other side from there but only from here. Likewise, the same thing occurs with those whose comprehension of reality is less rigorous, less certain. We must respect the levels of comprehension that ordinary people have of their own reality. To impose on them our own understanding, in the name of their liberation, is to accept authoritarian solutions as paths to freedom.
Unfortunately, many of us educators who claim to be democratic do not always have a practice which coincides with our "advanced" ideas. Hence, our discourse, not being coherent with our practice, turns into nothing but empty words,
Hence, many times, our impassioned speech, contradicted by our authoritarian practice, goes in one ear and out the other ear of the people.
We must be coherent. It is about time. Fraternally, Paulo Freire
MORE ON FRIEIRE
Two new books from overseas on the educational work and philosophy of Paulo Freire have come to our attention. For English readers there is Literacy & Revolution: The Pedagogy of Paulo Freire, edited by Robert Mackle and published by Pluto Press, London, in 1980. This collection of essays by British and Australian educators is primarily concerned with the political dimension of Freire's thought. In addition to providing a general introduction to Freire, a concluding chapter examines and critiques the relations of education and politics in Freire from a Marxist perspective.
For German readers there is a paperback, Der Lehrer 1st Politiker und Kuntsler (The Teacher is a Politician & Artist: New Texts for Liberating Education), edited by Birgit Wingenroth, perhaps the foremost bibliographer of Freire in the world, and published in Germany as part of Rowolt's Rororo series In 1981. The book consists principally of recent articles by and interviews of Freire. These cover theoretical contributions, Freire's work in Africa, and reflections both on his time in exile and his new work in Brazil. (Freire now teaches at the Pontifical University in Sao Paulo and the University of Campinas. He has also become active in the Basic Christian Communities movement In Brazil.) Also included are a number of delightful illustrations by the Brazilian cartoonist, Claudius Ceccon, (The above Information is based on a review of these two books by Patricia J. Harrison in The Christian Century.)
REGENTS PROFESSOR ILLICH
I first became acquainted with the work and writings of Ivan Illich and Paulo Freire in the late 60s when I was a professor of education. I was most impressed with their trenchant critiques of educational institutions. If someone had predicted then that in 1982 both Illich and Freire would be teaching full time in such institutions, I would have concluded that person was off his or her rocker.
Now Freire is permanently ensconced as a professor at the University of Sao Paulo. We even hear rumors that he has been offered the university presidency. And this fall Illich will be the Regents Professor at the University of California in Berkeley. As to what it all means, your guess is as good as mine.
Every Thursday from the end of September to the middle of December Ivan will be conducting a seminar on Concepts in the History of Gender. The seminar will coincide with the publication of his latest book. Vernacular Gender and Economic Sex (New York: Pantheon Books). If you are interested in joining the seminar write Dick Bender, Environmental Design Dept., University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. Both the seminar and the book promise exciting and fundamental discussion of some basic issues. (By John Ohliger)
NEWS FLASHES
Dave Williams (2816 Nevada St., Manhattan, KS 66502) has just informed us that he has reserved space at the 1982 National Adult Education Conference in San Antonio for a meeting of the Task Force on Voluntary Learning. It's scheduled for Saturday, November 13, from 3:00 to 4:15 pm in Room 14 of the Convention Center.
The theme will be "Innovations in Voluntary Adult Learning: The Road to Recovery." Among topics for discussion will be the work to date of the Task Force and plans for invigorating the National Alliance for Voluntary Learning. Contact Dave at the above address or at Kansas State University for further information.
YOU'RE NEEDED AGAIN!
"Summer is the season that follows the efforts and achievements and the disappointments of the serious and sober days of winter. Summer is the interlude before the new beginnings when we hope to instill new insights in students, and learn and grow ourselves."
So wrote Francine Wall, an adult basic education tutor in Nashua, NH, as she described her involvement in anti-war activity last summer in Washington, DC with the Community for Creative Non-Violence which resulted in two arrests and sentences for her. Publishing her views in Vol. 12, No. 2 of The Adult Basic Education Newsletter (State Dept. of Ed, 64 H. Main St..Concord, NH 03301) the editor wrote they are "a testament to the power and potential of adult education."
Quite a few of our readers have informed us of how they are putting into practice this power and potential, Jim Gustafson (509 Virginia Terrace, Madison, WI 53705) and Ira Winn (1136 Embury St., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272) have been involved with Physicians for Social Responsibility, an anti-nuclear group. Warren Ziegler (2026 Hudson St., Denver, CO 80207) has been conducting along with Elise Boulding workshops in "Imaging a World Without Weapons." Warren would be glad to send you information on what he calls these "visioning and empowering workshops."
Here at Basic Choices Vince Kavaloski has been involved with the Nuclear Freeze Campaign, Art Lloyd recently coordinated a course on nuclear arms issues in a local church, and John Ohliger is active with the Advisory Board and the Educational Task Force of the Madison Peace Project.
We'd like to hear about your adult education activities in this urgent area of work. As Christian Bay (Dept. of Political Economy, University of Toronto, 100 St. George St, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1) wrote us recently: "How much longer dare we take the risk of not resisting, with every nonviolent means at hand, the militarist macho-madness now appearing to prevail in the highest councils of the world's leading superpower ?"
THE VICTIM FREUD
Bruce Moll writes this interesting note:
"The March 1 issue of The New Yorker contains a remarkable example of professionalism and science issuing in distortion, misrepresentation, and obfuscation. Bruno Bettelheim in his essay on Freud documents in one telling instance after another how the English editions of Freud's works have systematically mistranslated Freud. Bettelheim suggests two reasons for this pervasive mistranslation, first, an assumption on the part of the English translators that Freud was to be understood strictly within the framework of scientific, professional medicine, and, concomitantly, possibly a wish to distance themselves from the emotional connotations and impact of his thought.
Bettelheim points out, to take just one striking example, that Freud quite explicitly and deliberately chose not to employ Greek names for his three-part division of the psyche which in English, have become known as the ego, the id, and the superego. Instead, Freud intentionally used the ordinary German words 'das Ich' (the 'I'), 'das Es' (the 'It'), and 'das UberIch' (the 'aboveI'). Likewise, the American analysts took the position that psychoanalysis must be restricted to physicians and to this end introduced a bill into the New York State Legislature, in 1926, which declared illegal any analysis not conducted by a physician. Freud, on the contrary, held that psychoanalysis should not exist solely within a medical framework and that psychoanalytically trained laymen should be permitted to treat patients. He did not understand psychoanalyses to be 'purveyors of an esoteric or revealed truth.'
"I commend Bettelheim's essay to readers of ST. It's entitled ''Reflections: Freud and the Soul,' pages 52ff."
EMPOWERING ALLIANCES
Carl Hedman (Dept. of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53203) and Len Krimerman (U54, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06268) write:
"We are seeking suggestions for potential case studies to be included in a book tentatively titled Building a New Theory of Transition: The Politics of Empowering Alliances. We are especially interested in hearing about groups that have successfully combined exemplary internal practice (e.g. participatory decision-making, non-hierarchical relations) with effective challenges of dominant and invasive institutions, and have weathered these storms over a substantial period of time.
"The guiding idea behind the book is that lessons learned from the concrete struggles of such groups are indispensable for developing a useful theory of social transition -- one that (a) goes beyond the historical debates between (and among) Marxists and anarchists, centralists and decentralists, revolutionaries and gradualists, etc., and (b) can aid in overcoming the frequent short-run preoccupations and resulting fragmentation of those engaged in day-to-day social change.
"In our view, theory augments but cannot replace or invalidate exemplary practice. The "new theory of transition" will aim primarily at showing how the future can be built from, by, and without jeopardizing, the concrete accomplishments of the present. Suggestions of any sort are welcome, especially of those groups focused on one or more of the following: Education, health care, community organization and community life, the workplace, and sexual/spiritual politics."
RALLY INDEPENDENT SCHOLARS WITH A "ROUNDTABLE"!
Basic Choices' "Community Scholars Roundtable" (See Second Thoughts. July 1981) was a pioneering effort, coordinated by Chris Wagner, to provide opportunities for fellowship among individuals doing significant intellectual work outside the universities or big corporations. From Madison the idea has spread to other cities, including: Denver, New York, Wichita, and San Francisco. Independent Scholars' Roundtables have now been launched in a dozen communities, as reported in The New York Times ("Life of Scholars Without Schools," Feb. 2, 1982) and other media. They were the subject of a recent National Public Radio two-part series.
If you would like to learn more about these voluntary, community-based, do-it-yourself support groups, contact Ron Gross at The Independent Scholarship Project, 17 Myrtle Drive, Great Neck, NY 11021. Ron will send you a report on how the Roundtables operate and what the organizers and participants get out of them. Then, if you're interested in launching one in your community, Ron can provide additional technical information to make the job fairly easy. "The camaraderie of other 'risk-takers of the spirit' has meant much to me," said one participant In the New York Roundtable. "It taught me that you don't have to be alone, to be unique."
THE NEEDY SERVICING THE GREEDY
Curtis Sliwa is the founder of the Guardian Angels, groups of unarmed young volunteers who try to prevent violence in big city subways. Interviewed in the August Penthouse, Sliwa had this to say in response to the comment, "President Reagan has encouraged the volunteer spirit in Americans."
"Sliwa: His isn't the volunteer spirit we're talking about. Reagan is talking about the needy servicing the greedy, about the rich getting richer on the backbreaking labor of volunteer service of those who are most in need of volunteer services themselves. President Reagan is totally out of touch when he and (New York Mayor) Koch talk about volunteer service -- they in no way, shape, or form are talking about the Guardian Angel concept. The Guardian Angel concept is quite literally that in order to improve your own quality of life, you must give. If you throw out something good, you get something good back. It's a very basic concept, but when you listen to Reagan talk, he's talking about gray ladies in hospitals with bed pans, candy-stripers, all the safe volunteer activities --Boy Scouts, cleanups, tree-planting—all the 'touchable' items. He doesn't deal with the real, nitty-gritty volunteer services that are a vital need every day in our lives."
The Guardian Angel concept has important implications for figuring out what kind of voluntary learning is appropriate. It seems similar to the feminist support for social change volunteering while opposing "service" volunteering as a rip-off of women. See, for instance, Doris Gold's excellent Opposition to Volunteerism: An Annotated Bibliography (Chicago: CPL Bibliographies, June 1979)
Other aids in clarifying the meaning of "voluntary learning" and its relationship to a better society include the article "Adult Education As a Voluntary Activity" by James Hawking (3750 W. Agatite Ave., Chicago, 111. 60625) to appear in an upcoming issue of Setting the Pace and the recent book On Being Free (Notre Dame, IN 46556: University of Notre Dame Press, 1977) by the philosopher Frithjof Bergmann.
A NEW NETWORK
A new network is forming for educators and researchers interested in the use of self-directed learning in health sciences. Colleagues wanting to make contact with others who have the same interests can write to Kathie Clark, RR7, Brantford, Ontario, Canada N3T5L9. An attempt will be made to share names, addresses, interests and activities on a regular basis. Suggestions for a communication mechanism are welcome.
PUBLICATIONS
Two recent publications deal with education and taking control of one's environment. Parents who wish to teach their children at home will find help through a "Law Manual for a One Family Private School" (produced by Faith Academy Inc., 3590 U.S. Hwy 53, Rt. 3, Box 84, Shell Lake, WI 54871.) The manual provides a wealth of material about legal aspects related to state educational requirements and procedures to follow in establishing one's family as a "legal" school. Although based on Wisconsin law, the authors report that most states have substantially the same laws pertaining to non-public schools. Copies may be ordered for $15 from the above address.
Twin Streams Educational Center has just published a 20 page booklet by Frank Adams on "Making Production, Making Democracy: A Case Study of Teaching in the Workplace." "Making Production" outlines the story of how, out of the ashes of a small bankrupt business, four people created WOSCO, a member-owned and worker managed "cut and sew" cooperative employing 45 full and part-time employees. What may be unique about HOSCO was its commitment from the beginning to make the workplace a learning place where supervisors could become teachers, rather than bosses, and where workers could learn how to make decisions about their work and how to empower themselves for collaborative problem solving. It is the educational dimension, in which Frank participated as consultant and facilitator, teacher and learner, which is primarily emphasized, rather than aspects of production. Among the conclusions that he draws from the first year's experience: "Learning for productive goals did not have to be sundered from learning for democratic goals. ... The workers as well as the teachers learned that the workers in the workplace, if allowed, will do the teaching." Copies may be obtained from Twin Streams, 243 Flemington St., Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514 for $3.00. It is a good buy.
Those interested in popular culture and education should know of two new publications. Tradition for Development: Indigenous Structures and Folk Media in Non-Formal Education (edited by Ross Kidd and Nat Colletta) includes a report on and papers from an international adult education seminar held in Berlin in 1980. The bulk of the text consists of case studies on non-formal education and development programs using a cultural approach. A concluding report summarizes the debate between those who view the "indigenous culture" approach as a means of revitalizing conventional development work and those critical of the manipulative tendencies of this approach and who advocate as an alternative a popular culture controlled by popular organizations. Copies may be ordered from Dr. Josef Muller, German Foundation for International Development, Education and Science Division, Simrocksttrasse 1, 5300 Bonn 1, Federal Republic of Germany.
The Performing Arts, Non-Formal Education, and Social Change in the Third World; A Bibliography and Introductory Essay (by Ross Kidd) Includes 1300 items on the use of the performing arts as a medium for education and social action in the Third World. An introductory review summarizes contexts in which the performing arts are used, e.g., mass educational campaigns, local extension work, conscientization, popular organizing. Also included are the methods adopted in each context. Order from:
Dr. Kees Epskamp, Centre for Study of Education in Developing Countries, Postbus 90734, 2509 LS The Hague, The Netherlands.
REVA'S ROYAL REVIEWS
Reva Crawford's article "Inverted Parachutes" in our May issue stimulated more responses than any other we've ever run. Her suggestion which elicited the most response was, "If you want one very staple piece of legislation which would halt MCE (mandatory continuing education) forever, just get a law passed which makes it illegal for those who have some education to get more until those who have none get some." But her comments on the progressing "cultural genocide" of American Indians drew a lot of interest as well.
Besides positive comments from Mike Clark and Robert Verner, Frank Adams xeroxed copies for members of the North Carolina Native Peoples Community. Sam Brightman in his May 31st Adult & Continuing Education Today called it "classic, funny, and penetrating." Sam invited his readers to send us a dollar for the May ST and seven of them did. On the other hand, April Hoffman thought the article contained several examples of "reverse racism." What did you think of it?
BRIGHTMAN MARCHES ON
Though the big publisher, Scott Foresman, has dropped his informative and feisty news letter, Adult & Continuing Education Today, Sam Brightman has found a new cover in Bill Draves' Learning Resources Network (1221 Thurston, Manhattan, KS 66502). Now would be a very good time to subscribe to get the real poop on what goes on in Washington and elsewhere in the ad ed biz plus Sam's delightfully crotchety views on what should go on. Write Bill for a sample copy.
If you're looking for a speaker to brighten a conference and even say a few words of sprightly wisdom, you could do far worse than getting Brightman to address your gathering. Witness the raves his all-purpose talk "Grown Ups Ought to Know Better" received at the Rhode Island and Pennsylvania adult education conferences this spring. Ditto the talk he gave to a Maryland group, "Adult Ed: The Next Decade," with the subtitle "Because of developments in nuclear weaponry and/or the New Federalism, the latter portion of this decade may be postponed indefinitely." Contact Sam at 6308 Crathie Lane, Bethesda, MD 20016 or call him at (301) 229-3410.
STUDENT JOURNALISTIC POWER
We have come across a copy of a funny, topical student paper, simply titled Newsletter (a rose is a rose is a rose, right?), published in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Saskatchewan. We are referring to "Number: We've done a number on you. Volume: Is Equal to the hot air circulated on Campus." Anyone for ballooning?
"HOW MANY EDUCATORS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB? ONLY ONE, BUT THE LIGHT BULB HAS TO WANT TO CHANGE." Patt Strasma
MCE BRIEFS
The Colorado Board of Medical Examiners has just voted to abolish the state's requirement for continuing medical education. According to a story in the July 9 Rocky Mountain News one of those testifying against It was a Dr. Carl Heaton, who told a hearing that the mandatory continuing education (MCE) requirement has served mainly to spawn an industry that provides instruction during expensive trips to exotic places. Horton said, "I can go to China, Japan, Nepal, England, Egypt, Helsinki, or to tourist attractions in almost every state in the nation and fulfill my requirement. These are all legitimate business deductions paid for by increased costs to patients. The ritual has become the goal and the substance has gotten lost."
Attorneys
The above story was sent us by Colorado attorney Robert Verner (2000 W. 32nd Ave., Denver, CO 30211), who, as we reported in the May ST, is vigorously appealing his court ordered suspension because of his refusal to take MCE. Write him re: obtaining copies of his fascinating briefs and, of course, he needs your support and encouragement. Verner estimates that for just 11 professions in Colorado "promoters and providers of MCE have a more than 30 million dollar business going for them." Multiplied by the rest of the states the figure could well reach into the billions!
Tom Heaney has sent us a story from the July 1 issue of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin saying, "The Illinois State Bar Association Assembly today overwhelmingly defeated a plan that would implement" MCE for lawyers in that state. The story claims that MCE was widely seen as "another means of regimenting Illinois lawyers." Heaney comments that the defeat of MCE for lawyers is an "example of how the right things get done for questionable reasons," HALT, which stands for Help Abolish Legal Tyranny (Suite 319, 201 Mass. Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002), is a nonprofit group "leading the fight to reform America's legal system." HALT'S latest release states "Lawyers have the whole country tied in knots" and quotes Chief Justice Burger: "We may be on our way to a society overrun by hordes of lawyers hungry as locusts." Write for their information packet.
Doubt Wisdom of MCE
"Increasing skepticism over the wisdom of MCE requirements" is the reason for the slow down in the movement to impose MCE, according to Louis Phillips in the June 9 Chronicle of Higher Education (pg. 16). The story contains Phillips’ latest chart of MCE requirements for 16 professions in each of 50 states.
The Meaning of the MCE Debate
An article by John Ohliger appearing in the September/October issue of the Journal of Higher Education explores the meaning of the raging debate over MCE in historical, economic technical, epistemological and comprehensive contexts. It is a reply to Werner Lowenthal's "Continuing Education for Professionals: Voluntary or Mandatory," which appeared in the Sept. 1981 issue of the journal and placed the debate in an exclusively scientific research context. Lowenthal adds his brief comment to the Ohliger reply. Send us a dollar or its equivalent in postage stamps and we'll send you the complete exchange.
Other MCE Comments Available
Write Ed Ames (American Veterinary Medical Association, 930 N. Meacham Rd,, Schaumberg, IL 60196) for the May issue of Continuing Educational News. It contains several information packed stories on MCE for various groups besides vets in the health field. Write Jim Killacky (17 Avon Rd., Watertown, MA 02172) for a copy of his paper for a graduate course at Harvard on MCE. The paper contains some new information on MCE for dentists as well as a basic discussion of the pros and cons.
Second Thoughts is a newsletter designed to raise fundamental questions about the meaning of education. How can education: Enhance human freedom and participation? Expand the frontiers of individual and collective research and action on matters of substance? Contribute to a more just and democratic society?
Second Thoughts serves a network of persons raising basic questions about mandatory continuing education (MCE), professionalization, and other issues related to social control.
It is published by Basic Choices, Inc., a Midwest Center for Clarifying Political and Social Options, 1121 University Ave., Madison, WI 53715, (608) 256-1946. It is also a project in values-clarification of Madison Campus Ministry. Members of the group are John Hill, Vincent Kavaloski, David Lisman, Art Lloyd, John Ohliger, and Tim Turner. Thanks for last minute help on the May issue to Mark McFadden, Joseph Mtakewese Made, Carol and Marc Peterson, and Moses Zinnah.
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