From John Ohliger.com
Second Thoughts Vol. 6 No. 1 February 1984
VOL. 6. NO. 1, FEBRUARY 1984
Second Thoughts
IS RITA EDUCATED?
[ED NOTE: In recent weeks, we've had hours of discussion with friends about the adult ed point of the new English film comedy starring Michael Caine & Julie Walters: Educating Rita. There has been absolutely no agreement except that the movie is a very entertaining "must" for anyone interested in the political/personal effects of adult ed. Here is one friend's view: Nancy Karlovich-Smith at Florida State U. Let us have your opinion of the film's point.]
Educating Rita depicts the all-too-common case of a woman in search of herself heading for the nearest campus because she sees it as the only possible mechanism for personal change. Rita (Julie Walters) is a 26 year old hairdresser who is bored with the conversation and pub songs of her working-class husband, family, and friends. So she signs up for an Open U course looking for "a better song to sing." Rita's tutor, Frank (Michael Caine), is initially delighted with her breeziness, spontaneity, and curiosity. Very soon the audience perceives that Frank, despite his book knowledge as a lit professor and poet, is not a free man. The issue of freedom is one this film constantly calls on us to face. For instance, how much freer has Rita become, as she is educated to her new embrace of old words legitimated by scholars?
Rita transforms herself - clothing, acquaintances, manner of speaking. She learns to produce acceptable essays that maintain her own sense of self rather than to create new coiffures that allow her customers to change their sense of self. But never does Rita openly acknowledge Frank's increasing dependence on her. In learning to think, does she lose her capacity to feel?
Rita appears refreshing to Frank only until she becomes like him - critical, analytical. When she is able to praise classical allusions in his poems, Frank - the teacher, not the man - wonders if he, like all teachers, is a modern day Dr. Frankenstein.
The questions at the end of the last three paragraphs above are only a few of those the film poses so well. But we need to go further in our discussions of it. As Adrienne Rich says, "The politics worth having, the relationships worth having, demand that we delve deeper."
Rita mirrors her creator's life. British playwright Willy Russell left school at 15. After stints in hairdressing and school teaching, he entered college to become the dramatist he is today. Educating Rita is his own adaptation of the very successful two-character one-setting play of the same name (Copies of the play are available at $3.71 from Samuel French, Inc., 25 W. 45th St., New York, NY 10036).
In recent interviews Russell has expressed these views about some of the issues posed by Educating Rita: "Whilst the working classes are accused of being philistines, there is a general attempt to withhold culture from them. Literature is an invention of the middle classes for their own benefit. The working classes haven't accepted literacy yet,..."
SECOND THOUGHTS "TAKES A BREAK"
In the fall of 1977 Basic Choices arranged a series of "rump" meetings at the National Adult Ed Conference in Detroit for those who had "second thoughts" about the baleful trend toward mandatory continuing education (MCE) and other harmful directions of mainstream education. In May 1978 we began publication of this newsletter, Second Thoughts, to serve the growing network begun in Detroit of adult educators and others seeking ways to foster personal freedom and social justice. This issue marks the 16th consecutive one we've put out, as an unpaid effort. Our thanks to the hundreds of you who have made these 16 issues possible with your letters, articles, suggestions, dollars, and other help.
Now we need to "take a break." To avoid burn out, to recoup, to seek additional human energy and dollars, to evaluate where we're going, we're suspending publication for a while. Of course, Basic Choices will continue with various projects, and we'll be keeping in touch through correspondence, phone calls, personal visits, etc.
We're happy to announce that Bill Draves, editor of the magazine The Learning Connec- tion, has graciously agreed to assume any subscription obligations remaining. TLC is, in our view, the best periodical in the field of adult ed. It covers the field in a lively manner and shares many of the concerns of ST readers,
We solicit your comments, criticisms, and suggestions about ST and its future, as we take this break. Of course, any tax deductible contributions to Basic Choices will help us keep the office open and pay our approximately $100 a month expenses. If you know of other sources of energy or dollars please let us know.
DEATH OF "THE WISCONSIN IDEA"?
[ED NOTE: Since early in the 20th century U of WI Extension has been viewed by many as THE model for higher adult ed. Since the mid-1960s the merger between general and agricultural ("Cooperative") extension in WI has been watched closely as another potential model. But in the past few years we've heard rumors about the decline, and possibly even the death of what is often called "The Wisconsin Idea." We asked Ken Lehman, who has been with the Extension state staff for 17 years, to give us his view of what's going on. Send us yours.]
I began working for UWEX (U of WI Extension) in 1966, the year after the great merger. The merger was an attempt to create an institution responding to the urgent needs of the time, both rural and urban. Merged units were given such names as "Center for Action on Poverty, Human Resource Development, and Youth Development." At first it was viewed as a very "progressive" step in the habitually "progressive" state of Wisconsin.
But soon many "Aggies," as some call those of us in CES (Cooperative Extension Service) work, complained that the merger made accountability difficult at best for funds derived from CES sources. There were also complaints that all those non-ag UWEXers were causing political problems for county level CES staff. These problems often arose from UWEX programs designed to help low income and minority groups. Local CES staff were very vulnerable because their jobs depend on the whims of elected county officials. County faculty members had spent years firming up local support for their salaries and programs. Now they had to explain the activities of their new non-ag bed-fellows in UWEX to county board committees. County support was tenuous at best during the merger years, and all manner of UWEX programs were being scheduled from above without the approval or even the knowledge of the local staff.
However, since July 1, 1983 the Aggies are now an entity totally isolated from the budget marauding hordes of those other guys. And those other guys, the non-ag UWEXers, are being integrated into regular campus departments as quickly as practical. It is claimed that integration of staff, budget, and control of extension functions into the U of WI System through its campus departments is the ideal state.
Now we have a new day. The great merger has ended. CES is now clearly defined and totally accountable. We can and will keep those in political power very well informed about every "program" that a CES staff member has any association with. And this "accountability" will no doubt bring the vulnerability felt by county staff to those of us with statewide responsibility. Also academic freedom will probably take on a new meaning for some who are not accustomed to this level of scrutiny. Is all this "progressive"? We shall see.
POLINFOFGLUT
Recently, I was watching my favorite TV re-run cartoons - Bullwinkle, and his friend and savior, Rocky. One segment begins: "And now for the uninformed, here's the biggest informer of them all, Mr. Know-It-All." It set me thinking: Is there a relationship between this new Information (or INFOGLUT) Age and the great rise in the importance of human and mechanical informers (stool pigeons or squealers) in police work? The famed criminal lawyer, Alan Dershowitz writes in his The Best Defense (New York: Vintage Books, 1983):
"We live in an age of government by informer. Every law enforcement agency has its stable of informers; every organization of any significance - and many of no significance - has been penetrated. Informing has become, if not an honorable trade, a mass occupation. It is impossible to estimate how many informers are currently operating. They move in and out of their roles too quickly to be tagged and counted. They are used promiscuously to obtain information about the most trivial and the most serious of crimes. They manufacture crime in order to sell their product. They lie about crime in order to give their employer what they think he wants to hear."
And as for mechanical informers, what about the vaunted hero of the Information Age, the computer? "Just as traffic does, computers call for police, and for more of them, and in ever more subtle forms." So writes Ivan Illich in "Silence Is a Commons" in the winter 1983 issue of Co-Evolution Quarterly (Box 428, Sausalito, CA 94966). And we've all heard many stories about how supposedly confidential computerized information is used against innocent people by government and other agencies. When you put INFOGLUT and police informers, both human and mechanical, together, what do you get? The POLINFOGLUT STATE? What do you think? (John 0)
"THE NATURE CONNECTION"
"The Nature Connection" is a course of strong interest to be taught Wednesday evenings, Feb. 29 - Mar 21 at UWEX-Madison (Univ. of WI Extension).
Helen Loschnigg-Fox, who some readers know for her work on the course "The Deeper Meaning," says that this course will deal with alternatives to "the anti-nature structures of patriarchy which are becoming dysfunctional for life on earth." Topics include: "The new physics; deep ecology; the 'soft paths' of energy, health, and agriculture; and historically non-anthropocentric cultures, especially the 'other reality’ of women's experience. Participants will strategize practical changes in the way we live so that personal actions contribute to healing the earth, creating a sustainable society, and making peace." INFO: (608) 262-9760.
THE TOPSY-TURVEY TRIANGLE OF EDUCATION
"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." Blake
For most of my adult life my goal has been to work with others toward a world where there is maximum personal freedom and social justice for all. By freedom I mean the right and ability of persons and groups to act and express themselves without control from above. I do not mean so-called economic freedom or "free enterprise." By justice I mean the right and ability of persons and groups to achieve equitable satisfaction of basic requirements for their health and welfare. I do not mean the so-called justice implied in "human rights" approaches that accept strong state/party or professional/bureaucratic control.
Education or learning is not, in my view, the be-all or the end-all. But it is one of the fundamental realms of life which depends' on freedom and justice to flower and at the same time helps to make the achievement of these ideals possible. It is also the realm of activity where I've spent most of my life. As I grow older I seek the wisdom in others and myself to screen these concerns through perspectives which emphasize the natural, the holistic, and the spiritual- In the free and just world the "Triangle of Education" is described like this:
The largest portion of the triangle is what I call "Natural Learning." If you share with me and with Aristotle and a lot of other people the belief that all humans are born actively learning, that this vital learning is embedded in the very fiber of our beings, then you know what "Natural Learning" is. You've heard the expression: "They knew each other in the Biblical sense." Though today it has only a sexual connotation, the word to "know" meant historically the; kind of "Natural Learning' referred to here - the intimate intercourse of learning inextricably interwoven with experience.
The second largest portion is voluntary continuing education - the intentional learning that we choose to engage in. The term "volunteer," as far as I can tell, came from early Puritanism or Calvinism. To volunteer meant to the Puritans a combination of divine command and personal will. These days we substitute "conscience" for divine command, often with the prodding of institutional or economic pressures.
The smallest portion is mandatory continuing education (MCE), those very few minimal learning requirements in any society. As an analogy to health, it might be the 54 or less of our bodily needs that require heroic medical intervention.
But, sad to say, these days the triangle is upside-down, topsy-turvy. MCE has become, for the majority of the American population, the major form of learning. Voluntary is second. "Natural Learning" takes a back seat most of the time. How can we turn the triangle right side up so that our natural propensities for learning come to the fore? If you share with me and others the basic goals of personal freedom and social justice, then let us continue to work together to answer that question. (John Ohliger)
AMERICA'S HIDDEN LIBRARIES
There are thousands of small libraries and resource centers in the U.S. that perform important services but are poorly funded and -- generally unknown. As a modest effort to deal with the problems of finances and publicity a new Madison magazine, Attunement, recently published a special feature on 17 local ones, including Basic Choices. This feature was in a special issue on education that included interviews with Ron Gross and John Ohliger, plus articles on how people learn on their own in the "University of Life." Send Basic Choices a dollar and we'll send you a copy of this 22-page issue of Attunement (July-August 1983).
After publication of the feature on the hidden libraries, representatives of several met to form the national Very Special Libraries Association (VSLA) to promote joint publicity, funding, and support throughout the country. INFO: John Ohliger, 1023 Drake, Madison, WI 53715.
NO COMMENT
The following (based on an unimpeachable, but anonymous, authority) is an authentic handwritten letter to President Reagan from a woman in Florida: "by the morning paper, I see that there is a federal program - under which we are paying adult refugees $1.75 per hr. to learn English. Well, no one ever paid my grandparents to learn English - or German, or Polish, or Flemish.
"Anyway, I would like to learn Spanish, so I can understand these blabbing idiots, that have pushed their way into Florida, it’s quite disconcerting you know, to be in the mist of these immigrants at Disney World - and not know what they are saying. Also you had better get a new immigration law - or enforce the one we always had. But I would like to know who to contact to become a paid scholar. Thanks [signed]"
THE POLITICAL LITERACY PROJECT
For the past several years, working with residents of Madison's public housing, Basic Choices has sponsored a "political literacy" project (see ST, July, 1981 & January, 1982). Through this project we have attempted to "translate" a Freirean type of political consciousness-raising into a North American setting. The project has included community-organizing concerns of the tenants and reflection on this activity.
Following initial "successes," however, we encountered among the public housing participants a considerable amount of resistance to continued activity. Our exploration with participants - and our own reflection on this experience - led us to write a series of short papers to clarify the dynamics behind this resistance. What factors, for example, in the consciousness of participants and facilitators (us!) and in our relationship - what differences in expectations, goals, etc. - underlie this kind of response? How can we identify, support, and promote leadership among the tenants --as well as broader participation?
These papers include "Political Literacy and Empowerment'* (Leslie Rothaus), "The Aims of Political Consciousness-raising," "Sense of Responsibility and Personal Capacity," "Language and Silence in Cultural Oppression," and "Status, Responsibility and Leadership" (by Mike Sack, with the assistance of Leslie Rothaus, Beth Lindl and Art Lloyd).
The attempt to clarify for ourselves - and to check out our experience with others - leads us to the next phase of our project. On February 5 we are inviting other activists engaged in community organizing and education to meet with us, to respond to Mike Sack's summation of our experience in the latest such paper:
"Political Consciousness-Raising: a Reformulation." We hope that out of this meeting will not only come critical response to the kind of issues and questions we are raising, but also a sharing by others from their perspectives of similar experience and insight. We hope that such an experience will not only contribute to our own "political literacy" but strengthen and deepen the work that we and others are engaged in, who share commitments not only to social change but to the quality of the process. .
Any of the above papers are available upon request - at the cost of copying. If readers have similar (short!) papers to share on their experience we would welcome an exchange. (Art L)
PROMISE HIM ANYTHING, BUT...
Because he was fraudulently recruited into the Navy with the false assurance that he would pass a nuclear power school course, John Grant was recently ordered released from service by a Federal judge in Maine. Grant failed the course after enlistment and was ordered to sign an agreement to serve an additional 15 months in exchange for the three weeks at the school.
The court found that Grant had never been informed that his pre-course test score indicated a high probability of failure. The Central Committee for Conscious Objectors comments: "The military will still promise you anything, just to get you in." INFO: James Feldman, CCCO, 2208 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19146.
EDUCACION POPULAR/ADULT ED
In recent years there have been increasing contacts between North American adult educators and representatives from the educacion popular (people's education, literally) movement associated with Latin America and Paulo Freire (see ST, July 1983, on the March, 1983 meeting at Highlander). "Popular education refers to a grassroots ed process. It is grounded in the concrete experiences of poor and working people, is conducted by the people, and serves to empower the people to confront the issues of their lives (Highlander Reports, Oct 1983)."
This past fall a group of 20 North Americans participated in an International Conference on Popular Education for Peace, held in Nicaragua and sponsored jointly by Highlander, Nicaragua's Ministry of Adult Ed, the Latin American Council of Adult Ed, and the International Council for Adult Ed. For a report on this conference and on popular education in Nicaragua, which involves 100,000 adults through a variety of ed groups, see the Oct 1983 issue of Highlander Reports. Also Highlander has tapes of talks on Latin American popular education from the standpoint of a Chilean, a Mexican, and a Nicaraguan educator given at the March conference noted above. INFO: Sue Thrasher or John Gaventa, Highlander Center, Rt. 3, Box 370, New Market, TN 37820. (Art Lloyd)
PUNTA Y RAYA (Dot & Dash)
(This song, by Anibal Nazoa, has been translated by Cheryl Wilikie:)
Between my people. and yours
There's a dot and dash.
The dash says, "No Trespassing."
The dot says, "Road Closed."
And the same between all peoples,
Dash and dot, dot and dash.
With so many dots and dashes
The map is a telegram.
Wandering about the world
You see rivers and mountains,
You see forests and deserts,
But no dots and dashes.
Because these things don't exist,
They were only traced
So that my hunger and yours
Would be forever separate.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Adult Educators & Social Change
Good News! Highlander has invited LERN (Learning Resources Network) back for the 2nd annual conference on "Adult Educators & Social Change." This year's retreat will be the weekend of June 8-10. Cost is $125 including a copy of Frank Adams' classic Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander. And Frank has just agreed to lead the retreat! Enrollment is limited to 30, so get involved in the planning now. INFO: LERN, 1221 Thurston, Manhattan, KS 66502, (913) 539-5376.
Workers' Ownership & Ed Tour
Frank Adams (PO Box 587, Gatesville, NC 27936) writes:
"On June 24, 1984, in New York City, after visits to the On Time Construction Co., Dr. Joyce Kornbluh of the University of MI Institute of Labor & Industrial Relations, and your correspondent, hope to leave for Madrid, Spain on the first leg of a 15 day trip visiting working class production cooperatives which have used ed resources as key elements in their founding, survival, and profitability.
"We will talk with educators (adult, of course) in Mondragon, the famous Basque cooperative; in Normandy, France; and Paris, where we will also visit UNESCO to discuss its program of worker ed with Ettore Gelpe; then go to Leeds to visit the cooperative-run college which teaches courses in the specifics of workers running their own show; then on to Manchester to visit a laundry run by women workers and a garbage collection firm run by members. We wind up in London visiting worker-owners support groups such as that run by Robert Oakshott of Job Ownership, Ltd.
"Cost of the trip is $1,228 (due by May 14), not counting passports, fare to New York City, or two meals daily. Otherwise, that tab picks up the rest, including a bus to haul the group of 30 about. Interested people can contact me or Joyce Kornbluh (Inst. of Labor & Ind Rel, 108 Museums Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109). "
Conference on Residential Adult Ed
If you're interested in the latest findings and issues related to residential adult ed, you will want to attend a conference scheduled at a brand new residential center near Minneapolis, Wilder Forest, March 23rd & 24th. Cost is $30 including room & board. INFO: Betsy Gerads, Wilder Forest, 14189 Ostlund Trail North, Marine-on-Croix, MN 55407, (612) 433-5198.
International Rural Social Work
You're invited to propose presentations for an international institute "Social Work in Rural Areas" upcoming at the end of July 1984. The Dept. of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Maine (Orono) solicits your proposals on such themes as "understanding rural realities, puncturing rural myths, and case histories of rural reformers." INFO: Bill Whittaker, 211 E. Annex, U of ME, Orono, ME 04469. (207) 581-2384 or 2380.
A Big Party!
United Nations Assistant Secretary General Robert Muller, Pete Seeger, Maggie Kuhn, Linus Pauling, Dan Berrigan, and Dick Gregory are among the endorsers of "The Big Party to Celebrate World Disarmament" set for Oct. 24th to 30th, 1984. The purpose of the celebration is to help people visualize a world where creating weapons of war is impossible. The Aquarian Research Foundation will supply a helpful kit including 200 invitations, a manual, and a newsletter subscription for $25 or whatever you can afford (5620 Morton St., Philadelphia, PA 19144, (215) 849-3237). -
Adult Ed & Peace Workshops
Workshops on adult ed & peace are being planned this year in both the U.S. and Holland. The one in Holland is May 27th - June 9th and the U.S. one is July 7th - 14th at a new residential center near Minneapolis. Both are activities of the "Adult Ed & Peace Network."
INFO: Larry Olds, Community Labor Ed Project, 3322 15th Ave., South, Minneapolis, MN 55407; or Helena Kekkonen, AFAEO, Heitalahdenkatu 8 A 21, 00180 Helsinki 18, Finland. Ask Helena about the international Finnish adult ed meeting to be held June 15th - 21st on "Human Rights for Human Growth."
NUKE FREE ADULT ED PROFS
Six months of activities by a small group of mainly grad students recently culminated in the faculty of the U of WI Continuing & Vocational Ed Dept (CAVE) declaring CAVE a Nuclear Free Zone. To our knowledge, this is the first such faculty in the world to take this action.
This symbolic gesture signals a growing concern about such issues of local, national, and international significance. John Ohliger of Basic Choices, who once held a faculty position in CAVE, commented: "This is a very hopeful sign. Now, perhaps the faculty will go on to consider the organic interconnections between the fundamental issues of nuclear policy, technology, professionalism, and liberty. Who knows, maybe then CAVE will even come out against mandatory continuing ed (MCE)."
Currently CAVE is considering co-sponsoring a March 1984 conference, "Educating Ourselves and Others in the Nuclear Age," along with Educators for Social Responsibility and the American Association of University Women.
MCE BRIEFS
Legislating Love
From a recent study by the California Dept. of Consumer Affairs: "Most board staffs find little or no benefit to the public or the licensees deriving from MCE. These programs have a low priority, are understaffed and under-funded, and the government’s role is seriously questioned."
Source: The Growing Edge (Fall 1983), a pub of the Council for Non-collegiate Continuing Ed which comments: "Why go to the lowest common denominator and delegate to government responsibility for making professions keep up-to-date? It makes as much sense as legislating love." Thanks to Roy Ingham and John Niemi for calling our attention to this article.
MCE For All U.S. Lawyers?
"After surveying all 50 states, a national committee of the American Bar Association is recommending mandatory continuing legal ed for every lawyer," begins a story in the Jan. 3, 1984 Denver Post. The Issues Affecting the Legal Profession Committee of the ABA says MCLE "will certainly not solve all the problems facing the legal profession. It is, however, a relatively simple and straightforward program, which can be adopted quickly and implemented easily." You said a mouthful, folks. But a mouthful of what?
According to the committee' s survey 12 states have MCLE, 9 have studied and rejected it, 13 have proposals under consideration, and 8 more have areas of legal specialization in operation or under study.
The story was sent to us by attorney Robert Verner (c/o E.R. Paxson, 4135 E. 18th Ave., Denver, CO 80020) who has just lost his appeal against MCE in a lower federal court and is now carrying his case straight to the Supreme Court. He could sure use your letters of support and even more concrete help.
MCE for Bavarian Bartenders
To become a "barmaster" in Bavaria you now must complete a five-year course, learning how to make the perfect cocktail and in addition studying political economy and industrial relations. Thanks to Paul Rux for this item.
Here We Go Again?
George Van Der Loos has just sent us a clipping in which another "expert on world aging trends" calls for MCE for the elderly. George Myers, director of the Center for Demo- graphic Studies at Duke U, calls for a year's ed, including info on self-help and learning how to live on fixed incomes. Good luck!
Recent MCE Research
Two Canadian women have been busy! Here's info on two new literature reviews and a related doctoral dissertation;
Anne Evans (2815 W. 38th Ave., Vancouver, Canada V6N 2W8) has just completed her masters at the U of British Columbia with a 90 page "major paper," Mandatory Continuing Professional Ed: A Review of the Literature. 145 references are proceeded by chapters on philosophical, ed, and political issues; perspectives on competence and obsolescence; and pressures for assurance of competence. '
Madeleine Blais (RR 2, Magog, Canada J1X 3W3) has just had her 70-page, 165 references lit review published in French by the Montreal U; Dept of Androgogy, as L'Education Continue Obligatoire pour Les Professionnels. Chapters focus on definitions, origins, and the evolution of the issue in the U.S., Canada, and Quebec. Madeleine writes that she has just completed her doctoral dissertation at Montreal U: Les Activites Educatives D'Un Groupe D'lnfirmieres de L-Estrie. "This research, like several others conducted in the USA (with pharmacists, engineers, etc.), shows that professionals, in order to remain up-to-date, spend from 213 to 685 hours per year in professional learning activities of all types. That's a lot more than the MCE laws require. I always felt, and now more than ever before, that most adults don't need to be pushed to learn."
"Shoulds" VS "Rights"?
(1) "Knowles' first guideline for adult ed is that it should be voluntary." (2) "Knowles:
'Society is exercising its right to adequate professional services by making continuing ed mandatory.'" The first Knowles quote is from "Computer Competency" by Joyce and Robert Killian in the Sept 1983 issue of Lifelong Learning. The second from "Making MCE Work" by Malcolm Knowles in the Fall 1982 issue of the Journal of Real Estate Ed.
The first article was sent us by its co-author Joyce Killian with the note: "I thought the enclosed might be of some interest." The second, was sent by Dave Williams (now at St. Xavier College in Chicago) with this note: "I get a real charge out of Knowles' mealy-mouthed crap."
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION
By Johnny Ohliger
This past summer I taught a weeklong graduate seminar in adult ed at Penn State U, in association with Susan Hunt. Several of the efforts of the seminar participants should be of interest to ST readers. Please write them directly if you would like copies or further info.
As a result of our discussions of mutual experiences and of the works of Ivan Illich, Lao Tzu, and others, Patricia Hannon (2 Carriage Rd., New Cumberland, PA 17070) wrote a poem:
They say to pursue and acquire education is
The tool for excellence!
The zeal to strive, reach out, and
Grasp recognition and honor.
Time limits and stress become partners –
Direction rushes toward one path.
The path to develop, specialize, computerize.
Recognize your potential.
Become a professional!
Life goes on ... all around us.
No time to stop - appreciate the beauty,
Smell the rose or meditate, renew the soul, examine feelings
To experience, what the senses allow, Communicate with nature and humankind....
There's a lot more to Pat's poem so write her if you want to know how it comes out.
Carol Cooley (216 Spring St., Williamsport, PA 17701) reported on her, at times frustrating and hilarious, attempts to find out what the position of the National Education Association (NEA) is on MCE. After ten (!) phone calls it still wasn't clear- Ask for her paper "One Member's Interpretation of the NEA's Position on MCE."
Diane Brown (115 W. Lincoln Ave., Robesonia, PA 19551) quizzed her fellow co-op extension agents on their views concerning MCE. All opposed it for people in their work, but some favored it for other professionals, and some believed they themselves were already caught in MCE through the internal rank and promotion system.
Social worker Larry Miller (RD 4, Box 238, Wellsboro, PA 16901) did a fascinating paper explaining his negative feelings about those who write in opposition to MCE: "Are most authors writing under the publish or perish edict? Is it more rewarding to oppose MCE and ignore the dismal state of public ed for children in the U.S.? I think so." Larry raises very important questions. If "publish or perish' is a kind of MCE for academics, of what value are their diatribes against MCE written under those pressures? Shouldn't those opposed to MCE for adults be examining their views on compulsory ed for children?
Ezequial Benedicto (c/o Gordon Godbey, Rackley Bldg., Penn State U, UNIV Pk, PA 16802) noted a disturbing discovery made during his summer international travels. The Pink Floyd rock song "Another Brick in the Wall" has been banned from the radio in parts of Sweden, South Africa, and possibly its native habitat, England. Here's the complete text of that song:
"We don't need no education,
We don't need no thought control.
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
Teacher, leave those kids alone.
All in all it's just another brick in the wall."
Finally, as I look back on the seminar the most inspiring part of it was the participation and then the seven page, personal but footnoted, letter of Dehra Shafer (1468 Harris St., State College, PA 16801). The combination of her healthy, strong, but serenely held personal and social concerns came through very vividly as she told of her experience with her husband starting a very successful environmental magazine, The Pennsylvania Naturalist. As its circulation grew to impressive proportions so did its debts, until they felt forced to discontinue publication and take jobs to pay off the bills, which they're still doing. People with the warm spirit of the Shafers are a beacon to us all. They were not defeated by their apparent "failure," but continue to nurture and hone their ideals in their daily work,
POLITICAL ECONOMY & ADULT ED
While attending a conference at Highlander this past spring, ST interviewed Budd Hall about a "political economy of adult education" course with which he has been associated for the past four years at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). This "student learner-centered" course emerged out of discussions with a number of graduate students who were interested in exploring how political and economic structures impinge on adult education. How, for example, do government and funding relate to who spends what and for what kind of programs? How can adult educators help and work with people to whom traditional adult ed programs aren't directed? Planned by the students themselves, the course has differed each year according to the interests and experience of the participants. Those who have graduated form an informal "political economy group" which keeps the course honest to its original intentions and lobbies against efforts to routinize or co-opt the course. Additionally, the group provides an ongoing network of adult educators who are interested in the continuing discussion of these issues, as they go about their work in government departments, community colleges, churches and other institutions.
If any of our readers would be interested in learning more, we can provide a copy of the transcription of the interview or a copy of the cassette tape (which runs about 20 minutes) at cost. Or contact Budd. Hall directly at Participatory Research Project, 29 Prince Arthur, Toronto, CANADA M5R 1B2. (Art Lloyd)
PUBLICATIONS
Who Are Walter Truett Anderson?
The name Walter Truett Anderson is attached to two new books, both eminently worthwhile buying, reading, and discussing: Rethinking Liberalism (NY: Avon Books - a Discuss paperback, 1983, $4.95) & The Upstart Spring: Esalen and the American Awakening (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1983, $11.95 in paperback).
While the first is heavily intellectual, rational, and politically oriented; the second is psychological, spiritual, and personally oriented. There is probably only one Walter Truett Anderson, but perhaps ha has the same difficulty integrating the political and the personal many of us have.
Anderson edited Rethinking Liberalism and wrote a sparkling intro to 13 chapters exploring the basis for new political perspectives by such thoughtful writers as Rollo May, Ted Roszak, Richard J. Barnett, and Christian Bay. It gives new hope to all who call themselves liberal adult educators.
His Upstart Spring chronicles the history of a very important adult ed activity in which he was personally involved as a participant and leader. The Esalen Institute at Big Sur in Northern California became the mecca for, and a fount of, the human potential and humanistic psychology movements throughout the world. The book is filled with fascinating stories about the likes of Abraham Maslow, Paul Tillich, Fritz Peris, Aldous Huxley, and Alan Watts. It pulls no punches and concludes: "Esalen has produced much joy, much peace, much healing, some despair, a lot of excitement, a good measure of foolishness, and no small amount of hubris. It is a mixed blessing, but a blessing nonetheless." (JO)
Mark Satin Is Back!
Mark Satin, the author of the modern classic, New Age Politics, has just raised enough funds to start a new newsletter - New Options. The Board of Advisors includes: Fritjof Capra (The Tao of Physics), Petra Kelly (West Germany's Green Party), Francis Moore Lappe (Diet for a Small Planet), John Naisbitt (Megatrends), Carl Rogers, and Ted Roszak. INFO: PQ Box 19324, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 822-0939.
What Is Certification, Teacher?
"Certification is the way teachers protect themselves from having to know anything," says John McKnight, Professor of Urban Affairs, Northwestern University. John says that in an interview we've just run across in the spunky journal Resurgence (Nov-Dec 1982, pp. 10-13) INFO: John McKnight, 2040 Sheridan Rd, Rm 22, Evanston, IL. 60201.
Mr. Reagan’s Chowder
"Who Put the Question Marks in Mr. Reagan's Chowder?" is the title of a talk delivered by John Ohliger of Basic Choices to a conference of adult educators in the Chicago area on Oct 28, 1983.
The topic was the sensational report, A Nation at Risk, recently issued by President Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education. This report has been the focus for innumerable articles, editorials, TV programs, political speeches and debates.
Send us a dollar and we'll send you a copy of the 11-page text which includes a five page, 60 item reference and footnote section. Or send us five bucks and we'll throw in a tape of the talk with Phyllis Cunningham's sardonic introduction.
"The Pathology of Service"
Remember John Holt's remark, "The Helping Hand strikes again'"? Ivan Illich, John Mc- Knight, and others have also pointed to the frequently harmful effects from trying to "do good." But guess who was making such statements almost 60 years ago? The "hard-boiled" author of such enduring novels as The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain, that's who.
Cain's article appeared in the Nov. 1925 issue of The American Mercury, H.L. Mencken's magazine. "The Pathology of Service" is a novel attempt to come to grips with such early symptoms of the disease infecting people he calls "Servists" as the Prohibition Amendment and the law forbidding the teaching of evolution in Tennessee. Cain denies (contrary to Mencken) that such foolish rigidities were the work of boobs, rubes, or government job seekers. Instead he lays the blame at the door of those who combine a strong desire for dramatic heroism with a single minded belief in the idea of Progress. This is well worth resurrecting and discussing. Let us know what you think. (JO)
Indian Ed For the Rest of Us?
"Real education means education for collective survival. But education today means creating objects - taking human raw material and creating some kind of functional object." So begins Wilf Pelletier, "a wise man and an Odawa Indian storyteller," in Metamorphosis (July 1983) published by the Alternative Growth Institute, 205 Pretoria Ave., Ottawa, Canada K1S 1X1. .
"The Three I's of Indian Ed: Intuition, Imagination, Insight" is the title of one of the articles in the October 1983 issue of The Tarrytown Letter totally devoted to Indian life. This newsletter is a publication of "The Tarrytown Group, A Forum for New Ideas," founded by Margaret Mead and others (PO Box 509,' West Haven, CT 06516).
In Recognition of Culture
This is an unabashed plug for a work we consider important, by a friend and collaborator we appreciate and admire. Specifically you are urged to obtain the 140-page In Recognition of Culture: A Resource Guide for Adult Educators About Women of Color, compiled by Sudie Hofmann at Florida State University.
In Sudie's words: "The guide is an outcome of my attempt to enlighten myself and other adult educators about racism, sexism, and cultural issues within the field. The only way an adult educator can be an effective instructor is to 'learn how to learn' about someone's reality - their backgrounds and beliefs."
First the guide presents six powerful cultural narratives by women of color on American Indian, Black, Haitian, Hispanic, Indochinese, and peasant women. Then follows over 2,200 complete listings of personal and group contacts and bibliographic references for each of the six groups plus these topics: Displaced Homemakers; English As a Second Language; Literacy; Non-Formal Ed; Sex Equity; Women and Adult Ed; & Migrant, Refugee, Rural, and Southern Women. What is very helpful is that the 2,200 listings are divided by topic so that plowing through an unmanageable list is unnecessary.
This guide provides a celebration of cultural diversity and an affirmation of solidarity among people who share their experiences and insights to create a workable model of network building. INFO: John Lawrence, Bureau Chief, Adult & Community Ed, FL Dept of Ed, Knott Bldg, Tallahasee, FL 32301, (904) 488-8201. (TT)
Many-To-Many & Multilogue
The idea of people networking thru the exchange of duplicated letters thru a central point goes back in history at least as far as the Revolutionary War in the U.S. when "Committees of Correspondence" were formed. Two of the most recent ones we're involved in focus on adult ed and social concerns: Multilogue, % Seth Horwitz, 4713 Windsor Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143; and Many-To-Many On Lifelong Learning, % Gerry Hanberry, Rt. 8, Box 317-D, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 471-1681. The Many- To-Many is associated with Robert Theobald's. "Action Linkage" and "Communications Era Task Force." Write Seth and Gerry for info on how you can link up. We recommend them both and even suggest the two might join together. (JO)
Gandhi, Marx, Schumacher, Freire, & Illich
Shashi Pandey edits the excellent newsletter Development Update. In the latest issue he achieves the impossible: condensing the ideas of Gandhi, Marx, Schumacher, Freire, and Illich into less than half a page each. If you don't believe it can be done contact Shashi at 415 W. Gilman, #418, Madison, WI 53703.
The Tao of Adult Education
"Tao" is an "in" word these days. There are at least 15 books on the market with "The Tao of" in the title including The Tao of Physics, The Tao of Sex, and The Tao of Cooking.
John Ohliger and Tappy Turner of Basic Choices have each contributed articles on this theme to the latest issue of The Learning Connection (Dec. 1983-Jan- 1984). Tappy's is a review of the delightful new introduction to the original ancient Taoists, Lao Tzu and Chuangtse. The Tao of Pooh (New York: Penguin Books, 1983).
John's is a brief overview linking the work of Lao Tzu (translated more times than any book but the Bible) with the modern movement called "New Age" or "Transformational^' which looks differently at questions of learning, power, freedom, feelings, and scale. Send us a self- addressed, stamped envelope and we'll mail you the two articles. Include a couple bucks and we'll throw in 20 pages of selections drawn from 19 of the many versions of Lao Tzu dealing with the theme "Learning How to Unlearn," plus a five page annotated reading list.
Ethnography & Basic Choices
Tim Turner has recently completed his master's thesis in the Univ. of WI Continuing and Vocational Ed Dept. It's called An Ethnography of Alternatives Today. Though the thesis is based on an extensive study and series of interviews at Basic Choices, ethnographic principles are observed through the use of fictional names. Copies are available of this 110 page work at cost by writing Tim at Basic Choices.
The Sane Alternative
Bucky Fuller 'called the first edition "comprehensively considerate." Hazel Henderson says it's "Indispensable. A rare combination of important new theory and practical guidance."
That was in 1978. Now James Robertson, editor of Turning Point, has published a new, completely revised and much expanded edition of The Sane Alternative: A Choice of Futures. The 150-page paperback is available for 2.95 British pounds. We don't know how much that is in dollars but ask your bank and send the bucks to James Robertson, Spring Cottage, 9 New Road, Shropshire TF8 7AU, England. The extensive bibliography and references alone are worth several dollars. (JO)
Will the Real Jack London Please Stand Up?
That was the title of a small book handed out at an October dinner celebrating the many years of service to adult ed of Professor Jack London, University of California-Berkeley. The booklet details Jack's full life from school dropout to radical adult educator. May his tribe increase!
Help for Teachers: Filmstrip Review Learning Packaged To Go
(Following is a review of "The Other End of the Corridor," a 30-minute filmstrip with audio, produced by the Boston Women's Teachers' Group, P.O. Box 169, W. Somerville, MA 02144. Rental, $50; purchase, $150. Reviewer: John McFadden, School of Education, Cal. State U., Sacramento.)
At last, something which is both politically progressive and useable with real teachers. "Corridor" starts from some of the concerns of average teachers and proceeds to give hope about the possibilities of change for the better. The authors teach that there are things which can be done by teachers themselves to improve their lot. In fact, keeping in the system and garnering support through alliances with burnt out or burning out teachers "at the other end of the corridor" is explicitly encouraged. The main points of "Corridor" follow:
1. Teacher stress is an institutionally derived problem, not a result of individual personality failures.
2. Teachers are described by professional journals as being "burned out" rather than as repressing their anger.
3. Schools prepare students for adulthood while viewing their teachers as incapable of mature judgment.
4. The competitive structure of schools causes teachers to see each other as the major obstacles for positive change.
5. A series of divisions within the school staff has created an increasingly hierarchical and segmented work force.
6. Solutions offered often focus on the individual and the expectation that if she or he could become a "superteacher" or work under a "superadministrator" all problems would be solved.
7. Solutions to individual stress can only come about through institutional change of the structure of schools initiated by a cooperative process. (7 points from the "Workshop Guide.")
The filmstrip is the result of 25 interviews with women teachers. The interviews, in turn, are the result of an attempt by the Boston Women's Teachers' Group to make sense of their own lives as committed teachers who tried to put into effect the reform ideas of '60's innovators like John Holt, Jonathan Kozol, and Herb Kohl. Their summary of these innovators:
"Out of the despair of these authors emerged a hope that the efforts of people such as themselves could create a human enclave for children within a hostile environment." The Boston teachers also note, "However, it was up to the individual teacher." The filmstrip argues that the emphasis on the individual superteacher doesn't help teachers solve the problems of isolation, their own fierce anger, self-blame for failures and eventual despair, the "teacher burnout" syndrome.
The technical quality of the filmstrip is excellent. The graphics are marvelous and the sound absolutely clear. Even though it is a filmstrip, it rivets attention and moves as fast as if it were a movie. The authors also deserve praise for their use of extended quotes from the interviews...the words of practicing classroom teachers will engage the attention of other teachers.
"Corridor" is highly recommended for teachers working in the public school system. It is ideal for in-service meetings and is the sort of tool which committed teachers could purchase, learn to use, and then present to school districts.
A word of caution: The power of the filmstrip is not felt without discussion and follow-up on the part of the teachers who view it. A discussion leader is essential. Excellent materials in the form of a "Discussion Guide" and "Workshop Guide" are available with the A-V package and provide material for the self-training of the discussion leader.
Those who will not see the filmstrip but want to read excerpts from the interviews, plus the argument about teacher burnout, can find it in print. "The Other End of the Corridor: The Effect of Teaching on the Teacher," by the Boston Women's Teachers' Group in Radical Teacher, No. 23, available at the above address for $3.
Learning Packaged To Go
There's so much just plain crap on the market purporting to "package" staff development materials (audio, video, etc.) that it's heartening news to report a good friend of ours has finally come out with the essential "crap-detector." Independent ed consultant Barbara Conroy has just finished Learning Packaged To Go: A Directory and Guide to Staff Development and Training Packages. $65 from Oryx Press, 2214 N. Central, Phoenix, AZ 85004. The price seems a teensy-weensy bit high for a 225- page paperback, Barbara. But if you can raise the consciousness of the staff developers while at the same time lightening their wallets, more power to you.
"Schooling Is Breaking Down..."
Reform of process, more than reform of access and content is the focus of efforts today in both the alternative and mainstream of education, writes prominent educational critic Ian Lister in the English Journal of the National Organization for Initiatives in Social Ed (Summer 1983). Lister concludes that guidelines are necessary because "Traditional schooling is breaking down for many reasons. Two important reasons are the school's weakness as a transmitter of ideology (in the early 20th century it was the main transmitter of ideology) and its inability to prepare a labor-force for an uncertain industrial future."
Peace Ed in the Strangest Places!
Here's a quote from a mystery novel. Passing Strange (New York: Doubleday, 1981, p. 112) by the ingenious English writer Catherine Aird:
"His sermon was to have been preached on the Gospel of St. MATTHEW, Chapter Five, verse five: 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' He had gone back to the possibilities of the meek inheriting the earth. There was the eminently tenable theory that the tribes which lived in the Kalahari Desert in Africa might well be the sole survivors of nuclear holocaust because they lived in the world's only totally windless zone. That might one day hold water. "
A Dim View of Church Ed
In terms of priorities further ed for the clergy "is close to the bottom. It is poor comfort to observe that it is not the bottom layer, for the lowest stratum is theological ed for lay adults, the most profoundly neglected ed enterprise in most churches." This is a bit drawn from "Continuing Ed in the Church Ed System: A Dim View," by Barbara Wheeler, President of Auburn Theological Seminary (3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027). The full text appears in the seminary's Auburn News (Spring 1983). Thanks to Ed Beers of Madison Campus Ministry for sending us this.
Ah-Hah! From GATT-Fly
AH-HAH! A New Approach to Popular Ed is a delightful handbook with a fresh approach to student-oriented ed. The idea for the 60 page book was formulated by GATT-Fly, a project of Canadian churches designed to promote solidarity with activist organizations in the Third World. $3.95 from CUSO Development Ed, 151 Slater St., Ottawa, Canada KIP 5H5. (Faye P).
Alberta Alternatives
In the Canadian province of Alberta researchers have been lately coming up with alternative perspectives:
Hayden Roberts at U of Alberta Extension (Corbett Hall, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2G4) recently completed a government funded study on the educational pursuits of Albertans "designed to help learners explore alternative values, lifestyles, etc." Hayden has presented brief versions of this study at conferences but welcomes your requests for the complete report. Looks like a very practical document!
At the U of Calgary, H.K. Baskett has co-authored an article pointing to the need for alternative views on Continuing Professional Ed. It's called "Discrepancies Between Intentions and Practice: Re-Examining Some Basic Assumptions About Adult & Continuing Professional Ed" (International Journal of Lifelong Ed, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 143-155).
WORKERS' RIGHTS ED IN HOLLAND
[Ed Note: The following article was sent us by Peter Meijer, Dutch sociologist/teacher, following a visit to Madison last summer. The quotation is from an English theater group, "1:84" (1% of the people owns 84% of the wealth.) Peter can be reached at: % KGCA, Vizelstraat 77, 1017 HG Amsterdam, Holland:]
"They say society is equal, just and fair,
You are learning the world's reality
As you're fighting to get your share."
Is it possible to train people how to fight for their jobs, how to defend their interests? Is it possible to teach people "the world's reality"? What is the teacher's position in this process? This article is on the training of workers' councils in the Netherlands and will deal with some questions in adult education.
Workers Councils
Every firm that employs more than 35 people is by law obliged to have a "workers council," consisting of people working in that firm (not including management) and elected by the workers. Membership varies from 5 to 25 depending on the firm's size. Elections are held every two or three years. For any decision concerning reorganization, lay offs, big investment, moving/closing/expanding the firm, management must ask the council for advice. If the council says "no," carrying out the decision is postponed for 30 days, during which period the council may go to court. If management, for example, used improper procedures or failed to give sufficient information or time, the judge may rule that the whole process has to be started all over again.
On matters more directly related to working conditions, the council has more power. If the council says "no" to a management proposal, then management has to go to court to fight that decision. Furthermore, the council most be provided information they reasonably need for their work. Facilities and other assistance like printing and telephones must also be provided.
The council meets at least six-times a year by itself and six times a year with management. Each council member has a legal minimum of 60 hours/year - during working hours and fully paid - to carry out their work. Councils per se do not make Dutch firms democratic nor are they a step towards "workers' control." However they can be a means of defending one's interests and participation can be a very important experience for individual members.
By law the councils have a right to 5 days of training and education a year. Every firm [This interesting article continues for another 112 lines, which we just don't have room for. Write us and we'll mail you a free copy of the whole article.]
HELP YOURSELF, PROGRESSIVE, & US
You can help yourself, subscribe to Progressive magazine, and get $3.00 for Basic Choices with one letter. Progressive is the famed magazine that blew the whistle on the fact that there is no secret to the H-Bomb and was censored by the government for its truth-telling. The magazine runs a Community Outreach Project for groups like ours. If you subscribe we get a $3.00 donation from them. If you're interested in a free sample copy so you can decide without cost or risk, just write Terry Testolin, Development Asst, The Progressive, 409 E. Main, Madison, WI 53703. Tell him Basic Choices sent you.
Our thanks to the 202 ST readers who were contacted in a phone campaign by The Progressive. 97 of you requested a sample copy and 22 have already responded with a subscription. Terry tells us that this response was very good and that "most people on the ST list we contacted were cordial."
WAR AGAINST ILLITERATES
"The war against illiteracy seems to be gradually turning into a surreptitious, undeclared war against the illiterates themselves," writes Majid Rahnema in a recent UNESCO publication (UJISLAA, Vol. IV, No. 3, 1982, pp. 151-158). We'll be glad to send you a copy of this important article for one dollar.
Rahnema is the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Mali. Since 1975 he has been raising this concern at UNESCO headquarters and elsewhere. See the publication of the International Foundation for Development Alternatives, IFDA Dossier, #31, Sept-Oct 1982, pp. 3-15, available in French from IFDA, 2, Place du Marche, 1260 Nyon, Switzerland.
This fall Rahnema was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford U's School of Ed. The October 1983 issue of The Learning Connection quotes Paul Taylor, prof. of adult ed at Kansas State U, as expressing concern "that the war on illiteracy could turn itself into a war on illiterates. When you hate the disease, you treat the results, not the cause."
ST has been calling attention to this war with articles on MCE for illiterates in several issues including Oct 1980 & May 1982.
OUR MASTHEAD
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), professionalism, and other forms of social control.
With this issue ST suspends publication. See story page 1. Paid up subscribers will receive The Learning Connection, the monthly magazine of LERN (Learning Resources Network), 1221 Thurston, Manhattan, KS 66502.
This issue of ST is mainly due to the work of Kristin Hellend, Art Lloyd, Newsletter Press (Beth Horning and Ralph McCall), John Ohliger, Faye Pietrokowsky, and Tim Turner. Thanks for the last minute help on the July issue to Judy Delvoye, Tom Heaney, and Marc Peterson.
ST is published by Basic Choices, Inc., a Midwest Center for Clarifying Political and Social Options, 1121 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53715, 608-256-1946. Members of the group are John Hill, Vincent Kavaloski, David Lisman, Art Lloyd, Sue Lloyd, Mark McFadden, John Ohliger, and Vern Visick. It is also a project in values clarification of Madison Campus Ministry. For Basic Choices to continue, we need your support, concern, comments, criticisms, suggestions, and tax-deductible gifts.
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