Messages From U

Messages from U

To Raul and David

here's what I wrote. i'm calling it done for now but i would like to see it turn into a real research paper with more context and personal insight...please tell me what ya think when you get a chance. (i suppose you guys are about gone for break now, as i will be in a few hours...)

happy solstice. and thanks for the great class.

jesse

Mostly Freire, a little Buddha

by jesse miller

I.
Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a handbook for revolution. Freire analyzes oppression and the steps that occur in the transition to a more egalitarian situation. The book is dense and juicy, no words used unnecessarily, which makes the reading slow but rewarding. I feel like I could read it ten more times and get something new each time. The below is what seemed important to me on this first journey through Freire. The oppressor is living a lie. He is not free because his existance is materialistic--to him, "to be is to have," and in his eyes, everything is an object, something to be taken and used for his benefit. The oppressor exists only through his possessions, and thus he has no authentic existance. Since possessions know no love, he experiences no love. Since the oppressor is obviously suffering within his suffocating cage of materialism, it becomes clear that revolution is actually an act of love for the oppressor as well as the oppressed. But before revolution can occur, we must understand the plight of the oppressed. After a person is constantly treated as worthless and stupid, he begins to believe it. When oppression becomes a person's reality, then the oppression becomes internalized within, and she begins to buy into the lie that she is intrinsically less valuable than the oppressor. Once people believe in the oppressive system, they begin to enforce the system on each other, taking on the role of sub-oppressor. "Submerged in reality...and chafing under the restrictions of this order, they often manifest a type of horizontal violence, striking out at their own comrades for the pettiest reasons." People who are deeply submerged in a system of oppression often long to become oppressors themselves, seeing this as the path out of their own oppression. The Internalization of oppression keeps the oppressive cycle going. People who have internalized oppression cannot work for liberation because they do not recognize the oppressor as seperate from themselves and they are afraid of freedom. Before change can occur, the oppressed must realise that they are oppressed. Thus, revolutionary leaders must bust out the pedagogy, also known as mad dialogue about the existential situation of the oppressed folks. Carrying out this dialogue requires faith in the oppressed. Without this faith, it the would-be leader will fall into monologue, addressing the people as objects, which would accomplish nothing but more dehumanization of the oppressed. In order to understand why open authentic dialogue is so essential to the process of liberation, we must analyze traditional educational methodology. The traditional teacher-student relationship denies the humanity of all involved parties. Students are treated as receptacles for information and the teacher's role is fill them with knowledge. Reality is presented to the students as a cold, motionless set of facts. In Freire's words, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing...in stead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This the 'banking' concept of education..." This system is based on the assumption that the students are completely ignorant; this projection of absolute ignorance onto the masses is a recurring theme within systems of oppression and is used by the oppressors to justify their domination. Besides the oppression inherent in the banking method of teaching, the presented facts themselves are often propaganda which deny the reality of the oppressed students. An example of this in the present would be a white professor teaching black kids about African History from a Eurocentric perspective and then discounting their opinions. Revolutionary thought does not develop in a classroom where the oppressor's ideas are taught--it develops from the bottom up, through the oppressed discussing their existential situation. Thus, liberated education is free from hierarchy; it is people communicating with each other on a common plane. Liberated education occurs when the teachers and students step back from their distinct roles and realise that both parties will learn and grow through the dialogical process of education; for this to happen, the teacher must have faith in the students and their ability. Liberated Education, by posing problems in a context of reality, leads to cognition and critical thinking--not just the transfer of facts and the banking perspective of a motionless, disconnected reality, which further alienates the students. In revolutionary work, the idea of "winning people over" for the cause of the revolution is fundamentally flawed because authentic revolutionary work begins by identifying the needs of the people, and "winning people over" means telling people what they need. Since many revolutionary leaders come from a background in the dominating class and have been educated with banking methods, it is all too easy for them to fall back into banking-style dictation, which will, if anything, work against their purposes. This is a crucial point. Revolutionary leaders must be aware of this.
"The People must be authors of their own liberation;" revolutionary leaders cannot carry out the revolution for them, making them objects, continuing the oppression. Only thorugh dialogue comes education, and thus a transformation of reality--revolution.

II. connections
I read Osho's book Courage: the Joy of Living Dangerously at the same time that I was reading Pedagogy of thed Oppressed and this led me to start thinking about connections between Freire's ideas and Eastern philosophy. The first time this occured to me was when I relised that Freire says "revolution is love" and Osho says "love is revolution." (Those aren't necessarily direct quotes.) Courage is a necessity for liberating pedagogy: you have to have courage to break out of the cold, suffocating banking system. It takes courage to open yourself to another and communicate as two humans. There are some other basic connections:
In both Freire's philosophy and Buddhism, no one can liberate anyone but himself. Freire makes it clear that an effort to liberate someone else will actually just objectify that person; real liberation occurs through
solidarity--and each person must realise the need for liberation and work to make it happen. In Buddhism, you must look at your own mind in order to reach peace; no one else is in your head so no one else can do it. Osho writes about the importence of not letting prayer become a monoluge, a meaningless repetition of words: "Religions, organized churches, have destroyed prayer. They have given you ready-made prayers. Prayer is a
spontaneous feeling...Bring love into prayer. It is a beautiful thing, a dialogue with the universe..." This is straight-up Freire, it seems to me--institutions have removed the authenticity of our existance, and through dialogue we can reclaim this joy. A final connection is that Freire says that dialogue can't happen without
love, humility, hope and faith in human kind. This strikes me as Buddhism's loving kindness, a means for transforming reality.

III. reflection
Learning about "liberating education" and systems of oppression through Freire's work has been extremely rewarding for me. I now have language to describe the emotions and thoughts that I could never put into words. In high school, for example, I knew that something was horribly wrong with the system, but since I couldn't complete my thoughts, I half believed that maybe I was the problem...maybe I had some attention defecit disorder, or maybe I was just stupid. The truth was, I was a victim of an oppressive system. (An important note: I as a white male was, comparatively, one of the least victimized people in that incredibly racist, classist, and sexist environment.)
This class was tough for me to adjust to, especially at the beginning. Now I don't blame myself so much for my frustrations; I realise that I am coming out of thirteen years of indoctrination--the dark, cold world of passive mindless loveless "education." Of course it takes some time to reclaim my humanity and realise that I can learn without a teacher ordering me around. At the beginning of the year, I was angry--how can these so-called teachers not tell us what to do!? Funny that, because I was not used to being treated respsectfully by teachers, I mistook it at first for disrespect. I know that someday soon I will likely be back in a classroom that is somewhat more "banking"-oriented. Now, though, I fell like I will be better able to deal with the system...more able to retain my humanity. I have a better understanding now of why I am at school. I realise now that I am pursuing this education for myself, not to impress some teacher, and I will never again waste my time satisfying requirements when the work does not inspire passion in me. The other big thing I got out of Freire was a better understanding of the politics of oppression...both in my own daily life and on the larger level of society. With a basic understanding of how oppression works and perpetuates, I feel comfortable enough now to begin exploring issues of racism and sexism, which obviously involves sometimes-uncomfortable introspection--something that I was afraid to deal with before now.

"Every lesson is the first lesson. Every time we dance, we do it for the first time. It does not mean we forget what we already know.

It means that what we are doing is always new, because we are always doing it for the first time." - Al Chung Liang Huang The Dancing Wu Li
Masters By Gary Zukav
"Whatever he does, he does with the enthusiasm of doing it for the first time. This is the source of his unlimited energy. Every
lesson that he teaches (or learns) is a first lesson. Every dance he dances, he dances for the first time. It is always new, personal, and
alive." - Gary Zukav The Dancing Wu Li Masters

To learn about liberation, and libratory education a student must learn about oppression. To challenge what is socially expectable education at
the same time providing a learning environment saturated with substance and opportunity, to trust and support students, and to believe one
hundred percent in what students are doing is what it means to be a faculty member in a student centered program. The flexibility to
swiftly coordinate subject-to-subject, theory to praxis and practice is what it means to be a faculty member in a student centered program. The
genuineness to always start with the first lesson, to courageously identify with students as equals and to allow the dialogical curriculum
of the students to emerge naturally without force, is what it means to be a faculty member in a student centered program.
Mr. Raul Nakasone quickly deconstructed the student teacher dichotomy from the first day of class with an authenticity that maintained
consistent throughout the entire year. Raul boldly commits himself to student centered learning with truly liberating pedagogy. Raul makes
intellectual invitations to his students to exercise their higher level thinking skills. Raul has made a point of not getting in the way of
students learning but finding a way to coordinate his knowledge and wisdom in a compassionate way with the emerging curriculum of the
students

        The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Raul is patience and kindness. Raul always makes himself available, he is an
excellent communicator, and is very easy to get in contact with. He regularly stays after class to speak with students, and always listens
attentively to students so that he can support them with whatever they are doing. He is very active in creating a learning community that is
rich in knowledge and is based upon freedom, the process of liberation, history, cultural pedagogy, and praxis; the action of reflection. Raul
is dedicated to his students and spends many weekends on campus making sure student's needs are being met.
        By creating the bridge program Raul and his faculty team created the most successful Native American studies program. The bridge
program connected History: A Celebration of Place with the Reservation Based Community Determined program creating cultural and educational
opportunities unique only to Evergreen. Students were given to opportunity to critically think about previous educational agendas, and
to go beyond learning about cultures, to learn from and with cultures other then their own.
            Students of Raul's become masters of their own thinking. They learn the value of curriculum development, and instruction.
Students become administrators of their own education while being immersed in an environment rich in culture, direction, and
opportunities. Mr. Raul Nakasone is commited to student centered learning. His abundance of knowledge greatly enriches the learning enviroment. He empowers students and gives them the opportunity to take their education beyond modern conventions. He is truly a great asset to The Evergreen State College.

From John Winslow

To: Yvonne, David, Raul and Phil
My Dear Faculty of MITY2K,

I miss you guys . . .

Since "breaking camp" I've been hired in the Yelm School District and have had two somewhat successful years teaching in the 4th and 5th grades. (This year is also going by well.) That said, I must also inform you that
I've wanted to quit this *#$!^!! profession about 400 times now. Not so much because of the kids, but because of all the other crap that you guys tried warning us about.

Anyway, I finally received my real diploma from MIT just the other day, and I thought I'd share it with you below.

There was alot of negative "stuff" said about our program at the end its cycle -- I agreed with some of it, but most of it was very petty. Personally, I think TONAL was a wonderful experiment because I know my own reality, which is this:
Before coming to MIT2000, I was not a teacher. When I left, I felt as though I knew enough about myself that I could honestly teach from my heart without hurting a student. I don't know if that makes sense, but it's the only way I know how to put it. I'm in my classroom right now as I type this: My camp stake is inches behind me on the wall. It reminds me of you; It reminds me of the potential of raven medicine. (Thanks, David, for sharing that with us.)

Just thought I'd let you know: You may not have reached all of us those two years . . . but you reached me. You also reached others, as evidenced in my "diploma" below.

Be steadfast in your ways, Teachers: You taught well.

John
MIT2000

PS: Here's the diploma . . . I don't feel like quitting the profession today.

Dear Mr. Winslow:

We wonder if you know how much our daughter, Valerie, has benefited from your teaching last year. She has excelled in her sixth grades classes this year and has become a leader and aide to her classmates. The months you encouraged her to excel and challenged her to succeed has implanted into her personality that she will carry with her the rest of her life. Granted, she has had some excellent teachers but I have seen a big change in Valerie this past year. She has taken on responsibility with a very caring and loving attitude.

I attended a state education conference last month and one keynote speaker made us think back in time of a mentor/teacher that has influenced our personal life. I had a hard time thinking of one of my childhood teachers,
but you came to mind immediately with Valerie. When she is 40 years old and does this type of mental exercise she will immediately think of you. One activity in particular you encouraged her in was the Tar Wars poster She turned it in to the state, and actually won 3rd place. It was printed on this magazine (I've attached) that went out to hundreds of doctors across the state. It will be printed in various forms and distributed throughout this year. We are very proud of Valerie's accomplishments and thank you for taking the time, energy and caring concern for your students. You have touched our hearts by the quality of your teaching and your authentic love for your students. You are a great teacher! We admire and appreciate you for the time and attention you gave to our daughter last year.

Sincerely,

Shelly & Ed Blocker

          Seven months ago I had the incredible opportunity of traveling to Peru for winter and spring quarters. This was one of those life-changing experiences that few people can relate to. My whole life I have wanted to travel to different countries and immerse myself in a new culture; the Patience Program gave me that opportunity. The program allowed me to learn about the Peruvian culture in a way that enabled me to explore my long time passions and dreams for the future.

            I started my trip with a few goals in mind. My main goal was to learn Spanish to an extent where I would be able to communicate without difficulty. This was a constant struggle throughout the trip. At first I could hardly say more then a few words in Spanish, however everyday I learned new words and phrases. Nearing the end of my journey, my Spanish vocabulary increased dramatically. In fact I have been told on several occasions that I speak perfect Spanish. I must admit my Spanish is far from perfect (I still struggle with tenses). Naturally, I am constantly forgetting a word here or there. Overall my Spanish is better then I expected it to be, although I still have room for improvement. Since returning to the states I still use my Spanish on a daily basis.

            Another main goal of mine was to join a volunteer program and make a difference. I ended up volunteering at an orphanage, called Casa De Milagros (House of Miracles) for a few weeks. The orphanage is run by an American woman who visited Peru and wanted to do something about the homeless children living on the streets of Cuzco. So she started an orphanage and now she has over 27 children living with her. I learned a lot from working with these children. These children are very resilient, they have all survived some of the cruelest treatments that humans can endure, and when I worked with them I would have never guessed their past struggles. They are all smiles, as if there was never a time when they didn't live at Casa De Milagros.

            While I was staying at the orphanage there was a big rainstorm the day before Christmas that caused a mountain to slide onto a small village nearby. The people at the orphanage were the first and only help to come to this village's aid. We brought them water, food, warm clothes and bedding. The orphanage also emptied their bank account in order to buy tools for digging out the people trapped in the mud. Luckily only two people died, but the whole village was homeless. I volunteered alongside the people from the orphanage on these trips to deliver supplies, and I contributed what I could. It made me realize just how lucky we are in the United States. If that would have happened here, the government would have stepped in to help, but in South America there is no such security. If your crop fails, you lose your home; if someone in your family is injured or dies, then there is no one who will help you.

            Every year, my friend, Randy travels to a different village, in need of aid in the mountains of Peru. This year I got to accompany Randy on a visit. We took a big bag of children’s clothes and toys to a tiny village isolated in the mountains, that the Peruvian government had forgotten about. Only one person in the whole village spoke Spanish, everyone else spoke the native language of Quechua. We discovered that we were the first white people to ever come to their village. Incidentally, they wanted to make Randy a God Father of the village, he kindly declined the offer. Never the less we were invited as honored guests into a small thatch roofed hut for some lunch.   Even though I am a vegetarian, I decided to take the opportunity to try the Peruvian delicacy, Guinea Pig. Going to such a remote village gave me a different perspective on Peru; I was able to envision how the indigenous Peruvians previously lived before outside influence.

            I have always dreamed of working with Shamans and learning about some of the healing qualities of the plants in Peru, but I never really expected to get the chance. By pure chance I, ended up making friends with an American woman, Victoria, who is studying to become a Shaman. Victoria had a big house and offered me a bedroom to stay in. So, I was able to learn a lot from her about energy, spirits and any other questions I had on the matter. I was also able to work with her plant medicine, San Pedro, which is a cactus that you make into a liquid substance and drink it. It is used throughout Peru as a healing agent.              By living with Victoria I was also able to meet all of her friends, and most of them were Shamans in one way or another. My favorite was a guy from Chili who was more of a natural healer. He worked with the cactus, San Pedro, which connected him strongly to the earth’s energy and vibrations, and he used this energy to heal people of all kinds of aliments. He also knew about all the plants in the region and their healing properties. So I was able to learn a lot from him every time we went into the country. He also knew of some really sacred ruins that very few people knew of, giving me the chance to check out some really incredible places that few people get to see.

            In the past, at Evergreen I have been focusing on Environmental issues, mostly in the US, but touching on world problems. I was hoping to use this knowledge in some way that would make a positive impact. By pure luck I met a very knowledgeable local, named Hernan, who was working on a reforestation project close to town. Hernan was trying to get funding to start replanting native trees in the area and looking for people interested in doing some volunteer work. I jumped on the opportunity, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but at least I would be doing something.

             I had noticed the lack of trees in the area, but had no idea that most of the trees standing were invasive species. Nearly all of the native trees had been cut down and used for firewood, or tools. Hernan was working on making a piece of land into a botanical garden, where you could walk through and learn about the native species. I was only there for the very beginning of his project, and we mostly worked on the native trees that were already on the property. We spent time making the trees look alive and well cared for so the locals wouldn't cut them down. We trimmed them, cut away all of the bushes that were too close and made circles of rocks around them. The main bonus of working with Hernan was that he knew about all the plants and what they were used for. It was good for me to be able to learn about the plants from someone who knew of their healing properties, and someone who knew how the locals used the plants. They were both very different perspectives.

            The few goals above are just a small portion of what I learned and experienced in Peru. Being on my own in a foreign country gave me the chance to discover who I am and what I hold dearest in life. I discovered so much about myself, things that I can't possibly explain. I am now a different person then the timid country girl who left for Peru seven months ago.
Amber

From Paul:

Dear Colleagues,

If after reading this news article you want more information about standardized testing and it's impact on the racial diversity on college campuses, the Office for Equal Opportunity Lending Library has a copy of Frontline's examination of the debate, "The Secrets of the SAT."

This 60 minute program is in VHS format and can be borrowed by contacting Marcia Husseman at ext. 6113.

For a more complete listing of the video resources available through the OEO Lending Library visit our web site at: http://www.evergreen.edu/equalop/ Go to Resources on the left and click on Diversity Videos and Educational Resources.

Test scores will soon be optional at college

Beginning in fall 2006 Galesburg school won't require ACT or SAT

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

By Journal Star Wire Services

GALESBURG - Knox College has become the first national liberal arts college in Illinois - and one of just three in the Midwest - to eliminate standardized test scores as a requirement for admission, officials announced Tuesday.

Beginning with the class applying for the fall of 2006, the submission of SAT or ACT scores will become optional.

"Standardized tests don't measure the qualities we value most in our applicants - intellectual curiosity, creativity, and an eagerness for learning," said Paul Steenis, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission. "We want future students who have excelled in a challenging high school curriculum and who show initiative, leadership and personal maturity."

The college decided to drop the test score requirement after faculty, student and trustee committees examined the issue during the past year. Knox also reviewed research that included a 20-year study by Bates College, where test scores have been optional for the duration of the study. Bates' Vice President William Hiss said last fall that Bates students "earned exactly the same grades, and graduated at exactly the same rates," whether or not they submitted a standardized admission test result.

Knox College President Roger Taylor said today's world has become increasingly obsessed by testing at all levels of education.

"And 'teaching to a test' has often become more important than actually learning something - more important than developing a genuine love of learning," he said. "We decided Knox needed to take a leadership role in reducing the fixation on college admission testing."

Research shows that student performance on tests varies significantly by gender, race and family income. The Bates College study also showed that students from rural areas scored lower on standardized tests but were as successful in college as students from other areas. Despite the efforts by test creators to minimize the discriminatory effects of standardized testing, certain groups of capable students continue to be overlooked by an educational system that places such undue emphasis on test scores.

"High school students can artificially boost their scores on standardized tests by taking expensive cram courses that can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars," Taylor said. "Knox is a highly selective college that is also committed to providing access to a top-notch liberal arts education for all qualified students. The current industry of costly test preparation courses is, in effect, a barrier to college for the students who can't afford them."

Steenis said the recent addition of essay components to the SAT and ACT haven't made them more useful, just more expensive for students. Knox's application already includes an essay and personal interview for most applicants.

Over the past two years, Knox has received record numbers of applications for admission and enrolled some of the largest classes in the college's 168-year history. More than 350 new students are expected to enroll this fall.

The other two Midwest colleges that have dropped the test requirement are Saint Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa, and Lawrence University of Appleton, Wis. Other nationally-ranked colleges include Bowdoin, College of the Holy Cross, Hampshire, Franklin and Marshall, Lewis and Clark, Mount Holyoke, St. John's College and Sarah Lawrence.

<>

From: michael graney [mailto:daemongraney@yahoo.com]
Sent: Fri 5/27/2005 5:34 AM
To: Patience 2004-2005
Subject: [patience] Re: End of year

Hello Raul, David, Gary, Granny, Ethan, Kim, Chalen
et.al!. I miss you and the class...and wish I could
have done this from a locale that was closer....I miss
the conversations we had that first quarter I studied
with you and everyone else. I do my best to apply the
lessons I learned in Recognition and later in
Patience, the things I know about Respect, in my daily
life at this great thing I call work, it is not always
easy.

Today, I set my co-workers loose on the trainees in an
environment that is challenging (Cl III River) and it
is making me nervous- What if I am not there
when...something happens...the river environment needs
such respect, recognition and patience. I find myself
crying a little thinking of the fact that I am really
leaving your program, I miss you all that much.

I am reading a most excellent book just now called
"The Diamond Cutter", or The Buddah on Managing Your
Business and Your Life. To Juxtapose it I am also
reading a book called Confessions of An Economic
Hitman, a terrifying look at corporate abuse of power
in developing nations written by the man who was doing
the hitting.

Oh, I could go on, but really, I need to get to my
desk. Our office computer finally arrived and I can
now get into the eval pages of the evergreen comp
center- I think, I could not get those pages up on my
mac, even when downloading the programs for it.
Something youu might mention to the comp center.

By the way I will not be at graduation as I have had a
postponement on a community hearing until the 8th of
June and simply cannot envision flying to WA on the
9th and back on the 10th...My regards and
congratulations to you all...
Well once again,
gracias por todos Maestros
Michael

RAVEN MEDICINE
Those who carry raven medicine also carry a heavy responsibility to Spirit. Raven is the messenger of magic from the great void where all knowledge waits for us. He is also the symbol of changes in consciousness, of levels of awareness and of perception. He carries the mark of the shape-shifter. He is the carrier of healing energy from distances. Those of you who have asked for messages of light and healing and prayer on this list have asked for raven medicine. What all of this means to us in the modern-day world is that raven medicine gives you the ability to get inside another's head and heart, and to understand them from the inside out, so to speak. You can "become" that other person because of the depth of your understanding of them, and it is not necessary to be in their physical presence for that to happen. Spiritual healers and counsellors who are skilled in their abilities are
using raven power for they have a depth of understanding and empathy not shared by all. Because of this power, they have the ability to actually alter another's perception and behavior. They are able to work real magic in bringing peace, healing and understanding to others. Here is the heavy responsibility, and the dangers, in raven medicine. As
with all things, these powers can be used for dark purposes. It enables the carrier to manipulate and coerce others into doing their will to the detriment of the other. This medicine can be used for selfish and self-serving purposes for the ego and greed of the carrier. Because of the power of the levels in understanding others, a practitioner of the black arts can use raven for destructive purposes.
If you carry raven medicine, you must always use it in the light for the highest and best interests of others. You must use it for the good and well being of others, and never for your own selfish motives even though you may be tempted when times are bad. Raven medicine demands that you walk in the light in all things. That's heavy with responsibility for your own thoughts and deeds.
Work your magic in the light — you are Raven.

From: Paul Przybylowicz [mailto:przybylo@evergreen.edu]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 2:30 PM
To: All Faculty

Subject: Liberal Education

Dear colleagues,

I recently came across this article which I thought others might enjoy reading. It’s both an attachment and within the email
--
Paul Przybylowicz
Lab II, rm 3271
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 "Think critically, America needs the help!"
360.867.6476
przybylo@evergreen.edu

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i03/03b01601.htm

- The text of the article is below - From the issue dated 9/12/2003

A Liberal Education Is Not a Luxury

By MARSHALL GREGORY

A couple of years ago, in one of the "idea of the university" seminars that I regularly direct for professional staff members, I spoke with a recruiter from the admissions office who enthusiastically agreed with everything I had to say about the aims and practices of liberal education but who reported that she hardly mentioned the nature of liberal education in her standard pitch to prospective students and their parents. When I asked why not, she hemmed and hawed and then blurted out: "If we had the luxury of really explaining liberal education to prospective students the way you are explaining it to us, we'd do it -- but we just don't have that luxury. What our students want to hear about is not liberal education, but jobs!"

As we sat there a moment, silently, the line that Emperor Joseph II repeats in the movie Amadeus kept running through my head: "Well, there it is." So helping students get jobs is a necessity, but helping them get a liberal education is a luxury? If that is the case, I thought, then there's not much difference between liberal education and sports teams, exercise centers, campus movies, and ice cream in the cafeteria, is there? Are we willing to live with that trivialization of higher education?

Those of us who spend our careers putting our hearts and souls into liberal education sometimes fail to realize that the most potent threat to the mission we love comes not from outside enemies but from the proponents of liberal education themselves. At universities that focus on the bottom line -- and what university these days does not? -- supporters of liberal education have been on the defensive for so long, they no longer know how to fight prevailing trends. They don't challenge the current orthodoxy that the modern university must go along to get along, especially in relation to marketplace practices and values. Their friends' support is only lukewarm, sometimes no more than lip service, and would vanish if liberal education became powerful enough to threaten others' resources.

The liberal-education rhetoric that developed in the last century is subtly and quietly accommodationist. Often, in fact, it is a rhetoric of silence. It implicitly concedes the strongest ground in any discussion of educational aims to faculty members from professional and preprofessional programs, who love to insist that students' progress should be measured exclusively by grades and skills, and who seem to believe that making lots of money is an imperative somehow woven into the fabric of the universe itself. Such people almost always talk in narrow, instrumental terms about what a student is to do, rather than talk in broad terms about who that student is to be.

The proper response is to point out that students' overriding concern with postgraduation employment is simply misguided. The real danger is not that students will miss out on a job, but that they will miss out on an education. In 35 years of teaching, I have never seen a student who really wanted a job fail to get one after graduation, regardless of his or her major. (The best predictor of students' future incomes is not their college major; it is their parents' incomes.) But I have seen many students fail to get an education because they were fixated on the fiction that one particular major or another held the magical key to financial success for the rest of their lives.

Students' overriding concern should be how to develop as fully as possible their basic human birthright: their powers of imagination, aesthetic responsiveness, introspection, language, rationality, moral and ethical reasoning, physical capacities, and so on. Those are the powers that students must cultivate if they wish to strive for excellence. Moreover, those are the powers that higher education is especially suited to help students hone.

But while many faculty members talk twaddle about accommodating liberal and vocational education -- by which they mean to "accommodate" liberal education all the way outside the city limits where it won't bother anyone -- we liberal educators too often make no response or, worse, make small, meek noises that suggest we will be content with any moldy corner in the university as long as we can, please heaven, just have that corner. I cannot remember the last time I heard any liberal educator bluntly and emphatically challenge the presumptions behind the preprofessional rhetoric of narrow utilitarianism, which always paints itself as simply being realistic (a rhetorical strategy that condescendingly marks liberal educators as people with no proper grasp of reality).

Accommodationist rhetoric began as a coping mechanism to allow liberal education to coexist with burgeoning professional and preprofessional programs. However, coping mechanisms that stay around too long run the risk of becoming dysfunctional. Liberal educators have tried immensely hard to avoid giving offense to the futurists and instrumentalists who increasingly control university programs today. And we have succeeded. We are nothing if not inoffensive. However, our rhetoric of accommodation also makes us seem irrelevant and hopelessly old-fashioned, like the crocheted doilies that my grandmothers placed on every armchair in their homes.

Liberal education should not be about going along to get along. It's not about a genteel frosting of humane learning -- like knowing that Bizet, despite composing Carmen, was French, not Spanish. It's not merely about being well rounded, whatever that cliche means, nor is it about being able to discuss a variety of entertaining topics at cocktail parties. Con men can be well rounded, and fools can be entertaining.

Liberal education is the pursuit of human excellence, not the pursuit of excellent salaries and excellent forms of polish and sophistication. Liberal education is not even about excellent intellectual achievements. Its goal is more ethical than intellectual: It focuses on the development of individuals as moral agents, and it teaches students how to reflect both analytically and evaluatively on the fact that the choices we make turn us into the persons we become.

If the enterprise I have just described is a luxury, then I cannot begin to define a necessity. What could be more necessary for any human being than learning how to claim, develop, enjoy, and put to public use the distinctive advantages of our nature -- to be able, first, to choose the kind of person that we turn out to be and, second, to influence the kinds of persons that others turn out to be? If liberal education is a luxury, then so is truth in a courtroom, love in marriage, or kindness in response to suffering.

I regret that I must contradict the young recruiter in my staff seminar. She was, after all, only reflecting accurately and conscientiously the views and pressures that she receives from her usual audience of prospective students and their parents. But challenging those views, no matter who expresses them, is crucial for liberal educators. No matter what career we choose, the single job that every human being has to work at is the job of deciding what kind of person he or she will become. That is a requirement grounded in the existential conditions of human life. What are discretionary are goals that have little to do with the pursuit of human excellence. And when those discretionary pursuits begin to define all of education, as they threaten to do in academe today, then true education becomes trivialized. Most of the professional and technical training that people need for their jobs actually takes place on the job, and valuing that training above education comes perilously close to making colleges and universities minor-league farm clubs for the world's corporations and bureaucracies.

Liberal education represents the last and best -- but least understood and least appreciated -- mechanism for achieving the fullest development of human potential. Today's universities too often pander to, rather than challenge, students' educational utilitarianism. But who is better equipped to help cure that problem than liberal educators? Surely we can make a strong case for liberal education instead of using accommodationist rhetoric that gives the store away before students have a chance to see what's on the shelves. Without our assistance, students may never understand that they get the profits from buying the wares of liberal education, and that those wares appreciate in value as students use them in a lifetime pursuit of human excellence.

Marshall Gregory is a professor of English, liberal education, and pedagogy at Butler University.


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From Erin MIT2000

May 7th. 2003
Hi Raul, 

I hope this email finds you, Yvonne, David and your families well.  
It was wonderful to see you over Spring Break - the smells and sounds 
of the Longhouse brought back so many memories. And seeing you was 
perfect.  

I've been meaning to write a brief message to be posted on our 
MIT2000 website, but - like everyone else - rarely have time to sit, 
let alone write coherently. Consequently, this may not be that brief.

This year, I've actually seen more MITers than since graduation:  
you; Summer at the Jan. 14th teacher rally in Olympia; and Craig 
Jacobrown here in Indianola.  --Still, only three people in three 
years... Not nearly enough.  

Yes, we live in Indianola now.  It's still near Poulsbo, but so much 
nicer.  We have a little, old cabin from the twenties that we've been 
renting since September and it's very near the beach. It's a perfect 
place to live when all the school politics and my teacher 
insecurities get a bit too overwhelming.  My husband, Rick, is 
finishing a teacher education program this spring and will 
be 'employable' in another month or so.  And Moira is doing well in 
the small, but vibrant, Options program up here.  

As for teaching, it is a now-familiar love-hate relationship that I 
have with North Kitsap High School.  I truly love so many of the 
students and have been able to work with both the S'Klallam and 
Suquamish tribes for the last three years.  This past fall, I was 
extremely excited to be working with a small group of teachers and 
one administrator from North to design and teach in a small school 
that would be housed on the same campus.  The district seemed to be 
behind a move toward sound and equitable teaching, and I felt so 
lucky to be able to do so much more for students by helping to change 
the system...

Ah, naivete...  I've become more disillusioned this year than any 
other.  Now, after an enormous amount of work, the commitment doesn't 
seem to be there on the part of the district.  And, though many 
parents and students can't wait to see serious change, many others 
feel that the system works well (or well enough for their child).  
Unfortunately, those parents seem to have the ear of the board at the 
moment. So, now I'm looking at the local alternative high school.  
I've been in a heart-wrenching quandary since the beginning of the 
school year, because part of me feels that I'd be abandoning my 
current students, and another part of me feels that I'd be able to do 
so much more if I was in a smaller system that values community and 
creativity.  That quandary may never be resolved.  

On the up side, I've gotten to design and teach an integrated English 
11/US History class (my thesis - realized!!!!) and I love being with 
students for the entire year.  Anyone in a semester block system 
understands the value in that.  I get to teach three, 85-min. classes 
each day, and two of those are block classes.  I've gotten to know 
some AMAZING people and see students I care deeply for graduate.  (NO 
ONE ever mentioned the grieving that happens at the end of a semester 
or year, by the way...). Four of the students in my classes have gone 
on (or will be going) to Evergreen, and two of those want to pursue 
Native studies there.  And last year, I was able celebrate three 
students' graduations with their families and friends at their 
graduation parties.  Sharing with those families and getting a few 
intense and wonderful letters from students have been the best parts 
of the last three years.  

The bright moments still outweigh the dark, so I stay.

And how are ALL of you?  Where are you?  What are your sources of 
frustration?  What are your bright moments?  

Hope to hear from others -- 
And that includes Phil, who I've yet to thank for the best advise 
possible in September of last year:  'Don't take NO shit from 
NObody.'  (THAT stayed on my answering machine for months!)

Take care,
erin l.

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