Letters to my niece series- Ethics and the Use of Force

Dear Sarah,

As I struggle to understand various reasons for war, conflict, and peace and to understand my fellow human, I cannot rid myself of my eternal optimism. I've been accused more times than I can count in my adult life of being "unrealistic", as though only a pessimist sees the down side of life and that a pessimistic view is a "realistic" view. No doubt, you, too, will face this same opposition. You will be told that you have your head in the clouds. People will tell you that you are at best a dreamer, at worst an eccentric, that somehow you are disconnected from reality. But in this letter, I will argue that transcendence of the human spirit is the greatest hope for our future and for future generations; that transcendence is our greatest connection to what it means to be human. Perhaps together, we will awaken the dreamers of the world to call them to manifest a new vision of "reality".

Last week, we talked about the war on terror. This week, I’ve been reading an interesting article by Bryan Hehir about ethics and the use of force. Hehir points out that there are differing views about war and the use of military force. The top three arguments about war are 1) non-violence: war should never be used, 2) realism: rules don’t apply to war, and 3) just war theory: sometimes war is acceptable, but only as a last resort.

Hehir believes that the United States was justified in responding with force to the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, but only so we could prevent future attacks. The problem which I see and which Hehir also points out is that terrorist groups often are made up of people from several countries. As such, we can’t just pick a country and say, “you have bad people in your country, so we are going to come in and kill them.” The United Nations Charter says we have the right to defend ourselves against attack. On the other hand, if we invade another country where terrorists live, that country’s government may decide that they need to protect themselves from us!

These issues are way too complex to discuss here in detail. At times, one is relegated to the use of oversimplification for sake of brevity in argument. I'm afraid these letters are often given to oversimplification for that very reason. In reality, war, violence, fear, love, and the use of force are decisions which are mired in a multitude of reasonings and rationalizations; way more than I can elaborate upon in these brief notes. And that is what we always come back to, isn't it? Everything is interconnected. The universe is complicated, complex; an intricate fabric woven in time and space and in its infinite relationships which we, as humans, often try to define in finite terms with precise solutions and prescriptive answers.

Though it may seem that I argue only for non-violence (and this is, indeed, my hope for the next generation), I recognize the complexity of the issues which led to the decisions to engage in the use of force to try to combat terrorism. I also see the futility of such actions in the long-term. When will we recognize the power of love as a force which cannot be subordinated or oppressed? When will this generation grasp the infinite, eternal, transcendent power of love and forgiveness, not as a passive-run-over-me-if-you-like type of power, but an active, beyond-reasoning, overwhelming type of power which leads the offender and offended to redemption, renewal, and life? Frankl (2006), who endured the deathcamps of both Auschwitz and Dauchau, argued for the transcendence of the human spirit in the midst of grief and suffering. He spent the rest of his life trying to convince the world that we must face violence with grace, death with hope, hatred with kindness, and force with the infinitely greater force of love.

In peace,

Your Aunt Gigi

Letters to my niece- Ethics and the War on Terrorism

Dear Sarah,

You were only four years old when the planes went down on September 11, 2001. For most of your life, the United States has been embroiled in the war on terror. As you enter your teen years, you may begin to ask, “What do I believe and why do I believe it?” You might even begin to ask questions about ethics and human rights such as “When does the end justify the means?” and “What is freedom?” and “Why do terrorists use innocent people as targets?” I hope that you will ask questions like: “What is the purpose of humanity?” and “Is it possible to lose our humanity?”

I was reading an article today by Maryann Cusimano Love. The article, called Morality Matters: Ethics and Power Politics in the War on Terrorism, was written only a few months after the twin towers went down. Love reminds us that violence in response to violence does not address the root causes of terrorism. If you want to know the root causes, you must begin to ask the question, “Why?” Why did Osama bin Laden attack the United States? What did he hope to gain? Why did he believe that killing us was a good idea?

Our war on terrorism is a losing battle because we are trying to stamp out terrorism (attacking innocent civilians or non-military personnel) while we engage in conventional warfare which kills even more innocent civilians. Love does not argue for non-violence only, but she does make the point that underestimating the long-term impacts of violence and warfare is a huge mistake with devastating effects.

There are some who would argue that we were compelled to go to war, that we had to respond to the terror attacks with force, that we couldn’t just “sit back and let them [the terrorists] get away with murder.” Others would say that the only language Osama bin Laden understood was violence, so we had to use military force against him and his terrorist network, al- Qaeda.

You’ve probably heard by now that “all is fair in love and in war.” In other words, rules don’t apply in these circumstances. Another way to say this is “the ends justify the means.” But do they? Is it okay to torture prisoners of war? Even if the information they have will help you stop an attack on more innocent civilians, is it okay to torture them? According to some people, torture and inhumane treatment of others is completely justified if it leads to the prevention of more attacks. Is it? Is it okay to torture someone if you think one of their friends might hurt someone else? Don’t terrorists use these very tactics? How are we different if we treat people the same way?

When we resort to inhumane treatment of others, when we torture and humiliate, when we use weapons and bombs, when we invade another country because we are afraid that they might attack us first, we have begun to lose the battle where the cost is our humanity. I do not say we should just let murderers and terrorists get away with their actions, or that we should stand by passively while they kill others, but we must maintain our humanity, our compassion for others-- even our enemies. If we do not, if we resort to violence and hatred, we will become our enemies. We cannot, we must not abandon the Judeo-Christian concept of the universal, inherent dignity of all human life or we, too, will find ourselves on the slippery slope of questionable morality.

Viktor Frankl (2006), even after experiencing the horrors of the Nazi death camps, still believed in the transcendence of the human spirit. He wrote about the kind of “world which no longer recognized the value of human life and human dignity, which had robbed man of his will and had made him an object to be exterminated (having planned, however, to make full use of him first—to the last ounce of his physical resources)…” (Man’s Search for Meaning, p.50). If we are not careful, we, too, will fall into that same Machiavellian mentality and morality.

We can be better. We can make ethical choices which do not destroy life. We can choose a better path. Indeed, if we are to live in peace, we must.

In peace and hope and love,

Aunt Gigi

An Argument for Transcendence

Over the next couple of weeks I'll reveal my arguments for hope and the power of love in a series of letters to my niece. This stems from my conception of an assignment at university for a class on ethics. As I struggle to understand various reasons for sustainability, unsustainable behaviors and attitudes, war, conflict, and peace and to understand my fellow human, I cannot rid myself of my eternal optimism. I've been accused more times than I can count in my adult life of being "unrealistic", as though only a pessimist sees the down side of life and that a pessimistic view is a "realistic" view. But in this series of letters to my niece, I will argue that transcendence of the human spirit is the hope for our future and for future generations.

We'll discuss issues such as freedom, love, fear, language, meaning, happiness, justification, rationalization, realism, destruction, civil disobedience, authority, ethics, and hope. I hope you'll join me in this search for understanding, as imperfect...or even unrealistic as it may be. This is my manifesto, so to speak, though I do not claim that it is complete. As Erich Fromm (1941) wrote in his foreward to Escape from Freedom, sometimes we must offer whatever we have to contribute to our collective understanding of our modern crises, even if we "must sacrifice the desideratum of completeness"(vii). I suspect that some ideas will blossom and thrive and take deeper root as their meanings become clearer, and some ideas will fall to the wayside with disuse. This is my struggle to grasp the purpose of man in the context of the greater universe and across time.

Many of my ideas spring from the soil of my own upbringing, my assumptions based on a belief in a Creator. Like Erich Fromm, Martin Luther King, Jr, the Mahatma Gandhi, Viktor Frankl, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, Francis Schaeffer and so many other inspirational voices from the past, I believe that humanity faces critical choices in the path which lies before us. 

How we choose will impact the viability of the human soul, the planet, and the greater universe for future generations. I do not say "will determine the viability", because I do not believe that our destiny is predetermined or set in stone. At every point in the continuum of humanity we are faced with choice and will continue to make choices which will impact the future. I do, however, believe that we were made for "greater stuff", that we were destined (though not in a predetermined sense) for something more transcendent than destruction and war and revenge and hatred.

I welcome your comments and ideas. I hope that you will challenge my imperfect reasonings and that, in a spirit of humility and grace, we may open a dialogue which may shed greater light on our own shared humanity in all of its sublimity and in all of its meanness.

More food for thought (reading materials)

I'm also reading

1. What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty. Edited by John Brockman (2006), this is a series of blurbs and brief essays by scientists, physicists, mathematicians, behavioral scientists, geneticists, biologists, and philosophers from around the world. Some of these intellectual thoughts can be found on a website (kind of like TED) for these folks to share their ideas: www.edge.org.

Interesting reading. It's nice for a quick break from more intensive stuff. Each blurb is only 1-2 very short pages (at most). They ask questions like : Who are we? What does it mean to be human? Where did the universe come from? How do we know what we "know"?

2. Quantum Theory -A Very Short Introduction by John Polkinghorne (2002) It's quantum theories and particle physics, briefly.

3. The Ethics of War and Peace by Nigel Dower (2009), a look at the ethics and morality behind justifications for war and peace (non-violence).

4. Doing Case Study Research by Dawson Hancock and Bob Algozzine (2006)

5. Designing & Conducting Ethnographic Research by LeCompte & Schensul (2010)

Reading list for inspiration, for insight, for fun!

Just a quick note as I start the spring term about a few books I've been reading. People often ask me, "What are you reading?" Well, here ya go!

Some of these are texts, others are just for fun, and some are challenges to see the world in a whole new way:

Last Child in the Woods by R. Louv (2008)- Puzzled by why your kids won't go outside and play? Louv explains it!

Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Post-Modern World by David Orr (1992) Orr can get preachy and be a bit of a downer at times, but he can also be divinely inspiring, clinging to hope for a better future!

Ecological Education in Action: On Weaving Education, Culture, and the Environment, edited by Smith and Williams (1999)- real stories about educators making a difference around the world. Wanna know what Portland State University is doing to engage students in a new worldview? Check out chapter 8.

Ecological Literacy: Educating our Children for a Sustainable World, a great collection of essays edited by Stone and Barlow (2005)

Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, volume 12 (2007)

Gaviotas- A Village to Reinvent the World by Alan Weisman (1998), an inspiring story of an ecovillage in Eastern Colombia's llano region and how they set out to change the world.

Tangled Routes- Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail by Deborah Brandt (2008), an ethnographic look at the impacts of globalization and industrial food production on poor workers in Mexico, the US, and Canada. This puts a real face to the workers who are making individual steps toward creating a more sustainable approach to food production.

and just for fun and inspiration:

Tales of a Female Nomad - Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman (2001)

The Hidden Reality- Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (2011)

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog by Professor Chad Orzel (2009)

Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillian (1988).

Humor in Service-Learning, a serious business...

On a Lighter Note: Humor in the Service-Learning Experience

International Service-Learning can be overwhelmingly serious at times as students wrestle with issues of power, unearned privilege, social justice, and cultural imperialism. It’s in moments like these that I remember how humor can bring balance and perspective to the weightier issues of service-learning. Bell hooks (2010) writes that positive humor can bring healing, equanimity, and openness to the classroom. The shared experiences of an international service-learning team can range from profound to light-hearted, especially when we laugh at ourselves and our own reactions to new situations.

And so, I wrote an Ode to the Cockroach Coach as a light-hearted way of seeing what for some might have been a traumatic event (the train ride from Kanyakumari to Madurai with more cockroaches than we could count). When we are able to laugh at our reactions to hardships or even petty events, we find new freedom and positive energy. The ode was written so that students could laugh at their reactions and over-reactions to less than pleasant conditions on the train across India.

Ode to Cockroach Coach

From Kanyakumari to great Madurai,

We count up the critters,

My friends and I.

Cockroaches crawling all over the train

As we play, “would you rather…”,

Bam! There’s a new stain.

There’s one over your shoulder!

There’s one in your hair.

Ewwww. Cockroaches, cockroaches everywhere.

Slap! goes a sandal.

Smack! The bug is down.

The travellers around us disapprove with a frown.

Gina got forty!

Matthew got ten!

How many want to play this game again?

Anyone? Anyone?

Anyone at all?

The train is leaving…final call.

No? well, don’t worry

If you didn’t play.

Maybe you’ll ride another day.

On the Cockroach Coach

from Kanyakumari to Madurai,

We count up the hits,

My friends and I.

And as we pull into the station,

We heave a sigh.

Though no one is sorry to say, “Good-bye”

To the Cockroach Coach

from Kanyakumari to Madurai.

I think one goal of service-learning trips is to try to maintain balance. In our enthusiasm to respond to the needs at Mother Teresa Home, we returned the next day with more than what Sister Jennifer had asked. In our good intentions to be generous, we inadvertently created chaos. I forgot my plan of action when we got to Mother House and the women swarmed us. Though we could have listened better to what the needs were and could have executed our plan in a more organized manner, I don’t believe we did permanent damage. My teammates were beside themselves with approbation at the minor fiasco. Though I recognize that service-learners can create more problems than they help, I think maintaining a sense of humor can bring much needed perspective and balance to a serious situation. To my team members, I’d like to say, “Lighten up!” By all means, remain sensitive to the needs of those we are trying to serve, but do not get so lost in the gravity of the circumstances that you cannot laugh at yourself or our foibles and mistakes.

Reading Resources

Barnet, S. and Bedau, H. (2004). From Critical Thinking to Argument: a Portable Guide.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Chisholm, Linda A. [ed.] (2005). Knowing and doing: The theory and practice of service-

learning. International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership.

Chisholm, L. (2003). Partnerships for international service-learning. In B. Jacoby and

Associates (Eds.). Building partnerships for service-learning, pp. 259-288. San

Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Crabtree, R. (2008). Theoretical foundations for international service-learning. Michigan Journal

of Community Service Learning, 15(1), 18-36.

Cress, C. Collier, P., Reitenauer, V., & Associates (2005). Learning through serving: A student

guidebook for service-learning across the disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing,

LLC.

Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30^th Anniversary Edition. New York:

Continuum.

Hooks, b. (2010). Teaching Critical Thinking. New York: Routledge.

Lutterman-Aguilar, A., & Gingerich, O. (2002). Experiential pedagogy for study abroad:

Educating for global citizenship. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study

Abroad, 8, 41-82.

Montrose, Lynne. (2002). International study and experiential learning: The academic context.

Frontiers, Winter, 1-15.

Parker, B. & Dautoff, D. (2007). Service-learning and study abroad: Synergistic learning

opportunities. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 13(2), 40-53.

Sperling, R. (2007). Service-Learning as a Method of teaching Multiculturalism to White College Students. Journal of latinos and Education, 6 (4): 309-322.

What I learned from India...2011

“The world is weary of hate. We see the fatigue overcoming the western nations. We see that this song of hate has not benefited humanity. Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the world.”- Mahatma Gandhi

January 31, 2011 Writing prompt: What is service?

For me, service is about others. It takes the focus off of me and puts others first. I’m reminded of the little song I used sing as a child: “J-O-Y. J-O-Y. This is what it means: Jesus first, and Yourself last, and Others in between.” There is an indescribable freedom that comes when I get my eyes off of myself and focus on others instead, when I stop thinking about myself first and put others’ needs first!

So when I am at Mother House, I put aside my germ phobia, my discomfort or uneasiness about being around handicapped people and I look into their eyes. I connect soul-to-soul and I reach out in love. Hugging, touching, smiling, talking, singing, playing, coloring, and dancing are just forms for communicating love, for celebrating the beauty of each person I meet. Paolo Freire (2000) warns that multicultural service-learners may inadvertently engage in acts of cultural invasion and domination under the guise of a helping friend. So how do we avoid this exploitative relationship in international service-learning? I truly believe that our aim must not be to “help” other cultures or people, but to love. When we love, we find that our relationships tend to be reciprocal and transcendent. Hatred and insecurity have led to kingdoms, realms of domination. Only love can liberate, set free, and abolish oppression.

February 1, 2011- Quote: “I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it as I shall not pass this way again.”- William Penn

Theme for today is “carpe diem” or “seize the day.” I went back to Mother Teresa Home today. We danced for two hours, laughing and celebrating each woman who joined us. I gave hand, foot, arm and leg massages with lotion to the women whose skin is very dry and cracked. They lined up by the dozens to get a massage. And then we danced!

The best part about dancing is that we celebrate each other. Joy bubbles up. The women praise each other as they step out to the music. While I “entertained the troops”, Melissa, Tommy, Matt, and Sarah went inside and had a talk with Sister Jennifer, the nun in charge. The women call her “Amma” or mother. Sister Jennifer said that the women need basic items like laundry detergent, hand soap, and coconut oil for their hair.

Many women are bedridden. Others just lie outside on the ground, covered in flies. Some have mental handicaps, others violent mental illness, still others don’t have use of their bodies. But when I look in their eyes, I see incredible, deep, accepting love. These women have become so precious to me. Rosie, Betchy, Sylvie, and the little ones are beautiful to me!

How do we teach global citizenship without it turning into acts of cultural invasion or another form of imperialistic dogma and domination? We help students discover their capacity to love, to embrace humanity in all of its beautiful forms, to celebrate the ordinary, to celebrate every individual, and to accept each person as a precious gift endowed with beauty and glory however humble or great their circumstances in life may be. We cultivate a culture of love and care. I believe this is foundational to any affective engagement or effective service-learning. Love is a subject we shy away from in western society. It is often relegated to the realm of emotion as somehow less desirable than an empirical approach to learning. Yet, feminist research (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002) shows that learners who think critically and connect emotionally to a subject (head + heart learning) find their own voice in constructing knowledge and are more proactive about positive social transformation.

As bell hooks (2010) writes: “To me the classroom continues to be a place where paradise can be realized, a place of passion and possibility; a place where spirit matters, where all that we learn and all that we know leads into greater connection, into greater understanding of life lived in community” (p. 151.). Service-learning pedagogy must accommodate room for spirituality and for love, because spirituality is about how we live and love in the world and how we interact with self and with others.

Reading Resources

Barnet, S. and Bedau, H. (2004). From Critical Thinking to Argument: a Portable Guide.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Chisholm, Linda A. [ed.] (2004). Visions of service. New York, NY: The International

Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership.

Chisholm, Linda A. [ed.] (2005). Knowing and doing: The theory and practice of service-

learning. International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership.

Chisholm, L. (2003). Partnerships for international service-learning. In B. Jacoby and

Associates (Eds.). Building partnerships for service-learning, pp. 259-288. San

Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Crabtree, R. (2008). Theoretical foundations for international service-learning. Michigan Journal

of Community Service Learning, 15(1), 18-36.

Cress, C. Collier, P., Reitenauer, V., & Associates (2005). Learning through serving: A student

guidebook for service-learning across the disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing,

LLC.

Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30^th Anniversary Edition. New York:

Continuum.

Hooks, b. (2010). Teaching Critical Thinking. New York: Routledge.

Lutterman-Aguilar, A., & Gingerich, O. (2002). Experiential pedagogy for study abroad:

Educating for global citizenship. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study

Abroad, 8, 41-82.

Montrose, Lynne. (2002). International study and experiential learning: The academic context.

Frontiers, Winter, 1-15.

Parker, B. & Dautoff, D. (2007). Service-learning and study abroad: Synergistic learning

opportunities. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 13(2), 40-53.

Sperling, R. (2007). Service-Learning as a Method of teaching Multiculturalism to White College Students. Journal of latinos and Education, 6 (4): 309-322.

Posting about India soon...

Sorry kids. I've been remiss in posting lately. I'll fill you in on the details of the trip to India as soon as I can wade through the eight papers which are due in the next week.

I'm meeting with the India team from Portland State University tomorrow night for dinner: Indian food, of course!

I will say that this trip was heart-expanding and heart-opening. My capacity to love has grown exponentially in light of the love shown to me by the kind people of southern India. To be the recipient of so much love and generosity over and over again is a truly humbling experience.

But more details next week...

Inklings, Imagination, and Storytelling- bell hooks and the mythmakers

"When we lose our myths, we lose our place in the universe." -Madeleine L'Engle

Text selection from bell hooks’ (2010) Teaching Critical Thinking- Practical Wisdom:

“…by telling stories I had entered a redemptive space. I had entered a world of soul retrieval. Slowly, I was taking broken bits and pieces of my psyche and putting them together again, creating in the process new and different stories- liberating tales” (p.51).

“Without the ability to imagine, people remain stuck, unable to move into a place of power and possibility” (p.61).

Response to the text:

In bell hooks’ series of essays, I’ve found a rich and provocative cultural critique which inspires and challenges my own assumptions at times. Her perspective of teacher openness and student engagement reminds me of the work of Parker Palmer (2007) in which Palmer calls upon teachers to engage authentically with students in creating an environment in which everyone contributes to the learning through the use of reflection or introspection and the telling of one’s own story. Hooks uses storytelling to engage students in creating a space for transformative learning.

This reminds me of some of my favorite heroes in literature and academia in the 1930s-1940s; the Inklings group, a group of Oxford scholars like C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Dorothy Sayers, and others who met once a week to read each others’ work and to build community. Along with Madeleine L’Engle, these scholars defended the role that myth and storytelling plays in interpreting our world, making meaning of our experiences, and the vital role of imagination in academia. Tolkien and Lewis both wrote essays on the importance of storytelling. Not only did they write about stories, but their epic tales, like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, were a type of meaning-making for interpreting their own experiences with World War I and World War II.

Hooks (2010) writes that stories connect us to the larger world. When we recount our own stories, we find relationship with others’ stories. This storytelling and interpreting of stories (data, facts, information, and emotions) is what ties our experiences to the global community, to the human experience. Stories, myths, and legends are not only a way of knowing, but of nourishing the possibilities held in imagination. Lewis (1966) writes:

The Fantastic or Mythical is a Mode available at all ages for some readers; for others, at none. At all ages, if it is well used by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power: to generalize while remaining concrete, to present in palpable form not concepts or even experiences but whole classes of experience, and to throw off irrelevancies. But at its best it can do more; it can give us experiences we have never had and thus, instead of ‘commenting on life’, can add to it.

Hooks alludes to this ability to add to our academic experience and the richness of academic literature when we begin to use our imaginations to tell new stories. In my own work on mythmaking in international service-learning, I am intrigued by stories. How can we use myth (that is, our own hidden truths and assumptions) to make sense of our world while at the same time embrace a new perspective such as one might find in an inter-cultural exchange or study abroad program? Tolkien (1966) suggests that stories allow us to view our world and our hidden assumptions from a different perspective.

Stories, and our telling of them, have the ability to empower the oppressed, to expose inequities in our educational systems. Through imagination, stories can heal, liberate and create new possibilities, new endings. L’Engle (1963) said it this way in her Newbery Award acceptance speech,

Because of the very nature of the world as it is today our children receive in school a heavy load of scientific and analytic subjects, so it is in their reading for fun, for pleasure, that they must be guided into creativity. These are forces working in the world as never before in the history of mankind for standardization, for the regimentation of us all, or what I like to call making muffins of us, muffins all like every other muffin in the muffin tin. This is the limited universe, the drying, dissipating universe that we can help our children avoid…

I apologize for the use of another long quotation, but really did not want to rob you of the richness of these ideas as so aptly expressed by their authors. I think bell hooks, Paolo Freire, and Stanley Aronowitz would all agree that we must become storytellers in order to be agents for societal transformation.

Have we relegated imagination to the non-academic world? I close with my own poor attempt at an apology for myth and stories, In Defense of Fairy Tales (Garner, 2009):

Have you ever seen a rainbow
with a pot of gold at its end?
Have you ever heard the whispers

at night of the fairy folk, friend?

Did you ever catch a glimpse,

in a secret vale, of the fauns?

Perchance upon a moonlit night
see the dance of the leprechauns?

And when you were drifting to sleep
did you ever happen to spy
the Sandman or pixies or trolls?
Or perhaps hear the elves' lullaby?
I've trembled with fear at the sound
of the hooves of the great minotaur
and fell to my knees in awe
of the proud, majestic centaur.

But what I fear most is the throng,
with banner held high called "Progress",
as they vanquish all mythical things,
spurning magic they do not possess.
Heedless of things they cannot see,
they're blind to the grace of the naiads.
But poorer yet the ears must be
which ne'er have heard strains of dryads.
How miniscule the world must be
which lacks imagination
and where the soul's ascent
from cave to illumination?

Small minded men would impugn us.

"Great intellects" might accuse
that we hide in Atlantic polity
"which can never be drawn into use."*
How tragic a world unpeopled
with angel or hero or demon.
And this, greatest threat of all-
the real world's devouring dragon-
a fragile world sans mystery,
whose glory is in banality.
A world so un-apocryphal
with hopelessly un-epic beauty.

Where are the prophets called artists
like L'Engle and Lewis and Milton?
Where are the mythmaker-poets
like Stevenson, Homer, and Tolkien?
They fashioned a world of romance
from fragments of ancient rune,
where memories of "Once upon a time"
still transform the night without moon.

(* from Milton's Areopagitica )

References

Garner, J. (2009). Imagination’s Door and other silly rhymes. Retrieved November 7, 2010

from http://imaginationsdoor.blogspot.com.

hooks, b. (2010). Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. New York: Routledge.

L'Engle, M. (1963). The Expanding Universe: Newbery Award Acceptance Speech. New York:

Crosswicks Ltd.

Lewis, C.S. (1966). ‘Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to Be Said’ as printed in Of

Other Worlds: Essays and Stories. London: Geoffrey Bles.

Palmer, P. (2007). The Courage to Teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tolkien, J.R.R. (1966). The Tolkien Reader. New York: Del Ray.

Down with the Man!

Selected text from Aronowitz' Against Schooling: For an education that matters (2008):

"But schools do not transmit a 'love for the world' or 'for our children,' as Arendt suggests; instead, contrary to their democratic pretensions, they teach conformity to the social, cultural, and occupational hierarchy. In our contemporary world, they are not constituted to foster independent thought, let alone encourage independence of thought and action." (p.19)

Reflection:

As I read Aronowitz' text, I was stunned by his abrasive, arrogant, and judgmental tone and use of language. Claiming a lack of "tolerance for boredom" (p. 5), Aronowitz goes on to claim that though he didn't need credentials, he got them and on his own terms, thanks to no one but himself. He boasts about skipping undergraduate school and getting his PhD without the interference of any professors, whom he obviously deemed as moronic influences and beneath him intellectually.

Thinking about some of my own experiences in action-learning labs and co-intelligence, I was saddened that Aronowitz was so arrogant that he didn't think that he could benefit in the least by trying to learn in a community of students and professors. I'm not saying that formal schooling is the only way to learn. I just think that Aronowitz robbed himself of an opportunity to learn independently and with others, the very thing he rants about as the great evil in our school systems today. I began to ask myself “Where is the love that Aronowitz spoke of?” His writings seem devoid of love, but seem to be rants and raves against every order or perceived authority.

The more I read, the more disenchanted I became with Aronowitz and his hypocrisy…and my own. He rails against credentialing, but certainly used it for his own gain. Though I am against credentialing for the sake of driving an economic, consumer machine, I also am in the credentialing industry. He claims to represent the working poor, but has used his privilege to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, climbing the social ladder he denounces. I don’t claim to be from working class intellectuals, but I have touted the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality at times. He rails against authority, yet sets himself up as an authority in alternative schooling. Though I have benefited from the existing authority system in public education, I have also praised the benefits of alternative education programs from garden-based education to environmental schools. So, I began to ask, "What is Aronowitz saying that he's not saying with words? Where is he coming from?"

Aronowitz came out of the 1960s counterculture movement with its anti-authoritarian “Down with the man” slogan. His mistrust of authority is evident in his glorification of his own alternative school experiences (until “the man” came in and laid down some rules) and in his praise of music and media which rebel against societal norms and middle class morality. However, Aronowitz lauds the music and media scene in order to prove his point that students learn from a variety of sources, the least effective of which is the public school system in its present form.

Finally, at the end of chapter two, Aronowitz offers up a spark of hope in an abysmally dark rant against social class, culture, and education. He proffers an outline for changing both societal structure and our educational system; changes which will, hopefully, spawn creativity and independent thought in our children.

References

Aronowitz, S. (2008). Against Schooling: For an education that matters. Boulder:

Paradigm Publishers.