Some of the readings for the course might seem overly controversial or "radical." They seem that way even to me, and I chose them! My intent in presenting them for your consideration and discussion is to offer a counterbalance for the relatively stable perspective we all tend to take on an issue. It's a common tendency to read things that support the ideas we already hold, and therefore entrench those ideas even more firmly in personal and professional lives. This approach is comfortable and self-affirming.

However, sometimes change is desirable or necessary, and "comfort is the enemy of change." Becoming intellectually uncomfortable as we grapple with complex and significant issues is well worth the effort if it leads to positive change. However, I also want to note that change can take many forms. Sometimes it means that you change your perspective and/or behavior. Other times, it may mean that your opinions on an issue seem to remain the same, but they are now held more deeply and consciously because they have been tested against alternative perspectives or others' experiences and found to be worth maintaining.

You might also initially think some of the readings are too theoretical and wonder how they can help you in your particular practice context. Kurt Lewin (1951), recognized as the father of social psychology, once said, "There's nothing more practical than a good theory" (p. 169). All practice is based on theory, whether we recognize it or not. Some of our practice and day-to-day actions are based on relatively unconscious, informal theories, while others are guided by more conscious, formal theories. All theory and practice have assumptions embedded within them about humans, about learning, and about what is good and what is bad, what is better and what is worse, what is possible or not possible. Our job is to become aware of those assumptions and their theoretical underpinnings. If we don't, we might find that the consequences of our actions are actually quite different from our intentions.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Those of you familiar with the movie "The Wizard of Oz" will remember the scene in which Dorothy sets off into the deep, dark woods after being told that a) it's full of lions and tigers and bears, but b) it's also an unavoidable part of the journey to her ultimate goal: the Wizard, with his ability to send her back home to Kansas and all that is familiar and "real."

It occurs to me that this image of Dorothy in the woods--which is itself a metaphor for the strength one finds in meeting challenges on the way to a goal--is not an inappropriate metaphor for the experience of adult education students in this program (not to mention my own experience as your instructor!). Many of you--although certainly not all--entered the program with a specific goal in mind: a master's degree that would either safeguard your current professional position or that would qualify you to move into a higher or different position. The "lions and tigers and bears" of the program are the obstacles that stand between you and the goal. Some of these obstacles are merely annoying (more like mice nibbling at your toes): readings that seem to have little relevance to your practice or assignments that initially appear to focus too much on "academic" thinking and writing. Others, though, can be truly upsetting: they can challenge--even seem to attack--core beliefs and values, pressing you to question, however reluctantly, the foundations on which your practice is based, and the social structure within which you both practice professionally and live your personal life.

I hope by this point in the program, everyone understands that while it is an expectation that you examine your "taken for granted" assumptions (those ideas about how the world "works" that you bring with you into the program) in the light of the readings and discussions that take place here, it is not an expectation that you change them in particular ways. Differences in personal values and experiences will lead honest, intelligent people to different answers to the same questions, even when they are presented with the same information about them. And, as noted above, change takes different forms, and not all change will be readily or immediately apparent.

What's very important, though, is that everyone focus closely on what is actually being said in the articles we read and in our discussions about them. It's also important to recognize that what is a dangerous lion or tiger or bear (oh, my!) for one person may be a loving companion for another. Similarly, what one person considers irrelevant may have deep importance to another person.

First, it's very important for all your readings to make sure that you understand and appropriately reflect what an author actually says, rather than respond to words that have perhaps been a "trigger" for strong emotions in the past. 

Second, a related aspect of understanding an author's point of view is distinguishing between their own thoughts on an issue and a discussion of other authors' ideas within the same article. It's sometimes necessary to read very closely and carefully to avoid confusion about this since each article includes multiple references to others who have written on the same topic, and a superficial reading can lead you to think that an author's statement of another's belief represents their own thoughts about the topic.

Back in Kansas?

Metaphors are great for helping us to see a situation in a different way, but they have limitations: they are never exact reflections of the phenomenon being examined. How well does the "lions and tigers and bears on the road to Oz" metaphor fit when applied to this class? Where I hope the metaphor diverges from your experience in this class is in the likelihood that you will leave this class only to return to your own "Kansas": only those ideas that are familiar and comfortable. I hope that some of your ideas will have been changed and that some will have been confirmed, but at a more deeply reflective level. Come to think of it, though, isn't that what actually happened to Dorothy? She returned home, but with a new way of looking at home and what it meant. What was true for Dorothy may be true for all of us as a result of our time together in this course: "I have been lifted up in the middle of my life, given a great shaking and set down in the exact same spot. Everything is new, unexplored, changed. Everything is the same."

References

Baldwin, C. (1990). Life's companion:Journal writing as a spiritual quest. New York: Bantam Books.

Lewin, K. (1951). Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers. (D. Cartwright, Ed.). Harpers.