Community Learning KWMR Radio Program Introduction 2006

From the introduction to a three-part radio program that Ruth Lopez and I produced on KWMR in 2006.

Conversations about Learning and Community

Early on in my recent conversations with Ruth (Lopez) about building community learning, I drew up an image of a map of our local place, Point Reyes, Inverness, West Marin, Tomales Bay and placed at the top of that map the question: Where does learning take place?

The response I had, perhaps everyone has is: learning is taking place all over, in many ways.

Learning does not just occur in one place. I think if we took that observation seriously we would expand our own understanding of what it means to learn and also expand our ideas about what we think is important to learn.

Inevitably, discussions about learning lead to debates about what is important to learn. These are discussions, where differences are expressed because we are a collection of individuals with varying ideas. That is a good thing.

My primary interest in setting up these three radio programs, is in creating forums for discussions. I spent more than four years of my own education, in groups of twenty or so, discussing classic books and important ideas with people who were passionate, like I, about ideas and how to put them into action. That process is invaluable and I would like to share that process with others in my own community.

One big difference between then and now, is my community and the context in which I live.

For these purposes, in discussing community, I have adopted a definition of community, influenced by the writing of Wendell Barry, that says, “a community is a collection of disparate individuals, in a place, who are committed to that place.”

In some ways, education is a tricky thing to discuss because our education forms us, reflecting back on where we came from. It is hard to get behind ourselves. It is important, though because where we came from constructs the world we will live in, the world we are building.

The process of questioning: looking back, examining our assumptions and pursuing an honest dialogue about where we want to go, this process moves us forward toward implementing what we want in practice, but consciously, and with a fair critique.

We are interested in creating a forum for dialogue about learning and community. We want to look at who we are and what our lives are. This is in part a process of looking at the education we have been given and the culture in which we have grown up and which we have inherited. This is a process of understanding what we want in the society we are building.

My underlying belief is that as soon as we begin to engage in an honest discussion of where we came from and where we want to go next, we empower ourselves. We move toward self-learning and knowing, the beginnings of community based learning.

Community Learning and Learning Alternatives RESOURCES

I'm taking a few minutes now to try to resurrect, collect and dust off, some great materials I have. Word is, lots of local young families are now seriously considering learning alternatives that don't involve enrolling in schools over the hill. That's where we have been. So here is a quick start of resources. Much more to come:

http://www.educationrevolution.org/ This is a huge resource of many approaches to learning, how to start a school, etc ... Also, I have cds in my library.

Purple Thistle Learning Center in Vancouver, BC http://blog.purplethistle.ca/about -

which was started by Matt Hern http://www.mightymatthern.com/?page_id=67, author of Deschooling Our Lives (an anthology), Field Day: Getting Society Out of School, and more.

Highly recommend Matt's writing, talks, workshops. I met Matt at the California Homeschooling Conference when my first two children were about 4 and 1. My sister, my mother, and I became instant fans. In the workshop I took with Matt, he started by addressing Jonathan Kozol's critique.

Three-part radio program Ruth Lopez and I did on KWMR - interview Matt Hern, Ronald followed by discussion about the school scene here and a meeting at the Dance Palace. I have this on disk will try to post. They were good interviews. Here is the outline:

WHERE DOES LEARNING TAKE PLACE?

Conversations about Learning and Community

Three consecutive Mondays at 5:30 pm on KWMR

Monday, August 29, 5:30 pm

A conversation with Ron Miller, historian, educator, and author of What Are Schools For? and Creating Learning Communities. We look at the history of schooling and how the purpose of schooling has changed over time. What are some of the cultural assumptions about education in America?

Monday, September 5, 5:30 pm

A conversation with Matt Hern, founder of an alternative learning center for teens in Vancouver, author of Deschooling Our Lives and Field Day: Getting Society Out of School. We consider educational opportunities as comprehensible only within local social and cultural fabrics and discuss how to design them to meet local needs. We examine assumptions about the ways that children learn, as we address underlying attitudes about authority and freedom.

Monday, September 12, 5:30 pm

West Marin residents discuss how to build community, family, and individual self-reliance through Community Based Learning. What is Community Based Learning and how can it engage learners, improve academics, and strengthen community? What can it look like here?

Article (http://www.marinij.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4373032) about one service learning project we did on Tomales Bay over many months. I have a powerpoint presentation with great slides, which we presented at College of Marin.

Series of articles I wrote titled Inventing Math published in the Sonoma Homeschooling Newsletter. Upcoming.