The above scenarios reflect interactional situations that are as old as the role of learner and mentor. Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), an empiricist who believed that knowledge comes from experience, and one of the first to address the above ideas and human development, believed that children were tabula rosa - as blank slates - written on and shaped by the interactive process with others as it occurred through the lifespan, particularly the early years (White 1989). Identity, according to Locke, is shaped by personal experience and the memories of such. Early phenomenologists such as Henry Rousseau (1712-1778) believed that each individual comes into the world bearing unique gifts of personality and talent. Rousseau also believed that the aim of education should be to offset the corrupting influence of institutions, and that children should be allowed to develop without interference, especially from church or state (Dworetsky 1990, p.6).


Based on my interactions with my daughter and other experiences I will take the position that the perspectives of both Rousseau and Locke might offer insight; a special talent can be enhanced by interactions with nurturing mentors, just as it can be quashed by the internalization of doubt, delivered by unsupportive, critical individuals. As adult education theorist Stephen D. Brookfield writes,

We assimilate and gradually integrate behaviors, ideas, and values from others until they become so internalized that we define 'ourselves' in terms of them. Unless an external source places before us alternative ways of thinking, behaving, and living, we are comfortable with our familiar value systems, beliefs, and behaviors (Brookfield 1992, pp. 12-15).

Hopefully, the alternative ways of thinking, behaving, and living offer us choices and the ability to appreciate, contextualize, and build upon our existing experiences. Another adult educational theorist and holistic psychiatrist, Richard Crews, M.D., a Harvard alumnus and president of Columbia Pacific University has mused upon the following question and one particular reply, (1994) "Where do dreams go to die? Often they go to graduate school". Crews' statement certainly indicates a paradigm clash between the graduate student and the education delivery system. It would appear also from Crews' statement that something could be lost for the learner as he/she embarks upon the graduate learning process in a traditional University. My thesis, in keeping with the above statement by Brookfield, is that the narrative self, as authored by the learner, is lost as the learner becomes re-authored by the knowledge-discourse which he/she becomes immersed in while attending the traditional University. Some might add that this personally authored self lies in close proximity with the soul. Heidegger (1947) has cautioned us to recognize "the seductions of the public realm", certainly the arena in which the knowledge-discourse dwells. As Socrates explains

We do not know - neither the sophists, nor the poets, nor the orators, nor the artists, nor I - what is the true, the good, and the beautiful. But there is this difference between us; that although all these people know nothing, they all believe they know something. I, however, if I know nothing, at least am not in doubt about it. Thus all that superiority in wisdom accorded me by the oracle reduces to being convinced that I am ignorant of what I do not know (Socrates, as cited in Rousseau, 1750).

Like the knowledge-discourses of the era of Socrates the knowledge-discourse today needs to look good in the modern Athens - the arena of the public, to stand behind what appears as a solid foundational podium of research, the assumptions of what constitutes validity and reliability in research, and the blessing of the institutions of power. It also needs to be able to convince the mostly ignorant public and proponents of other knowledge-discourses of its power and greatness. The knowledge-discourse is closely aligned with the intellect and the intellect's obsession/insecurity for knowing truth, and as Moore (1992, p.245-246) writes, the intellect needs to know and have proof that it is on solid ground.


Thomas Moore, a Jungian psychotherapist, who has written Care Of The Soul, provides an illuminating example of the contrast between the narrative soulfulness of personal experience and the lack thereof in the knowledge-discourse:

Once I was asked to sit in on the oral defense of a master's thesis in psychology. I read the quantitative research paper, and found one paragraph, on page ninety-five, devoted to "discussion". During the questioning I asked the student why the discussion of her study was so brief. The rest of the committee looked at me with alarm, and later I was told that the discussion was supposed to be at least that short since "speculation" wasn't to be encouraged. The word speculation rang out like an obscenity. Whatever was not firmly grounded in quantitative research was considered speculation and had little value in comparison. To me, though, speculation was a good word, a soul word, coming from speculum, mirror, an image of reflection and contemplation. This student had fulfilled the spirit, so to speak, of her topic by doing a careful quantitative study, but she had done little for its soul. She could recite the hard details of her research design, but she couldn't reflect on the deeper issues involved in her study, even though she had spent hundreds of hours gathering data and working up her research. She was rewarded for this while I was considered out of touch with modern methodology. She passed, but I failed.

The intellect often demands proof that it is on solid ground. The thought of the soul finds its grounding in a different way. It likes persuasion, subtle analysis, an inner logic, and elegance. It enjoys the kind of discussion that is never complete, that ends with a desire for further talk or reading. It is content with uncertainty and wonder. Especially in ethical matters, it probes and questions and continues to reflect even after decisions have been made.

The alchemists taught that the wet, sludgy stuff lying at the bottom of the vessel needs to be heated in order to generate some evaporation, sublimation, and condensation. The thick stuff of life sometimes needs to be distilled before it can be explored with imagination. This kind of sublimating is not the defensive flight from instinct and body into rationality. It's a subtle raising of experience into thoughts, images, memories, and theories. Eventually, over a long peiod of incubation, they condense into a philosophy of life, one that is unique for each person. For a philosophy of life is not an abstract collection of thoughts for their own sake, it is the ripening of conversation and reading into thoughts that are wedded to everyday decisions and analysis. Such ideas become part of our identity and allow us confidence in work and in life decisions. They provide a solid basis for further wonder and exploration that reaches, through religion and spiritual practice, into the ineffable mysteries that saturate human experience.

Soul knows the relativity of its claim on truth. It is always in front of a mirror, always in a speculative mode, watching itself discovering its developing truth, knowing that subjectivity and imagination are always in play. Truth is not really a soul word; soul is after insight more than truth. Truth is a stopping point asking for commitment and defense. Insight is a fragment of awareness that invites further explanation. Intellect tends to enshrine its truth, while soul hopes that insights keep coming until some degree of wisdom is achieved. Wisdom is the marriage of intellect's longing for truth and soul's acceptance of the labyrinthe nature of the human condition (Moore 1992, pp.247-247).

I will also add to the above position the perspectives of constructivism and social constructionism. Both of the latter perspectives are quite similar, and work well together. Constructivism addresses the individual's perception of the world, while social constructionism addresses interactions within society. Constructivism takes the view that persons cannot fully know the world around them, by virtue of biological defects in the perceptual senses (Maturana & Varela, 1987; von Forster, 1984; von Glaserfeld, 1984). According to constructivism we perceive/experience the world and make maps or impressionist stories of it which go into memory. The process entails certain random deletions, and our stories and maps are not completely representative of our experience. We try to make sense of our experience, and the meaning we give to things shapes our identity and possibly the schemas by which we will use to give meaning to future experiences; the building blocks of cognition, the packets by which we organize and make sense of experiences are known to cognitive psychologists as "schemas" (Goleman, 1985, p.75).


In most cases the process of making sense of our experience enters into a relational domain, that is, we talk to others, compare notes, or enter into possible context-building activities such as reading or interaction with other media. These relational activities are a process by which sense is made, meanings are established and reality is brought into being, socially constructed through a process of interaction with others and ideas. Social constructionism, compared to constructivism, is an expanded view which includes the individual in a speaking discourse with a community of individuals, interacting with others and creating common agreements/disagreements about the nature of the world in which they live (Gerger, 1985; Buirs & Martin, 1995, p.154). This expanded context enables the view that "truth" about anything is a constructed agreement between people in conversation, based on a reconciling of individual perceptions or conclusions. On a larger social scale this is a compounded process where people are shaped/encouraged to conform to the conditions of culture and tradition in which, as Heidegger (1947) observed, they are "thrown" into. As Weinstein (1997) has observed, it is not until such conditions become unbearable do people revolt, hopefully bringing about change. In a world in which we are expected to conform there is little room for attention to soul, and most of us live out our lives conforming to the expectations around us.


Goleman (1985) writes about how certain socially constructed "frames" of agreement between people set the basic rules of behavior. Attributing the origin of the notion of "frames" to Erving Goffman (1974), Goleman writes the following:

A frame is the shared definition of a situation that organizes and governs social events and our involvement in them. A frame, for example, is the understanding that we are at a play, or that "this is a sales call", or that "we are dating". Each of those definitions of social events determines what is appropriate to the moment and what is not; what is to be noticed and what ignored; what, in short, the going reality involves. When the frame is a nursery school carnival the "S-word" is off limits.

A frame is the public surface of collective schemas. By sharing the understanding of the concepts "play", "sales", and "date", we can join in the action, enacting our parts in smooth harmony. A frame comes into being when its participants activate shared schemas for it; if someone does not share the going schema, the results can be embarrassing.

If two persons are on a date, certain activities may be considered as the norm, such as a goodnight kiss. If one person does not initiate the goodnite kiss the absence of such may be interpreted by the other person as a lack of sexual interest, or as a sign that a social gaffe was made earlier in the evening. If the kiss is too sexual, it may be interpreted as beyond the threshold of appropriate first date behavior, and possibly that the other person's ultimate agenda for the evening is only sex, as opposed to being related together. At the office, a much different frame of reference, the same kiss planted on the lips of a colleague could bring a charge of sexual harassment. When I was attending a training on Neuro Lingusitic Programming, an approach to relational communications and modeling behavioral excellence, the trainer observed that much of conflict is actually "frame wars", people operating out of different frames of reference (personal conversation with Wyatt Woodsmall, Ph.D., 1991).


Most of the frames of social protocol are akin to scripts that have been pre-written for us, rooted in either early or recent "politically correct" tradition, bringing about some semblance of social order. It appears that we are "thrown" as Heidegger suggests into this order. Of course, such ideas are not new. Even Krishna speaks about such matters to his disciple Arjuna in the ancient Hindu text known as the Bhagavad Gita. At one point in his pre-battle conversation with Arjuna Krishna notes the confusion of living in a world where we are pulled by allegiances and other social protocols. Krishna counts the person who is born into a family of Yogis - those who can see through these practices of social order - as very lucky. While we agree to some frames, there are many that we do not agree to, but follow along with so as to avoid undesired negative attention. As history has revealed, what is politically correct frequently changes from one era to the next. While it was politically correct to hunt down and kill Wiccans centuries ago, it is no longer in favor. The social persecution of homosexuals is no longer politically correct but was condoned for centuries. Blacks and whites are no longer separated in North America. Based on the large decrease in church attendance in the past decades, some would surely say that religion is no longer politically correct. Living with a significant other before marriage was not politically correct until the sixties brought in certain widescale social changes. Now marrying one's significant other might not be politically correct, at least to the large population that no longer believes in marriage. On these latter matters there is now some semblance of being able to make a choice.


Many of the changes we have seen since the sixties are examples of the people's rebellion against politically correct frames of reference that they did not believe in. Once the winds of change began to blow in their direction - bringing what anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1979) called "news of difference" - people began to see that choice was possible and rebelled against the old order. Gays and lesbians started coming out of the closet, women demonstrated for equality, there was a huge backlash to the Viet Nam war, Afro-Americans campaigned for equal rights, divorces increased, etc. In fact, many persons found that the social frames of reference that were the norm were actually oppressing their more natural instincts toward making their own decisions, taking personal responsibility for such decisions, learning, building on such learning, and self-actualizing their potential. One of the great values in lifting repression is that people get to have a chance to experiment, to learn, to grow. So we in North America experienced a sexual revolution and a social revolution.



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Reflection: Back to the Two Learning Stories from Personal Experience

Now let's return to the earlier examples. In the case of my young daughter we wanted to provide opportunity for her to develop any talent she might show. We wanted her to enjoy her drawn circles and the process of doing so, to let the process of making those circles on the kitchen wall lead her to whatever state it led to, even peak experiences. We wanted to provide support for this naturally unfolding process and, like Socrates, to "draw out" this talent and whatever learning she would make from it. By supporting her, encouraging her, and staying out of her way we would allow her to identify with her creation, and allow her to participate in the formation of her own identity by doing, being and engaging in her activity in such a way as Moore describes earlier, the "mirror, an image of reflection and contemplation". By being in her own process, by her interactions with her work, and by our positive reflections she could make her own narrative, a narrative of discovery and joy at her creation and its acceptance and love from those around her.


Hopefully her story would be a happy and fulfilling story. To enable that we had to stay out of her way, avoid repressing her ideas, as well as offer continued encouragement, which we did. Our daughter would become her own experimenter from an early age, and as Maslow has stated, perhaps a sense of self-actualization would lead to the creativity that is so present in self-actualized individuals. Piaget (cited in Goleman) has written that cognitive development is cumulative. Understanding grows out of what has already been learned. I recently asked my daughter how far back she could remember drawing. He paused for a moment and then replied, "From age four". I then asked her if she had learned much from her own practices and experiments in art and poetry and in her dialoging with others, in comparison with what she is learning formally in her college art program. "Absolutely" was her reply. I then proposed a written set of reflective questions to my daughter to acquire a sense of what she has learned from practice, reflection and dialogue with others - her narrative knowledge. The questions are as follows:

• What skills, knowledge, and experience have you accumulated since you can remember doing art and poetry, but before you began taking formal training in these areas?
• How do you know that you have attained such skills and knowledge?
• How can you demonstrate those skills and knowledge to others? For example, through a test, written summary, evaluation from others, or other activity, performance, or demonstration?
• What would be your criteria for the success of such a demonstration of skills and knowledge?
• If you have already demonstrated such skills and knowledge write a little about how you have done so and what feedback you have received from others that help you believe in your success at demonstrating such skills and knowledge.
• When did you begin to believe that you were an artist/poet, or creative individual?

My daughter's written answers are as follows:

• Under Construction!!! My Daughter's Answers Will Be Posted Soon!!!

As Rousseau states,

It is a grand and beautiful sight to see a man emerge somehow from nothing from his own efforts; dissipate, by the light of his reason, the shadows in which nature had enveloped him: rise above himself, soar by means of his mind into the heavenly regions; traverse, like the sun, the vast expanse of the universe with giant steps; and, what is even grander and more difficult, return to himself in order to study man and know his nature, his duties, and his end (Rousseau, 1750).

As Goleman writes (1985, p.75), "We have become who we are, learned what we know, by virtue of the schemas we have acquired along the way. Schemas accrue with time; the schemas we have at a given point are the end product of our particular private history". My daughter established at an early age that she liked creative endeavors. She had support and recognition from her loved ones for such endeavors, without any accompanying pressure. Her developing schemas opened up for her what postmodern family therapy psychiatrist Karl Tomm has termed as "conceptual space" and its attendant possibilities in creativity, rather than close down such conceptual space and possibilities. In discussing the benefits of people having access to "conceptual space" in their lives, Tomm (1988, p.54) notes that naming or externalizing constraints that engender schemas of inaction and powerlessness (and the experienced related problem) can lead to the internalizing of personal agency. Freedman and Combs (1993, p.296) note the importance of "opening space for recovering and generating alternative experience and knowledge" (p.296).


And my daughter started evolving as an active artist from the moment she drew her very first circle on the wall. But what if we, her parents, interfered with her desire to express herself with circles on walls? Or didn't encourage her creativity? Would she take to creative activities in later years when the opportunity formally presented itself via an art class? Or would she have a painful experience that might constrain her from full and active participation in creativity? Would creativity or art have a negative association for her? Would she become one of the many persons that, upon seeing a musician, artist, poet, sculptor, or woodworker, exclaim "I wish I had your talent - if only I could do as you, you're so lucky"? In the earlier example of the child being told that he "took after" a relative, what if the implication of "taking after" a relative is painfully negative, for example what if young Johnny is said to take after the uncle Joe, the serial child rapist/murderer? How will these not-so-favorable experiences effect or constrain the identity of the child, the "Here I Am", as Ricoeur (1992) terms it?


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The Narrative/Textual Self and Socially-engendered Constraints to Praxis Learning

Although the term "praxis" will be dealth with in greater depth in a later section, Schon (1983) tells us that praxis learning is a learning process that is achieved through a combination of action and reflection. Brookfield (1986) defines praxis as a continual process of (1) activity, (2) reflection on activity, (3) collaborative analysis of activity, (4) new activity, (5) further reflection, and (6) further collaborative analysis. This is quite similar to the naturalistic ways in which persons learn what they learn, whether it be infantile crawling and walking or successfully hammering a nail. One implication of Miller, Galant & Pribram's TOTE model of behavior/learning proposed in their Plans and the Structure of Behavior (1960 - cited in Dilts, Grinder, Bandler, Bandler, & DeLozier, 1980) is the realization that persons are always learning, even unconsciously, via a process of modeling - employing sequences of test-operate-test-exit involving thoughts/speech/and actions. Such sequences usually begin with curiosity, an aspect of conceptual space which stays open, available for the learning/investigative process rather than closing down; another relevant term here is "possibility". The life strategies that persons develop are the results of such modeling, and one question pertaining to same might be "Are the various strategies one uses well-formed enough to achieve their intended outcomes?". Schemas that are unconsciously constructed from such modeling experiences sometimes serve to open conceptual space and engender great possibilities, experimentation, learning, and knowledge. Other developed schemas result in closing down conceptual space and producing self-doubt and disempowerment followed by inaction. The internalization of shame is one means by which a schema is formed which produces self-doubt. The person has learned something for sure, but what is learned is that "I am no good", or some other self-concept that would result in a denial of achieving desired outcomes. The outcomes achieved by a person operating from such a schema might be those of failure - outcomes that perpetuate the self-identity as it is perceived by its owner.


Woodsmall (1988) writes that the schemas of high performers usually incorporate (1) enabling beliefs that support high performance, (2) values that motivate the high performer to such levels of performance, (3) and internal mental approach (cognitive strategy) that involves a specific mental syntax and sequence, and (4) a related physiology - "mental and physical 'postures' that lead to increased performance . . . of the activity involved". Even communication, according to recent research (Potter & Wetherell, 1987), is carried out as a strategy, a series of moves performed for the purpose of bringing something into reality rather than simply to represent things as they are perceived from the world. Burr (1996) comments on this view of communication proposed by Potter and Wetherell:

Wetherell and Potter suggest that, rather than take what people say as an expression of internal states or underlying processes we should look at what people are doing with their talk, what purposes their accounts are achieving. And since a person may be trying to bring about different effects with his or her talk at different points in the interview, it is not surprising that we find the variation that we do. This view therefore denies that there are any internal structures to the person that we could call "attitudes" and instead looks at what people say as intentional, socially directed behavior which performs certain functions for them (Burr 1996, pp. 114-115) .

From Potter and Wetherell's social constructionist perspective speech is action and speech/action makes certain things happen - bringing certain realities into being. Language from this perspective incorporates sentences performing acts, and language is seen as a human social practice. Gergen (1989) holds a view that dovetails with Potter's and Wetherell's perspective, that persons are "motivated by a desire for 'speaking rights' or 'voice', and to have their interpretation of events accepted as the truthful one. The person who is able to 'warrant voice' is therefore a skilled operator with a good understanding of warranting conventions" (cited by Burr 1996, p. 120). Burr states that from this perspection those that are able to warrant voice will enjoy greater power in society, greater resources (money, jobs, education, etc.), and generally higher social standing.


The self-identity, seen from the constructivist/social constructionist view, is informed by the meanings assigned to a multitude of personal experience stories, and further informed by imputations of others. Crites writes that

. . . I cannot conclude from my childhood memories that I was issued this self at birth or in the womb and that it has simply unfolded . . . In the first place a self-identical self is not the pre-condition of experience, but its consequence. The sense of self, rooted in a personal past, arises out of manifold interactions with things, some of them, like the crack in the baseboard or the jingle, reiterated over longer or shorter periods of time. In one case, the reiteration of the crack called forth the spontaneous memory of the original situation, in the other case, a complex analogy of situation called forth the appropriate jingle. "My" self with its personal past takes form out of just such networks of analogous experience present and remembered. But in the second place, experience is itself mediated by coded sound, image, language, all presupposing a vast social processing of such forms, perhaps long antedating the awakening of the personal self to consciousness (Crites 1986, p.158).

While a person can continue to be identified over time by the known/observable aspects of his/her character, it can be difficult for the person to maintain a constancy of character over time. As with Crites (above) identity is seen by Ricoeur as a relationally storied process. The "Who I Am" exists in front of the Other. Because I am there for the Other I am accountable; but can a constancy of this accountability be maintained over time? If it is not maintained . . . what/who of identity do I become? In the other's eyes? And in my eyes? Ricoeur has asserted that the characterization of selfhood - one in relation with one's experiences, thoughts, actions, passions is not without ambiguity.

. . . there is no doubt that the "Here I Am!" by which the person recognizes himself or herself as the subject of imputation marks a halt in the wandering that may well result from the self's confrontation with a multitude of models for action and life, some of which go as far as to paralyze the capacity for firm action. Between the imagination that says, "I can try anything" and the voice that says "Everything is possible, but not everything is beneficial (understanding here, to others and to yourself)," a muted discord is sounded. It is this discord that the act of promising transforms into fragile concordance. "I can try anything", to be sure, but "Here is where I stand"! (p. 168).

How does the standing "here" as Ricoeur terms it - the "but Here is where I stand!" - differ from Martin Heidegger's (1947) phenomenological/existential description of "Standing into the truth of Being"? In Ricoeur's statement the speaker acknowledges that "everything is possible" but chooses to "stand here", to move no further. What constrains the speaker? The "muted discord" tells us there is the presence of doubt and such doubt has more strength than the utterance that "Everything is possible". Heidegger's "standing into" indicates a movement forward, a stand that is not to be toppled easily, a conviction that is commitment in Being. Heidegger writes of "the quiet power of the possible", and "to accomplish means to unfold something into the fullness of its essence, to lead it forth into this fullness - producere. Therefore only what already is can really be accomplished. But what 'is' above all is Being". Just what can it be that constrains the flow of possibility - of Being the 'already is' of identity? It seems that the answer lies with Ricoeur's description of "the self's confrontation with a multitude of models for action and life, some of which go as far as to paralyze the capacity for firm action". Such models for life and action are aspects of discourses we find ourselves embedded within - part of the agreement frames and/or descriptions of reality which constitute social order as it exists at any given moment.


According to Parker (1992) "the self is constructed in discourses and re-experienced within the texts of ordinary life". Texts, according to Parker, are delimited areas (such as thrillers, terrorism, or ego psychology), "of the wide ranging discourses in a culture, which constitute an object of interest". Parker points out that even the discourses of new professional paradigms, despite having made a break from their parent paradigm, can be embedded in wider culturally bounded discourses. The self in interaction with the world becomes a storied/textual self. As eminent cognitive psychology theorist and Harvard professor Jerome Bruner (1986) writes

Like Clifford Geertz and Michelle Rosaldo, I think of Self as a text about how one is situated with respect to others and toward the world - a canonical text about powers and skills and dispositions that change as one's situation changes from young to old, and from one kind of setting to another. The interpretation of this text in situ by an individual is his sense of self in that situation. It is composed of expectations, feelings of esteem and power, and so on (Bruner 1986, p. 130).

Meaning-making becomes a central activity in the personal process of authoring the textual self-identity and the naturalistic learning process which incorporates the unconscious construction of schemas. Yet, simultaneously, from the various positional perspectives of others who witness the acts of an individual, come other writings of the storied/textual personhood of that individual; others are writing their own version of the individual's textual identity -shaping their own narratives and opinions of the person. The person stands indentified in the midst of those who identify him. A problem occurs when the writings/readings of a person's life that are made from the various perceptual positions of others are different from the individual's account of his own identity. Which rendering of such identity does the self assume? Will the individual's own sense of self be privileged, or will it be pushed under by everyone else's version of that individual as an entity in the world? In the case of the native shaman, will he be seen as a supersticious old fool by a more powerfully statused scientist? And will the instructor who trains teachers in home economics see the experienced-trained homemaker only as a homemaker, a doer of menial tasks? Sartre provides insight on the constraining nature of self/identity authored by others in the following example of how certain working individuals must constrain their behavior and attentional range as befits their role:

Their condition is wholly one of ceremony. The public demands of them that they realize it as a ceremony; there is the dance of the grocer, of the tailor, of the auctioneer, by which they endeavor to persuade their clientele that they are nothing but a grocer, an auctioneer, a tailor. A grocer who dreams is offensive to the buyer, because such a grocer is not wholly a grocer. Society demands that he limit himself to his function as a grocer, just as a soldier at attention makes himself into a soldier-thing with a direct regard which does not see at all, which is no longer meant to see, since it is the rule and not the interest of the moment which determines the point he must fix his eyes on (the sight "fixed at ten paces"). There are indeed many precautions to imprison a man in what he is, as if we lived in perpetual fear that he might escape from it, that he might break away and suddenly elude his condition (Sartre 1956, 59).

Shotter (n.d.) writes that "one of our tasks in understanding an Other is to do justice to the uniqueness of their otherness". If we are going to author the Other's identity, we should find out who this individual is, from his/her own subjective position. What is the knowledge which the person possesses? What are the artifacts of this person's existence? What are this person's interests? Naturalistic research has been calling for this practice of understanding the Other from the Other's position for some years (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).


Family therapists White & Epston (1990) write the following on the ambiguous notion of a textual self which is constantly being authored and reauthored:

Social scientists became interested in the text analogy following observations that, although a piece of behavior occurs in time it is attended to, the meaning that is ascribed to the behavior survives across time. It was this ascription of meaning that drew their attention, and in their attempts to understand this they began to invoke the text analogy. This enabled the interaction of persons to be considered as the interaction of readers around particular texts. This analogy also made it possible to conceive of the evolution of lives and relationships in terms of the reading and writing of texts, insofar as every new reading of a text is a new interpretation of it, and thus a different writing of it p.(9).

Noting that the "I" of the philosophies of the subject has been without any assured place in discourse Ricoeur (1992, p.16) stresses that a hermeneutics or way toward interpretation of the self ought to include three elements: (1) the detour of reflection by way of analysis, (2) the dialectic of selfhood and sameness, and (3) the dialectic of selfhood and otherness. To gain greater insight into the workings of the self Ricoeur poses the question "Who", as in "Who is speaking?", "Who is acting?", "Who is recounting about himself or herself?", and "Who is the moral subject of imputation?" Expanding on this by pointing out the relationship between language and action Ricoeur observes the following:

. . . it is in statements - hence in propositions, in particular on the basis of verbs and speech acts that the agent of action designates himself or herself as the one who is acting. In another sense, the second subset annexes the first, inasmuch as sppech acts are themselves action and, by implication, speakers are themselves actors. The questions "Who is speaking?" and "Who is acting" appear in this way to be closely interconnected (Ricoeur 1992, p. 17).

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Related Views from Freire, Maslow, and Sartre

Applying such ideas to social interaction, one can understand how a person or culture can feel a sense of less-than in identity, disempowerment and shame when bullied, colonized, and made to feel lower than by the other. Writing from a naturalistic perspective on the effects of social oppression the educational philosopher Paolo Freire (1970) asserts that

The oppressed suffer from the duality which has established itself in their innermost being. They discover that without freedom they cannot exist authentically. Yet, although they desire authentic existence, they fear it. They are at one and the same time themselves and the oppressor whose consciousness they have internalized. The conflict lies in the choice between being wholly themselves or being divided; between ejecting the oppressor within or not ejecting him; between human solidarity or alienation; between following descriptions or having choices; between spectators or actors; between acting or having the illusion of acting through the action of the oppressors; between speaking out or being silent, castrated in their power to create and re-create, in their power to transform the world (pp.32-33).

Maslow expands on this further:

The timid man may . . . tend to identify probing curiousity as somehow challenging to others, as if somehow, by being intelligent and searching out the truth, he is being assertive and bold and manly in a way that he can't back up, and that such a pose will bring down upon him the wrath of other, older, stronger men. So also may children identify curious probing as a trespass upon the prerogative of their gods, the all-powerful adults. And of course it is easier to find the complimentary attitude in adults. For often they find the restless curiousity of their children at least a nuisance and sometimes even a threat and a danger, especially when it is about sexual matters. It is still the unusual parent who approves and enjoys curiousity in his children. Something similar can be seen in the exploited, the downtrodden, the weak minority or the slave. He may fear to know too much, to explore freely. This might arouse the wrath of his lords. A defensive attitude of pseudo-stupidity is common in such groups. In any case, the exploiter, or the tyrant, out of the dynamics of the situation, is not likely to encourage curiousity, learning and knowledge in his underlings. People who know too much are likely to rebel. Both the exploited and the exploiter are impelled to regard knowledge as being compatible with being a good, nice, well-adjusted slave. In such a situation knowledge is dangerous, quite dangerous. A status of weakness or subordination, or low self-esteem inhibits the need to know. The direct, unhibited staring gaze is the main technique that an overlord monkey uses to establish dominance. The subordinate animal characteristically drops his gaze.

This dynamic can sometimes be seen, unhappily, even in the classroom. The really bright student, the eager questioner, the probing searcher, especially if he is brighter than his teacher, is too often seen as a "wise guy", a threat to discipline, a challenger of his teacher's authority (Maslow 1962, pp. 59-60).

Note how Maslow observes that the dynamic he speaks of has its high-stakes existence entwined with power and control. Those in power or some form of dominant status invoke the overlording gaze by which they can shame or even oppress those others whom they perceive as a threat to such power and position. Maslow also cites Freud's view that the greatest cause of much psychological illness is the fear of the "knowledge of oneself - of one's emotions, impulses, memories, capacities, potentialities, of one's destiny" (p. 57). Maslow writes, further:

But there is another kind of truth we tend to evade. Not only do we hang onto our psychopathology, but also we tend to evade personal growth because, this, too, can bring another kind of fear, of awe, of feelings of weakness and inadequacy. And so we find another kind of resistance, a denying of our best side, of our talents, of our finest impulses, of our highest potentialities, of our creativeness. In brief, this is the struggle against our own greatness, the fear of hubris.

As Maslow asserts, the fear of knowledge of oneself is brought about by a conditioning. This can be understood further by an example from the field of family therapy and clients from the lowest socioeconomic class. As a therapist that provides services to British Columbia's provincial child protection agency, I meet with many people that are members of the lower socioeconomic class. This activity has led me to become attuned to how members of this group tend to respond less favorably to making behavioral changes from talk-therapy than members of the middle class. Salvador Minuchin, a family therapy pioneer who forged an influential career out of working with families in the slums of America, recently commented that the problem with the poor was that while they knew how to nurture their children they were "ineffective in taking control of their kids. What they did not have was the constancy that allowed them to give the children a sense of self-efficacy" (in Simon 1996, p.53). Why was this much lauded "constancy", primarily devised as a distinction by middle class therapists originating from middle class family backgrounds, not present in the parents from the poor class? What was needed to understand the lack of such "constancy" was a political analysis of power. While Freire (1970) wrote on power and oppression in Latin America, it was not until the 1980's that the political analysis of power and its relations to economics and class came into use within the family therapy field. Such an analysis was brought in by feminists and from the writings of Foucault, and by White & Epston (1990).


The above lack of a political analysis of power is made obvious by Minuchin's reflections on his early work. Reflecting on his early pioneering work, Minuchin observed that the naiveté of he and his colleagues was that they could not look beyond the families they worked with and "recognize the impact of the larger culture" on their lives. The impact of the larger culture upon the lives of the lower socioeconomic class includes the effects of conquest, colonization, power differential, and objectification. Often those in the lower socioeconomic class live on social welfare, are segregated from the rest of society in social housing projects and reservations, have education levels that are below the social norms, and are constrained by what some term as a learned helplessness. Learned helplessness, if we follow the thinking of Sartre, and Freire, is not learned but taught, through socio-political processes, and perpetuated through shame, dehumanization, and disempowerment, which are acquired via an internalized dualistic hierarchical identity. Sartre writes that pure shame is the feeling of being an object in front of another, in that the individual recognizes oneself as a "degraded, fixed, and dependent being, which I am for the Other" (1956, p.384). Freire (1970) writes that the oppressed suffer from the duality that establishes itself in their innermost being, in that they have internalized the consciousness of the oppressor in addition to their own; the struggle becomes an internalized struggle. Freire asserts that the result is that the oppressed person is divided, "castrated in their power to create and re-create, in their power to transform the world" (p. 33).


What is usually lacking in the lives of such people is a sense of "power" - the ability to create or bring about desired realities through personal agency or the warranting of voice. The experience of power that does exist for these persons is a diminished or restrained power. These persons are denied the rewards that those who can warrant voice are able to reap - power, money, social status, education, and valuable employment. Employment is virtually non-existent, food and clothing are limited, and foodbanks are depended upon weekly. These persons feel a sense of shame by their place in the community, and any sense of possibility is diminished. Some enact their limited experience of power over family members through violence, or gain temporary escape from their condition through misuse of alcohol or other mind-altering substances. These persons' sense of self as a speaker/actor/agent is mediated by external social circumstances, a discursive authoring of their identies by those authorities they engage with and their experienced lack of power. The identification with the condition of their circumstances and internalized shame gets in the way of identifying and using their own narrative knowledges.


There seems to be a strong correlation between social oppression and shame. Shame has been identified by existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1956) as a relational process brought about under the gaze of a condescending other. His comments are as follows:

Pure shame is not a feeling of being this or that guilty object but in general of being an object; that is, in recognizing myself in this degraded, fixed, and dependent being which I am for the Other. Shame is the feeling of an original fall, not because of the fact that I may have committed this or that particular fault but simply that I have "fallen" into the world in the midst of things and that I need the mediation of the Other in order to be what I am (p. 384).

Shame, then, is a state that is incited when one is defined and classified (the authoring of identity) by others with greater social status, power, and authority. The relationship between a degraded, fixed, and dependent being in the face of others who have the power to classify or define the status of that being is one which is both dehumanizing and oppressive. I conclude that oppressive social relationships and the social and architectural structures that originate and maintain their imbalances of power breed shame, dehumanization, and disempowerment via the process by which marginalized individuals and marginalized groups subjectify themselves - as Madigan (1992) writes - "internalized dialogue mediated through external cultural norms". Internalised shame, then, may be the greatest block to both creative learning and the integration of narrative knowledge that is so important to actualization toward one's potential. But, then, the processes by which such shame is brought about are agents of the desire to keep the weaker in their place of weakness, for the benefit of those who dominate, whether it be in education, rights to knowledge, or government.



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Praxis and the Naturalistic Importance of Narrative Knowledge

The University is commonly understood as a "place" where one goes in order to gain higher knowledge that is in some way certified as being higher knowledge and accepted as so in the community and workplace. Post-structural philosophers Michele Foucault and Jean-Francois Lyotard identify two kinds of knowledge in their writings:

1. "Narrative" Knowledge:
   What a person knows from personal and cultural experience. This informally acquired knowledge could also be gleaned from working in a vocational area, and much of it is acquired via oral means, written means, as well as by carrying out various activities, all depending upon the nature of the vocation. A homemaker might actually possess skills in envisioning, organizing, investigation, problem solving, scheduling, consultation, and other areas, all related to management. She most likely also possesses additional skills that are "high touch", (Naisbett, 1992) related to care-giving, (listening, administering medication, etc.), all of which are associated with some care-giving professions, some of which will be learned formally within certain programs in a university setting. Most, if not all, of these skills have been learned "on the fly" and in consultation with others (e.g., at the morning coffee klatch after the kids are off to school). Another person, a native Indian shaman for example, might possess an elaborate understanding of traditional first nations spirituality and approaches to healing. The late Frank Fools Crow from South Dakota was one such person; he possessed such local narrative knowledge of enormous breadth and depth, yet it was not validated until anthropologist Thomas Mails published his two books on Fools Crow. Prior to that what Fools Crow knew was underground, contained locally within the culture in which he practiced his vocation. If Fools Crow, before his death, decided to get a degree in Souix shamanism would he have to go to a university and learn it from a white anthropologist or ethnobotanist even though he was the defacto expert in the subject? This view of knowledge as being personal or contextual to a person's being is held by Schon (1986). Within Schon's view such narrative knowledge exists within the person as representations of life experience.
   
   
   
2. Formally Acquired Knowledge:
   This knowledge lays claim to being "true", to be representative of the workings of both natural phenomena and human processes in the world as they actually occur; claiming to have wrestled, as Francis Bacon asserted, "the earth's secrets from her". It is based on the nineteenth century positivist belief that that there is knowledge "out there" in the external; there is a right answer and I can find it. Such knowledge is claimed to be arrived at via processes now normally found in an academic environment. It is usually claimed to have beeen acquired via a set of rigorous research or analytical procedures, and it is legitimated by the paradigmatic discourse of the particular professional field in which it is discovered, and in cooperation with the political and institutional powers that be. Regarding research in the social sciences, many influetial academics are writing that such research, carried out in the old manner (at least in the social sciences) are missing the mark, doing an injustice to the uniqueness of the being of Others (Shotter, 1999; Wittgenstein, 1953; Bruner, 1986), creating a "hegemony" over us (the researchers) "that of trying to explain the causes of event in terms of our own abstractions from them (Shotter, 1999)".

A third kind of knowledge - not specified as such, probably best described as a critical thinking skill, and implied in the writings of authors such as Foucault, Ricoeur, Lyotard - is known as discourse analysis. Discourse analysis is a practice which identifies distinctions of power relations and related practices associated with professional knowledge-discourses. Consider for a moment the relationship between knowledge-discourses and local narrative knowledge. When it comes down to recognizing informally acquired knowledge in universities the power relations and practices of knowledge-discourse have a bullying, colonizing, and genocidal effect on local narrative knowledges - marginalizing them, forcing them underground, refuting them as invalid, and even wiping some of them out as anything of meaning or importance. While the traditional University mostly concentrates on disseminating and developing professional knowledge-discourses there is some small attention paid to discourse analysis in some social science departments. There is virtually no attention being paid to local narrative knowledges, other than to "represent" the narrative knowledges of some cultures and marginal groups for the purpose of educating/entertaining the voyeuristic society we now live in. But what about the local narrative knowledge of the adult learners in such an education system? Such local narrative knowledge continues to remain unrecognized. Most establishments that would recognize such knowledge and attempt to help the learner incorporate it into an academic program are automatically labelled by some conservatives in this knowledge-as-commodity era as "degree mills" or other terms which lead one to wonder what might be the combination of emotion, thought, and political/power intention behind this type of name-calling, and how such institutions could be perceived as a threat by the purveyors of the traditional knowledge-discourse. I write of the importance of discourse analysis because it is a critical skill by which, with much effort, the learner will be able to see through the almost opaque veil of discourse which higher education is becoming, perhaps one of far less importance than it leads itelf and others to believe.



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A Related View from Education Philosopher Henry Giroux

Despite the trend in universities toward formal knowledge-as-a-commodity that can be traded (Lyotard 1984, pp.3-6), educational philosophers such as Henry Giroux have expressed the need for higher education to develop a critical pedagogy and address the learner's status as a political entity within the community. This entails helping learners locate themselves as political subjects in a political society, and drawing out from learners critical skills that are congruent with their lived experience. Writes Giroux:

Education must be understood as producing not only knowledge but also political subjects. Rather than rejecting the language of politics, critical pedagogy must link public education to the imperatives of a critical democracy (Dewey, 1916; Giroux, 1988a). Critical pedagogy needs to be informed by a public philosophy dedicated to returning schools to their primary task: places of critical education in the service of creating a public sphere of citizens who are able to exercise power over their own lives and especially over the conditions of knowledge production and acquisition. This is a critical pedagogy defined, in part, by an attempt to create the lived experience of empowerment for the vast majority. In other words, the language of critical pedagogy needs to construct schools as democratic public spheres.

In part, this means that educators need to develop a critical pedagogy in which the knowledge, habits, and skills of critical rather than simply good citizenship are taught and practiced. This means providing students with the opportunity to develop the critical capacity to challenge and transform existing social and political forms, rather than simply adapt to them. It also means providing students with the skills they will need to locate themselves in history, find their own voices, and provide the conviction and compassion necessary for exercising civic courage, taking risks, and furthering the habits, customs, and social relations that are essential to democratic public forms . . . A critical pedagogy for democracy does not begin with test scores but with the questions: What kinds of citizens do we hope to produce through public education in a postmodern culture? What kind of society do we want to create in the context of the present shifting cultural and ethnic borders? How can we reconcile the notions of difference and equality with the imperatives of freedom and justice (Giroux 1991, 47-48)?

Giroux's statement (above) clearly indicates the importance of learners being able to exercise power over their own lives and over the conditions of knowledge production and acquisition, finding their own voices and taking risks, thus engendering a greater society of free thinkers who are willing to stand up to certain injustices with a new ethical vision. Giroux writes that educators must

. . . go beyond the postmodern notion of understanding how student experiences are shaped within different ethical discourses. Educators must also come to view ethics as a relationship between the self and the other. Ethics, in this case, is not a matter of individual choice or relativism but a social discourse grounded in struggles that refuse to accept needless human suffering and exploitation. Thus, ethics is taken up as a struggle against inequality and as a discourse for expanding basic human rights. This points to a notion of ethics attentive to both the issue of abstract rights and those contexts which produce particular stories, struggles, and histories. In pedagogical terms, an ethical discourse needs to be taken up with regards to the relations of power, subject positions, and social practices it activates.

But Giroux's use of the term "finding voice" implies that there is a sense of "lostness" of crucial expression, or that "voice" has been constrained or silenced to the degree that it seems to be lost. Perhaps this is the powerful effect of the knowledge-discourses, which render as unimportant and invalid the "voices" of narrative knowledge. To "find voice" requires interacting with and recognizing the conditions of one's lived experience, often amongst support and encouragement from others in an academically produced world where people must look to see just where their voices went to. Such interaction is where the stage of congruency will be set as one connects with the pains, failures, wins, and wisdoms of one's personal and/or cultural narratives, in relation to those forces which restrain the privileging of knowledge gained from such lived experience. This has been aptly demonstrated by feminism, which has self-organized by building on the lived experience of women, and by privileging the voices of their lived experience, pains, experience of injustice, gifts, joys, uniqueness, and wisdom. Feminist writers, for example, have located the voice of womens' lived experience (self-descriptions) as exhibiting greater priority, representation, and meaning over descriptions from others (experts) in matters of family life and work life. Similarly, writing on research practices, Robson (1993) states that feminist writers, such as Stanley and Wise (1983)

. . . maintain that objectivity is, in principle, impossible to achieve and that all research is effectively ' . . . "fiction" in the sense that it views and so constructs "reality" through the eyes of one person' (p.174). This stance casts serious doubts on the possibility of a science based on research generating cumulating knowledge (Robson, 1993, p.65).

In the family therapy literature such notions as above are echoed by such feminist writers as Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Marecek (1988, p. 455), who observe that within the discourse of therapy there are cultural assumptions about gender relations. The authors challenge the idea of a single meaning of reality and suggest that meanings result from social experience. Feminism has played an enormous role in influencing the emerging post-structural collaborative approaches to family therapy. The feminist critique of family therapy has made its practitioners aware of the unique experience and perspective of women, and increased awareness within the profession of how traditional (modernist) therapeutic practices had marginalized the experience and "voices" of women clients (Hare-Mustin, 1978; Hare-Mustin, 1987; Coleman, Myers Avis, & Turin, 1990; Feinstein, 1990; Goldner, Penn, Sheinberg, & Walker,1990; Myers-Avis,1992; Hare-Mustin, 1994). The feminist critique of family therapy has also played an important role in establishing therapeutic approaches that address the experience and needs of women from a female perspective, thus providing a space for such voices of self-expression.



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A Related View from Education Philosopher John Dewey

John Dewey, a well-known educational philosopher and psychologist in the early 20th. century, called for education to include the local narrative knowledge of the learner. Crews (1989), observes some interesting ideas from Dewey on the integration of local narrative knowledge into an academic program.

He emphasized the importance of individualizing education, of having education flow out of personal interests, and of having intellectual activity relevant to and integrated with vocational activity. Also, without using the word "wholistic", he recognized the importance of a wholistic perspective in education and in other aspects of life. The following quotations are from his Democracy and Education: An introduction to the Philosophy of Education, which was first published in 1916:

• The inclinations to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life such that all will learn in the process of living are the finest products of schooling.
  
  
• Education means the enterprise of supplying the conditions which insure growth, or adequacy of life, irrespective of age.
  
  
• The criteria of the value of school education are the extent to which it creates a desire for continued growth and supplies means for making the desire effective in fact.
  
  
• The aim of education is to enable individuals to be able to continue their education . . . the object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth.
  
  
• A wagon is not perceived when all its parts are summed up; it is the characteristic connection of those parts which makes it a wagon. And these connections are not those of mere physical juxtaposition; they involve connection with the animals that draw it, the things that are carried on it, and so on.
  
  
• Aristotle was permanently right in assuming the inferiority and subordination of mere skill in performance and mere accumulation of external products to understanding, sympathy of appreciation, and the free play of ideas. If there was an error it lay in assuming the necessary separation of the two: in supposing that there is a natural divorce between efficiency in producing commodities and rendering service, and self-directive thought; between significant knowledge and practical achievement.
  
  
• There is already an opportunity for an education which, keeping in mind the larger features of work, will reconcile liberal nurture with training in social serviceableness, with ability to share efficiently and happily in occupations which are productive.

Criticisms of Dewey's ideas have centered around the concern that children do not know enough about adult occupations for their interests to be a safe guide for their education. They are naïve and fickle. A child may want to be a soldier one day and a clown the next. Further, children do not have a broad fund of knowledge. They do not know enough about the adult world and the society in which they live to make reasonable educational choices. They do not understand the significance or context of what they are doing and what they are learning. Notice that all these objections disappear when Dewey's principles are applied to the education of accomplished adults (Crews, 1989).

Both Giroux and Dewey write about incorporating the lived experience of the self - local narrative knowledge - into academic programs. Finding one's voice, as Giroux terms it, can also means standing up ethically to any oppression that one experiences from others, and how such oppression may attempt to shape one's identity. Yet, finding one's voice usually occurs with the assistance of others and some self-searching. Ricouer provides interesting insight on this self/other relation in the accumulating of identity by observing that the self-identity does not exist in the world by itself. While it might come into the world, as Rousseau believed, through a phenomenological unfolding, self gathers identity and meaning as it moves narratively through lived experience. As Sarbin (1986) has noted, people try to make sense and meaning of the world by placing the pieces of personal experience into narrative form. As Madigan writes, "the story of our lives through time is said to be performed within a set of language rules or "games" (Wittgenstein, 1963). It is a person's storied discourse, a discourse shaped and spoken through a socio-political cultural context, that eventually determines the meaning given to an experience (Madigan, p.258).



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A Batesonian View: Narratives as Storehouses of Experience and Abstract Complexity

The importance of narrative, from the perspective of the late anthropologist and luminary thinker Gregory Bateson, is revealed by physicist Fritjof Capra (1988). Capra writes that Bateson "considered stories, parables, and metaphors to be essential expressions of human thinking, of the human mind" (p. 78). Capra writes that although Bateson was a complex abstract thinker, hi delivered his ideas via stories, so that they would be experienced concretely by the listener. Bateson viewed stories as a language of relationships, and viewed relationships as "the essence of the living world". Capra expands on this perspective:

Stories, Bateson would say, are the royal road to the study of relationships. What is important in a story, what is true in it, is not the plot, the things, or the people in the story, but the relationships between them. Bateson defined a story as "an aggregate of formal relationships scattered in time", and this is what he was after in all his seminars, to develop a web of formal relations through a collection of stories (Capra 1988, p.78).

and

One of the central ideas in Bateson's thought is that the structure of nature and the structure of mind are reflections of each other, that mind and nature are of a necessary unity. Thus epistemologically - "the study of how it is that you can know something", or, as he sometimes put it, "what it's all about" - ceased to be abstract philosophy for Bateson and became a branch of natural history (Capra 1988, p. 80).

Stories, then, can convey a complex set of relationships that can exist systemically at any given moment and can vary over temporal linearity. I have already established that all events, whether experienced subjectively or not, become structured as story (also known as narrative) (Sarbin, 1986) for the purpose of remembering, operating on to establish meaning, and for the purpose of retelling (can be considered as "performing"). Even one individual's witnessing of a discussion between two other individuals becomes a narrative which can be performed from three distinct positions, the position of the witness, the position of speaker #1, and the position of speaker #2. Such narratives are structured temporally into event sequences or chapters (e,g., he said this, and then he said that, and then she replied that, etc.). The process of making sense of an event after it occurs - interacting with and reflecting on the developing story - usually involves activity akin to what conversation analysis research Jerry Gale (1996, p.117) has termed as a period of "soaking" oneself in the data, the data being the pieces of the event and resulting sequences. Narrative summaries of events are rarely structured utilizing the structural categories outlined by Labov as denoting "well-formedness" (1972, 1982; Labov & Waletsky, 1967; Riessman, 1993). Riessman, (1993, p.19), citing Labov's outline for a "fully formed" narrative, states that a narrative should include six common elements:

. . . an abstract (summary of the substance of the narrative), orientation (time, space, situation, participants), complicating action (sequence of events), evaluation (significance and meaning of the action, attitude of the narrator) resolution (what finally happened), and coda (returns the perspective to the present). With these structures a teller constructs a story from a primary experience and interprets the significance of events in claused and embedded evaluation (p.19).

The reason that narrative summaries are often not well-formed is that the process of meaning-making is often mediated by dominant social discourses which provide mainstream meanings that have truth-value - they are accepted as the politically cultural correct norm. One of the reasons that so many people use the services of therapists is to make sense of their experience by finding alternate meanings other that the mainstream meanings available. That's because sometimes the mainstream meanings are socially oppressive. Consider this - if an adolescent is somewhat hyperactive in the class room setting does that mean that he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and needs to be placed on Ritalin? Has anyone ever identified the fact that schools are highly invested in attentive behavior and if one is not attentive or is troublesome it interrupts the flow of the entire endeavor, which is didactic learning for the whole class? Has anyone noticed that boys tend toward more inattentive activity than girls? Can curriculum be designed to utilize such differences rather than marginalize the children that are singled out as troublesome and then pathologized?


In the process of the self making meaning important information becomes deleted. Constructivists have already proved that biologically we will delete aspects of information because we are biologically structurally determined that way - it is not possible to remember everything (von Glaserfeld, 1984; von Forster, 1984; Maturana & Varela, 1987; Bandler & Grinder, 1975). A well-formed narrative summary should provide a story that would represent and bring to mind, as closely as possible, the key events that had occurred in the example discussion between the two people. While each speaker's view is subjective, each sees only the other speaker, the witness has an binocular view of both speakers. The act of the three people debriefing each sharing one's version of the events that make up the discussion has the potential to generate a collaboratively understood narrative. This would be similar to the practice, in naturalistic research, of obtaining validation in an effort to establish desirable levels of trustworthiness (Yin,1989; Robson,1993; Lincoln & Guba, 1985).



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Praxis, the Narrative Self and Experiential Learning

Examined from a postmodern/post-structural perspective the self in interaction with the world becomes a storied/textual self. As eminent cognitive psychology theorist and Harvard professor Jerome Bruner (1986) writes

Like Clifford Geertz and Michelle Rosaldo, I think of Self as a text about how one is situated with respect to others and toward the world - a canonical text about powers and skills and dispositions that change as one's situation changes from young to old, and from one kind of setting to another. The interpretation of this text in situ by an individual is his sense of self in that situation. It is composed of expectations, feelings of esteem and power, and so on( Bruner 1986, p. 130).

In the case of the adult individual the matter of creating a well-formed narrative of life experience for the purpose of integration into an academic curriculum is both more-simple and more-complex simultanously. That is why special attention needs to be paid to coaching this individual adult and helping to "draw out" the related life experience narrative so that it is contextual to the curriculum subject areas and properly presented in an academic format. This is where the notion of "praxis" comes in. Ricoeur (1992, p.173) informs us that praxis, in the view of the philosopher Aristotle, means "practical science", that praxis "is an activity that produces no work distinct from the agent, an activity that has no end other than action itself". Here are Aristotle's comments on the relation of praxis to practical wisdom:

Regarding practical wisdom we shall get at the truth by considering who are the persons we credit with it. Now it is thought to be the mark of a man with practical wisdom to be able to deliberate well about what is good and expedient for himself, not in some particular respect, e,g., about what sorts of thing conduce to health or strength, but about what sorts of thing conduce to the good life in general. This is shown by the fact that we credit men with practical wisdom in some particular respect when they have calculated well with a view to some good end which is one of those that are not the object of any art. It follows that in the general sense also the man who is capable of deliberating has practical wisdom (cited in Ricoeur 1992, p.175).

and

Practical wisdom . . . is concerned with things human and things about which it is possible to deliberate; for we say this is above all the work of the man with practical wisdom, to deliberate well, but no one deliberates about things invariable, nor about things which have not an end, and that a good can be brought about by action. The man who is without qualification goos at deliberating is the man who is capable of aiming in accordance with calculation at the best for man attainable by action (cited in Ricoeur 1992, p.175).

Ricoeur writes that the first great lesson that Aristotle leaves us with is "to seek the fundamental basis for the aim of the 'good life' in praxis". The second great lesson that Aristotle leaves us with is "to attempt to set up the teleology internal to praxis as the structuring principle for the aim of the 'good life' ". The good life can be seen as "living well", or whatever image each of us has of a full life. There is a certain reflexivity, or self-reflection, that is called for by the comments of Aristotle and Ricoeur. Indeed, Ricoeur, in addressing the self poses the question who, as in (1) who is speaking, (2) who is acting, (3) who is recounting about himself or herself?, and (4) who is the moral subject of imputation?. In Ricoeur's view the self is the speaker, the actor, the narrator, as well as the subject of the imputations of others. Therefore, the structuring of a life experience narrative for integration into aspects of a degree program involves revisiting actions of the past, and reflecting upon those actions to determine what was learned that is now applicable to the "good life", which certainly is the aim of the action of any degree program. Once again, we are back to Riessman's (1993, p.19) citing of Labov's outline for a "fully formed" narrative, which states that a narrative should include six common elements:

. . . an abstract (summary of the substance of the narrative), orientation (time, space, situation, participants), complicating action (sequence of events), evaluation (significance and meaning of the action, attitude of the narrator) resolution (what finally happened), and coda (returns the perspective to the present). With these structures a teller constructs a story from a primary experience and interprets the significance of events in claused and embedded evaluation (p.19).

Thus, praxis involves action and reflection. Dr. Paul Robinson, a medical doctor who uses some of these concepts in the training of medical practitioners regards praxis as alternating between Activity and Reflection. He takes a broad definition of the two terms, defining Activity as possibly being physical activity such as a manual skill, but also includes listening, reading, and thinking. He defines Reflection as possibly including a physical element, and may refer to discussion as well as contemplation. Education theorist Stephen Brookfield (1986) utilizes the word "praxis" to describe an adult learning process which entails a cyclic process of activity, reflection, and analysis. D.A. Kolb is known for his work with learning styles, and developed the Learning Styles Inventory, which is well known in adult education. Kolb's model of experiential learning incorporates a four element cycle of:

1. Concrete experience
2. Reflective observation
3. Abstract conceptualization
4. Active experimentation

Robinson provides an explanation of Kolb's four-element cycle:

The four elements are drawn from two dimensions, each of which forms a dialectic, and represent the things that can be done with information. The first is to grasp the information, ie to become aware of it. The dialectic lies between grasping information by first hand experience (concrete experience), which he refers to as apprehension, and grasping by calling up a memory (abstract conceptualisation), whichhe refers to as comprehension. The first of these is external and the information is only available in the 'here and now': only when you are actually touching a piece of ice does it feel cold. The second is an internal process and is not bound by the instant of time.

The second is to transform the information. Similarly, there is a dialectic between the external process of active experimentation and the internalised reflective observation.

The transformation of information is the key to creating knowledge and is crucial that learning is an active process.

Implications
Kolb says that all four elements are required for effective experiential learning. Individuals have different preferences and natural styles which can be represented as different points along each of the two dimensions. Similarly different occupations call for different types of knowledge.

It is important for both learner and teacher to be aware of their own positions on these dimensions, so that they can pay additional attention to tasks which fall outside their natural preferences. There is an inventory for determining learning styles in these terms presented in the book (Robinson, 2000).

Renner expands further on Kolb's four part model of experiential learning:

A learner, to be fully effective, needs four different abilities. She must be able to involve herself fully,openly, and without bias in new experiences (CE), she must be able to reflect on and observe these experiences from many perspectives (RO), she must be able to create concepts that integrate her observations into logically sound theories (AC), and she must be able to use these theories to make decisions and solve problems (AE).

To state it another way, learning can be seen as a process in which a person experinces something directly, not vicariously, reflects on the experience as something new or as related to other experiences, develops some concept by which to name the experience, and uses the concept in subsequent actions as a guide for behavior. Out of those four steps the person derives a new set of experiences that lead to a repeat of the learning cycle (Renner 1989, p. 129).

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Not All Persons Learn in the Same Manner

It is important to remember Kolb's findings that all people do not learn in the same manner. Kolb, a developmental psychologist, has identified four learning styles, as found in the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI). Kolb and his colleagues have tested the LSI on different groups which include managers, college students, medical students, and colege faculty. The four learning styles identified are as follows:

Converger
The Converger's learning style emphasizes abilities in Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE). An individual with this learning style seems to do best in activities requiring the practical application of ideas. His knowledge seems to be organized so that through hypothetical deductive reasoning he may focus it on specific problems. Research has shown convergers to be relatively unemotional, having a prference for working with "things" rather than people, and having narrow technical interests, generally choosing to specialize in engineering and physical sciences.

Diverger
The Diverger has a learning style oposite to that of the Converger, with strenght in imaginative ability and being able to view complex situations from many perspectives. He performs well in "brainstorming" sessions. Research has shown Divergers to be interested in people, having broad cultural interests often specializing in the arts. This style of learning is characteristic of humanities and liberal arts programs. Counsellors, personnel managers, and sociologists tend toward this style.

Assimilator
The Assimilator's dominant learning abilities are Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Reflective Observation (RO). Persons with this learning style excel in the creation of theoretical models and inductive reasoning. Although he is concerned with the practical use of theories, it is more important to the Assimilator that the theory be logically sound; and if the theory does not fit the "facts", he is likely to re-examine those facts. This learning style is more characteristic of persons in the basic sciences and mathematics than the applied sciences.

Accomodator
The Accomodator's learning strengths lie in doing things and involving oneself in new experiences. Quite the opposite of the Assimilator, this person excels in situations where he mustadapt to specific immediate circumstances, and if his plan or theoretical explanation does not fit the situation, he will discard it. He tends to solve problems in an intuitive, trial and error manner, relying on others for information instead of his own analytic ability. The Accomodator is at ease with people and often found in action-oriented jobs in business, marketing or sales (cited in Renner, 1989).

The implementation of narrative knowledge into higher education programs will require attention to the different learning styles. (Please note: More will be posted on this later).



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Praxis and Narrative Knowledge Viewed from A Transpersonal Psychological Perspective

Ken Wilber, one of the major theorists in the field of transpersonal psychology, has concluded that personal growth or the actualizing of one's potential consists of ongoing cycles of identification, dis-identification, and transcendence - within sequenced structures that emerge in consciousness. As each structure is dis-identified with, the self transcends it, thereby gaining the ability to operate upon it. As this is happening, the self is concurrently identifying with the next higher-ordered structure that is presenting itself. Here is how Wilber describes this process:

At each stage, a higher-ordered structure - more complex and thereafter more unified - emerges through a differentiation of the preceding, higher-order level. The higher-order is introduced to consciousness, and eventually (it can be instantaneous, or can take a longer term) the self identifies with that emergent structure (Wilber 1980, p.104).

An interesting observation about Wilber's theory is that it seems to incorporate the point of view of the early developmentalists - Rousseau, and later - Gesell. William Crain, author of Theories of Development, provides the proof of this observation:

Rousseau introduced several key ideas into developmental theory: (1) That development proceeds according to an inner biological timetable. For the first time, we have a picture of development unfolding fairly independent from environmental influences. Children are no longer simply shaped by external forces, such as adult teachings and social reinforcements. They grow and learn largely on their own, according to Nature's plan . . . (2) Rousseau suggested that development unfolds in a series of stages, during which children experience the world in different ways. Children differ from adults not because they are blank slates which gradually take on adult teachings, rather, at each stage, the child's patterns of thought and behavior have their own unique characteristics. (3) Rousseau proposed a new philosophy of education, one which we would c all "child-centered" . . . we should fit our lessons to the child's particular stage of development. In this way, children will be able to judge matters according to their own experience and powers of understanding.

Gesell suggested that development is influenced by two factors: (1) The child is a product of the environment; (2) But more fundamentally, Gesell believed, the child's development is directed from within, by the action of needs. Gesell called this process maturation . . . . In Gesell's hands, Rousseau's idea of an inner developmental force became the guiding principle behind extensive scholarship and research. Gesell showed how the maturational mechanism, while still hidden, manifests itself in intricate developmental sequences and self-regulatory processes. Gesell indicated that there are good reasons to suppose that development follows an inner plan (Crain 1980, pp130-23).

Wilber expands on the relationship of his theory to the specifics of personal growth:

. . . at each point in psychological growth, we find:

1. A higher order structure emerges in consciousness (with the help of symbolic forms).
   
2. The self identifies its being with that higher structure.
   
3. The next-higher-order structure eventually emerges.
   
4. The self dis-identifies with the lower structure and shifts its essential identity to the higher structure.
   
5. Consciousness thereby transcends the lower structure.
   
6. And becomes capable of operating on that lower structure from the higher order level.
   
7. Such that all preceding levels can then be integrated in consciousness, and ultimately as Consciousness.
   

We noted that each successively higher-order structure is more complex, more organized, and more unified - and evolution continues until there is only Unity, ultimate in all directions, whereupon the force of evolution is exhausted, and there is perfect release in Radiance as the entire World Flux.

Every time one remembers a higher-order deep structure, the lower-order structure is subsumed under it. That is, at each point in evolution, what is the whole of one level becomes merely a part of the higher-order whole of the next level (Wilber, 1980 p. 80).

And

[In psychological and transpersonal development] as each higher-order structure emerges, the self eventually identifies with that structure - which is normal, natural, and appropriate.

As evolution proceeds, however, each level in turn is differentiated from the self, or "peeled-off" so to speak. The self, that is, eventually dis-identifies with its present structures so as to identify with the next higher-order emergent structure. More precisely (and this is a very important technical point), we say that the self detaches itself from its exclusive identification with that lower structure. It doesn't throw that structure away, it simply no longer exclusively identifies with it. The point is that because the self is differentiated from the lower structure, it transcends that structure (without obliterating it in any way), and can thus operate on that lower structure using the tools of the newly emergent structure (Wilber, 1980 p. 80).

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Some Ideas of Ken Wilber Applied to Praxis and Narrative Knowledge

The key terms here are "identify" with, disidentify" with, "transendence" and "operate on". When we are in a compelling state of learning we actually want to experience a new emerging structure, by which will be delivered "difference". We want the prize, a discovery, what is waiting around the corner. Yet when we are engaged in action/reflection we are also in a process similar to siphoning - trying to get the juices of that inner developmental force flowing up the hose. Another key theme (although not explicitly mentioned by Wilber as "reflection") is that "reflection", more importantly, "perturbs" the natural force of maturation - catalyzing/alchemizing the spirit, producing a quickening or shift of consciousness, while drawing forth the systems of relationships that are embedded within one's life experience, upon which the person can now "operate on", having moved to a higher-ordered structure of awareness.


When I reflect on I am engaging in a process of identifying/disidentifying. The disidentifying occurs by a process of observer-observing-the-observer observing the observed, which is not dissimilar from certain meditative practices which originate in the East. From a western point of view this notion is described by a theory known as second order cybernetics, (more will be presented on this theory in this article and in the 3rd major section of this document). While this phenomenom seems a little far-fetched, it actually represents the notion that persons are able to enter into creative higher-ordered states of awareness where they can organize themselves around, reflect on, and operate upon life experience. Under such states of awareness - peak experiences - even long-standing problems can be solved. Some therapists, for example, have been able to perturb and transform their clients translation of the meaning of events via subtle and nonobtrusive conversation in such a manner as to facilitate such advanced levels of awareness - peak experiences if you will. Family therapists that engage in such conversational story practices, such family therapists as those operating from a second order cybernetics and post-structural perspective, describe themselves as adopting a non-expert stance which eschews any claim to an objective understanding of families. How can a non-expert stance bring about transformation in the perspectives of families on their relational problems? Boscolo, Cecchin, Hoffman, and Penn (1987) explain, observing that such therapists adopt the view that

. . . Therapists can never know a priori how a family should be, the therapists must act as a stimulus, a perturbation that activates the family's capacity to generate its own solutions. In a sense, the neutral position presents a double message to the family. It states the solution they have found has been perfect until now, but from this moment on they have entered into another interaction (the therapy) that will allow the therapist and the family to invent together other possibilities from which new solutions may arise (p.98).

Writing about the Milan Team, a group of Italian therapists which used the second order cybernetics perspective, the above authors note that

The stance the Milan Team takes in regard to intervening in human systems has been influenced most recently by second order cybernetics and Humberto Maturana's formulation of structural autonomy in living systems. The rise of second-order cybernetics took away the notion of an "objective" observer who is out to influence a system in a predictable way. In addition, we are more and more compelled to take note of and respect the events in the system that represents the family's self-creative activity - that is what the Milan Team means when they refer to the family's capacity to heal itself. This idea comes from Maturana, who claims that the response to any perturbation offered to a living system will be determined by that system's inherent structure. Therefore, the therapist can no longer search for specific interventions that will produce specific results; rather, he or she must try to achieve a structural coupling with the system - that is, the point where the interaction between the therapist and the family is in continual calibration, and that calibration is in the service of the self-organizing capacity of the system (Boscolo, Cecchin, Hoffman, and Penn, 1987, p.102).

The role of educator (in theory) is somewhat similar to that of the therapist, although the result of exposure to education nowadays is seldom similar to the results of therapy. Wilber writes that the role of the therapist (or guru/mentor/educator, for that matter) is to be a translator or mediator of one's experience in the world, or to help the individual make personal translations that are well-formed in that those translations bring about a transformation of the meaning of the situation- to allow the individual to grow beyond it in such a manner as to be able to operate on it as opposed to being operated upon by a situation. This is particularly useful for persons when the dominant discursive contexts for interpreting such experience privilege repression rather than growth. Wilber writes the following as an example of the therapist as translator:

The therapist helps the individual re-translate the symptom/symbol back to its original form. This is called "the interpretation", and a good therapist is a good interpreter. The therapist might say, for example, "You're feelings of depression are masked feelings of anger and rage" - he translates the foreign language of the symptom back to the original form. He "tells" the individual the "meaning" of his depression (or helps him discover it for himself), and thus helps him re-translate it in terms more consonant with the deep structure from which the symbols and symptoms originate.

The therapeutic translation continues in that fashion (the working through) until a genuine and more-or-less complete transformation of consciousness from the lower to the upper level occurs, so that the symbol becomes sign, and the anger can enter awareness in its original form, which, as it were - dissolves the symptom. (Wilber, 1980).

What we have above is a transformation of meaning of the particular symptom or concern, and indeed, a transformation of meaning of the entire experience. The systemic set of relationships within the narrative are now shifted as the interpretation shifts. In the story above - if the interpretation makes sense to the client, the feelings of depression are identified as masked anger and rage. If they are experienced as such by the client during the therapeutic conversation, the problem context shifts to dealing with the symbols of anger and rage, and perhaps the source under which the anger and rage unfolded. The experience has been reflected on (in this case, through dialogue), transformation has occurred, and new insights have arrived - thus producing new knowledge. More importantly, the client has experienced some form of shift into a heightened awareness (this comes along with the insight and the felt emotions which were cut off by the situational depression).


With this shift into a new level of consciousness (a transcendance), the client's energy or flow is freed up to operate on the narrative, thus producing the ability for new insight, perhaps an "AHA! Experience", and new learnings. Then, of course, the whole cycle will start again, as the problem symbol has been transformed to anger and rage which, presumably, has not been transformed. Rather, the anger and rage has been repressed, a digressive transformation. Wilber also observes that other methods of translating and transforming include perturbing. Perturbing takes place in spiritual practice when a master sets up certain disciplines which challenge the everyday reality of a disciple; meditation and fasting are examples of such disciplines. Transformation occurs as a drawing forth, much like the education that is described by the Latin word "educo", which means to "draw forth". Such transformation or drawing forth results in insights, as conceptual space is opened for the disciple. The major difference between therapy and education (as it is widely practice today) is that good therapy will leave an individual with not only a transformation of meaning, but with the ability to look at meanings as being relative to the manners in which life situations are examined, whereas most education will leave the learner with explicit specifics as to what things mean.


Post-structural therapists help individuals reflect on their narratives to engender alternative meanings which can bring about a transformation. White and Epston (1990) discuss the importance of looking for exceptions to a problem behavior, and identify these as "unique outcomes" in a person's struggle with a problem. For a writer, for example, writing anything during a bout with writer's block would be seen in a positive light as one of possibly many untold "unique outcomes" against a background story of constraints or difficulties with the writing. Unique outcomes have been defined as aspects of a person's experience with constraints that are exceptions or contradictions to the problem, such as would not have been predicted by a reading/re-telling of the dominant (problem-oriented) story (Zimmerman & Dickerson, 1996, p.57; White and Epston,1990). In discussing the benefits of opening "conceptual space" for clients to escape the influence of the problem in their lives, Tomm (1988, p.54) notes that externalizing constraints (and the problem itself) can lead to the internalizing of personal agency. Freedman and Combs (1993, p.296) note the importance of "opening space for recovering and generating alternative experience and knowledge" (p.296). Irrespective of the end purpose to be met, the act of opening conceptual space is what the therapist, the mystic, and the praxis learner are questing for, for it is within standing into open conceptual space that transformation and the ability to transend and operate on occurs.


Praxis, then, is a drawing forth that is carried out by the learner in quest of opening conceptual space to see what else can happen. As I have already mentioned, one manner which facilitates this is the use of a reflective journal, in which the individual writes experiences and thoughts/feelings about such experiences, while observing himself/herself engaging in this activity. Another form of praxis is the writing down of one's dreams, a psychoanalytical practice. As I write this I am thinking of the approach of Jung, for that is the form of psychoanalysis which I have some experience with. As one progresses along in the writing of one's dreams various themes or patterns begin to emerge. This is similar to using a qualitative method of analysis upon a series of research interviews. Such analysis will also bring about the emerging of themes, differences, similarities, etc. The recognition of, the awareness and reflection on opens up further possibility.



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Interactions with Self/Others While Situating/Observing Myself In My Own Narrative Knowledge

Even as I write in the moment, as the author of this document, I am engaging in action/reflection. There are moments when insight comes - sometimes profound insight. And there are hours and days where the whole process is a struggle. Yet I observe myself engaging with my own ideas, experience, and the ideas of others. I choose to be transparent, to be public in situating myself within the contexts of where I have come from, my journey, and what informs my thinking in what I currently observe and participate with - much of it shaped by narrative knowledge. This process utilizes action and reflection and embraces both the observed and the observer, the internal and the external, recursively back and forth. Evolution of thought and experience is the result. One might term the above as a form of transparent internal reflexive dialogue between that which influences the writer to undertake such observation and writing, and what is observed and interacted with. Thus, this heuristic-like process (Moustakas, 1990) of reflecting on one's history, the present self, the observed, and other related ideas, in an internal and external dialogue with the ideas others, reflects Freire's exhortation that

Those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly. This conversion is so radical as not to allow of ambiguous behavior (1985, p.46).

Freire's comments reiterate a distinction which I brought up ealier in this document - "relational discourse", the act of including the Other in one's construction and evolution of theory, practice through action, reflection and dialogue. The inclusion and integration of multiple life and work experiences in a curriculum engenders what Schon (1983) calls praxis, a cycle of action and reflection on the multiple aspects of the life experience and the new knowledge in the curriculum. The above engenders a "relational discourse", an internal academic and spoken dialogue between multiple perspectives, brought about by such distinctions (observed by Ricoeur, 1992) as the self as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation. I have expanded on Ricoeur's idea and included certain "others" as found below.

1. the self (educator/writer) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
2. the other (the consumer/adult learner) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
3. the lived experience other (the adult learner as possessor of vast reservoirs of narrative knowledge) as speaker/narrator/actor,
   
4. educational and professional knowledge-discourse as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
5. post-structural discourse (about knowledge-discourse) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation

Relational discourse includes perspectives of all of these positions - giving them all equal voice rather than one dominant voice. When brought to bear on the subject of educational, therapeutic, and related other services to the consumer - (.e.g., writing 'about' the consumer as subject/learner, or engaging with the consumer in the academic dialogue) relational discourse engenders a spirit of collaboration, and particularly, social liberation for the consumer position rather than an experience of objectification.

This heuristic process also reflects Charles Waldegrave's practice of developing and evolving practices that are grounded by "action" and "reflection" praxis. Waldegrave, a family therapist, lives in New Zealand and works with many local Maori. His New Zealand Family Center employs locals and is largely modeled on what he and his colleagues have learned from locals (mostly non-whites). As stated previously, the interaction of action and reflection become a recursive process by which the therapist's practice and theory evolves. Waldegrave's application of praxis is grounded in action and reflection, as evidenced by his center's use of retreats, (3 per year) where the actions of the previous time period are reflected upon and approaches are evolved from this process (personal communication with therapist Vikki Reynolds; September 10, 1999). This reminds me of Ignatio Martine-Baro's conception of a liberation psychology that is grounded in the lives of the people it serves. Following Martine-Baro's thinking, therapy should be born out of praxis, a grass roots evolution inspired and informed by the lived experience of the people and relevant to the cultural reality and meaning systems of the people, as arrived at by the therapist in collaborative dialogue with those people.


Such self-study is an extension of relational discourse in that it includes internal dialogue with the self in addition to the observer/participator interacting with the observed (e.g., the consumer), the related ideas of one's field, and information from other fields (e.g., post-structural philosophy) or any thing else that might open up conceptual space or expand the practitioner's own paradigmatic professional discourse. This inward/ outward reflection in the context of one's paradigmatic discourse is addressed also by Celtic scholar John O'Donohue (1998):

The world is full of words. There are so many talking all the time, loudly, quietly, in rooms, on streets, on television, on radio, in the paper, in books. The noise of words keeps what we call the world there for us. We take each other's sounds and make patterns, predictions, benedictions, and blasphemies. Each day, our tribe of language holds what we call the world together. Yet the uttering of the word reveals how each of us relentlessly creates. Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible . . . . An unknown world aspires toward reflection. Words are the oblique mirrors that hold your thoughts. You gaze into these word-mirrors and catch glimpses of meaning, belonging, and shelter. Behind their bright surfaces is the dark and the silence. Words are like the god janus, they face outward and inward at once . . . . In order to keep our balance, we need to hold the interior and exterior, visible and invisible, known and unknown, temporal and eternal, ancient and new, together (pp. xv-xvi).

Ongoing self-reflection, the stuff of praxis, must be carried out if one is going to follow the thinking of Giroux - to be a political person. If one is to be in a position of authority/influence such as therapist/educator then one needs to be listening for the presence of injustice, conquest, colonization, and objectification. If one is to cultivate a relational discourse with others that will have to include relationally discursive listening to the stories of those who come from oppressed and marginalized segments of society. More importantly, that individual will have to be attuned to the power of knowledge-discourse to subvert narrative knowledge. The enactment of such power is one of the more subtle forces that has been employed in the historic practices of colonization and genocide; the wiping out of people's literature, oral teachings, language and narrative knowledge is considered to be of equal importance to the more severe measures in the practice of genocide.


Relationally discursive listening involves a listening which both addresses the immediate situation of others and goes beyond it simultaneously. Such discursive listening travels far, into the context of the Other's life, keeping a proverbial "ear to the ground" for the presence of injustice, conquest, colonization, and objectification. It takes a discursive stand against these things as they appear in the other's personal story, and includes the existence of such things as a potential force in the construction of the other's problems. It discursively performs the higher values of society and makes judgment calls against injustice. It points out gaps in large system accountability and demands such accountability, whether it is gender accountability, race accountability, class accountability, or corporate or government, or educational-system accountability. It goes to the heart of the matter.



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The Learning Journal (by Margaret James-Neill)

Personal journals can be very useful in carrying out praxis learning. I received this very relevant article on on the use of a personal journal as part of the reading materials handed out while I was attenting one of NTL Institute's "Human Interaction" laboratory, an eight-day interactive process where one learns new and interesting things about oneself primarily through group interaction with others. NTL was the pioneer of the T-group (training group) in 1947. The T-group is the original format out of which sprang "team-building" processes. Although the article addresses the value of the use of a journal in human interaction laboratories it is an equally valuable tool to be used in a variet of contexts, including work, education, and personal life. Because of the great relevance of this article I am including it in its entirety. This article is found in the Reading Book for Human Relations Training, published by the NTL Institute (1982).

The Learning Journal Margaret James-Neill Perhaps one of the most difficult learning tasks we have is working with and on ourselves. The faddism of many self-discovery methods, including meditation techniques, the "Zen" of almost everything, biofeedback, self-defense schools, est, and mind control programs suggests that we are eager to learn more about ourselves - perhaps to reduce the stress of daily living - and so we rush to try new techniques.

However, some research suggests that our "staying power" is not as great as our "starting power". Transcendental meditation has not reached its goal of 1% of the nation's population meditating twice daily. And this is not the only program forced to reconsider its timetable and revise its expectations downward. Indeed, the phenomenom is common, reinforcing the idea that to work with and on one's own personal development may sound easy, but is usually difficult to build into a consistent daily routine.

The learning laboratory setting is often a good place to start a new process, behavior, or technique, but it then must be built into one's daily repertoire back home, at work, with family, and/or with other shared relationships.

The personal learning journal is one such process/technique. It offers an opportunity for engaging oneself in exploring a variety of dimensions of one's own experience and being - and it is something we can "transplant" with relative ease from laboratory to back-home.


The What and Why

Effective journal keeping, as with other more private techniques (such as meditation), can be a means for deepening out insights into the total flow of our life processes, learning to perceive and attend to the self in new ways, discovering new dimensions of the self, and developing a personal feedback system.

At one level, we can say that a journal is simply a written record of our daily lives. However, as we keep and interact with the journal by reading it aloud to our selves or in the presence of others, or into a tape recorder and playing it back to ourselves, we begin to expand this simple record into a dialogue with ourselves. Such dialogue is a most effective means of learning about ourselves. In this way we can more clearly see where we have been, the choices we make and the means we have used to express ourselves in the world. If we can conceive of a journal as a means of establishing a dialogue with self or as a personal feedback mechanism, we can then identify some assumptions and some reasons for using the personal journal as an integral part of the laboratory learning experience. There are two assumptions we make when using a journal as a means of learning about ourselves:

1. There is a "self". We are all more than the sum of the parts of the physical, biological, and social which scientists have been able to identify, describe and catalogue. There is a life force within each of us which moves us toward what Maslow calls "self-actualization" - a process by which we increase our capacity to know, value, and choose our "life path". Each of us experiences life in a unique way and that is worth writing about!
2. We can increase our competence to know, value, and choose our life path by a variety of methods. Writing down our life flow is a systematic way and using it as a guide is one method to know ourselves better, to see and hear ourselves in new ways and to be able to incorporate this information into our next experiences.

Some reasons for starting a journal as part of your laboratory experience might be:

1. To experiment with new behavior. If you've never kept a personal journal this may well be a new behavior you want to try out.
2. To develop an internal feedback system for you. It feeds back to you what, how, and where you were during the course of a day. It is different from feedback requested and received from others. It is indeed an internal dialogue.
3. To express feelings freely and to explore those feeling moments; to reflect on the persons, tasks,processes and specific stimuli that evoke emotional responses in you and on your own behavior with those feelings and persons. Through this expressive/reflective process we learn what our own dynamics are - our own energizing patterns.
4. To learn more about important aspects of our lives: (a) Our personal history - "Where have I been in my life"? (b) Our current status - "Where am I now in my life path and pattern"? "What brings me to this 'now' place and what do I perceive about my self in relation to this space/time reality"? (c) Our future potential - "Where am I going"? "Who is this person moving into the future"?
5. To enhance our capacity to be aware of the inner dynamics or movement of our own lives. It can help to expand our consciousness of the body-mind-spirit unity of ourselves, to increase our sensitivity to others. As we dig our own personal well, we may eventually reach the underground river from which our basic unity springs.

A personal journal can be a very powerful learning tool and process during and after a laboratory experience. But we may be confused about what it is. Is it a diary, a log, a time-and-motion study? A journal is none of these, yet all of them and more. Miller writes that a psychological journal "acts as a reflector of the inner course we are charting day by day, and can give us the stimulation and support which many seek from the outside world". ¹ She differentiates between a diary and a journal by noting that where a diary is guided more by external events, the journal is directed by internal themes. Progoff conceives of the "Intensive Journal" as a lifetime process.²

The chart at the end of this article describes some of the possible content of your journal and its potential impact on you. These effects can be achieved if you have a plan for using the journal which includes writing, reading and reflecting on your writing.

Your laboratory experiences and your journal are steps toward freedom and rsponsibility. Your journal can become the vehicle through which you discover your own way in the world.

The most effective work with the journal occurs when you set aside some time each day for writing. We suggest at least a half hour daily during your laboratory. Developing this discipline back home can be difficult. These suggestions may help you build in this personal time back home: ³

1. Review your current weekly schedule. Identify the time you spend alone now. If none, then review your schedule a second time and look for possible times when you could be alone.
2. Set a realistic goal for writing in your journal. This may begin with once a week, twice or three times each week.
3. Do not puinish yourself with negative thoughts and evaluations if you do not adhere to your schedule immediately.
4. Begin writing those parts of the journal that are easy for you; then move to the less familiar and more difficult parts.
5. Determine to have some alone time on a regular basis for yourself, and then remember to do it.

Your personal journal is a route to your own inner riches and resources. Welcome to the company of thousands of us who have discovered this path.

TABLE 1

Journal Chart

Content	What To Write	Potential Effect(s)
1. Events	What happened, in sequence? How did the event start? How did it end? When, in time, did it start? End? List the people, things, content of the event.	Increased awareness of timing cues you wish to know when something begins and ends. Increased skill in describing behavioral sequence in an interaction process.
2. People	Name persons,; describe them physically; sex, race, age, height, weight, physical condition. Note the ones who were most important to you. Describe their behavior, verbal and/or non/verbal, which made an impact on you.	Increased observation skills, increased ability to identify what types of persons and/or behaviors evoke a response in you. Increased awareness of what you attend to and do not attend to with other persons.
3. Feelings	What you felt/feel. How your body felt/feels (was there a change in breathing? What nonverbal, physical cues were present at the time the feeling was recognized?) What was the flow of feeling during the day - the highs, the lows, the neutral or quiet times? Who or what was involved with you when the feelings occurred?	Increased awareness of the flow of your emotional responses, recognition of feelings as a constantly changing flux throughout the day. Awareness of body changes as feelings change. Increased attention to physical responses to people and processes, awareness of your own nonverbal cues, internal and external (overt behavior).
4. Striking thoughts or "insights"	Write out the complete thought. If possible, describe what you were doing when the thought occurred. Write down any other associations you make with the thought. Make a full report.	Increased awareness of your own learning; syntheses of your daily life experiences; sensitivity to your own wisdom; potential sources for action in the laboratory or back home.
5. Experiences with ideas	Ideas may come from yourself, other people, or books. Write them down. Briefly (2 or 3 sentences) describe their impact on you.	Increased awareness of the extent to which ideas, language and thought affect you and have impact on your behavior.
6. Experiences with things	Paintings, plays, water, novels, books, trees, flowers, food, and rocks are only a few of the things which may impact you during a day. Note them.	Recognition and appreciation of non-human materials and your sensitivity to them.
7. Dreams/ fantasies	Write out the dream completely and accurately, with as much detail as possible.	Knowledge about your own personal symbolic language; a new means of understanding your life experiences from an inner perspective.

¹ S.U. Miller, "Keeping a Psychological Journal," Synthesis, 1:2, 109.
² Ira Progoff, At a Journal Workshop, New York: Dialogue House Library, 1975.
³ See also Porter. "The Learning Journal: Some Mechanics."

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The Learning Journal: Some Mechanics

by Larry Porter

I am including this article by Larry Porter as it provides a slightly different perspective on the learning journal. Like the earlier article this is found in the Reading Book for Human Relations Training, published by the NTL Institute (1982).

Keeping a journal is one way of organizing and examining one's experience so as to learn from it. One way to do this is to focus on three elements:

1. a description of the experience (i.e., the "event" or "episode" - What happened");
2. your reactions to the experience (what you thought, felt, wanted, did); and
3. what you learned by examining how you reacted to what happened.

For many people, whether they are aware of it or not, the most difficult part is #1, a description of the experience. This is so because we are accustomed to interpreting and/or evaluating our perceptions, often without realizing what the perceptions are, in any objective sense. Asked to describe an interaction, many people would say, "Joe gave me a hard time." This is not descriptive - it is inpretative/evaluative. (To check this, what do you see or hear when someone says "Hard time?" Whatever it is, it's not necessarily going to be what another person sees or hears). A description would be, "Joe said he wasn't ready yet to give me the information I wanted," or "Joe interrupted me a number of times when I tried to exp-lain to him why I needed his help."

For #2 (your reactions), try to get in touch with what you thought, felt, wanted, did - whichever of these were strong enough in you to be noticeable. If you want to learn from the episode, you may need to work hard to get at your reactions - especially your feelings, which so many of us have learned to ignore, suppress, or distort. We're not always aware of the more subtle of our actions either, so we may need to dig to get them out. We may be confused about or unaware of what we really wanted, so it may take careful exploration to become aware of it retrospectively.

Reactions to the same extent can vary greatly from person to person and context to context. For example, here are some possible reaction's to Joe's refusal to give the information: Actions - "I frowned at him and walked away." "I told him I had enough delaying tactics." "I said I was sorry he felt that way about it." "I asked him when he thought he would be able to give me the information." Feelings - "I felt angry and frustrated." "I felt anxious, because I really needed the information." "I felt sad that our working relationship was so poor." "I was frightened, because I was afraid I'd lose my job." Desires - "I wanted to hit him." "I wanted to get 'straight' with Joe." "I wanted to get the information I needed as soon as possible." Thoughts - "I thought, 'Oh God, why does this have to happen to me?" "I thought Joe was trying to pull a fast one on me." "I thought, 'Joe's doing the best he can'. "

Obviously, all of the above are possible reactions (and there are many, many others) to the described incident. The learning would probably be different for each reaction. For "I frowned and walked away," it might be "I have a tendency to send out unclear signals and not engage in problem solving sometimes." For "I told him I'd had enough delaying tactics," it could be "Sometimes i go off half-cocked and make interpretations of other people's behavior before I have all the facts." "I was frightened,because I was afraid I would lose my job" might call for an examination of how I feel about job security and about the security of this job in particular. And so forth.

The reactions, in other words, can suggest issues we need to work on, explore,think about. They may indicate that we've made some headway in our effort to change certain behaviors. They may help us make greater sense out of things that have happened to us in the past. And they may provide us with information that will be useful to us the next time a similar situation occurs.

It is not usually necessary to write down what we thought and felt and wanted and did. Instead, include whichever of these (and at times it may be all four) have salience for you - either because they just "pop out" or because you've been able to puzzle them out.

Make journal entires in whatever ways work for you. One way is to divide the page into three vertical columns, header "Episode" or "Event," "My Reaction," and "What I Learned." Another is to write one beneath the other. Don't worry if you have to leave the third column blank for awhile. It may be that this will become apparent only after a number of similar events begin to help you make sense of your reactions. Also, the "learning" may not have occurred at the same time as the experience (otherwise, there'd be less point in keeping the journal). It most often comes after you've done some careful thinking about what really happened (the description) and how you reacted to it. The journal requires and enables you to do that thinking.<sup>1

1</sup> See also M. James-Neill, "The Learning Journal."

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Notes on Narrative Knowledge and Praxis (Action/Reflection) in Qualitative Research

As the title above implies, this section will consist of a series of block quotations from principal authors addressing the field of qualitative research. Each of these authors addresses the importance of the observer's observations and reflections on those observations. Such observations, whether in personal or professional, or research contexts, can form the basis of research questions, or questions or hypotheses for widening or deepening a research project. The point of this section is that observations made in the course of interactions constitutes a form of narrative knowledge. Granted, such narrative knowledge may be in a raw form and need further deconstruction, or to be "operated on" through "translation and transformation", as transpersonal psychology theorist Ken Wilber (1980) terms it. Typically, with children, for example, questions come out of a child's interaction with the world. The child then asks those questions in an effort to make sense of his/her world. The parent and teachers translate the child's experiences into constructed contexts and meaning.

This process of action/reflection is evident from an early age, and we develop further as we operate on our experience in our quest to produce insight and narrative knowledge. Throughout most of our lives we seek translation of experience and transformation of meaning, whether through our own internal resources or through dialogue with others. Therapy, as we know it, is a formalized form of translation and transformation, usually entered into when our own internal resources and significant others (loved ones, friends, etc.) are not enough to directly address the translation and transformation of particular phenomena in our lives. The ultimate transformation is the transformation of the self, whether it be through self-actualization of our values and inborn talents or extended further into the transpersonal realm through meditation or other mystic practices (see Wilber, 1980). In this section examples are given relevant to the exercise and inportance of praxis in qualitative research. In the section following this one I will pay more attention to translation and transformation and the use of praxis in that endeavor. In this section the terms "naturalistic research", "qualitative research", "heuristic research" and "ethnography" are used to distinguish a kind of research that takes place in naturalistic circumstances, whether it be with people as subjects or unobtrusively via the study of documents.


The Value of Personal and Professional Experience in Qualitative Research

The following comments are from Strauss & Corbin (1990):

Personal and professional experience. These are often the sources of problems [that are the beginning of research proposals]. A person may undergo a divorce and wonder how other women or men experienced their own divorces. Or, someone may come across a problem in his or her profession or workplace for which there is no known answer. Professional experience frequently leads to the judgement that some feature of the profession or its practice is less than effective, efficient, human, or equitable. So, it is believed, perhaps a good research study might help to correct that situation. Some professionals return to study for their higher degrees because they are motivated by that reform ambition. The research problems that they choose are grounded in that motivation.

Choosing a research problem through the professional or personal experience route may seem more hazardous than through the suggested or literature routes. This is not necessarily true. The touchstone of your own experience may be more valuable an indicator for you of a potentially successful research endeavor.

Certainly, anyone who is curious or concerned about the world around himself or herself and who is willing to take risks should not, after some deliberation and using the sources suggested above, have too much trouble finding a problem area to study. The next step is asking the proper research question (1990, pp.35-36).

A Fieldwork Journal

The following comments are from James P. Spradley (1980).

In addition to fieldnotes that come directly from observing and interviewing (the condensed account and expanded account), ethnographers should always keep a journal. Like a diary, this journal will contain a record of experiences, ideas, fears, mistakes, confusions, breakthroughs, and problems that arise during fieldwork. A journal represents the personal side of fieldwork; it includes reactions to informants and the feelings you sense from others.

Each journal entry should be dated. Rereading your journal at a later time will reveal how quickly you forget what occurred during the first days and weeks of fieldwork. Months later, when you begin to write up the study, the journal becomes an important source of data. Doing ethnography differs from many other kinds of research in that you, the ethnographer, become a major research instrument. Making an introspective record of fieldwork enables a person to take into account personal biases and feelings, to understand their influences on the research (1980, pp.71-72).

The Use of the Reflexive Journal in Naturalistic Research

The following comments are by Lincoln & Guba (1985).

The techniques discussed in the preceding pages apply specifically to the establishment of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability [translates to reliability, validity, and generalizability - standard criteria for establishing acceptable research results]. One final technique should be mentioned that has broad-ranging application to all four areas and provides a base for a number of judgement calls the auditor must make, for example, extent to which the inquirer's biases influenced the outcomes. That technique is the reflexive journal, a kind of diary in which the investigator on a daily basis, or as needed, records a variety of information about self (hence, the term "reflexive") and method. With respect to the self, the reflexive journal might be thought of as providing the same kind of data about the human instrument that is often provided about the paper-and-pencil or brass instruments used in conventional studies. With respect to method, the journal provides information about methodological decisions made and the reasons for making them - information also of great import to the auditor. While much thought remains to be given to the nature of such a journal, it would appear reasonable to suggest that it consist of separate parts that include the following: (1) the daily schedule and logistics of the study; (2) a personal diary that provides the opportunity for catharsis, for reflection upon what is happening in terms of one's own values and interests, and for speculation about growing insights; and (3) a methodological log in which methodological decisions and accompanying rationales are recorded. Entries should be made on a daily basis in the daily schedule and personal diary, and as needed in the methodological log (1985, p.327).

Reflection

The following comments are from critical ethnographer Jim Thomas (1993).

Ethnographic researchers are active creators rather than passive recorders of narratives or events. All ethnography requires systematic intellectual or personal involvement with our subjects, regardless of whether we are relying on artifacts or fully immersed with the subjects themselves. Reflection refers to the act of rigorously examining how this involvement affects our data gathering, analysis, and subsequent display of the data to an audience. Through reflection, an act of repeated thinking about our project, we attempt to become self-aware of the processes and consequences of knowledge production by bringing the original act of knowledge back into consciousness (Gadamer, 1976, p.45) (Thomas 1993, p.46).

Heuristic Research and the Narrative Self

Heuristic Research places a central emphasis on the use of the self in the research process. I first came across the model when I was acting as a clinical supervisor for a graduate student in family counseling at the agency where I work. The student was studying at the regionally accredited Pacifica Graduate Institute. This institution provides programs centered around depth psychology and mythology and draws from works which include those of Jung, James Hillman, and Joseph Campbell. This student was about to begin her MA thesis and introduced me to the ideas of Moustakas, which I found to be very relevant to the notion of narrative knowledge in academic pursuits.

The following commentary is by Clark Moustakis, from his book Heuristic Research: Design, Methodology and Applications (1990); in the abridged sections found below he is outlining the concepts and processes of heuristic research.

Identifying with the Focus of Inquiry
Through exploratory open-ended inquiry, self-directed search, and immersion in active experience, one is able to get inside the question, become one with it, and thus achieve an understanding of it. Salk (1983) has called this kind of identification with the focus of investigation "the inverted perspective" (abridged from Moustakas 1990, p.15).


Self-Dialogue
In addition to the significance of becoming one with what one is seeking to know, one may enter into dialogue with the phenomenom, allowing the phenomenom to speak directly to one's experience, to be questioned by it. In this way, one is able to encounter and examine it, to engage in a rhythmic flow with it - back and forth, again and again - until one has uncovered its multiple meanings. Then one is able to depict the experience in its many aspects or foldings into core themes and essences. Self-dialogue is the crucial beginning; the recognition that if one is going to be able to discover the constituents and qualities that make up an experience,one must begin with oneself. One's own self-discoveries, awarenesses, and understandings are the initial steps of the process. (abridged from Moustakas 1990, p.16).


Tacit Knowing
Underlying all other concepts in heuristic research, at the base of all heuristic discovery, is the power of revelation in tacit knowing. Polyani (1983) has stated that all knowledge consists or is rooted in acts of comprehension that are made possible through tacit knowing: "We can know more than we can tell . . . Take an example. We know a person's face, and can recognize it among a million. Yet we usually cannot tell how to recognize a face we know . . . this knowledge cannot be put into words" (p.4). Such knowledge is possible through a tacit capacity that allows one to sense the unity or wholeness of something from an understanding of the individual qualities or parts (abridged from Moustakas 1990, pp. 20-21).


Intuition
From the tacit dimension, a kind of bridge is formed between the implicit knowledge inherent in the tacit and the explicit knowledge which is observable and describable. The bridge between the explicit and the tacit is the realm of the between, or the intuitive. In intuition, from the subsidiary of observable factors one utilizes an internal capacity to make inferences and arrive at a knowledge of underlying structures or dynamics. Intuition makes immediate knowledge possible without the intervening steps of logic and reasoning. While the tacit is pure mystery in its focal nature - ineffable and unspecifiable - in the intuitive process one draws on clues; one senses a pattern or underlying condition that enables one to imagine and then characterize the reality, state of mind, or condition. In intuition we perceive something, observe it, and look and look again from clue to clue until we surmise the truth.

The more that intuition is exercised and tested, the more likely one will develop an advanced perceptiveness and sensitivity to what is essential in discovery of knowledge. Polyani (1969) views the lived, expressed intuition as a skill, developed into effectiveness through practice. Referring to intuition, he states "that great powers of scientific intuition are called originality, for they discover things that are most surprising and make men see the world in a new way" (p.118).
Intuition makes possible the perceiving of things as wholes (abridged from Mousatakas 1990, p.23).


Indwelling
Indwelling refers to the heuristic process of turning inward to seek a deeper, more extended comprehension of the nature or meaning of a quality or theme of human experience. It involves a willingness to gaze with unwavering attention and concentration into some facet of human experience in order to understand its constituent qualities and its wholeness. To understand something fully,one dwells inside the subsidiary and focal factors to draw from them every possible nuance, texture, fact, and meaning. The indwelling process is conscious and deliberate, yet it is not lineal or logical. It follows clues whenever they appear; one dwells inside them and expands their meanings and associations until a fundamental insight is achieved (abridged from Moustakas 1990, p.24).


Focusing
Another essential process in the heuristic inquiry is that of focusing. It is both a concept that points to a significant idea relevant to personal growth, insight, and change, and a process that has been perfected and advanced as a therapeutic strategy by Gendlin (1978).

The steps of focusing as used in heuristic research include the clearing of an inward space to enable one to tap into thoughts and feelings that are essential to clarifying a question; getting a handle on the question; elucidating its constuents; making contact with core themes; and explicating the themes. Focusing facilitating a relaxed and receptive state, enables perceptions and sensings to achieve more definite clarification, taps into the essence of what matters, and sets aside peripheral qualities or feelings.

Focusing is an inner attention, a staying with, a sustained process of systematically contacting the more central meanings of an experience. Focusing enables one to see something as it is and to make whatever shifts are necessary to remove clutter and make contact with necessary awarenesses and insights into one's experience (abridged from Moustakas 1990, p.25).


The Internal Frame of Reference
Heuristic processes relate back to the internal frame of reference. Whether the knowledge derived is attained through tacit, intuitive, or observed phenomena - whether the knowkedge is deepened and extended through indwelling, focusing, self-searching, or dialogue with others - its medium or bas is the internal frame of reference.

To know and understand the nature, meanings, and essences of any human experience, one depends on the internal frame of reference of the person who has had, is having, or will have the experience. Only the experiencing persons - by looking at their own experiences in perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and sense - can validly provide portrayals of the experience. If one is to know and understand another's experience, one must converse dirtectly with the person. One must encourage the other to express, explore, and explicate the meanings that are within his or her experience (abridged from Moustakas 1990, p.26).

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Narrative Knowledge in the Function of Authorship Witnessed in the Writing of Thomas Hardy

The following article is by author Roger Guttridge, who lives in Wimborne, Dorset, England. The article was found in the March, 1999 issue of Downhomer Magazine: A Little Part of Newfoundland and Labrador for People Everywhere. Roger writes a regular column for that magazine titled "The Old World Connection". I am including the article in this document because I think it represents an interesting example of how one's narrative knowledge can be used in writing literature, as evidenced by Thomas Hardy's use of his own narrative knowledge in the shaping of his own writing. Roger's biography note (at the head of the article) states the following:

Roger is a freelance writer from Dorset, England, whose special interests include the historic transatlantic links between Newfoundland and Labrador and southwest England and Ireland . . .

The Thomas Hardy Connection

by Roger Guttridge

A letter from Downhomer reader Geoff Bowe prompts me to write on the connection between Newfoundland and the classic Wessex novels of Thomas Hardy. Dr. Bowe, of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Athens, kindly comments that he "enjoyed immensely" my column in the November issue and adds: "The connection between Wessex and Newfoundland was unknown to me until I read this article. I have always been a great fan of Thomas Hardy's novels and the article helps explain the connection I, as a Newfoundlander, feel with Hardy's depiction of characters and life in Wessex. Incidently, if memory serves, Hardy mentions Newfoundland and the Grand Banks in the Mayor of Casterbridge."

The vast number of Newfoundlanders with ancestors from England's west country counties need look no further than Hardy's novels, short stories and poems to gain an insight into the homeland and lifestyle of their ancestors. Several of his novels have been turned into major movies or television series including Far From the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Woodlanders and the Return of the Native. Hardy lived almost his entire life in the county of Dorset and the area covered by the "Wessex" of his novels includes Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Hampshire - roughly the area from which two-thirds of Newfoundland settlers came. His writings, although ficticious, are based on real events and traditions, real places, real landscapes and a real culture. Much of this culture travelled to Newfoundland with the people who sailed on the cod ships from the ports of Dorset and devon.

It was Hardy's habit in his writings to subtly change the names of places but often in a way which makes it easy to identify the communities on which they are based. His names for the Dorset ports of Poole, Weymouth and Bridgeport, for example, are Havenpool, Budmouth and Port Bredy. Similarly, Sturnminster Newton - another community with strong newfoundland connections - is called Stourcastle, while Blandford Forum, which I also wrote about in a recent issue, is Shottsford Forum.

Hardy was born in 1840 in the village of Higher Bockhampton in central Dorset just a couple of miles from Puddletown, where he had many relatives. Geographically, this was at the very heart of the main area of emigration to Newfoundland and he grew up steeped in the same traditions as the ancestors of so many newfoundlanders. Puddletown, which Hardy called Weatherbury and which features prominantly in his novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd', is itself the ancestral home of many Newfoundlanders including (I noticed in a visit to Twillingate church in 1997) the Pearce family of Twillingate.

As an adult, Thomas Hardy lived in several Dorset towns, including Sturminster Newton (where he wrote 'The return of the Native') and Wimborne Minster, which he called Warborne and where he wrote 'Two On a Tower'. There towns also are the ancestral homes of thousands of Newfoundlanders. On their first night in Wimborne on June 25, 1881, Hardy and his first wife Emma watched Tebbut's Comet sail across the sky and Hardy later made use of the incident in Two On a Tower. The tower is also based on a real tower which still exists on a private estate called Charborough Park, a few miles from Wimborne. Hardy, who started his working life as an architect, spent the second half of his life in a house he designed himself, max gate at Dorchester, the county town of Dorset on which his Casterbridge is based. Both Max Gate and his birthplace are owned by the National Trust and open to visitors at certain times.

One thing Hardy wrote surprisingly little about is the sea, or at least sea voyages. Shipwrecks and visits to coastal (such as Weymouth and Bournemouth, which he calls Sandbourne) feature from time to time but there is little about sea voyages themselves, probably because they were beyond his experience. The British writer and broadcaster Desmond Hawkins, who has written several books on Hardy, suggests that he used Newfoundland more or less as a convenience in 'The Mayor of casterbridge'. "He wanted to have a wandering man who disappeared and came back but the sea was not a life that he knew well," Desmond told me.

The strongest link with Newfoundland in Hardy's writings occurs in one of his short stories, 'To Please His Wife', which appeared in a collection of stories called 'Life's Little Ironies'. This story is centred on Poole (Havenpool) and includes references to the Quay, from where thousands sailed for Newfoundland every year, and to the Church of St. James, Poole's mother church, whose roof is supported by columns of newfoundland pine and which today flies the newfoundland flag and has memorials to Newfoundland merchants on its walls.

The story opens with a young sailor walking into a church to offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for his deliverance from a shipwreck. Hardy gives him the name of Shadrach Joliffe - an interesting choice since the Joliffes were leading Poole-newfoundland merchants in the 18th and 19th centuries with fishing stations at Fogo and Bay de Verde. A descendant of the real Joliffes, Rachel Allenby, still flies the Newfoundland flag from her home, Newfoundland House, on Poole Quay.

Mingling with the congregation after the service, Shadrach meets two girls and eventually marries one of them, Joanna, who schemes her way into his affections ahead of her friend Emily. Joliffe gives up his life at sea and settles down as a shopkeeper in Havenpool. he makes a poor businessman however, and Joanne becomes increasingly dissatisfied at their poor circumstances, especially when compared to those of Emily, who is now prosperous after marrying a successful merchant. To please his wife, Shadrach vows to go to sea again, buys a brig which he names Joanna and joins the Newfoundland trade. On his return he proudly throws a heap of money into his wife's lap assuming she will be satisfied.

Joanna, however, is now consumed by jealousy of Emily, whose two sons are heading for university while her own boys had left school at an early age to work on the boats at the Quay. Shadrach responds by going to sea again and this time taking their two sons with him. Joanna is torn between her love for her sons and her desire for riches, and, of course, it's desire that wins. She begins to regret, however, when she wakes one morning to find her family gone and the words "Goodbye, mother" scrawled in chalk on the bureau. She turns the bureau to the wall, pledging that the message must never be erased, and goes each day to the church to pray for the safe return of her husband and sons. But they never do return and years go by with the increasingly poor and embittered Joanna still clinging to the hope that one day they will. Like the majority of Hardy's tales, there is no happy ending. The story ends with the grief-stricken woman being woken early one morning by the sound of voices in the street. Believing her family have returned at last, she struggles into the street and knocks on the door of the house she used to live in - only to be told that no-one has called.

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Final Thoughts on Praxis and Narrative Knowledge

In the previous section I have addressed praxis and provided some articles on the learning journal as a means to engage in praxis. I have offered examples of praxis as relevant to using the self and narrative knowledge in qualitative research. Another area I have discussed is transpersonal psychology, a field which explores human experience that exists beyond the ego/self, as brought about by meditation, mantras, personal reflection, yogic practice, and other models producing non-ordinary states of awareness. Some ideas of transpersonal psychology theorist Ken Wilber have been used as a theoretical lens, which present the notion of "translation" and "transformation", and the idea of experience being "operated upon". In Wilber's writing the acts of translating and transforming are usually carried out by a master or therapist (depending upon whether the pursuit is therapeutic transformation - a Western notion, or mystic transformation - an Eastern notion). Wilber also writes of the individual operating upon experience or self with prescribed practices such as fasting or meditation. Chronicles of such transformation are available in the writings of Buddha, Krishna, and Nanak, to name a few. Such practices could be meditation, or dancing, and/or fasting, as is also carried out in certain native Indian traditions (as cited in Mails). Through such processes the self is said to become somewhat transformed. All of the above practices "perturb" the system of awareness to bring about an increase in awareness. I also noted that this is akin to the notion of the therapist "perturbing" the individuals awareness in an effort to catalyze a breakthrough. Examples were given in this regard by major family therapy theorists.

Examined from this lens praxis evolves into a method by which one's consciousness (a system in its own right) is perturbed by certain practices to produce non-ordinary or peak and beyond-peak states of awareness. I have mentioned therapy as perturbing the consciousness of families and individuals in order to bring about a state of awareness that catalyzes for the client an increase in conceptual space which then results in the client being able to translate and transform meaning for oneself (depending on the circumstances of the experienced constraints). In the above examples the subject engages in "operating on" experience and consciousness. Such distinctions have been elaborated by Jerome Bruner as "the landscape of consciousness and the lanscape of action". One operates on the ones experience - the storyline of narrative, and consciousness - the interpretation, construction and deconstruction of meaning. Praxis, then, is to be engaged in as a method of operating on the narrative storyline (reflecting on action) in order to produce meaning and by logical extension - further knowledge. Rather than it being brought about wholly with another (e.g., a therapist, master, or teacher) - it is brought about in dialogue with oneself. Granted, a methodology or technology for doing this needs to be in place. While the Zen koan (a riddle for self-reflection) is probably not the best method to enable one to operate upon narrative experience, a direction or set of exercises provided by an institution or other method would probably be a good start. Fortunately there are methods available.

I also found it very interesting to come across this particular article on the writing of Thomas Hardy. While I originate from Newfoundland, and found the references to Newfoundland pleasing, even more satisfying were the reference to the degree that Hardy depended on his own life experience as a vehicle from which to write. I believe, though, that Hardy could have made wonderful use of conversations he might have had with sailors who returned home from Newfoundland and the New World. While such wouldn't have been his own personal sensory-based knowledge, they could have provided wonderful descriptions of the sea-journeys or surroundings in Newfoundland. I also find it interesting that Hardy shied away from writing of circumstances of which he had no or little direct experience such as the sea. Nevertheless, Hardy's novels demonstrate a fine example of how narrative knowledge can be employed in literature, and I am sure that locals in both Wessex, England and Newfoundland are proud to realize he was writing about their towns and villages all along.



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Traditional Higher Education as Transaction Between Seller/University and Consumer/Learner

When examined via a lense of market transactions, higher education becomes a marketplace in which universities, like market stalls, are providers of certain products to consumers. The product is commonly and loosely referred to as "knowledge". Knowledge is also commonly seen as a power that opens up new opportunities and the attainment of greater status in society (ergo the expression "Knowledge Is Power"). Yet, according to the writings of 20th century philosophers such as Michele Foucault, such knowledge is a discursive activity by which certain groups are able to attain and maintain power and influence, while oppressing and marginalizing the localized non-scientific knowledge of other less-powerful groups. French post-structural philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard recognizes this relationship-of-imbalance, between knowledge claimed by an association with science, and its poorer cousin, "narrative" knowledge. Lyotard posits that scientifically-annointed knowledge (or at least the claim to such knowledge) is increasingly being constructed as a commodity which is becoming intricately intertwined with governmental powers and practices and associated with international trade and competition. The following are some comments from Lyotard:

• Knowledge is and will be produced in order to be sold; it is and will be consumed in order to be valorized in a new production: in both cases the goal is exchange. Knowledge ceases to be an end in itself, it loses its "user-value".
• Knowledge in the form of an informational commodity indispensable to productive power is already, and will continue to be, a major - perhaps the major - stake in the worldwide competition for power.
• It is not hard to visualize learning circulating along the same lines as money, instead of for its "educational" value or political (administrative, diplomatic, military) importance; the pertinent distinction would no longer be between knowledge and ignorance, but rather, as in the case with money, between "payment knowledge" and "investment" knowledge - in other words, between units of knowledge exchanged in a daily maintenance framework (the reconstitution of the work force, "survival") versus funds of knowledge dedicated to optimizing the performance of a project.
• Along with the hegemony of computers comes a certain logic, and therefore a certain set of prescriptions determining which statements are accepted as "knowledge" statements (Lyotard 1984, pp. 4-6).

The notion of "knowledge as commodity" is not hard to understand. University graduates regularly trade in the workplace, on the basis of their degrees and knowledge specializations. But as both Lyotard and Foucault observe, the creation of such knowledges that carry a certain perceived legitimacy or 'truth value' also requires a system - a set of prescriptions - by which knowledge statements can be accepted (and certified/accredited) as legitimate or 'true' knowledge. The practice domains of such a system run the gamut from the acceptance of scientific statements to the certification/accreditation of degrees. The rationale, history, and methodology for such prescriptions are to be found via an examination of the knowledge-discourse of each particular field and the knowledge-discourse and history of "the university", and how and from whom it gets its status of legitimacy, anointment of powers and perceived credibility.


Knowledge-discourse, or the practice of the legitimation of knowledge as "true" knowledge comes under attack by both Foucault and Lyotard. Lyotard writes the following on the legitimation of knowledge:

Take any civil law as an example: it states that a given category of citizens must perform a specific kind of action. Legitimation is the process by which a legislator is authorized to promulgate such a law as a norm. Now take the example of a scientific statement; it is subject to the rule that a statement must fulfill a given set of conditions in order to be accepted as scientific. In this case, legitimation is the process by which a "legislator" dealing with a scientific discourse is authorized to prescribe the stated conditions (in general, conditions of internal consistency and experimental verification) determining whether a statement is to be included in that discourse for consideration by the scientific community.

The parallel may appear forced. But as we will see, it is not. The question of the legitimacy of science has been indissociably linked to that of the legitimation of the legislator since the time of Plato. From this point of vview, the right to decide what is true is not independent of the right to decide what is just, even if the statements consigned to these two authorities differ in nature. The point is that there is a strict interlinkage between the kind of language called science and the kind called ethics and politics; they both stem from the same perspective, the same "choice" if you will - the choice called the Occident.

When we examine the current status of scientific knowledge - at a time when science seems completely subordinated to the prevailing powers than ever before and, along with the new technologies, is in danger of becoming a major stake in their conflicts - the question of double legitimation, far from receding into the background, necessarily comes to the fore. For it appears in its most complete form, that of reversion, revealing that knowledge and power are simply two sides of the same question: who decides what knowledge is, and who knows what needs to be decided? In the computer age, the question of knowledge is now more than ever a question of government (Lyotard 1984, pp.8-9).

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Acquiring the Higher Education "Products"

The knowledge products sought by consumers of higher education are usually structured within a three-tiered pyramid. At the base of this pyramid is the undergraduate degree, at the next level above is the graduate degree, and at the pinnacle is the doctorate.





The consumer comes into the marketplace wanting to purchase one of such products - some form of higher learning - to meet a certain criterion. The criterion might be the attainment of an entry level "ticket" to become a member of a profession. Or the criterion could be a means by which one could enhance one's existing career by trading on the socially constructed public perception of the meaning of a higher degree - that the graduate has knowledge in a praticular discipline, and the associated prestige and its attendant benefits. There is also the possibility that the consumer wishes to enhance his or her career by finding a specialty interest, gained through further education and/or research. Some consumers want to change their careers. Then there are those who are enamored with some field or subject of interest, in the vein of "do what you love and the money will follow" (also the title of a popular current book on vocations and money).


While some professions require undergraduate degrees as entry level qualifications, other professions require graduate degrees. Universities usually demand that the consumer already possess, or purchase, their entry level product - an undergraduate degree, designed as a preparatory foundation - before purchasing a graduate degree product or post-graduate degree product. While some undergraduate degree products are designed to qualify the consumer for entry into specific professions (e.g., engineering, social work), other undergraduate degree products are designed to provide a foundation in a variety of subjects. Having mastered those subjects and the undergraduate degree the consumer can then move on to a professional degree such as law, medicine, dentistry, counselling psychology, etc.


Let's now move on to graduate and post-graduate levels of education. If the seller (the university) agrees to enter into the business/learning transaction with the consumer, the tuition fee is paid and the transaction and transfer of the product is initiated. The transfer of the higher learning product is a temporal undertaking. The transfer itself, like the product to be dispensed, is a complex affair. It is not as if the consumer simply downloads a number of gigabytes of information and walks away. The product must be dispensed bit by bit, at a rate in which the consumer (now called the student or learner) can digest, a rather linear process. Why is there a need to digest? Because the consumer/learner must demonstrate to the seller/university over a temporal period that he/she has not only become familiar with the product itself, but knows how to apply the product in the contexts of its intended application.


To accomplish the above the consumer/learner must learn the theoretical material of the specific program/field, how to do research in that particular field, and the use of statistics. The theoretical aspects of the material will most likely be based on research outcomes and discoveries over the history of the field. There might also be some paradigm shifts or major developments of the field and its practices, which the consumer/learner will be exposed to as part of the theoretical material. The consumer/learner must also become familiar with some of the actual research in that field. Finally, the consumer/learner might engage in some practical experience in the form of an internship or practicum, followed by a major research project or thesis. If the research is quantitative, the consumer/learner must come up with a hypothesis about the research subject being undertaken. The research will then be designed so that it proves or disproves the hypothesis. If the research project is qualitative the consumer/learner may not start with a hypothesis. He/she may start with a question such as "What can I learn in this particular situation? or What is going on in this particular situation? Such qualitative research is more suited toward the human sciences, and can be quite involved because it relies on "rich and thick descriptions" (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Whatever, the learner's research will result in some conclusions. Will the conclusions be reliable, valid, and will they be generalizable to major theories in the field or to some population? For the research to be considered legitimate within the discourse of the field the consumer/learner must address the above concerns or else devise a sound theoretical stance for not doing so, depending on the kind of research and research subjects.


All pertinent aspects of the product will be disseminated over time to the consumer/learner - via lectures, discussion labs, homework assignments, casual discussions, and one-to-one mentoring. The consumer/learner must prove that he or she has learned the product - via tests, homework assignments, written papers, and participation in discussions. An integration of the product might be demonstrated through the practicum results and possibly the thesis. Once all of this is complete, and if the consumer/learner is deemed by the seller/university and its agents to have demonstrated a favorable downloading/learning of the product along with some basic display of integration, a degree is issued. This degree will usually be received by the graduate at a later date, in a formal ceremony called a convocation. During this ceremony the graduate's friends and family can join the audience, a live orchestra might perform, and all the convocation participants wear a robe and matching funny hat - with faculty and Deans usually wearing the most elaborate and colorful regalia.


The consumer/learner, now known by titles such as 'graduate' and 'alum', is now deemed to know the basics of the field of study, possesses basic research skills applicable to the field, and may have indeed made a significant research contribution to the field. The consumer/learning process associated with that particular product of the seller/university is now complete, and the consumer/learner now joins the ranks of the alumni - others who have purchased the seller/university's products. The consumer/learner is now possibly a member of the particular field he/she has studied and can actually practice in that field and make a living at it (possibly after some additional hoop-jumping). Once accepted as an ackowledged member of the field of study, the graduate may be known by the official vocational title of 'social worker', 'engineer', 'architect', 'psychologist', 'chartered accountant' or some other title. Whether or not the consumer/learner has chosen a specific profession, there is the possibility he/she can purchase a product from the next higher level of the pyramid - the doctorate. He/she can then be possibly employed (in the future) as a professor - a product disseminator/agent of the seller/university. This, of course, would take some years, but there is the chance, in addition to tackling the doctoral studies, that the consumer/learner could take on the role of apprentice disseminator/agent for the seller/university - also known as a teaching assistant. In that case, upon completion of the doctoral studies, where a major research contribution is required, he/she could join others in a professorial capacity, all known collectively as "faculty", in addition to carrying out further research to enhance the reputation of the university, the field, and the researcher. The researcher/faculty member might even attract large sums of money in the form of "grants" from corporations and/or government.



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The Transaction: Cash for Admittance to a Professional Knowledge-discourse

So what's really going with the above scenarios of acquiring higher education's "products" (examined from a lens of market transactions)? The consumer/learner is purchasing a product from the seller/university at any one of the three levels of the pyramid. The appearance is that information is the product, but this appearance is misleading. Although the acts and artifacts associated with disseminating the product engage the consumer/learner with information using the visual, auditory and kinesthetic sensory modalities, the product itself is an intangible. How is that? The actual product, rather than information, is an admittance to participation in a knowledge-discourse that is performed over a temporal period in ever-increasing complexity. While it has the appearance of information and includes the use of the artifacts of information - books, papers, conversation, lectures, computers - the product is admittance to the knowledge-discourse. How knowledge-discourse contrasts with information is that, while information is seen as a tool or artifact to be used by the person, signifying that the person is greater than the information, knowledge-discourse shapes and informs the identity, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors of the person and is in that sense greater than the person. In demonstration of this point, it is not uncommon to hear graduates into professions state things like "I am a psychologist", "I am a university professor", or "I am a physician". Participation in the discourse engenders for those the graduate first an absorption or intenalization of the discourse. The discourse then begins to pervade the person, and the person, now a major stakeholder in the knowledge-discourse works to perpetuate the discourse. As Burr (1996) writes:

If we take up the suggestion that the individual and society, rather than existing as separate but related entities, are part of a single system, then the problems of human agency and the status of discourse are somewhat ameliorated. Individuals, the social practices in which they engage, the social structures within which they live and the discourses which frame their thought become aspects of a single phenomenon. This means that discourses are neither simply a product or side-effect of social structure nor one of individuals. They are embedded in that structure and are part of it, and at the same time serve to structure our identity and personal experience. Thus discourses can be seen as a valid focus for forces of social and personal change (Burr 1996, pp.110-111).

The term "discourse" can be used in two ways-

1. to refer to a systematic, coherent set of images, metaphors and so on that construct an object in a particular way, (e.g., the spoken and written assumptions, beliefs, and research that makes up a professional paradigm or worldview), and
2. to refer to the actual spoken interchanges between people (from Burr, 1996).

In this document, regarding the first definition, I will substitute the word "discourse" with "knowldge-discourse". Such discourse is defined further by Burr as

. . . referring to a set of meanings, metaphors, representations, images, stories, statements and so on that in some way together produce a particular version of events. It refers to a particular picture that is painted of an event (or person or class of persons), a particular way of representing it or them in a certain light. If we accept the view that a multitude of alternative versions of events is potentially available through language, this means that, surrounding any one object, event, person, etc., there may be a variety of different discourses, each with a different story to tell about the object in question, a different way of representing it to the world (p.46).

Kuhn (1970, p.175) referred to professional knowledge-discourse as representing the entire constellation of beliefs, values, and practices shared by the members of a scientific community. Such beliefs, values, and practices would play a key role in allowing the specific community to arrive at an unprecedented achievement and continue to develop new achievements using the knowledge-discourse. While knowledge-discourse has its origins in scientific communities, and prior to that, religious communities, it has been adopted by other professional communities as they have reconfigured and availed themselves of the benefits of association with scientific principles and practices. Such benefits include increased legitimacy and respect from the public as well as privileged status with governmental bodies and other professions. Yet, to transfer principles of natural science inquiry to the human science professions without addressing the variables of difference in human systems is a somewhat naive and possibly grandiose undertaking, with unfortunate implications for the those who would become the subjects of such related inquiry.


Each and every profession has its own unique knowledge-discourse, which includes its ethics, its rules for professional conduct, its ideas as to how the subjects of its research behave, change, learn, and its ideas about what constitutes acceptable or "valid" research. Those folks who are the subject of a profession's research are deemed to represent those whom the profession states that it serves. A key aspect of gaining entry into a profession is that the aspirant must demonstrate an acceptable facility with the discourse of that profession. For an educational institution to train aspirants to qualify for professions there must usually be an approval or "accreditation" from the profession itself. If there is not such an accreditation in place, the aspirant must jump through certain other hoops. In the U.S. (with some exceptions) this also usually means that the training institution must be regionally accredited, the result of 3-5 year voluntary process of self-reflection and self organising, a process for which institutions pay enormously high financial costs. The accreditation aspect of a profession's knowledge-discourse is said to be done in the interest of guaranteeing quality service to the public and to protect the public. Simultaneously, this is done in the interest of perpetuating the profession or institution, to legitimatize its activities and consolidate its standing in the eyes of governing bodies and other professions and institutions. Usually, once an institution gains such accreditations, its tuition fees rise to become comparable with institutions of the same standing. For many professions there is also marketplace benefits that are derived from acquiring special monopoly-like status from governmental bodies for rendering of services to the public, services that only members of that profession are allowed to render. Similarly, when an individual gains a certification or registration as a full professional member of a profession, he or she can start charging fees commensurate with the fee scale for that profession.


The written and verbal language used by a body of professionals describes the theoretical and practical aspects of their field, how they justify the existence and methods of their field, and how they name the problems the field seeks to address. It is also the way in which professionals communicate about the challenges of the consumers of their services (students, clients, patients, etc.) and is said to be based on research that is grounded in scientific method. Richards, Brown, Crawford, and Nolan (1996) state that the technical and esoteric vocabulary employed by professionals "serves not only to consolidate their power over their patients [consumers - clients, students, etc.], but also provides a linguistic bond and professional recognition among colleagues", and

The combination of these trappings and symbols bolsters scientific legitimacy and provides a foundation upon which the current frames of reference are constructed and reconstructed. (1996, p.6).

The presence of knowledge-discourse within the human science professions also brings with it large degrees of influence and power that frequently come to bear on the lives of individuals. Brown (1995, p.3) states that "many people and institutions have a lot at stake in creating and managing . . . . 'the mindedness and agency' . . . of others" via professional or academic descriptions, and that we need to take very seriously how it is that we are describing others. As Crawford, Johnson, Nolan, and Brown (1998, p.3) observe,

The importance of studying professional language and its acquisition becomes clear when we consider what it means to be socialized into an occupational role. The received view of occupational socialization . . . stresses the adoption of values, vocabularies and professional identities (e.g., Becker et al, 1961) and the formal curriculum of training. In theory, the qualified professional is distinctive, having been transformed into a 'participating effective member of the organization' (Nelson & Quick, 1994, p.499). Thus congruence is achieved between the newcomer and the profession. This view is also found in the social psychology of group membership. For example, Tajfel (1981) argued that we make fundamental distinction between members of our own in-group and outsiders. . . . Power, values and ideology lie behind language and it is occupational socialization which inculcates these. However, their operation is seen through language as an organized social practice.

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Discourse and the Oppression of Existing Narrative Knowledge

The term "knowledge" has frequently been understood as having a relationship with the word "power", as evidenced by the popular adage "Knowledge Is Power". In that regard one's acquired knowledge (sometimes referred to by social scientists as "local" knowledge) engenders greater power - abilities, possibilities, and opportunities. Yet this "personal power", something which we all possess in different degrees, can be usurped by the internalizing of knowledge-discourses that are culturally dominant and generally unrecognized as shaping our lives in ways we might not necessarily approve of.


Since the closing of the 19th century, many of such knowledge-discourses have been advanced by human science professions laying claim to an association with scientific research. Employing this shroud of scientifically-associated research, such professions claim to have specific knowledge as to the nature of human behavior, thought, change, culture, language, relationships, and learning. Research "findings" of such professions are promulgated in journals as having legitimacy, and thereby attaining credibility as part of that profession's knowledge-discourse. Some findings are perpetuated via media, particularly those research findings from the fields of medicine/health and psychology. These findings then become further propagated by members of the profession, articles, and increased media exposure, and are internalized by individuals as having "truth" value. Often, such truths are broadsided when newer research findings are announced; what is found to be true in one decade changes with the newer findings of the next decade.


In keeping with the notion of knowledge-discourses having "power", Madigan (1992) notes Foucault's claim that power, rather than coming from above, comes from below, from the subject, "where cultural knowlege discourse claims are internalized and produced in every social interaction" (p.270). The internalization of such knowledge-discourses as are delivered through cultural, professional, and academic paradigms, serves to distort, oppress, and subjugate other local and alternative narrative knowledge, thereby usurping the personal power of individuals, cultures, and other specific groups. Jean-Francois Lyotard writes that once we get rid of the metanarratives, those all-encompassing statements that are perpetuated within knowledge-discourses and rendered as scientifically-derived "truths", legitimacy resides where it has always been, in the first-order narratives of lived experience. Scientific statements are described by Lyotard (as cited in Rorty) as having to fulfill certain requirements to be considered as scientifically legitimate and therefore acceptable for membership in a scientific discourse. Writes Rorty:

He [Lyotard] contrasts this with "narrative knowledge" as the sort "which does not give priority to the question of its own legitimation, and . . . certifies itelf in the pragmatics of its own transmission without having recourse to argumentation and proof". He describes "the scientist" as classifying narrative knowledge as a "different mentality: savage, primitive, underdeveloped, backward, alienated, composed of opinion, customs, authority, prejudice, ignorance, ideology". Lyotard, like Hesse, wants to soften this contrast and to assert the rights of "narrative knowledge" (Rorty 1985, p.164).

Reflecting upon the ideas of the late French philosopher Michele Foucault, post-structural family therapy theorist Michael White (1993) writes that

The professional disciplines have been successful in the development of language practices and techniques that determine that it is those disciplines that have access to the "truth" of the world. Those techniques encourage persons in the beliefs that the members of those disciplines have access to an objective and unbiased account of reality and of human nature.

What this means is that certain speakers, those with training in certain special techniques - supposedly to do with the powers of the mind to make contact with reality - are privileged to speak with authority beyond the range of their personal experience (Parker & Shotter, 1990, p.7).

These language practices introduce ways of speaking and of writing that are considered to be rational, and respectable, emphasizing notions of the authoritative account of the impersonal expert view. These practices disembody the perspective and the opinions of the speaker and the writer. The presentation of the knowledge of the speaker and the writer is devoid of information that might give the respondent or the reader information about the conditions of the production of the expert view.

These practices of speaking and writing establish accounts of knowledge that are considered to be "global and unitary" (Foucault, 1980), accounts that mask the historical struggles associated with their ascendance, including the multiplicity of resistances to them. It is difficult for persons to challenge these global and unitary knowledges because the language practices that constitute them include built-in injunctions against questions that might be raised about their sociopolitical/historical contexts.

In denying respondents/readers this critical information, they experience a certain "suspension". They do not have the information necessary to determine how they might "take" the views that are expressed, and this dramatically reduces the ranges of possible responses available to them. Respondents/readers can either subject themselves to the expert knowledge, or they can rail against it. Dialogue over different points of view is impossible.

For the members of the professional disciplines who are operating under the apprehension that they have recourse to objective knowledge, critical reflection on their positions is not an option. Thus they are able to avoid facing the moral and ethical implications of their knowledge practices.

A description which contains no critical reflection on the position from which it is articulated can have no other principle than the interests associated with the unanalyzed relation that the researcher has with this object. (bourdieu, 1988, p. 15).

The open, vague, temporary, and changing nature of the world is rendered, by these truth discourses, closed, certain, fixed and permanent. Other ways of speaking/writing are rendered invisible or, as they are considered to be inferior, are mostly excluded. These "inferior" ways of speaking/writing are only acknowledged if accompanied by the "appropriate" deference to the warranted ways of speaking/writing (White, 1993, pp.55-56).

White, an influential post-structural collaborative family therapist and theorist, recognizes the influences of discursive knowledge practices upon society, individuals, and families. White urges other therapists to engage in deconstructing such knowledge practices along with the practices of power. He suggests that therapists can contribute to such deconstruction by considering themselves "to be 'co-authors' of alternative and preferred knowledges and practices (p.56-57). White (1993) urges therapists to deconstruct these familiar and taken-for-granted practices of power by engaging persons in externalizing conversations about these practices. White states that by unmasking such practices, people can be allowed to "take a position on them and to counter the influences of these practices in their lives and relationships" (p.53). One of the most important aspects of White's work is the aim to deconstruct not only the power which exists in knowledge practices, but the intrinsic web of power relations that enables and perpetuates such practices.


Such discursive practices as mentioned above can have the effect of constraining the individual (or class or gender group, minority culture, or other specific group) from greater self-knowledge using one's own set of references, or describing their lived experience from their own set of references, or from developing greater degrees of personal agency. For that reason social constructionists prefer to examine (deconstruct) prevailing discourses such as discourses of gender, sexuality, education, and disability - and their identity and power implications are then brought to the foreground (Burr, 1996, p.166).


Oppression is not a recent phenomenon. While we are familiar with the visible oppression associated with colonization, we are less familiar with the more subtle practices of the genocide of cultural narrative knowledge, language and customs. There is a centuries-old history of Europeans oppressing the culture and local narrative knowledge of native peoples in North America and around the world. European nations approached First Nations peoples of the Americas and the Pacific with the view that such people were simple heathens upon which civilization had to be imposed. The relationship of Europe to the First Nations peoples was not based on an equal exchange, but hierarchical and oppressive. The civilization and knowledge that was acquired by these First Nations under their own paradigmatic framework or worldview was largely ignored, and this played a large role in the genocidal oppression of these cultures. Yet, today, we see many European descendents take an active interest in the traditional ways and spirituality of First Nations as having value in our confusing post-industrial society. This is because many European descendents recognize that our culture's dominant knowledge practices are getting us into trouble in our relationship with the environment and leaving us somewhat off-balance, without a sense of integrated spirituality. So some of us are reaching out to those whom we have previously oppressed, asking that they share their local knowledge with us in the hope that it will engender new possibilities. The field of interaction between the mainstream society and First Nations is still far from level, but it is slowly shifting in the direction of being level.


Defining discourse as a system of possibilities for knowledge, Flax (1991, p.205) cites how French philosopher Michele Foucault stresses the role of conflict and violence within the discursive knowledge practices of academics and others who claim a right to specialized knowledge. Refraining from not associating himself with the pack, Foucault states that "we must conceive discourse as a violence that we do to things, or at all events, as a practice we impose upon them". Thomas (1993, p.45) observes how Bourdieu (1997, pp.170-171) "contends that the power to name things is the power to organize and give meaning to experience".


Professional discourses, then, can be quite powerful and dominant in our culture. Indeed, Foucault (1972) has termed them as weapons of attack and defense in the relations of power and knowledge (Sarup, 1989, p.73). Foucault (1972, p.22) states that

We must question these ready-made syntheses, those groupings that we normally accept before any examination, those links whose validity is recognized from the outset; we must oust those forms and obscure forces by which we usually link the discourse of one man with that of another; they must be driven out from the darkness in which they reign. And instead of according them unqualified spontaneous value, we must accept, in the name of methodological rigor, that in the first instance, they concern only a population of dispersed events (p.22).

Such dominant knowledge-discourse practices set into reality socially constructed mis-perceptions and a dominant and often marginalizing mode of relating to the victims of such discourse. As an example, let us consider those who have adopted the belief that one must have an MBA to understand business, yet possess a personal memory-storehouse of rich experience in enterpreneurship. Such individuals may interpret themselves as "less than" without the attainment of the MBA. And it is not impossible that such individuals, based on their experience, could actually be teaching in a MBA program. In the self-other relationship between learner and educator, the learner, like the physician's patient, is framed as the one who is in need of knowledge and guidance, which the educator, framed as more powerful, can provide.



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Stucturalist and Positivist Discourse in Traditional Higher Education

The experience of the average North American university student has traditionally unfolded as a linear journey which starts in the freshman year and progresses through stages, culminating in the attainment of a degree. During each of usually four stages the student takes a number of courses which are designed to form for the student a base upon which to build a speciality in later years of education. The University agent, the faculty, disseminates information via lectures and labs, the student takes down the information, engages in lab discussions, and demonstrates that he or she has learned the material via a combination of tests and papers. This relationship scenario places the faculty in a position of greater power while the student is placed in a position of passive dependence. Graduate school isn't that much different, and the power differential remains.


Such a structure imposes certain constraints for the experienced adult intent on acquiring a university education. These include the constraint of unequal power, given that the experienced adult usually has certain experiences which may be creditworthy. Should the adult "assume the position", like the naive young freshman, and leave any acquired knowledge at the door of the lecture hall or professor's office? And what role, if any, should the acquired narrative knowledge of experienced adults play in the University learning process? Should the institution and faculty place more emphasis on helping the experienced adult apply certain acquired narrative knowledge to a degree program? If so, what are the methods by which such integration could be facilitated? Would that also mean that the faculty then have to come down from the podium and shapeshift into a collaborative consultant, interacting with the adult learner to help "draw out" and integrate relevant acquired knowledge into a program of higher education in addition to facilitating new learnings? And would such a shift in delivering a university education produce informed graduates, equipped to deal with the challenges of today's world?


Traditional education delivers mostly the subject matter of curriculum - the what, through didactic interaction, discussion, tests, papers, followed usually (at least in professional programs) with addressing the how, as evidenced in practica in classes, workshop, and/or job experience. Nearing the end of this learning road the student usually undertakes a research project such as a major paper, thesis, or dissertation. The traditional educational paradigm counts only what is "taught" to the student in the university. What the learner may already know is unacknowledged in the learning process and seldom incorporated into the academic program. The traditional academic program is structural in that it is an interaction of the learner with the observed, the observed being the professor, and the content or subject of inquiry. It is also structural in that from the faculty position the learner is the subject of inquiry, and the learner and his or her progress is constantly held under the gaze of the university and its agent(s). The above engenders a discourse which objectifies the student as in need and the university and its agents as the benefactor meeting the need - hence a built-in power differential. I have previously discussed such distinctions observed by Ricoeur (1992) as the self as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation. I have also noted previously how I have expanded on Ricoeur's idea and included certain "others", as outlined below:

1. the self (educator/writer) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
2. the other (the consumer/adult learner) as speaker/narrator/actor,
   
3. the lived experience other (the adult learner as possessor of vast reservoirs of narrative knowledge) as speaker/narrator/actor,
   
4. educational and professional knowledge-discourse as speaker/narrator/actor.

In the traditional education transaction an important distinction is missing: (3) the lived experience other (the adult learner as possessor of vast reservoirs of narrative knowledge) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation. The whole undertaking is structural in that the University poses as the holder, guardian, and disseminator of "knowledge", itself a term that is emerging as increasingly misleading.


Structuralism is the belief in and search for explanatory structures which are held to give rise to the 'surface' phenomena of, for example, society or human thought and behavior (from Burr, 1996). Any theory which claims the ability to clarify human thought or human behavior/interaction is essentially structuralist. Structuralism has a long association with logical positivism. Positivism is the belief that we can only know what we can immediately apprehend. That which exists is what we perceive to exist (from Burr, 1996). In research, positivist scientific investigation uses the hypothetico-deductive method; the results provide either support for or refutation of the theory being tested (Guba, 1990, as cited in Linfield, 1995). Linfield writes that

Positivism asserts that reality is an independent entity that operates through immutable causal laws (Guba,1990). The non-interactive position that positivist inquirers adopt is considered to result in the acquisition of knowledge that is objective and value-free.

Positivism, then, attempts to track and measure this (construction of) independent reality in an effort to find scientifically derived generalizable "truths" or "knowledge" which can be applied to a variety of situations, but as Lyotard (1996, p.482) points out - obliges it to legitimize the rules of its own game. Lyotard goes on to note that "it then produces a discourse of legitimization with respect to its own status, a discourse called philosophy". Lincoln and Guba (1985, p.2) state that from the positivistic view "Man as scientist is regarded as standing apart from the world and able to experiment and theorize about it objectively and dispassionately".


The roots of this positivist framework were embedded deep in the paradigms of Decartes, Bacon and Newton, and their resulting knowledge-discourses - which include the bio-medical model, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. Social sciences adopted the positivist approach in an attempt to attain legitimacy by an association with positivist research methodology, already employed in the natural sciences. Cochrane & Sashidaran (1995, p.3) note that in the social sciences (a large category of which education is a member) interpretative frameworks based on positivism are heavily laden with cultural values and granted a powerful legitimacy, and are thus able to distort and override individuals' accounts of their own experience. Foucault (1980) makes very clear what Richards, Brown, Crawford & Nolan (under submission) call the inseparable bond between knowledge and power. Commenting on the effects of such power to define the lives of others, sociologist Brown (1995, p.1) poses the following question:

"Is there any justification for producing descriptions of people who differ from ourselves in terms of their experience of gender, disability, sexuality, madness, or any other distinction which confers privilege on us as describers?"

The same question can be applied to the power that is held by the traditional educational paradigm, the University and its agents, and by example, its reluctance and refusal to recognize the learning that experienced adults already possess.



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Resistance to the Structural and Positivist Discourses

Within the realm of science itself there have been challenges to the assumptions of positivism's claims to objective knowledge of the universe. Fritjof Capra (1983, pp.315-321), citing research in atomic physics, states that research findings in atomic physics have long discredited the idea of an objective universe which exists "out there", and made up of "basic building blocks" which can be measured. Capra notes that the notion of fundamental laws of nature, so embedded within positivism, was derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition – eventually finding its way into the writings of scholars such as Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, and Newton. Capra states further, that in modern physics

. . . a very different attitude has now developed. Physicists have come to see that all their theories of natural phenomena, including the 'laws' they describe, are creations of the human mind; properties of our conceptual map of reality, rather than of reality itself. This conceptual scheme is necessarily limited and approximate, as are all the scientific theories and 'laws of nature' it contains (p.317).

On the positivist notion of the researcher standing apart from the universe over which he observes and discovers an objective view, Capra states the following discoveries from atomic physics research:

In atomic physics, then, the scientist cannot play the role of a detached objective observer, but becomes involved in the world he observes to the extent that he influences the properties of the observed objects. John Wheeler sees this involvement of the observer as the most important feature of quantum theory and he has therefore suggested replacing the word 'observer' by the word 'participator'. In Wheeler's own words,

Nothing is more important about the quantum principle than this, that it destroys the concept of the world as 'sitting out there,' with the observer safely separated from it by a 20 centimeter slab of plate glass. Even to observe so minuscule an object as an electron, he must shatter the glass. He must reach in. He must install his chosen measuring equipment. It is up to him to decide whether he shall measure position or momentum. To install the equipment to measure the one prevents and excludes his installing the equipment to measure the other. Moreover, the measure changes the state of the electron. The universe will never afterwards be the same. To describe what has happened, one has to cross out that old word 'observer' and put in its place the new word 'participator'. In some strange sense the universe is a participatory universe (Capra, 1983, p.153).

The late social psychologist, visionary thinker, and priest, Ignacio Martin-Baro (1994), killed in 1989 by a Salvadoran death squad, writes the following on positivism:

Discarding everything that could be characterized as metaphysical, positivism underlines the how of phenomena, but tends to put aside the what, the because, and the why. Dividing things up in this way, positivism becomes blind to the most important meanings of human existence. Not surprisingly, positivism is very much at home in the laboratory, where it can "control" all the variables, and where it ends up reduced to the examination of true trivialities that say little or nothing about everyday problems.
The most serious problem of positivism is rooted precisely in its essence; that is, in its blindness toward the negative. Recognizing nothing beyond the given, it necessarily ignores everything prohibited by the existing reality; that is, everything that does not exist, but would, under other conditions, be historically possible (p.21).

Martin-Baro states that Latin America psychology could have made significant contributions to the field of psychology had it not been for, among other factors, its mimicry of science, like North America, seeking the legitimacy that would come from its alliance with both positivism and the established power structures (p.20).


French philosopher Jean-Francis Lyotard (1996) observes that post-structural approaches to academic inquiry give one freedom to question and deconstruct all claims to specialized knowledge, and that the assumptions behind scientifically derived claims to specialized knowledge are embedded in the grand narratives of philosophy. Building on Lyotard's ideas, Cahoone (1996, p.481) declares that "the modernist notions of justification, system, proof, and the unity of science no longer hold". Indeed, such an approach to inquiry echoes German philosopher Jurgen Habermas' (1996, p.590) comments in which he called for a return to the unmasking of the human sciences through the critique of reason.



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Foucault and Subjegated Narrative Knowledges

In traditional education the University (of which the faculty is the agent) holds power over the learner and is able to decree whether or not the learner has indeed learned the subject matter. This hierarchical relationship between faculty and student is a natural outgrowth of the power differential which exists, the need for the learner to attain knowledge, and the initial assumption that the learner does not "know", otherwise why be in the learning environment in the first place? Will the power inherent in this differential be enacted as "power over" the learner, or will it be enacted as an extension of "power to" the learner? How will "power to" be achieved in an environment that has a built-in power differential which is held in place partially by a static knowledge-discourse? How might relational discourse take place (a generative dialogue informing both faculty and learner) against a background of knowledge-discourse which could very well be invested in perpetuating and building on existing "truths"? How might the combination of the power differential and attending knowledge-discourses shape the learner in the institution and in the public arena once graduation has been achieved? Will the new graduate become an agent of such knowledge-discourse and power, perpetuating its existence in both public life and in the institution if he or she chooses to profess to the seekers of a higher education?


One example of the power differential in traditional institutions is as follows: in the traditional setting the adult learner is usually not given any formal credit for what he/she already knows. Such a paradigmatic mantle is woven with the knowledge-discourses of structuralism, positivism, and entrenched power and privilege. Despite a major movement to challenge same amongst some academic circles, the attitudes and practices associated with traditional education delivery continue to display what amounts to an emperor's clothing which but a few dare to name. Cochrane & Sashidaran (1995, p.3) describe such paradigmatic discourses and their promulgation as "shot through with Eurocentric bias", having the ability to distort and override individuals' accounts of their own experience. Simply put, the traditional education system is itself a dominant knowledge-discourse about knowledge production, possessing a loud voice which can override, distort, and discount what individuals regard as their own knowledge, attained through non-formal academic experience. In the realm of psychology eminent cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner (1990) has acknowledged the importance of subjegated local knowledge such as folk psychology as "a cognitive system by which people organize their experience in, knowledge about, and transactions with the social world"; he writes the following

Let me return . . . to the adverserial stance of positivist "scientific psychology" toward "folk psychology". Scientific psychology insists quite properly upon its right to attack, debate, and even replace the tenets of folk psychology. It insists upon its right to deny the casual efficacy of mental states and of culture itself. At its furthest reach, indeed, it even assigns such concepts as "freedom" and "dignity" to the realm of illusion, though they are central to the belief system of a democratic culture. At this far reach, it is sometimes said of psychology that it is anti-cultural, antihistorical, and that its reductionism is anti-intellectual. Perhaps. But it is also true that the "village atheist" zeal of many extreme positivists has enlivened debates about the nature of man, and that their insistence on "objective" or "operational" research procedures has had a healthy astringent effect on our specialities. Yet there remains a niggling worry. . . .

Intellectuals in a democratic society constitute a community of cultural critics. Psychologists,alas, have rarely seen themselves that way, largely becuse they are caught up in the self-image generated by positivist science. Psychology, on this view, deals only in objective truths and eschews cultural criticism. But even scientific psychology will fare better when it recognizes that its truths, like all truths about the human condition, are relative to the point of view that it takes toward that condition. And it will achieve a more effective stance toward the culture at large when it comes to recognize that the folk psychology of ordinary people is not just a set of self-assuaging illusions, but the culture's beliefs and working hypotheses about what makes it possible and fulfilling for people to live together, even with great personal sacrifice. It is where psychology starts and wherein it is inseparable from anthropology and the other cultural sciences. Folk psychology needs explaining, not explaining away (pp.31-32).

Foucault (1980) has also acknowledged the importance of knowledges which are narrative, local and subjegated. Observing the increase, since the 1960's, of the academic and popular criticism of "things, institutions, practices, and discourses", he notes the following:

A certain fragility has been discovered in the bedrock of existence - even, and perhaps above all, in those aspects of it that are most familiar, most solid and most intimately related to our bodies and to our everyday behavior. But together with this sense of instability and this amazing efficacy of discontinuous, particular and local criticism, one in fact also discovers something that perhaps was not initially foreseen, something one might describe as precisely the inhibiting effect of global, totalitarian theories. . . . I believe that what this essentially local character of criticism indicates in reality is an autonomous, non-centralised kind of theoretical production, one that is to say whose validity is not dependent on the approval of the established regimes of thought.

It is here that we touch upon another feature of these events that has been manifest for some time now; it seems to me that this local criticism has proceeded by means of what one might term as 'a return of knowledge'. What I mean by that phrase is this: it is a fact that we have repeatedly encountered, at least at a superficial level, in the course of most recent times, an entire thematic to the effect that it is not theory but life that matters, not knowledge but reality, not books but money, etc.; but it also seems to me that over and above, and arising out of this thematic, there is something else to which we are witness, and which we might describe as an insurrection of subjegated knowledges.

By subjegated knowledges I mean two things: on the one hand, I am referring to historical contents that have been buried and disguised in a functionalist coherence or formal systemisation. Concretely, it is not a semiology of the life of the asylum, it is not even a sociology of delinquincy, that has made it possible to produce an effective criticism of the asylum and likewise of the prison, but rather the immediate emergence of historical contents. And this is simply because only the historical contents allow us to rediscover the ruptural effects of conflict and struggle that the order imposed by functionalist or systematising thought is designed to mask. Subjegated knowledges are thus those blocks of historical knowledge which were present but disguised within the body of functionalist and systematising theory and which criticism - which obviously draws upon scholarship - has been able to reveal.

On the other hand, I believe that by subjegated knowledges one should understand something else, something which in a sense is altogether different, namely, a whole set of knowledges that have been disqualified as inadequate to their task or insufficiently elaborated: naive knowledges located low down on the hierarchy, beneath the required level of cognition or scientificity. I also believe that it is through the re-emergence of these low-ranking knowledges, these unqualified, even directly disqualified knowledges (such as that of the psychiatric patient, of the ill person, of the nurse, of the doctor - parrallel and marginal as they are to the knowledge of medicine - that of the delinquent, etc.), and which involve what I call a popular knowledge (le savoir des gens) though it is far from being a general commonsense knowledge, but is on the contrary a particular, local, regional knowledge, a differential knowledge incapable of unanimity and which owes its force only to the harshness with which it is opposed by everything surrounding it - that it is through the reappearance of this knowledge, of these local popular knowledges, these disqualified knowledges, that criticism performs its work.

However, there is a strange kind of paradox in the desire to assign to this same category of subjegated knowledges what are on the one hand the products of meticulous, erudite, exact historical knowledge, and on the other hand local and specific knowledges which have no common meaning and which are in some fashion allowed to fall into disuse whenever they are not effectively and explicitly maintained in themselves. Well, it seems to me that our critical discourses of the last fifteen years have in effect discovered their essential force in this association between the buried knowledges of erudition and those disqualified from the hierarchy of knowledges and sciences (Foucault, 1980, pp. 80-82).

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The Panopticon as Apparatus for Objectification and Social Control:
Is Traditional Higher Education an Invisible Panopticon?

Viewed from a post-structural "collaborative" perspective a paradigm that lends institutions and their agents the power to define, describe, classify, and represent the achievements of others is an outgrowth of the process and practice of what Foucault terms as the "objectification" of persons. According to Foucault such objectification is carried out via three modes of action: "dividing practices", "scientific classification", and "subjectification" (Rabinow, 1984, pp.7-11). Rabinow reiterates Foucault's observation that these three modes of objectification have their roots in the European middle ages and periods following - from the early isolation of lepers, to the confinement of the poor and the insane and the vagabonds in France during the 1600's, to the rise of modern psychiatry in hospitals, prisons, and clinics throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries amid the quest to design architectural structures for homes, institutions, and even city plans, by which power over others could be implemented for the purpose of social control of such others. On these modes of objectification as they exist in modern society Rabinow asserts further that

In different fashions, using diverse procedures, and with a highly variable efficiency in each case, "the subject is objectified by a process of division either within himself or from others." In this process of social objectification and categorization, human beings are given both a social and a personal identity (pp. 7-11).

Jeremy Bentham's 18^thcentury architectural wonder known as the Panopticon was seen at the time as not just an apparatus of social control but as representing a desired system of social control. The Panopticon was a system by which all three modes of objectification could occur. Foucault (1980) observes that the Panopticon represents a quest to exert control over individuals, groups, even the masses of society. The Panopticon was a circular "architectural form" developed as a very economical method by which to implement power and control over others in such a manner as to facilitate persons' participation in the process and attainment of their own objectification. The circular structured Panopticon had a courtyard in the middle where there was an administrative tower which housed guards. This control tower was surrounded by cells where inmates were housed in solitary confinement, and designed so that each occupant would always be visible. Guards could see out into the cells, but inmates could not see into the tower, and wouldn't know who (or if someone) was watching them.


Michael White & David Epston (1990, p.69) write that the arrangement of inmates in cells, subjected to this supposed eternal gaze, allowed for each and all to be classified, qualified, measured, compared, differentiated, and judged according to the norms and rules of the controlling organization. White & Epston write further that

. . . the ever-present gaze experienced by the persons occupying the individual spaces was in effect a "normalizing gaze". Those persons would experience themselves as being constantly evaluated according to the rules and norms specified by the organization. This normalizing gaze would subject persons to a "whole micropenalty of time, of activity, of behavior, of speech, of the body, of sexuality" (Foucault, 1979, p.178; White & Epston, 1990, p.69).

The Panopticon design functionally segregated each of its inmates into separate cells, kept them from having any direct contact with one another, and incited them to feel as if they were under constant scrutiny. Thus the organization could define normality and incite its inmates to adopt themselves to it, recruiting persons into an active role in their own subjugation and toward shaping their lives to the design of the organization. White and Epston write that under the seemingly constant scrutiny inmates

. . . would become ever-vigilant with regard to their own behavior, evaluating all actions and gestures against the norms specified by the particular organization. And upon identifying any anomalies or aberrations in their own conduct, they would be induced to relate to their own bodies as objects, that is, to engage in disciplinary and corrective operations to forge their own bodies as docile. Thus, they became their own guardians. They policed their own gestures. And they became the objects of their own scrutiny (White & Epston, 1990, p.71).

Under the Panopticon design the guards, too, were subject to an invisible power. While many visitors would come to the tower, those supervisors that were there to observe the guards did not identify themselves. The guards, like the inmates, were incited by this ever-present gaze to supervise themselves, to act as if they were constantly being watched by supervisors. The process of both inmates and guards becoming agents of their own external control lay in the subjectification process of internalizing their circumstances into a personal discourse of passivity and surrender to their circumstances.


But as I have mentioned previously, the Panopticon is much more than an apparatus for social control. It represents both a system, a model, and the desire to exert such a system over others. White & Epston state that the Panopticon is a model for a "mechanism of power that is self-maintaining and highly autonomous in its operation" (p.73). All persons involved with its existence "are simultaneously a subject of and an instrument, or vehicle, of power" (p.74). Panopticon inmates are degraded, fixed, and dependent, under the gaze of those who are higher up the socioeconomic and power hierarchy, whether those be guards or others in authority. Panopticon inmates are placed somewhat under the gaze of people who have more power and status than they. Once this process is internalized inmates fall additionally under their own self-correcting and normalizing gaze. The structure of the Panopticon kept individual inmates from having contact with each other and certain groups from having contact with others, recruiting each resident to suspect he was under perpetual observation. The intended result of this was that the inmate(s) would act according to his own observations of being scrutinized, falling into line with the rules and norms of the organization under which he/she was housed. The inherent efficiency included the need to have few guards. The efficiency also included the intended effect, which was to incite the inmate to act as if he/she was always being observed. This is quite similar in effect to recent practices in corporate settings where well-placed video cameras allow supervisors and security to watch employees, in addition to having the ability to scrutinize employees' electronic email. Such a process shapes the observed as the observed becomes his/her own jailer, in the same way that a knowledge-discourse shapes the serious student of such discourse in preparation for inclusion in a professional occupation.


At first glance the main method of the Panopticon appears to be that of systematizing dividing practices. But it is the internalizing of spatial and social exclusion, used in conjunction with the ever-present gaze of authority, and the classification of difference, which leads to the self-subjectification, by which the objectification and control is achieved. Under the gaze within the Panopticon one's identity is reshaped, in accordance with the oppressive environment. As Rabinow (1984, p.8) states, essentially "dividing practices" are modes of manipulation that combine the mediation of a science (or pseudo-science) and the practice of exclusion - usually in a spatial sense, but always in a social one. Madigan (1992) writes that dividing practices are used to spatially distance people who are perceived to "exhibit difference" from the rest of the social group. While dividing practices have been used to signify those who do not fit in with a dominant group, the same dividing practices are used to bring desired others into membership of dominant groups such as occupations, replete with their own professional languages.

Institutions maintain and perpetuate spatial and social exclusion and classification practices in the acceptance of prospective students. The gaze of authority is ever-present in the life of the student as he or she absorbs and is absorbed by the discourse of the area of study. The students, public, corporations, and others who are unfavorably effected, as well as those who benefit by these practices internalize the process and become part in perpetuating same (e.g., distinguishing the graduates of accredited institutions from unaccredited institutions, distinguishing above average performance from average performance, distinguishing standard graduates from affirmative action graduates, distinguishing traditional institutions from distance learning instutions, etc.). Students are constructed as identities formed by their particular associations or non-associations with higher education and this has further ramifications in the practical world.


Rabinow notes that through the first two modes (dividing practices; scientific classification) and the process of self-surveillance/self-formation via subjectification, a person's "self-understanding . . . is mediated by an external authority figure, be he confessor or psychoanalyst". The authority figure could also be anyone with authority and power to define and create narratives about another's identity, person-hood, occupation, or other mode of representing status. Madigan (1992) notes Foucault's (1980, 1982) assertions that the subjectification of persons entails "a process of self-understanding through internalized dialogue mediated through external cultural norms". The delivery systems for such norms can also be one's boss, the police, one's university professor and academic prgram, minister, therapist, financial aid worker, social worker, or anyone else that an individual experiences as having been vested with such power and authority.


Social and occupational identity is achieved for the university student by the dividing practice of segregation and classification. Subjectification is achieved as the individuals internalize their social identities and act in accordance with same. Those on each level of the socioeconomic hierarchy (faculty, student, common workers) are able to establish their social identity by their differences from the other levels. People persuaded by the ideologies of political correctness place each other under "the gaze". People are eventually afraid to step out of line, to say or write something which might ruffle the feathers of the other individuals who take it upon themselves to police the internalizing and acting out of the particular ideology. These ideologies are seen as correct and a solution which needs to be promulgated, even enforced. Unfortunately, even the very idea of the 'politically correct' is subject to the conditions, trends, power structures, and mindset and behaviors of the people. What is politically correct in one era is seen as dangerous for the society of another era, and certainly dangerous for the subjects of its gaze. Foucault would most likely include such ideologies as agencies of social control (along with police, psychiatric services, social services, and educational institutions). As Crawford, Johnson, Nolan, and Brown (1998, p.3) observe,

The importance of studying professional language and its acquisition becomes clear when we consider what it means to be socialized into an occupational role. The received view of occupational socialization . . . stresses the adoption of values, vocabularies and professional identities (e.g., Becker et al, 1961) and the formal curriculum of training. In theory, the qualified professional is distinctive, having been transformed into a 'participating effective member of the organization' (Nelson & Quick, 1994, p.499). Thus congruence is achieved between the newcomer and the profession. This view is also found in the social psychology of group membership. For example, Tajfel (1981) argued that we make fundamental distinction between members of our own in-group and outsiders. . . . Power, values and ideology lie behind language and it is occupational socialization which inculcates these. However, their operation is seen through language as an organized social practice (p.3).

Madigan writes that

The actions of dividing practices are tolerated and justified through the mediation of science (or pseudoscience) and the power the social group gives to scientific claims. In this process of social objectification and categorization, human beings are given both a social and personal identity (pp.266-267).

Rabinow (1994) states Foucault's contention that methods have developed over history that facilitate the distribution, supervision, and discipline of the population. Such control relies chiefly on the organization of individuals in specific spaces: "In a factory, the procedure facilitates productivity; in a school, it assures orderly behavior; in a town, it reduces the risks of dangerous crowds, wandering vagabonds, or epidemic diseases" (p.17).


Classification and Subjectification:

On subjectification, Rabinow (1994) states that it concerns the "way a human being turns him - or herself into a subject", and from there enters into a process of self-surveillance/self-formation. The interplay of the first two modes, isolation from the greater community (whether through prison, psychiatric hospitalization, the racial ghetto or Indian reservation, the poverty ghetto, the visible class system, academia, etc.) and being subjected to the definitions contained in an official dossier (e.g., psychiatric/psychological assessment, social services reports, immigration/refugee reports, police reports, academic report, etc.) leave a person in a passive and constrained position.


While the distribution design of the Panopticon and other methods of social and intellectual control are implemented by institutional authorities, it's not as if these subjects are actually oppressed directly by the power of the authorities. Madigan (1992) notes Foucault's claim that power, rather than coming from above, comes from below, from the subject, "where cultural knowledge claims are internalized and produced in every social interaction" (p.270). The internalization of such knowledge as is delivered through the discourses of the dominant culture and knowledge-discourses serves to subjugate other local and alternative narrative knowledge. It is possible that a well-educated individual can end up as a prisoner of knowledge-discourse or other dominant forms of discourse, while cultural perception may be that only the uneducated and poorly skilled end up constrained in such a manner. Thus, one can play a role in the labeling and marginalising of oneself, simply based on what discoure he or she is shaped by. If one internalizes the discourse, it stands to reason that the person's sense of personal value in society can become shaped by that discourse, if one does not already possess a strong identity rooted in srong alternative narratives about oneself.


Resisting the Invisible Panopticon

As our society experiences a paradigm-shift from a modern industrial society to a more diverse post-industrial information society (Naisbitt, 1984, 1990; Bell, 1996, p.423), a parallel paradigm-shift has been occurring in the academic world. French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard (1996, p.481) describes this academic paradigm-shift as the "postmodern condition", an era where the validity of any and all claims to specialized knowledge - particularly in the social sciences - is questioned. Within this academic movement, some sociologists, social psychologists, feminist writers, educators, family therapy theorists, and others have been questioning many of the assumptions on which professions have been built. In their writings they cite some of the philosophical works of the twentieth century - those works whom Madan Sarup (1989) terms as "post-structuralist", and include Foucault, Lyotard, Rorty, Ricouer, and Habermas. Feminist authors frequently point out that much of the knowledge in the social sciences is based primarily on male perspectives and do not privilege the experience and perspectives of the female experience (Irigaray, 1996; Harding 1996; Flax, 1990). This revisioning of both academic inquiry and the resulting knowledge - in company with changing trends in our society - have resulted in new approaches to higher education that describe themselves as more consumer-centered. Such new approaches attempt to first accomplish a sensitivity to what British sociologist Brian Brown (1995) describes as the "representation" of the experience of "others". Post-structuralism refers to the rejection of structuralism's search for explanatory structures underlying social phenomena. In linguistics, also the view that the meanings of signs (e.g., words) are not fixed, but shifting and contestable (from Burr, 1996). Post-structuralists, like Foucault, want to deconstruct the conceptions by means of which we have so far understood the human (from Sarup, 1989).


Nowadays, traditional education is increasingly involving itself with the delivery of professional degrees, that is - degree programs which have for the learner an outcome of entering a profession. In the trades such a credential is loosely referred to as a "ticket" to work in a particular field. Bloom (1989) has lamented this trend, in that education is becoming less interested in education for the sake of learning itself. There is big money to be made in this new trend, as evidenced by the accelerating costs of adult-oriented education programs which now include such 'products' as "the executive MBA". New trends , such as the emergence of private universities for profit, owned by corporations, capable of delivering curriculum in an increasingly efficient manner, and charging similar tuition as the more established institutions.



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Back to Bateson and "Double Description":
Privileging Acquired Local Knowledge Amidst the Discursive Practices of Tradititonal Higher Education

The nontraditional post-structural paradigm includes the normal didactic delivery (albeit frequently via distance learning modalities). In addition to exposing the learner to new knowledge, a post-structural education program orients the learner toward the categorization and integration of already attained knowledge in a wholistic manner and shows the learner how to continue as a lifelong learner. In this third section of the document I will focus on my experience of CPU's approach, using CPU as an example of post-structural non-traditional education.


In addition to facilitating for the adult learner a dialogue with new information CPU's educational approach helps the learner incorporate already attained knowledge into one's academic program. CPU's education paradigm seeks to embrace already acquired knowledge and seeks to facilitate expanding and rounding out such acquired knowledge. This paradigm exists in contrast to the traditional educational paradigm, which is linear, structural, and chiefly oriented toward younger and less experienced individuals. CPU's paradigm is "post-structural" in orientation, and attempts to work collaboratively with the student to help incorporate aspects of what the student "already knows" into the student's program. This is referred to in CPU's stated mission which is to provide adult-education, distance-learning programs for accomplished individuals seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees in Arts & Sciences, Administration & Management, or Health & Human Services.


In his exploration of human cybernetics and epistemology, visionary thinker and anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1972) discovered the ability of "new information" to extend power toward individuals and human systems in opening new possibilities in creativity and problem solving. Moving beyond such essential questions for adult education as 'What do I need to know?' and 'What is it that I already know?' epistemologist Bradford Keeney (1983), a former student of Bateson, poses such questions such as 'How is it that I know what I know?', and 'How is it that I know that I know?'. From my perspective, informed by experience, other questions of pertinence are 'What do I know in various contexts of my life that may be transferable to the subject area of my academic program?' and 'What is the process by which I can transfer such learnings into my academic program while addressing the variables?' The analytical juxtaposition of such questions can facilitate for the learner what Bateson (1979) described as a "double description", revealing new information - or as Bateson describes, a difference that makes a difference. Such a difference spells interesting implications for adult learners. Looked at in this manner what emerges is described by Keeney as a "holistic system" of sources of information. Keeney (1983) describes Bateson's notion of double description as follows:

Fundamentally, double description is an epistemological tool that enables one to generate and discern different orders of pattern. Although language, through the limits of its particular terms, and structure, constrains our knowing, double description provides a way of using language to direct us toward higher order description. By doing this, we can begin pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps to get out of the epistemological quagmire. As two eyes can derive depth two descriptions can derive pattern and relationship (p. 83).

In short, there are different levels of knowing, and education that seeks to address the needs of adults should address these multiple levels, helping the learner gain the skills to apply existing knowledge into the various contexts of his/er life. In rapidly changing socio-economic times where careers outgrow people and people outgrow careers this is an important skill.


Utilizing such methods of self-inquiry as outlined briefly above the adult learner can discover, represent and apply what is already relevant in his/her storehouse of life experience and/or professional experience. This approach moves the learner from the role of passive observer (interacting with the what of curriculum content as decreed by the dominant and authoritative voice of the all-knowing and patronizing university) to the role of observer/participator (interacting in a self-referential way, locating oneself as a lifelong learner, recognizing and bringing life to what one has already learned over time, and creating dialogue between what one has already learned in addition to relevant new curriculum material). The above engenders a discourse that encompasses collaboration, social liberation, and is relationally non-hierarchical. Such a discourse de-objectifies the student as the one who is in need (conversely, the narrative knowledge of the learner is seen as a resource) and de-objectifies the university and its agents from the role of benefactor who must meet the need (the university role shifts forward paradigmatically to that of consulting mentor and collaborator who works to "draw out" and integrate narrative knowledge with other, "new" information in curriculum). I have previously discussed such distinctions observed by Ricoeur (1992) as the self as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation. I have also noted previously how I have expanded on Ricoeur's idea and included certain "others", as outlined below:

1. the self (educator/writer) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
2. the other (the consumer/adult learner) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation
   
3. the lived experience other (the adult learner as possessor of vast reservoirs of narrative knowledge) as speaker/narrator/actor
   
4. educational and professional knowledge-discourse as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation.

In the non-traditional post-structural approach to higher education an important distinction is included: (3) the lived experience other (the adult learner as possessor of vast reservoirs of narrative knowledge) as speaker/narrator/actor. For this categegory (3) I have removed the characteristic identified as "moral subject of imputation". I have done so because this category of "other" has been largely denied and unprivileged historically and needs a fighting chance without the imputation of others. This approach to higher education for adult learners relocates the observer in that which is observed, thus enabling all description of the content or the what of curriculum to be self-referential.


The belief that one can hold an objective view of any subject without referencing oneself as observer has been disproved by scientists such as Jon von Neumann, Gotthard Gunther, Lars Lofgren and many others. As Heinz von Forster (1976c) asks "How would it be possible to make a description in the first place if the observer were not to have properties that allow him to generate such descriptions?" Von Forster writes that this renders the idea of "objectivity" of the observer over what is observed as erroneous. Therefore adult education which does not include the perspective and experience of the learner as relevant to curriculum is also questionable.


The non-traditional approach to higher education fits with the post-structural approach of encouraging the subject to become as a collaborator, to represent oneself rather than be represented by others, and the post-structural notion that local knowledge should not be subjugated by other 'dominant' knowledge that attempts to validate itself by a claimed association with scientific method.


If the acquired local knowledge of adults is to be incorporated in higher education curriculums the power differential of faculty and student would be somewhat flattened. Current post-structural thought around knowledge and research recognizes this power differential in the relationship between various disciplines and those whom are served by such disciplines. These post-structural thinkers encourage the various disciplines to flatten such power differentials as well as encouraging disciplines to increase their awareness of their interactions with their clients to develop self-reflexivity. In human science activity the essence of self-reflexivity is contingent on de-objectifying the subject of your inquiry. Accomplishing this requires that the person in position of researcher/consultant/therapist/educator shift from an 'observing and describing or appraising the other' - an objectifying mindset - to 'observing oneself observing and participating with the other' - a de-objectifying mindset which in practice is one of relational collaboration. The shift is subtle but the results are different, as the shift brings both parties in the interaction closer toward a level playing field that opens up conceptual space for an exchange of diverse perspectives - dynamic in its potential for mutual inquiry and possibilities for learning. On such a field each party in the exchange is an expert - perhaps each party having their own expertise in different things. Such expertise could be attributed to either academically acquired knowledge, and/or knowledge acquired by local experience. The participator/observer becomes part of the expanded whole, rather than a separate entity posing as an expert who can decree "truths" about the other's condition or abilities and/or mis-represent the other via the discursive practices of the discipline.


Thinking similarly and using a wholistic perspective, one's life and professional experiences give yield to certain local knowledge and perspectives that can be an enormous contribution to be integrated into an academic program, once it is recognized by higher education authorities that people can already "know" certain things that would be normally taught in a classroom, discussion labs, and/or experience practicums and internships. One question is how can such experience be 'drawn out" (the word "educate" comes from the Latin "educo" which means "to draw out").


An attempt to accomplish the above with the learner is one example of de-objectifying and getting on a level playing field with the learner. This is a systemic approach for the learner, who then becomes much more involved in shaping the learning process, one of self-education in relational collaboration with one's University, one's environments, one's temporal present and past, and indeed one's self. Perhaps the University and its agents will also learn something in the process as the playing field is leveled. Perhaps the faculty expertise becomes more of helping to "draw out" the knowledge, as opposed to being the expert holder and disseminator of the knowledge. This is neither one or the other, but a bit of both, and perhaps other possibilities. It is a somewhat different approach to higher education than the linear and largely didactic approach associated with traditional education and positivistic approaches to research - that of solely accumulating objective knowledge from 'out there' (frequently equated with 'truths' by a claimed association with scientific or quasi-scientific method).



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The Story of My Own Experience with Non-traditional Higher Education (with CPU)

I received my first exposure to nontraditional education in 1989, when I came across an advertisement from Columbia Pacific University (CPU) in Psychology Today. I was about to turn 34, had just completed two years at a community college, where I studied jazz and classical music on the violin and guitar. I hated the fact that full-time studies gave me little opportunity to earn income and I had child support payments to make. I also disliked feeling like I was on a treadmill, running from class to class, and I felt physically uncomfortable with the concrete institutional buildings of the college and the flourescent lighting. I caught a bus home every day, tired and depressed, and rarely found the energy to study or do assignments. As a result, I finished out the two year stint owing about $12,000 in student loans, and having earned only 31 of a possible 60 credits. One might be right to surmise that I was a failure at the education endeavor.


CPU's ad suggested a self-paced no-residency curriculum that included potential credit for life/work experience. The program was based around a core of academic subjects designed to introduce the learner to important concepts and help integrate life and work experience. The program also used learning contracts to attain knowledge requirements for certain subject areas and would also allow the learner a variety of means to fulfill credit requirements. The milieus for learning included attendance at workshops in one's locality, working with local mentors, or developing special reading assignments followed by an integrative paper. The learner was also encouraged to draw from one's own experience and include one's own perspectives in writing assignments. Realizing the potential, which included the ability to return to work and get off the poverty line, I requested a catalogue and enrolled at CPU for a B.S. in Human Services.


At the time of enrollment my interest was in counseling and therapy. The Canadian province of BC, where I live, had no licensing for therapists at the time, and a related degree would certainly help in ultimately finding work in the field in a human service agency. In addition to embarking on CPU's core program I began to take practitioner-oriented training in counseling theories and their applications, as well as courses in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a communications technology with applications for areas which include therapy, organization development, behavioral modeling, and sales. These training programs were to continue intensively for about 5 years. By 1993, when I had completed the various training programs, I held the following credentials:

Certified Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Certified Master Practitioner of NLP
Certified Master Practitioner of the Counseling Applications of NLP
Certification in Hypnotherapy
Certified Master Practitioner in Behavioral Modeling
Certified Provisional Trainer of NLP
Certified Trainer of NLP
Certification in Counseling
Certification by the Northwest Satir Institute in Family Therapy Practice
Internship in OD/Team Building

In addition to the above, I was taking other workshop-based training in shamanism, healing and ritual, and other areas of interest. By 1993 I had also completed, with the Sterling Institute of Relationship, an intensive 5 years of experience-based involvement in an area now classified as "mens' studies". This focus included relationship building, peer group-work, team-building, community building and development, co-designing leadership weekends for men, and designing and testing a ritual model for accessing a male-oriented spirituality in large groups. During this period I quietly plugged along with the CPU core curriculum, each course made up of a series of directed readings, assignments, and written papers.



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An Overview Of CPU

A chronicle of some of my own experience with the CPU curriculum would be incomplete without privileging CPU's own voice, so I will be including aspects of CPU's description of their programs and philosophy throughout this section. I believe doing so will provide greater context, or in keeping with the pre-discussed thinking of Bateson - a "double description", or from Keeney's thinking - a "holistic description". The following overview of CPU and descriptions of the curriculum are combined from CPU's own literature and include commentaries from my own perspective and experience at CPU. The descriptions are not intended to serve in lieu of CPU's program syllabus and are incomplete. Although the CPU syllabus contains many courses, the CPU program is different for each learner, based on the needs of each learner and prior experience of that learner.

Founded in 1978, Columbia Pacific University provides adult-education, distance-learning programs for accomplished individuals seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees in Arts & Sciences, Administration & Management, or Health & Human Services. Self-paced scheduling and life-achievement evaluation are included in the Columbia Pacific University program. To be admitted, an applicant must have established a career focus and demonstrated a capacity to learn from higher education. CPU's curriculum is designed for self-paced learning at a distance based on the importance of Individuality, Integration, and Independent Study. Most of our students are working professionals.

Individuality

• Each person is unique; each individual's background provides him/her with a personal array of abilities and interests that are different from any other's.
  
• An individual's life experience is most satisfying and productive if he/she can acknowledge and develop this personal pattern of abilities and interests.
  
• Education can - and should - be based upon, draw forth and facilitate the development of that individuality.
  
• It is a proper role of higher education to enhance and refine this process for accomplished individuals (who have previously obtained meaningful levels of productive creativity) . . . so that the individual can expand professional productivity and acceptance, as well as make personally meaningful career developments

. Integration

• There are many aspects to an individual's life experience: one's interest and activity at times focus on consideration of health, family, recreation, spirituality, etc.
  
• All aspects of an individual's life experience can be integrated to mutually support and facilitate the other aspects.
  
• Education can - and should - help an individual develop this personal integration and support
  
• It is a proper role of education to challenge the accomplished individual to develop more effective and comprehensive integration of body, mind and spirit, which are the significant dimensions of personal experience . . . so that the individual can develop clearer and personally relevant goals, as well as a lifestyle that is satisfying, healthful and effective in supporting the individual's goals.

Independent Study

• The potential sources of ideas and information relevant to an individual's interest may be many and varied.
  
• An individual's activities can be most satisfying and productive if that person can investigate these sources effectively.
  
• Education can - and should - provide guidance in making such investigations broad in scope and efficient in process.
  
• It is a proper role of higher education to stimulate, guide and acknowledge independent study, as well as intellectual and experiential inquiry that is self-designed and self-motivated . . . so that the accomplished individual can engage in self-designed and self-motivated intellectual and experiential inquiry that is comprehensive in its sources, efficient in its methods, integrated in its personal involvement and effective in its outcome.

Although the American system of education is extensive, complex, and in many ways quite flexible, it often does not provide subjective content which is focused on an individual student's particular interests and needs, nor educational delivery systems which are accessible to an individual who is active in a chosen vocation - perhaps already committed to a career path. Pursuing higher education often requires an upheaval of family and community roots and commitments, interruption of professional activities, and sacrifice of financial resources. Columbia Pacific University is designed so that an individual does not need to leave his or her home and community, interrupt a career, or abandon familiar education resources in order to earn an academic degree.

A mature and self-directed individual can participate in planning the curriculum content, the types of instructional resources to be used, and the schedule for completion of an individualized degree program. Someone who is already active in a career field can obtain the academic perspective and rounding out of an area of knowledge and the recognition of accomplishments that an advanced degree program provides.

The University is committed to programs of excellence in higher education - programs which produce demonstrable improvements in learner knowledge, proficiencies, skills, and attitudes. These improvements are consistent with established, clearly expressed standards of performance comparable to those of recognized accredited colleges and universities. (The above description is from the CPU Website, 1998-2000)

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The General Curriculum at CPU

Note: This description is from the CPU General Catalogue (1995)

The structure of the Columbia Pacific University curriculum is most easily understood if it is approached from four directions. First, there is a general overall structure with common elements that apply to all three schools and to all three degree levels. Thus all students, regardless of school or degree level, must complete the four projects of the core curriculum including, for example, the "Wellness" course (of Project III), and substantial independent study project (related to Project IV). In addition, all students submit and complete five learning contracts (as described in Project I), and write a "Final Summary" and have a "Final Oral Review" shortly before graduation.

Second, there are some ways in which all bachelor's programs are similar to one another regardless of school, and there are common characteristics of master's programs and of doctoral programs which, in the similarities within the degree level, cut across school lines. For example, all bachelor's students must have the equivalent of approximately two years of undergraduate work (including general studies) to be eligible for admission; in other words, none of the three schools offers lower-division courses. Similarly, the requirement for 126 semester credits for graduation at the bachelor's level is the same for all three schools. At the master's level, for another example, a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) is required for admission, and at least 42 semester graduate semester credits must be earned for graduation. Similarly, a master's degree (or equivalent) is required for admission to any doctoral program, and a total of 90 graduate semester credits (48 beyond the master's degree) is required for graduation regardless of which of the three schools the doctoral student is attending.

Third, each school has specific distribution requirements for its students. These are encompassed by the five knowledge areas which are different for each school, but are the same (in broad terms) for all students at all degree levels within a given school.

Finally, fourth, every degree program is intensely individualized around a particular student's background, interests, and needs. Thus, for example, two different students, although they are both enrolled in Bachelor of Science degree programs in the School of Arts and Sciences, would be likely to have a very different academic programs.

Thus, in understanding the CPU curriculum, it is important to keep in mind four principles:

1. Every student (at all degree levels) completes the four projects of the core curriculum plus five Knowledge-Area leaning contracts. The core curriculum includes several required courses, a substantial independent study project, and, in addition, a Final Summary and a Final Oral Review.
   
   
2. These similarities notwithstanding, academic programs are different at different degree levels. All bachelor's students must have at least 63 semester credits to enroll, and 126 to graduate; all bachelor's students take foundational courses in writing, statistics ("or clear thinking"), and computer literacy; and all bachelor's students complete an Independent Study Project (ISP). Master's students must have a bachelor's degree to enroll, and must earn 42 graduate semester credits to graduate; every master's student produces a master's thesis. And all doctoral students must have a master's degree (or the equivalent) to enroll, and earn 48 additional graduate semester credits (a total of 90) to graduate; every doctoral student produces a doctoral dissertation.
   
   
3. Academic programs are also different for each school. Each of the three schools - Arts and Sciences, Administration and Management, and Health and Human Services - has specific distribution requirements (defined by the "knowledge areas" of the school) for its students.
   
   
4. Finally, every degree program is individualized; the content in every course and in every requirement depends on the particular student's background, interests, and needs.

Assuredly, it is valuable to become an independent, lifelong learner, to be able to respond flexibly and effectively to a changing world and, despite the many fragmenting forces encountered, be able to interconnect all aspects of life harmoniously. The core curriculum at CPU teaches these fundamental competencies.

All students - in all three schools, at all degree levels - are required to complete core curriculum courses which are organized into four projects. The course structure of the core curriculum projects is also designed to satisfy California's State Education Code limit on credits a student can be awarded by transfer from another institution and for extra-institutional learning. At least 25% of the minimum credits required for a degree must be earned through instruction provided by the institution awarding the degree. Completion of the core curriculum meets this requirement by providing 32 of the 126 credits required at the bachelor's level, 12 of the 42 credits required at the master's level, or 12 of the 48 post-master's credits required at the doctoral level.

The core curriculum provides a series of useful skills and valuable concepts. Students have found it an intellectually stimulating, challenging, and rewarding personal educational experience. It is designed to teach students independent study skills, clear and logical thought organization and presentation, and familiarity with the integrating concepts of our wholistic philosophy. The materials are designed to integrate wholistic perspectives and independent study skills with each student's particular area of interest.

The core curriculum is designed so that the content and exercises, even for basic research and writing competencies, are individualized in accordance with each student's background, skills, and interests. All requirements are self-paced to accommodate a wide range of personal life circumstances and preferences. Furthermore, all requirements can be completed at a distance from the university. In every regard, the institution's education delivery system can be adjusted to each individual student's health, career activities, personal life, and study patterns.

The core curriculum is organized into four projects. To understand why we call these "projects", let us look at the definition of "project" from A Dictionary of Education by Derek Roundtree.

Project: A learning task with some or all of the following features: it arises in the interests of the learners; it demands original investigation or experimentation; it is more concerned with developing attitudes and intellectual skills than with specific knowledge; it can be tackled by a specific learner or by groups; it cuts across subject barriers in an interdisciplinary way; it uses the teacher as a facilitator, guide, and counselor rather than as a conveyor of information; it may result in a report or in the demonstration and discussion of what has been produced or discovered.

All of the features in this definition are characteristic of CPU's core curriculum projects.

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The 4 Projects at the Core of the CPU Program

At each degree level the program is divided into four categories or projects. Any commentaries which I make on any aspects of the CPU program will be based around the Master's program unless I specifically indicate otherwise.

Project I: (Foundational Constructs and Activities)

Note: This description is from CPU's General Catalogue (1995).

Project I is titled "Materials and Methods: Researching Information Resources and Developing a learning Plan". This project consists of a single course MM311. It presents concepts and techniques for using a wide diversity of sources to pursue independent study. The course materials discuss various kinds of information resources and their strengths and limitations - how to assess their editorial biases and reliability, for example. The problems of identifying key terms and concepts and defining them properly (intentionally, operationally, extensionally, etc.), depending on the uses to which the definitions are to be put, are considered. This includes clarifying key words and concepts related to the student's particular area of study. The student becomes familiar with a variety of information resources, and uses them to complete written exercises.

In addition, the student studies the processes for deciding on, organizing, an information research project. These processes for designing independent study plans are discussed in general and also embodied in specific instructions for preparing five "learning contracts". Preparation of learning contracts includes outlining prior education and career experiences, defining specific learning goals, determining appropriate resources, and establishing methods for assessing stages of progress and completion of the independent study process. The learning contract process teaches students a general problem-solving approach for pursuing independent study on any topic and in any field.

Project I also includes assessment - and specialized instructions as necessary - of expository writing skills, all the way from technical competence in word usage and punctuation, through thoughtful organization of ideas, to accepted academic formats for footnotes and bibliographies.

The learning challenges in this project occur at several different levels. A single assessment may present challenges in:

1. understanding new terms and concepts,
   
2. finding new sources of information,
   
3. interpreting the scope and bias of the editors and authors of relevant material,
   
4. integrating the information learned with other studies,
   
5. organizing one's ideas about the material,
   
6. and communicating clearly one's thoughts about the material in response to the specific topic or question of the assignment.

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My Comments on CPU Project I
by Earon Kavanagh

I first began studies with CPU in the fall 1989 - and Project I was where I started. Project I begins by providing an orientation to the relational workings between the learner, faculty and staff of CPU - the processes and protocols of submitting assignments, requesting help, etc. Remember, though, that I started my program some time before the popularity of the Internet, email, and the magic of file attachments. In those days assignments and papers were submitted by mail. I suppose that's where the term "correspondence university" comes from. As more schools - accredited and quality-but-unaccredited came into being, the term "distance education" or education "at-a-distance" came into being. Few realized, though, that at-a-distance education had been around since the 1800's (e.g., the Open University in Britain), and more recently UNISA in South Africa, where Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, and Nelson Mandela, the President of South Africa, are said to have earned their degrees.


Project I, in my opinion, is an organizing framework for the everyday pragmatics of embarking upon the CPU degree program. It is also an organizing framework for the mental constructs the student will acquire that will be needed to successfully embark upon and complete the program. The program is not a linear program of being exposed to a professional knowledge-discourse, the kind where one gathers information piece by piece, semester by semester, until one begins to think of oneself as a journey-person and eventual expert in the chosen field. This is indeed the sign that the person has been authored by the knowledge-discourse that one has been immersed in for so many years. In truth, CPU offers an alternative discourse, a wholistic paradigmatic discourse for viewing the world and oneself in the world. This view includes and embraces the various aspects/parts/traits that make up living things/non-living things/human systems and communities, and even conversations between persons and communities. The most important thing about the CPU program is this distinction.


More importantly than subject/object information which is the supposed product that is being transmitted and learned, CPU's programs facilitate a transformation by which the learner is able to embrace and integrate life and work experience - that precious jewel which Ricoeur and other post-structural philosphers call "narrative knowledge". Just think, at this moment the social science departments of many major universities are chasing the works of these philosophers, attempting to deconstruct practices of knowledge and its relationship to power, and parroting the post-structural philosophers. Yet, the very things that the post-structural philosophers recommend, such as the inclusion of narrative knowledge, the privileging of the voices of real experience, the shaping of students as proactive political persons, is being quietly carried out by CPU's programs.


Having waxed eloquently for long enough I will now return to Project I. The organizing concepts presented by Project I include, but are not limited to, the following:

• the concept of "information", its many forms, its methods of transmission, its many purposes,
• communication, cues on communication, assumptions, interpretation, meaning, rules and symbols for communication, hidden assumptions, general semantics,
• the notion of the "information society", information and hi-tech, information and hi-touch, Marshall McLuhan and subtle advertising messages, McLuhan and the medium as message, media influence and society,
• information from a wholistic perspective, life experience as information, integration of life experience, themes of favored and other activity over the span of one's life,
• goals - charting goals, uncovering values, deconstructing life experience,
• entertainment as information,
• therapy and education as information,
• unseen information or meta-information, critical mass and paradigm shifts,
• social construction and definitions, meaning and changing meaning,
• referencing information,
• deconstruction - assessing bias and prejuduce in academia, news, and other media,
• statistics - the role of statistics, inferential and descriptive statistics, statistical evaluation,
• learning plans, learning contracts, credit assessment, defining a topic of interest for independent study, scheduling independent study,
• the five "knowledge areas" of each school - introduction to knowledge areas for each of the three schools at CPU,
• life/work experience and credit - introduction to methods of assessment.

Project I, for me, was the most difficult of all the CPU programs and related courses. Looking back, I believe that it was a challenge for me to begin a program which required energy/effort from myself, where I set the pace, and received the rewards or disappointments. It was also challenging to adopt some of the concepts about information, to begin to identify or "frame" much of my experience - past, present, and future, as information, and to deconstruct information for the subtle messages, meta-messages, biases and prejudices. Another challenge was the idea that I already might have experience that could be organized into credit-worthy information - to identify, extract, organize this experience and develop a learning plan around it. Another problem was scheduling time for study. Something which came more easily was the "praxis" learning approach, the strong emphasis on integrating personal and work experience with the help of lifelong learning concepts and a lot of personal reflection. The CPU journey is not an easy one, but definitely worth it, and definitely involving a "whole" lot of personal growth.



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Project II: (An Organizing Framework and Meta-concepts)

Note: This description is from CPU's General Catalogue (1995).

Project II is titled "Directed References and Readings: Expanding and Integrating Perspectives". In completing this project, the student relates personal and professional interests to other fields of knowledge and to broad unifying concepts. These are the portions of the curriculum that stimulate and guide the development of creative thinking; they develop an awareness of levels of abstraction and of concept transfer.

There are nine Project II courses, three series with three courses in each series. Students take different courses depending on their interests and credit needs.

One triad of Project II courses presents studies on:

• Origins: Perspectives on the Past
  
• Measurement and Uncertainty: Perspectives on the Present
  
• Probabilities and Possibilities: Perspectives on the Future
  

Another set of Project II courses covers:

• Archetypes, Myths, and Rituals: The Deepest Patterns of the Mind
  
• Psychology and Semantics: The Causes and Mechanisms of Mental Functions
  
• Individuality in a Cultural Context: The Culmination of Mental Activities
  

The third series has the following three courses:

• Wholism, the Concept, Its Origins and Implications
  
• Ecology: Our Home and Heritage Held in Trust
  
• Health and Healing: Ultimate Perspectives and Practicalities
  

Project II is designed to teach a powerful kind of abstract thinking called "concept transfer". The process for doing this involves learning certain study skills and research techniques. Each Project II course directs the students attention to references and readings that show how a key concept can be applied to several fields. In one of these courses, for example, the concept is called "origins". Regardless of whether a student's field of study is philosophy, computer programming, employee relations, health services, or any other, one useful and interesting way of looking at that field and gaining insights about it is to study its origins - the people, events, and ideas that have led to its development.

The object of each course is not only to grasp some fundamental concepts, it is also to learn to think inventively, imaginatively, creatively in viewing different parts of our intellectual activities - whether they are the use of language, management of money, computer programming, interpretation of psychological symbols and mechanisms, or any other - through a variety of radically different conceptual glasses. Students find the basic concepts of each course illustrated by examples from several widely different fields, and they are asked to apply the concepts specifically to their own field of interest.

To be sure, some of the key concepts are more easily and obviously applicable to certain fields than to others. "Measurement and uncertainty", for example, is clearly relevant to physics, engineering, and any specific or technological area. But it is also readily applicable to the study of languages, arts, social sciences, professionalism in human services, and other fields. Every field has "things" or "ideas" it attempts to specify, and it struggles with the questions of how clearly and how closely (that is, with what levels and kinds of uncertainty) these can be specified. Similarly, "archetypes, myths, and rituals" are clearly relevant to literature and psychology but not, at first glance, to science and technology - but this is only true at first glance. In fact, the study of archetypes, myths, and rituals is eminently, applicable to science and technology and can provide dramatic insights for these ostensibly "hard" and "logical" fields - as such authors as Popper, Merton, Kuhn, Prigognine, Root-Bernstein, and others have discussed.

It can provide a valuable exercise in creative thinking to apply the kinds of broad ideas presented in the Project II courses to fields where they do not immediately and obviously seem to fit. Fascinating insights emerge when this process is done effectively. This is the essence of "concept transfer" taught in project II. "Concept transfer" is one of the essential (and learnable) ingredients of creative thinking.

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My Comments on CPU Project II
by Earon Kavanagh

In addition to CPU's own description of Project II (above), I view Project II as a set of three "organizing frames" by which one can facilitate the organization of life/work experience as well as the academic projects that may make up a field of study. Within each organizing frame are nested three "meta perspectives". Each meta-perspective is structured as a course. Within each course are many topics which relate to that meta-perspective, providing macro-lenses or examples of the meta-perspective. As an example, let us take the Project II course titled PS 425: Psychology and Semantics: The Causes and Mechanisms of Mental Functions. The course introduction begins with the following paragraph

We move now into a delicate and difficult realm - our minds struggling to understand and describe themselves; our mental processes and functions used to clarify and explain our mental processes and functions. This has been one of the time honoured concerns of philosophy, and one of the most elusive pursuits of modern science. It is an area of inquiry which crosses over to our religious faiths, to our highest prides and deepest shames, to our unspoken (and unspeakable) underlying ideas about reality. As you will see, the nature of mental processes is tied to and tangled with our language and the ways our thoughts use language, our philosophies and culture, our religious and spiritual beliefs - in fact, to every facet of our being, our histories, and our futures (Crews and Faculty of CPU, 1991).

The course material of the above meta-perspective include the following macro-lenses (topics):

• a primer of Freudian depth psychology,
• an introduction to the non-Aristotelian logic and General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski,
• a primer on linguistics,
• a primer on superlearning, accelerated learning,
• transpersonal dimensions in psychology,
• an overview of the brain,
• an introduction to Dianetics (Hubbard)
• an introduction to Artificial Intelligence

The above topics, or macro-lenses, (and some others not included above) are different sub-perspectives making up the Project II course titled Psychology and Semantics: The Causes and Mechanisms of Mental Functions. Any phenomenon or field of study can be examined through any of the above macro-lenses. Each macro-lens will produce an analysis that is somewhat unique, yet may have a relationship to an analysis done through a different macro-lense. Different lens-views of any field of study can also be contrasted, revealing both diversity and similarity. The same phenomenon can also be viewed more generally through the meta-perspective. In this case, the meta-perspective is the perspective of psychological patterns, psychological determinants, and underlying patterns in uses of word and symbols. The organizing frame for the above is "Mental and social aspects of a field of study" - any field of study that is viewed through this general organizing frame will vary somewhat, depending on the temporal point from where it is viewed.


As an example of the above, consider the role of "love" in primary relationships. Chronicles of primary relationships in the late nineteenth century blossomed with tales of intense romantic love, whereas most of the twentieth century's relationships were written of as more pragmatic. And the late twentieth century gives witness to not only both kinds of love, but also a state of confusion around the role of "love" in the primary relationship (in Gergen & Gergen, 1994). The phenomenon of relationship and love can be examinied through temporal periods (prior past, recent past, present, and future), and also via the meta-perspective of psychology and semantics. Under the latter lens we may discover what kinds of language may have been used to author the subject of love and relationships. We may also discover the language of the period (as used by lovers). We might also acquire enough information to hypothesize on how people of the time (lovers, authors, and readers) might have been influenced by such language, how people of the present are influenced by such language (such as the writings of Jane Austen). The same phenomenon can be examined even further via the use of any of the macro-lenses found within the course Psychology and Semantics: The Causes and Mechanisms of Mental Functions . We may arrive at some quite different results if we examine the role of love in relationships from the perspective of Freud; or for that matter transpersonal psychology, semantics, etc.


Simultaneously, each course represents some aspect of a field of study: temporal perspectives, measurement and the present, the future and implications, the individual in the community or culture, etc. The notion that there is no real and full picture of the world "out there" is a major facet of the theoretical meta-field of inquiry known as social constructionism and constructivism. Such fields posit that any phemomenom studied will produce an analysis relative to the theoretical lens from behind which it is studied. Project II courses teach us that there are many lenses from which we can view things, thereby enriching our perspectives, particularly in the human sciences. The organizing frames teach us a critical-thinking discipline which be applied to any academic project. There is not necessarily any "truth" to what I am stating here - but what it is I am stating is my perspective, based on my own experience with the coursework, informed by my strong influences from social constructionism and constructivism, and my experience with Project II courses.

First Organizing Frame: Time, Space, & Physical Reality Basis of a Field of Study.

Related Meta-Perspective Courses:

HU421 (DR321/221)
Origins: Perspectives on the Past-- historical origins, sources & development of key concepts, and contributions to other developments within the culture.

NS422 & 522 (DR322/222)
Measurement & Uncertainty: Perspectives on the Present--measurement of various kinds, difficulties in making measurements, intrinsic uncertainties, and ways of dealing with various kinds of uncertainties.

HU423 (DR323/223)
Probabilities & Possibilities: Perspectives on the Future--the implications of current trends, future possibilities, and factors that may have significant effects in the future.

Second Organizing Frame: Mental and Social Aspects of a Field of Study.

Related Meta-Perspective Courses:

HU424 (DR324/421)
Archetypes, Myths, & Rituals: Deepest Patterns of the Mind-- underlying ideas & psychological patterns, particularly illogical, automatic & stereotyped ones.

PS425 (DR325/422)
Psychology & Semantics: Causes & Mechanisms of Mental Functions--psychological patterns, psychological determinants, and underlying patterns in uses of words and symbols.

PS426 (DR326/423)
Individuality in a Cultural Context - patterns of individuality as affected by other people, initiative, and creativity; interplay between the personal and the social or public.

Third Organizing Frame: Wholistic integration within & around a field of study.

Related Meta-Perspective Courses:

PH527 (DR327/521)
Wholism, the Concept: Its Origins & Implications-- integration within a field, overview of a field, & interconnections with other fields.

EG628 (DR328/522)
Ecology: Our Home & Heritage Held in Trust-- preserving environment and traditions, interactions with surroundings, systems approaches to physical context, and maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of components.

HE629 (DR329/523)
Health & Healing: The Ultimate Practicalities-- health ("wellness"), effective functioning of biological, physical, & conceptual systems at all levels (spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, social).

In embarking on the Project II courses the learner becomes exposed to 3 major organizing frameworks for a field of study. The average course required an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary source reading materials and 10 submitted papers. The average paper which I turned in was between 8 and 20 pages and included a reference section. Each course in the core curriculum was based on an organizing meta-perspective, under which a diverse hierarchy of studies was presented. I have already presented the organizing frameworks for these meta-perspectives. The learner picks any number of these meta-perspective courses depending on the number of credits needed and applicability to the major area of study. In addition, the learner is exposed to various meta-perspectives such as wholism and systems theory, psychology and semantics, ecology and the environment, the self in the context of culture, health and wellness - spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, and social; historical perspectives on developments within our culture, measurement and uncertainty in the present, perspectives on the future and implications of current trends; and archetypes, myths and rituals that form the basis of culture.


Within each meta-perspective course there are many topics to be read, and core reading sources. The learner also seeks out additional source materials related to his/her field of study, and creates an annotated bibliography of all of the above. The learner then proposes nine or more essay questions which form the basis of the academic papers to be written. Once these essay questions are approved the learner then begins the task of writing up the papers, about ten for each course. Both the organizing frameworks and meta-perspectives of each course in the core curriculum are meant to be applied to the learner's principle area of interest. Therefore, the papers which I turned in for each course were written to address aspects of the areas of inquiry which I was already involved with. While doing the core curriculum I was also taking stock of my past and present practical life/work experiences and what I had been learning with those experiences. These were entered into a "credit assessment worksheet" and submitted to CPU faculty. Naturally, many of these learnings found their way into papers I was writing for the core curriculum, which also addressed my major field of study.



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Project III:
(Integrating a Wholistic Lifestyle and Wellness with Independent Study and Vocational Activity)

Note: This description is from CPU's General Catalogue (1995).

Project III, "Lifestyle and Environment", has courses titled "Personal Choices and Goals" (LE331) and "Wellness" (LE333) which relate concepts of wholism, learning, growth, and maturity to personal health, education, and career interests. The materials provide several approaches to self-assessment of personal goals and values as well as guidance in other dimensions of "wellness" including nutrition and exercise patterns, ways of dealing with emotional stress, and toxicity of the work and home environments.

One of the most important competencies in project III is goal-setting: thinking through and expressing clearly short and long-term personal goals in such areas as health maintenance, career planning, family and community relationships, and spiritual beliefs and aspirations. Many students at first approach the "goals and values clarification" processes with impatience and pessimism. Most of them, however, emerge from the tasks and challenges posed by Project III feeling enthusiastic about what they have been asked to do - with a clearer sense of personal identity and purposefulness in life, and with renewed vigor and enthusiasm that flow from such clarity of purpose.

We consider Project III a particularly important part of our core curriculum. Too often students are tempted to ignore their personal health, their home life, their spiritual goals, and other dimensions which are essential parts of the fabric of a full, happy, and productive human life. We believe that education should not be set apart from these other aspects of life; quite the contrary, education should be wholistic in recognizing, validating, and integrating these various parts of the human experience, and strengthening one's clarity and commitment to broad personal ethical, spiritual, and community goals. Project III helps serve this purpose for our students.

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My Comments on CPU Project III
by Earon Kavanagh

Project III was certainly a wake-up call for myself, as it will be for many learners. Course #LE333 probes nutrition and health habits. People working fulltime and doing independent study run the risk of much higher stress levels than the average person. Adult learners have less time for family, less time for cooking quality foods, and less time for exercise. They are also spending extra $$$ (on tuition and materials). Course #LE333 brings the reality of this home to the learner by asking important questions and bringing into consciousness the importance of health, exercise, a calm mind, and the avoidance of stress symptoms. Both courses (#LE333 & #LE331) also provide for the learner a good grounding in what constitutes wholistic health and lifestyle.

Course #LE333
The course examines personal health and goals for such, and includes the following:

• diet
• weight
• eating, chewing
• meal planning
• food sources
• food sensitivities, allergies
• nutritional factors
• fats, oils, fibre, salt, sugars, protein, water
• alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, processed foods
• social conditioning
• goals for nutrition and diet, exercise, stress management, spiritual goals, vocational goals, family goals, community goals, environmental goals
• the learner fills out a nutritional and health habits questionaire which is analysed and produces a risk rating along several domains of health and nutrition. I did one questionaire in Feb/1991, and another in Dec.1992. There was an overall improvement in my health and nutrition domains of about 20% in almost two years, even with the added stress of an independent study program.

Course #LE331
Examining the above topics and more in greater depth, this course includes the following topics:

• in-depth work on goal setting along domains of physical health and exercise, mental and emotional health and increasing knowledge/awareness related to same, management of stress, home and family, work and career, finances, recreation, social and community activities, spirituality/religion.
• deconstruction of personal relational events - examining such events for assigned meanings, exploring such meanings, exploring possible new meanings, discovering learnings from such events.
• wholistic examination of traits, parts - that constitute organisms, human systems, things, states of being, conversations, values, activities, skills, health consciousness, nutrition.
• self-examination and scale-rating on personal traits and roles, values, beliefs; modeling same in admired others, etc.
• self-examination of current practices in family life, work/vocation/career, exercise and recreational activities, social and community activities.
• self-examination - building awareness on how family life and work life affect one another, how family life and exercise or recreational practices affect one another, how family life and social or community activities affect one another, how work/vocation/career and exercise or recreational activity affect one another, how work/vocation/career and social or community activity affect one another, how exercise or recreational activity and social or community activity affect one another - how do all of these mutually support one another and create an overall life experience which has different aspects and characteristics from any of the components?
• overviews of the following and their relationships to each other: humanism, humanism and wholism, general systems theory, general systems theory and wholism, general semantics, general semantics and wholism.
• identification of factors that could be signs of physical disease, identification of corresponding factors to associate with high-level physical wellness. The focus of the above is in the context of one's personal life rather than the lives of others.
• identification of factors that could be signs of mental/emotional dis-ease, identification of corresponding factors to associate with high-level mental/emotional wellness. The focus of the above is in the context of one's personal life rather than the lives of others.
• environmental factors influencing physical dis-ease states and mental/emotional dis-ease states.
• environmental factors influencing physical wellness and mental/emotional wellness.
• the role and importance of water in health - specifics of water intake.
• personal choices and strategies for decreasing stress using one's environment.
• relationship of foods and moods.
• completion of a foods and moods diary - this is a self-awareness heuristic process.

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Feedback and Summary for Project III Course #LE331 (written in 1995)

Please note: while the wholistic approach to this course unearthed many aspects of what constitutes a "wholistic wellness", what stood out strongly against this background was that I'd been avoiding the importance of my own physical health, particularly as contributed to by these other aspects as outlined above. This profound realization (in my case, anyway) is what is reflected so strongly in the comments in the "feedback and summary" statement.

LE #331 was most informative, and provided options in knowledge for maintaining my personal health and well-being. I first began LE331 in February of 1993. Following my beginning the course, I was involved in a motor vehicle accident. The accident began a chain of events that led me to question my state of health. It began when I discovered in June of that year that my blood pressure was much higher than normal. I attempted to get it back to normal using many methods, mostly discovered through the readings contained in this course. The methods included high doses of garlic, herbs, practice of Tai Chi and Chi Kung, abstinence from coffee, ingesting calcium and potassium capsules, brisk walking, and many more. Now, again through the information in the course, I am looking into the possibility that there may be a great deal of stress in my life. While I find it hard to measure stress, I am now aware that I ruminate about everything that happens to me - one might say that I have a habit of worrying. I didn't know that before, nor would I ever admit it if I knew.

I have recently carried out some experiments using visualization, movement, and thinking, while measuring my blood pressure. When I sit back in my office chair my blood pressure goes down. When I visualize pleasant things it goes down even further. When I sit up straight it goes back up again. And when I drink coffee my blood pressure stays at an elevated level. For the present and near future, I am going to keep experimenting and gathering information about my blood pressure and my body. I know for example that taking beta-blockers ( a hypertension medication) to lower my blood pressure makes it difficult for me to think and speak clearly.

I currently believe that I may be "wired" in such a way as to be prone to stress and therefore to higher blood pressure than normal. This "wiring" theory probably reflects the way I have been coping for many years. I may be reacting to stress in a stressful manner. As I become more informed about the wholistic nature of the body, mind, emotions, and spirit, I realize the value of consulting with wholistic health care providers regarding preventative maintenance of my health. I am beginning to put this idea further into practice by meeting tomorrow with a homeopath who happens to be an M.D., for an initial consultation regarding my blood pressure.

I always thought that I was healthy - and I am; but I can always improve my health. I know that optimim health can improve my experience of life. I have devoted years to developing my mind, emotions, and my spirit. It is now time to invite my body to this growth process. While I had been exposed to most of the readings in the course over a period of six years, it was the manner in which the readings were combined with the exercises that made the course a personal experience for me in personal lifestyle and health management. The material on homeopathy was probably most enlightening, for it allowed me to expand my thinking on health beyond traditional medical thinking. LE331 has contributed so much to this newfound awareness and process.
Earon Kavanagh, 1995

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Project IV:
(Versatility and Independent Scholarship - Integration, Synthesis, and Academic Presentation of ISP, Thesis, or Dissertation)

Note: This description is from the CPU General Catalogue (1995)

Project IV, titled Independent Study: Foundational Competence for Lifelong Learning", consists of a single course titled "The Versatile Independent Scholar" (IS341). This course is designed to equip the student as a self-teacher as well as a self-directed learner. It presents material, for example, on learning styles, on study habits, and on understanding personal idiosyncrasies in doing research and preparing ideas for academic presentation.

The project presents an integrated and systematic approach to self-designed, self-motivated, and self-directed education. It culminates in the student's undertaking a substantial intellectual research project. At the bachelor's level, this is brought to academic presentation as an Independent Study Project (ISP); at the master's level, as a thesis; or at the doctoral level, as a dissertation.

Shortly before graduation, each student writes a Final Summary, an overview of the individual's educational and personal growth experiences from the first awareness about Columbia Pacific University up to the preparation to graduation. The key question the student is asked to consider is, "How have your educational experiences moved you toward your broader personal and professional goals"? The student also has a Final Oral Review, an interview with the Dean (usually conducted by telephone) to discuss the student's overall academic experience, independent study project, and plans for further intellectual and career development after graduation.

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My Comments on CPU Project IV
by Earon Kavanagh

The information for this project, and particularly in-depth information on Course #IS341, can be examined at the CPU web-site. The CPU web-site address is http://www.CPUniv.edu. For this project I submitted a number of academic papers, a written summary of my experiences with CPU, and a 125 page Bachelor's Independent Study Project (ISP). When I was doing my bachelor's program I decided to focus my bachelor's ISP to be subjective, integrating my career with my experiences, the past and present, with the future. Therefore I used the ISP to integrate and bring to academic presentation 3 extra-curricular projects I had completed just prior to starting the ISP. Since I took both my B.S. and M.S. with CPU, I took Project IV as part of my bachelor's curriculum. Later, when I took my masters curriculum, I substituted other courses and focused my master's thesis to be more objective, a scholarly study of literature - citing 370 sources in a 386 page document. While my bachelor's ISP was mainly about me situated in my career and vocational interests, my master's thesis was about "other", namely the family therapy field, consumers and post-structuralism. Nevertheless, while doing my master's thesis, I managed to find a way to "situate" myself in the study, though to a lesser degree than in my bachelor's ISP. The situation of "self" and the integration of the three extra-curricular projects with theoretical writings will be demonstrated when the reader notes the title of the ISP below, its description, abstract, and table of contents. The academic papers for Project IV (outside of the ISP and its extra-curricular projects) are as follows:

Academic Paper: Casting Aside the Outgrown Models of Learning
This 17-page paper focuses on the independent learner, the constraints to independent study, and the notion of the independent learner "picking oneself up by the bootstraps". It contrasts traditional education with non-traditional education. The paper also examines the practice of accreditation in the U.S. and contrasts this with the absence of accreditation. In addition, the paper makes recommendations for both accredited and unaccredited institutions which will address the needs of the learner - to become learner-centred. The paper cites major contributors to the fields of non-traditional higher education, the field of adult-oriented education, and numerous university catalogues from both accredited and unaccredited institutions. The paper also integrates some of my own early experiences with education.

Academic Paper: Expanding Personal Frames of Reference
This 12-page paper explores the notion that people operate out of "schemas" or frames of reference, and interpret their lives out of same. The limitations of frames of reference are explored, and the importance of expanding one's "schemas" is explained. Within a wholistic frame of reference, various models are explored which can facilitate the expanding of schemas, or frames of reference. The models are as follows:

• The work and writings of Napoleon Hill
  
• The perspective, values, and practices of Hawaiian "Huna"
  
• The values and practices of mens' groups (encounters, support, training, team)
  
• The values inherent in the field of "Organization Development" (OD)
  
• Perspectives found in the ancient "soft" martial arts (e.g., Akido, Tai Chi)
  
• The systemic perspective of family therapy pioneers and family communication
  

Academic Paper: Education and Knowing
This 7-page paper explores at a basic level, lessons we can learn from the historical Great Books associated with Western philosophical thought.

Academic Paper: The Research Process and Basic Statistics
A 7-page paper on the research process, basic statistics (descriptive and inferential) and various kinds of sampling relevant to the human sciences.

Workbook Exercises
Several additional "workbook exercises" which did not require a paper.

Bachelor's Independent Study Project (ISP - approx. 120 pages):
Career Consciousness in the Nineties: Piloting a Human Services Career Through Economic Uncertainty

Final Summary Paper



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Bachelor's ISP Overview:
Career Consciousness in the Nineties: Piloting a Human Services Career Through Economic Uncertainty
(Independent Study Project - Bachelor's program- the academic presentation and integration of three extra-curricular projects - an example of the integration of narrative knowledge).

On several occasions in sections I and II of this document I have alluded to the notion of "narrative knowledge" based on life and work experience. My bachelor's ISP is a good example of bringing narrative knowledge to academic presentation and integration. Having grown up in economically repressed Newfoundland I was quite familiar with the lived experience of "economic uncertainty". My 15 years as a professional builder also more-than-familiarized me with the reality of a vocation tied to seasons, weather, and economic trends. Prior to undertaking this project I was concentrated on gaining entry into the profession of counselling. I had almost completed my B.S. in counselling, training, and organization development, and I was 2 1/2 years into my M.S. in family therapy. I had been given a job as a family counsellor after a successful two-semester internship, partially based on my experiences and extra-curricular training and with the proviso that I would soon wind up my academic work.


I undertook this particular project (about 120 pages) to integrate and bring to academic presentation three (extra-curricular) studies which I had originally undertaken in early 1993. All three extra-curricular studies required an in-depth amount of cycling through praxis, action/reflection in their development from start to finish. When the time came in 1994 to start the ISP I thought to myself "Why not integrate these three extra-curricular studies?" To accomplish the integration of the 3 extra-curricular studies I had to examine the studies and move to an inductive mode of thinking - from small picture to big picture. I then created a larger context for what I had done, through embarking on further praxis learning exercises. As part of the praxis learning exercises I began asking myself questions such as "Within a wholistic frame of reference, what are three contexts that these 3 studies represent?" I began using Russell and Whitehead's theory of logical types, developed further by Bateson (1972), and Bandler and Grinder (1975). Questions were formulated, such as: "What are these 3 extra-curricular studies an example of"?, and "What are other, lateral, examples of these meta-examples"? Several contexts appeared; the answers were "planning and marketing", "teaching", "counselling", "organization development", "personal strategic planning", "personal self-inquiry". Other questions which arose are, "How are these three contexts interconnected?", and "How do these contexts relate to my past, present, and future?"


The answer to the above questions was that all three contexts (like the three extra-curricular studies) were connected with my career, its past, present, and future; I had studied training, counselling, and organization development. I had grown up in a region where economic uncertainty was the norm, I had started and run businesses, I had worked in offices, I had worked in professional sales, I had been a leader of human potential communities, and I had learned a trade which was constrained regularly by economic uncertainty. I had also recently started a new career and already I was hearing the rumblings of a political shift in my home Province of BC, Canada. If a new government was voted in during the coming election there would certainly be considerable cutbacks in the public sector - jobs would be downsized. I didn't want to be at the mercy of economic uncertainty again - I wanted a fair field on which to do battle with it; hence the title: Career Consciousness in the Nineties: Piloting a Human Services Career Through Economic Uncertainty". So I began to research how I could take my experience, training, and education, and strategically manoever it into the future. When the ISP was complete, my mentor, who had earned several Ph.D's, was a certified management consultant (CMC), and had consulted internationally and taught at several universities in the U.S. and Europe, invited me to join his international firm as an associate. The abstract for the ISP is below, followed by the Table of Contents.



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ISP ABSTRACT

CAREER CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE NINETIES:

Piloting A Human Service Career Through Economic Uncertainty.

by Earon T. E. Kavanagh

In current times, one of the major constraints at work within our culture is "economic uncertainty." The presence of this constraint becomes detected through industrial plant closings, government program cut-backs, lay-offs, and less opportunity for working individuals. The effects of such symtoms on families and individuals include stress, family break-ups, increased drug and alcohol use, homelessness, and criminality. That economic uncertainty can have a discouraging effect on one's career provides further insight that healthy family relationships and the family breadwinner's ability to produce consistent monetary income are inter-dependent.

Standing up to economic uncertainty in the nineties requires attention to life planning, with a particular emphasis on personal career-management. Drawing on current writings from the fields of family therapy, business management, training and development, and personal experience as a mid-life career changer - the author outlines ideas for a wholistic approach to personal career-management, to assist concerned individuals in successfully navigating their careers through current and future periods of economic uncertainty. Utilizing business management practices such as strategic planning, action research, financial management, and marketing, the basis of a personal career-management model is constructed. The author believes such a model can assist mid-life career changers who wish to enter the human services professions in developing a career direction which encompasses both their life experience and a wide range of marketable skills. In addition to contrasting the various skills found within the "community counselling" and "organization development" approaches to change-work - the author provides samples of a six-year personal strategic plan, a resume, and a marketing brochure/package for a counselling and training practice. Although the research is geared toward mature individuals planning to enter the counselling profession, the processes that make up the model can be effectively utilized by anyone interested in personal career-management.



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ISP TABLE OF CONTENTS


Chapter

1. Introduction
   Statement of the Problem:
   
2. Economic Change and the New Quest for Learning
   -On the Economic Impacts of the Global Society on the West , and
   -On the Effects of Economic Change on Individuals and Families
   
   General Discussion of Relevant Research, Theory, and Anecdotes:
   
3. Ideas and Anecdotes Around Career and Learning
   -On Developing Flexibility to Meet Changing Career Demands
   
4. "Community Counselling" as a Model for Developing Flexibility
   - Excerpt: Overview of the Community Counselling Approach
   - Commentary on the Excerpt
   
5. Training the Community Counsellor
   
6. Community Counsellor or OD Practitioner?
   -On the Similarities Between the Two Career Fields
   
7. Recommended Training for OD Practitioners
   
8. Overview of the three Independent Study Projects
   
9. Summary and Conclusions

Appendices

1. Independent Study Project 1: Marketing Brochure Package
   for a Training Practice
   
   
2. Independent Study Project 2: Definition of Major Purpose
   and Major Goals Over Six Years
   
   
3. Independent Study Project 3: Resume

Bibliography




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The 3 Extra-curricular Studies

The three extra-curricular studies were as follows:

• Extra-curricular Study 1: Marketing Brochure for a Training Practice in Neuro Lingistic Programming (NLP) and its Applications to Therapy and Self-development, Organization Development, and Sales.
• Extra-curricular Study 2: Definition of Major Purpose and Major Goals over Six Years.
• Extra-curricular Study 3: Resume

A description of each project follows. Each description provides an overview of the project, it purpose(s), use of time, materials used, and references.



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Description of Extra-curricular Study 1:
Marketing Brochure for a Training Practice in Neuro Lingistic Programming (NLP) and its Applications to Therapy and Self-development, Organization Development, and Sales.

The brochure presents six courses: a basic course on NLP, an advanced course on NLP, a basic course for trainers, a course on leadership, a course on sales, and a course on creativity. All courses were in workshop format and included theory presentation, exercises, group interaction, and assignments in the real world to accomplish training transference.


Purpose(s) for the Study:

1. To acquire fluent working skills in computer desktop publishing.
   
2. To acquire the ability to create or project-manage creation of attractive marketing brochures - an important element in promoting educational and training services.
   
3. To acquire skill in communicating the training content of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP).
   
4. To relate NLP to ordinary life processes such as learning, and adjusting to changes in modern society.
   
5. To learn to relate the value of NLP within a wholistic context.
   
6. To acquire skill and practice in modeling and reflecting current business and (adult) education values.
   
7. To take stock of, and reflect the author's own learnings and understanding gained from the study of human processes and interaction as viewed through the lens of NLP.

Use of Time:
300 Hours: Graphic design, learning, and experimentation on computer.
80 Hours: Review of source literature, text design, experimentation, and writing.

Materials:
Atari STE 1040 Computer System/ using Atari SLM 804 Laser Printer
Calamus Desktop Publishing Software (Ditek Int'l 1989)
Letraset Paperazzi "Twilight" Laser Paper

Reference Sources for Study #1

• Bermont, Hubert. How To Become a Successful Consultant in Your Own Field. Rocklin, Ca.: Prima Publishing and Communications, 1989.
  
• Bolles, Richard. What Color Is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers. Berkeley, Ca.: Ten Speed Press, 1986.
  
• Capra, Fritjof. The Turning Point: Science, Society, and The Rising Culture. New York: Bantam, 1988.
  
• Cohen, Allan R. The Portable MBA in Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1993.
  
• Cohen, William A. Ph.D. The Art of The Leader. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:Prentice Hall, 1990.
  
• Covey, Steven R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Fireside/ Simon and Schuster, 1990.
  
• Dahl, Dan; and Randolph Sykes. Charting Your Goals. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
  
• Dilts, Robert et al. Neuro-linguistic Programming Volume 1: The Study of The Structure of Subjective Experience. Cupertino, Ca.: Meta Publications, 1980.
  
• Dilts, Robert. Changing Belief Systems With NLP. Cupertino, Ca. Meta Publications, 1990.
  
• Dilts, Robert B. et al. Tools for Dreamers: Strategies for Creativity and the Structure of Innovation. Cupertino, Ca.: Meta Publications, 1991.
  
• Egan, Gerard. Change-Agent Skills A: Assessing and Designing Excellence. San Diego: University Associates, 1988.
  
• Egan, Gerard. Change-Agent Skills B: Managing Innovation and Change. San Diego: University Associates, 1988.
  
• Eitington, Julius. The Winning Trainer. 2nd. ed. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Co., 1989.
  
• Gergen, Kenneth J. The Saturated Self: Dilemnas of Identity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books, 1991.
  
• Gross, Ronald. Peak Learning. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1991.
  
• James, Tad Ph.D. Creating Your Future. Honolulu, Hawaii: Profitability, Inc. 1989.
  
• Laborde, Genie Z. Influencing With Integrity: Management Skills for Communication and Negotiation. Pala Alto, Ca.: Syntony Publishing, 1987.
  
• Lynch, Dudley; and Paul L. Kordis. Strategy of The Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1988.
  
• Materka, Pat Roessle. Workshops and Seminars: Planning, Producing, and Profiting. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1986.
  
• Musashi, Miyamoto. The Book of Five Rings: The Real Art of Japanese Management. New York: Bantam, 1982.
  
• Naisbitt, John. Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives. New York: Warner Books, 1982.
  
• Naisbitt, John; and Patricia Aburdeen. Megatrends 2000: Ten New Directions for The 1990's. New York: Avon Books, 1990.
  
• Naranjo, Claudio B. M.D. "Educating the Whole Person for the Whole World." Journal of Holistic Health, Volume VII.
  
• O' Connor, Joseph; and John Seymour. Introducing Neuro-linguistic Programming: The New Psychology of Personal Excellence. Bodmon, Cornwall: Crucible, 1990.
  
• Porter, Lawrence Ed.D.; and Bernard Mohr M.Ed., editors. Reading Book for Human Relations Training. 7th. ed. Alexandria, Va.: NTL Institute, 1982.
  
• Raynolds, John F. III. Beyond Success: How Volunteer Service Can Help You Begin Making a Life Instead of Just a Living. New York: Master Media, Ltd. 1988.
  
• Ries, Al; and Jack Trout. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind/ How To Be Seen and Heard in The Overcrowded Marketplace. New York: Warner Books, 1986.
  
• Robinson, Bonnie. The Guide To Calamus Desktop Publishing. Toronto: Ditek International, 1990.
  
• Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday/ Currency, 1990.
  
• Shaffer, Carolyn R.; and Kristin Anundsen. Creating Community Anywhere: Finding
  Support and Connection in a Fragmented World. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Perigee, 1993.
  
• Shenson, Howard L. How To Develop and Promote Successful Seminars and Workshops. New York: John Wiley And Sons, 1990.
  
• Shenson, Howard L., and Ted Nichols. The Complete Guide to Consulting Success. U.S.A.: Dearborn Publishing Group, 1993.
  
• Turner, Ralph. The Atari ST Book. Fairfield, IA.: Index Legalis Publishing Co., Inc., 1988.
  
• Turner, Ralph. Intermediate and Advanced Atari St Subjects. Fairfield, IA.: Legalis Publishing Co., Inc. 1989.
  
• Weisbord, Marvin R. Organizational Diagnosis: A Workbook of Theory and Practice. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1978.
  
• Weisbord, Marvin R. Productive Workplaces: Organizing and Managing for Dignity, Meaning, and Community. San Francisco, Ca. 1991.
  
• Wing, R.L. The Tao of Power. New York: Doubleday/ Dolphin, 1986.
  
• Yeager, Joseph Ph.D. Thinking About Thinking With NLP. Cupertino, Ca.: Meta Publications, 1985.

Study #1: Catalogues and Brochures Studied for Graphic and Text /Style; and Presentation.

• Advanced Neuro Dynamics Catalogue and Resource Guide. 1990-1991 ed., Honolulu: Advanced Neuro Dynamics, 1990.
  
• Collaborative Organization Design Brochure. Oakland, Ca. Gelinas - James, Inc. 1993.
  
• Columbia Pacific University General Catalogue. 1994 ed., San Rafael, Ca.: Columbia Pacific University Press, January 1994.
  
• Columbia Pacific University Admissions Catalogue. 1989 ed., San Rafael, Ca.: Columbia Pacific University Press, February 1989.
  
• Fielding Institute Catalogue. 1991-1992 ed., Santa Barbara, Ca.: Fielding Institute, 1991.
  
• Leadership Institute of Seattle Catalogue. 1993-1994 ed., Seattle, Wa.; LIOS, 1993.
  
• NLP 24 -Day Practitioner Certification Trainer's Manual. Boulder, CO: NLP of Colorado, 1986.
  
• NLP University: 1993 Summer Course Catalogue. Ben Lomond, Ca.: Dynamic Learning Center, 1993.
  
• NTL Institute Special Certificate Program in Organization Development. Alexandria, Va.: NTL Institute, "n.d."
  
• NTL Institute 1994 Programs Catalogue. Alexandria, Va.: NTL Institute, 1994.
  
• Portfolio Assessment Handbook. 1992-1994 ed. Trenton, NJ: Thomas Edison State College, 1992.
  
• Saybrook Institute Catalogue. 1992-1993 ed., San Francisco, Ca.: Saybrook Institute, 1992.
  
• Self-Assessment and Planning Manual. Albany, NY: Regents College/ The University of the State of New York, 1987.
  
• Summer of Transformation 1993: Residential Trainings. Boulder, CO: NLP Comprehensive

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Description of Extra-curricular Study 2:
Definition of Major Purpose and Major Goals over Six Years.

This project was a personal strategic planning and visioning undertaking which came out of some work I had been doing with the Napoleon Hill Institute; with Robert Dilts, one of the founding pioneers of NLP, and with internationally known marketing consultant Sandy Levey. This project involved doing a lot of soul-searching, over-viewing much of my life experience, defining my core values, and coming up with a purpose statement which reflects the major theme that seems to be directing my life. The outcome is that one then "owns" the process of arriving at this realization, and endeavors to live out of the new discovery. Author Stephen R. Covey takes a similar approach in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1990). Covey helps the reader to uncover a mission statement to operate from, whereas Hill's approach (which came long before Covey) has the individual examine just what would be the benefits of knowing and living out of one's Definite Major Purpose in Life and operating in the world from a Major Purpose Statement. Hill then instructs the individual to construct a major life Goal (or set of goals), which is grounded in one's Definite Major Purpose in Life.


Purpose(s) for the Study:

1. To define for oneself the major purpose in life which one aspires to.
   
2. To define the benefits in carrying out one's major purpose in life.
   
3. To define a major goal in life which stems from one's major purpose in life.
   
4. To define a schedule for carrying out the aspects of one's major goal.
   
5. To outline a contract with oneself which delineates the methods that one will employ in carrying out one's major goal.

Use of Time:
70 Hours: Reading the prescribed literature and carrying out the project.

Materials:
Atari STE 1040 Computer System/ using Atari SLM 804 Laser Printer
Calamus Desktop Publishing Software (Ditek Int'l 1989)
Letraset Paperazzi "Twilight" Laser Paper.

Reference Sources for Study #2

• Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990.
  
• Hill, Napoleon. Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.
  
• Hill Napoleon. PMA Science of Success Course, Volumes 1 & 2. Northbrook, IL: Napoleon Hill Foundation, 1983.
  
• Robinson, Bonnie. The Guide To Calamus Desktop Publishing. Toronto: Ditek International,
  1990.

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Description of Extra-curricular Study 3: Resume

The last extra-curricular independent study project speaks for itself. I constructed this resume as a result of studying a variety of current books (circa 1995) on the subject of resumes and personal marketing. The work of self-reflection in construcing the resume included recognizing that I had much life experience that was related to personal growth, counselling, and therapy (in addition to my training), but was gounded in the human potential movement of the sixties and seventies and considered alternative. Such experiences had to be re-languaged to fit within a more structuralist view of what are the skills-set for the counselling field. Thus, workshop experiences such as "the Forum" (which eventually developed out of est), became Constructivist Conversations for Change. The rationale used for this reframing of meaning was based on the fact that the Forum was designed in collaboration with Humberto Maturana, a world-renowned constructivist and structural-determinist, and these facts were cited in articles present in an edition of Family Therapy Networker on constructivist approaches to therapy. An analysis of the structure and concepts of the Forum and language expressions by Forum leaders also reflected this relationship to constructivism, as well as social constructionism.


Purpose(s) for the Study:

1. To acquire the skill of creating an attractive and eye-catching resume.
   
2. To take stock of various learning experiences that are applicable to the position of family therapist (or other chosen profession).
   
3. To present oneself as a qualified candidate for the position of family therapist (or other chosen profession).

Use of Time:
20 Hours: Reviewing literature.
40 Hours: Experimenting with text and layout styles.
10 Hours: Experimenting with coloured laser papers.

Materials:
Atari STE 1040 Computer System/ using Atari SLM 804 Laser Printer
Calamus Desktop Publishing Software (Ditek Int'l 1989)
Letraset Paperazzi "Twilight" Laser Paper

Reference Sources for Study #3

• Jackson, Tom. Guerrilla Tactics In The Job Market. New York: Bantam, 1989.
  
• Marino, Kim. Just Resumes. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1991.
  
• Minninger, Joan Ph.D. The Perfect Letter. New York: Doubleday, 1991.
  
• Parker, Yana. The Resume Catalogue: 200 Damn Good Examples. Berkeley, Ca.: Ten Speed Press, 1988.
  
• Robinson, Bonnie. The Guide To Calamus Desktop Publishing. Toronto: Ditek International, 1990.

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Master's Thesis Overview:
A Social Psychology Of Collaboration, Social Liberation And Relational Discourse: Reconciling Family Therapy Consultation With Our Diverse Post-Industrial Society



MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT
General Notes:
Time Span of Project: 3.5 years
Length of document: 386 pages
# of References: 370 reference sources cited
Faculty Advisor: Shawn Haley, Ph.D. (cultural anthropologist - alumnus/Simon Fraser U.)
Department Dean: Walter Rollin Ph.D. (R. Psych., MFCC)


In recent years the forces of the information/ technology explosion, globalization, and economic uncertainty have contributed to rapidly changing trends in our society. The interaction of these forces with our society have led to profound changes in marriage, the family, and other primary relationships, and the expression of sexuality and gender, thereby perturbing and disturbing what we thought to be our social fabric.

Such trends signal a major shift from the modern industrial society to a more dynamic and uncertain post-industrial global society. Since the mid-1980's the field of family therapy has undergone a significant paradigm shift in its ways of thinking about its work and the consumers whom it serves, paralleling the changing trends in our society. Academia has also been swept up by this shifting wave of thought, with many intellectuals questioning (deconstructing) the inherent assumptions found in social science and psychological research.

Examining literature of both social sciences and popular culture the author develops an overview of the historical trends of the past four decades which have contributed to what social psychologist Kenneth Gergen has termed the "postmodern condition" in our society. Examining further literature from the fields of family therapy, the author traces the field's epistemological development over the same period, chronicling three major paradigm shifts. The author discovers a trend in how the postmodern condition is responded to, based on a new relational discourse between professionals, consumers and current trends, and post-structural academic writings. This new discourse challenges the notion of the adherence to scientific truths in the social sciences, implying a new paradigm for family therapy practice which includes such practices as the application of social justice principles in a collaborative framework of therapist/ client consultation.



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Addendum Note to Abstract - on the Integration of "Narrative Knowledge".

The reader has probably read enough of this site to realize that a core value present in the commentary on CPU programs is the integration of narrative knowledge within academic curriculums. While, in working on this thesis I have chosen to take a much more scholarly approach, I have also managed to stay true to my interest in integration of narrative knowledge through praxis: action and reflection. To accomplish this and have it fit within a scholarly "objective" endeavor I have incorporated into the project a major theoretical research stance - that of critical ethnography. I use this lens in addition to approaching the research from a lens of conventional ethnography. And in addition to inquiring into the written knowledge-discourse of therapists I weave my own case experience and life experience into the fabric of the whole project. These case experiences, and life experiences, are held up as examples that generate what Lincoln and Guba (1985) term as "rich and thick descriptions", offering opportunities for both deconstruction of modern/postmodern theory and the "lived" experience of postmodern society. The following paragraphs are found in the 'research methods' section of the thesis and address the related balancing of the lenses of conventional and critical ethnography:

In this project I am adopting the roles of both conventional ethnographer and critical ethnographer. In the role of conventional ethnographer I am attempting to convey an accurate exposition from a native point of view of major developments which the culture of family therapists (the "subject" of my inquiry) has moved through in its theory and practices, and the current post-structural collaborative practices that are the progeny of such developments.

As a critical ethnographer I have attempted to gaze beyond the descriptions of the professional literature in an effort to understand the plight or journey of the therapy client as s/he has been subjected to the theories and practices of therapists developing through various paradigm-shifts. The reader will notice that throughout the manuscript there exists a concern on my part for the client in the face of therapist power/ hierarchy. It is this same concern that is prevalent in the thinking of those therapists who have played center-stage roles in developing post-structural approaches to theory and practice. Also influencing the critical vigilance I have employed in this investigation are my training and experience as a family therapist, and some of my early life experience and related observations. These influences are expanded upon in the section "Situating My Practice of Therapy in the Research", the "introduction", the section on the "widows' homes ghetto", and occasionally in other sections.

The inclusion of multiple experiences engenders in the project what Schon (1983) calls praxis, a cycle of action and reflection on the multiple aspects of the inquiry. This further engenders "relational discourse", an academic and spoken dialogue between multiple perspectives, brought about by such distinctions observed by Ricoeur (1992) as the self as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation. I have expanded on Ricoeur's idea and included certain "others" as found below.

1. the self (the therapist/writer) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
2. the other (the consumer) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
3. therapist knowledge-discourse as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation,
   
4. post-structural discourse (about knowledge-discourse) as speaker/narrator/actor/moral subject of imputation

Relational discourse, when brought to bear on the subject of therapeutic services to the consumer, writing 'about' the consumer as subject, or engaging with the consumer in the therapeutic dialogue, engenders a combined spirit of collaboration and social liberation for the consumer position, rather than a stance of pathologizing or objectifying.



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MASTER'S THESIS TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction        11
1-A: Background: Reconciling Therapy with the New Diverse Society        11
-----Scenarios of the New Diversity and Its Challenges in Family Therapy        13
-----Post-Structural Ideas and Therapy        19
1-B: Statement of the Problem        21
1-C: The Research Question        24
1-D: Definitions of Key Terms        24

Chapter 2: Michele Foucault and the Objectification of Persons        35
2-A: The Widow's Ghetto: Objectification, Poverty & Mental Illness        37
-----Social & Professional Classification/ Diagnosis as Objectification        45
-----The Widow's-Homes Ghetto and the Panopticon: Similarities        47
-----Disempowerment and Professional Classification/ Diagnosis        51
2-B: Alternative Professional Story: De-objectified Consumer Assists Therapists        55

Chapter 3: Research Purpose, History, and Method        63
3-A: How this Study Originated        64
3-B: Method and Goal of Research        68
-----Historical Analysis of Narratives of Therapy and Pop-culture        68
-----Influences of Conventional and Critical Ethnography        71
-----Addressing Trustworthiness in the Study        76
-----The Peer Reviewing and Random Reviewing Process        82
-----Situating My Practice of Family Therapy in the Research        83

Chapter 4: Modernism and Postmodernism in Society: Social Trends Inviting the Shift Toward Post-structuralism and Collaboration in Family Therapy        87
4-A: Locating Postmodernism Within a Historical Context        88
4-B: Self: Romantic/Modern/Postmodern Concepts of Self & Ethics of Social Being        92
4-C: Relationships: Challenges to Tradition in Marriage and the Family        109
-----Dysfunction, Male Violence, Power, and Control        109
-----The Shifting Status of Women        113
-----The Shift from Primary to Secondary and Tertiary Relationships        118
-----Gender, Sexuality, Marriage, and Family        123
4-D: Conclusion to Chapter 4        136

Chapter 5: Shifts from Structuralism to Post-Structuralism in Family Therapy        139
A Note on "Solution Focused Therapy"        141
5-A: Structuralism in Family Therapy: The Metaphor of First Order Cybernetics        142
5-B: Toward Post-structuralism: Metaphor of Second Order Cybernetics        151
5-C: Feminism: Catalyst to Post-structuralism in Family Therapy        163
5-E: The Role of "Narrative" in Post-structural Family Therapy        167
5-F: Two Post-structural Approaches to Therapy Based on the Narrative        172
-----Deconstruction/Externalizing Therapy: An Adherence to Social Justice        173
-----Foucault's Influence on Michael White and D/E Therapy        178
-----Collaborative Language Systems (CLS) Therapy        182
-----Perspective on the CLS "Reflecting Team"        189
-----Similarities of the Two Narrative Approaches        192
5-G: Conclusion: Oddities in Paradigm Development        193

Chapter 6: Applications of Post-structural Theory to Family Therapy Theory        197
6-A: Foucault on Power and Knowledge Practices        197
6-B: Challenging Positivism in Therapy Theory and Practice        198
6-C: Embracing Naturalism in Family Therapy Theory and Practice        205
6-D: Embracing Constructivist Ideas in Family Therapy Theory and Practice        207
-----Confusion Around Constructivism and Social Constructionism        212
6-E: Embracing Social Constructionism in Family Therapy Theory and Practice        213
-----Discourse and the Social Construction of Everyday Realities        216
-----Discourse and Power in the Professions        219
-----The Application of Social Constructionism to Practice        225

Chapter 7: Summary of Perspectives Informing Theoretical Positions for Post-structural Approaches to Family Therapy        229
7-A: Influence of Post-structural Philosophers on the Notion of Claimed Knowledge        231
7-B: A Shift from Positivistic Discourse to a Naturalistic Discourse        232
7-C: The Constructivist View of "Knowing"        233
7-D: The Social Constructionist View of Social Reality:        234
7-E: Key Approaches and Influences of Second-order Cybernetics        234
7-F: Some Key Influences from Feminism        237
7-G: Key Theoretical Perspectives of Narrative        238
7-H: Synopsis of Key Post-structural Collaborative Approaches Toward Therapy        240

Chapter 8: Implications for Clinical Practice and Supervision        246
8-A: Managed Care Challenge: Fitting Post-structural Therapy with Corporate Postmodernism        248
8-B: Gender Role Stereotypes and Screening for Family Violence        254
8-C: Supervision of Trainees Amidst Clashing Paradigms of Delivery        258
8-D: Attunement to Power, Social Justice, Poverty, and Culture        270
-----Paulo Freire and Hierarchy and Power in the Therapist/Client Relationship        271
-----The Continuum of Conquest, Colonization, and Objectification        278
-----Therapy, Social Justice, and the Clashing of Class Paradigms        284
-----Class and Power Hierarchy in Therapy        287
-----In Quest of a Socially Just Therapy        294
-----Implications for the Writing of Case-Notes        298
8-E: Recommendations for Future Research        305

Chapter 9: Conclusion: Collaboration, Relational Discourse, and Social Liberation        307
The New Paradigm        309
Relational Discourse        312

Appendices Section        316
Appendix I: Correspondence with SHARE Personnel Regarding Manuscripts        316
Appendix II: Bio's of the Peer Reviewers and Consumer Advocate Reviewer        330
Appendix III: Comments on the Manuscript from Reviewers        333
Review by Lynda Edmonds, M.S.W., AAMFT Approved Supervisor        333
Review by Mark Goheen, M.A.        334
Review by Adam Schneid, M.A.        336
Review by Garth Thomson, M.S.W.        339
Review by Frances MacQueen, Consumer Advocate Reviewer        343

Afterword - Response to Peer and Consumer Advocate Reviews        348

References        353


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The 5 Required Knowledge Areas and Learning Contracts
Commentary by Earon Kavanagh on CPU Required Knowledge Areas and learning Contracts

Another area of the CPU curriculum, made up of five required "knowledge areas" which were to be fulfilled by learning contracts, was particularly challenging. Each of the three schools of CPU had its own requirements for its five required knowledge areas. For the School of Health and Human Services the five knowledge areas would represent crucial contexts of theory/skills that were commonly found within a human services curriculum, but were generalized in such a manner that each area could be flexibly shaped to the specific needs of the learner and his/her area of interest. The learning contract courses helped avail me of superb local supervision of well-respected psychologists, family therapists, and consultants, as well as embarking on other academic endeavors - one paper I wrote for a 3-credit learning contract course on human development was 53 pages. Another learning contract project was carried out over six months as an internship, and prepared and certified me as a trainer in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). The five knowledge areas are outlined below.


Knowledge Areas: Learning Contract Courses and Related Course Descriptions:


Research
HS501 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#1)
Research: Design, Implementation, and Analysis
(A Learning Contract course)
This course is concerned with advanced methodology and measurement as they relate to inferential statistics, and application to health and human services: research designs using multivariate or univariate models including multiple regression/correlation methods, parametric and non-parametric methods. Students should be familiar with such procedures as the test for chi square, ANOVA, ANCOVA, and MANOVAO. Students should be able to discriminate among the various statistical tools and to determine the most appropriate model for data gathered in laboratory and field research, clinical cases, community programs, or in medical and educational facilities.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)


Human Development
HS502 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#2)
Human Development: Responses to Challenge
(A Learning Contract course)
This course involves knowledge of theories of human development as they relate to the various stages of the life cycle including the birth process, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age, and death. Students should be familiar with three or more of the above and be able to identify the factors which may interfere with the maturation process. Assessment is based on an understanding of related physical, psychological, and social factors, and sources of personality and behavior patterns and disorders.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: To meet the requirements of this Knowledge Area I embarked upon an independent study project and wrote a 53 page paper. Here is the title: Loss Of Youthful Essence in the Male Species From Birth to Adolescence: A Transpersonal Approach to Personality Development. I wrote this from a perspective of transpersonal psychology. It contrasted the theories of many developmental theorists with the theories of transpersonal psychology theorists Ken Wilber and Michael Washburn.


Human Experience and Behavior
HS503 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#3)
Human Experience and Behavior: Responses to Challenge
(A Learning Contract course)
This graduate course is concerned with individuals who are in crisis due to biological, psychological, physiological, medical, and environmental factors, and the systems or methods used to alleviate or change behaviors of those affected individuals. Students will become familiar with the interactions of mind, body, spirit, and environment in health and disease. Assessment is based on one or more of such topics as perception, cognition, education, motivation, psychotherapy, stress management, ecology, and epidemiology. Attention may also be given to lifestyle, environmental, and occupational health factors.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: To meet the requirements of this Knowledge Area I contracted a 60 Hour training in Family Therapy with the Northwest Satir Institute (Pacific Northwest of U.S. and Canada). Training consisted of theory and practicum.


Health and Human Services
HS504 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#4)
Health and Human Services Delivery to the Community
(A Learning Contract course)
This course is concerned with patterns, methods, and systems for delivery of health and human services. Students will become familiar with social structures, and behavior within small groups and larger organizations. They should also be knowledgeable about sociocultural, psychological, political, or financial issues related to health and human services delivery systems. Assessment is based on such topics as group dynamics, attitude and motivation development, cross-cultural and gender issues, professional regulations, strategies for change, problem solving, power and leadership, and organizational dynamics.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: For this Knowledge Area I contracted with a local consultant specializing in team building. See sample learning contract below.


Professionalism
HS505 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#5)
Professionalism in Health and Human Services: Philosophy, Law, and Ethics
(A Learning Contract course)
This course involves concepts and practices of professional standards and role modeling in health and human services. Students will learn about performance expectations and current performance and role issues in their respective fields. They will be responsible for understanding the historical and current basis for professional judgment, deportment, range of responsibility, and relationship to others.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: To fulfill requirements for this Knowledge Area I contracted with the supervisors of my two-semester family therapy internship. 60 hours of class modules were used specifically for the Knowledge area. The modules included Narrative methods in therapy, Family violence training, Alcohol and drug intervention, and Multi-generational family therapy. At the same time I was getting practical supervision providing counseling to a variety of families.

I later contracted clinical supervision and evaluation on a total of 1200 clinical hours of therapeutic work with clients, but under the following Course, which exists outside of the core curriculum and knowledge areas, and which holds the distinct purpose of incorporating prior learning for credit.

• HS598
  Special Topics & Prior Experiential Learning at the Master's Level for students of health & human services
  (A learning contract course)
  Of the first 30 semester units awarded a student in a graduate (e.g., masterís) program, no more than 5 semester units may be awarded for prior experiential learning.
  (Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
  (up to 5 grad. sem cred.)

Note: The above course allows one to propose life/work experience, prior credits, etc. for credit.



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My Comments and Sample Learning Contract from My Personalized Masters Program
(Condensed headings; for a full example go to the CPU website - http://www.CPUniv.edu - and follow links to Learning Contracts). Please Note: This learning contract was entered into with CPU and a supervising mentor to satisfy requirements for the Knowledge Area titled Health and Human Services. The description of the knowledge area is reprinted below for the ease of the reader, with the scope of learning to be acquired.

Health and Human Services
HS504 (formerly HHS, grad. KA#4)
Health and Human Services Delivery to the Community
(A Learning Contract course)
This course is concerned with patterns, methods, and systems for delivery of health and human services. Students will become familiar with social structures, and behavior within small groups and larger organizations. They should also be knowledgeable about sociocultural, psychological, political, or financial issues related to health and human services delivery systems. Assessment is based on such topics as group dynamics, attitude and motivation development, cross-cultural and gender issues, professional regulations, strategies for change, problem solving, power and leadership, and organizational dynamics.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

For this learning contract I arranged a 5 month internship with a local consultant who specialized in team-building. Here's the breakdown of the goals section of the contract:

Goals to be met: (skills, knowledge and experience):
Demonstrated ability to:

• Perform accurate needs assessments
  
• Utilize group, training, and OD theory in designing and implementing team building workshops
  
• Demonstrate competence in leading "outward-bound" type team building trainings (using archery, canoeing, and martial arts exercises)
  
• Foster cohesiveness leading to increased performance in teams
  
• Demonstrate competency in facilitating strategic planning sessions for non-profit human-service based organizations
  
• Design a multi-module generic team building workshop which can be customized tp meet specific organizational needs - from one to three day time spans.
  

Methods and Sources of Learning:

• Supervised independent research design - 96 hours
  
• Supervised group design meetings - 45 hours
  
• Supervised implementation of trainings - 70 hours

Methods of Assessment On Completion: Letter of Evaluation from Supervisor

The desired outcome of the above methods and sources of learning is the successful execution of the following supervised training task:

• Design of two one-day (10 module) generic team building workshops
  Criteria: Product must be able to be customized to meet individual group needs
  
• Design three-day team building workshop using pre-designed content to meet the needs of the Ashcroft (BC) School Principals Association
  
• Successfully implement a trial one-day workshop (for fine tuning)
  
• Successfully implement the three-day workshop.
  

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Evaluation for the Above Learning Contract:
This letter was written by my internship supervisor, consultant Jay Lundy, principal of the Horizon Group, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I am entering it to demonstrate what a letter of evaluation can look like.


Horizon Group - 1103-100W. Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, V6B 1R8

Columbia Pacific University February 15, 1993
1415 Third Street
San Rafael, Ca
94901

Attn: M. Johnson - Learning Contract Supervisor

Dear Ms. Johnson;

Between May and September Earon T. Kavanagh entered into a supervised learning practicum with my firm the Horizon Group.

His task was to assist me in developing a generic "outward bound" type team building workshop, designed in such a manner as to be easily customized to meet specific needs. His work on the project is broken down into the following categories, all under my guidance and supervision.

1. Introductory Research and Design - 96 hours
2 Group Design Modules - 45 hours
3. Implementation and Co-leading of Workshops - 70 hours

Evaluation/Comments:

Design:

• Creative thinker - excellent at deferred judgement before final training approach is selected
  
• Works well with other designers to create a well-rounded program
  
• Diligent and thorough independent researcher
  

Facilitation:

• Direct and open discussion leader
  
• Manages the questioning process well with groups
  
• Good listener
  

I enjoyed working with Earon and would not hesitate to include him in other similar projects.

Yours Truly,

Jay Lundy
Principal, Horizon Group



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Courses Which are Foundation Courses and Support the CPU Core Curriculum Projects, Knowledge Areas, Learning Contracts, and Development of ISP's, Theses, and Dissertations

As the title above indicates, there are other courses outside of the CPU core curriculum that support the learner's success with core curriculum projects, knowledge areas, learning contracts, and development of ISP's, theses and dissertations. Here are three of those courses, all of which I have taken and found to be of great value. The following descriptions are from the CPU Web-site (1998-2000). Following each description I make a comment on the course:

A Course on Writing
This course is designed to provide concepts and workbook exercises for developing or enhancing the ability to write in a well-conceived, well-organized, clear, and accurate manner.
(Instructor: Baker, Crews, and faculty as assigned)
(3 up-div. sem. cred.)

Note: The above is a basic writing course. The faculty propose a model for minimalist writing which gets to the heart of the matter, covers the important issues, summarizes succinctly, and gets the job done. There are a lot of writing assignments in this course. I definitely enjoyed the course, but haven't used the model too much as I like to write in a long, meandering and deconstructing style.

Clear Thinking
The purpose of this course is to provide students who are not working primarily in the fields of science, mathematics, or philosophy with a means for expanding their mental domains of informed judgments-for learning what might be called logical reasoning, general problem solving, the scientific method, or simply clear thinking.
(Instructor: Baker, Walker)
(3 up-div. sem. cred.)

Note: The above is a valuable course on critical thinking and analysis; highly recommended for life in our postmodern society.

Cogitat Ergo Est: Computer Literacy
This course is designed to provide students with a non-technical understanding of computers and how they work, and of the roles they play in modern society. Although it does not require any prior knowledge of computers, it may also be useful to those who have some prior familiarity which is informal or limited in scope.
(Instructor: Baker, Crews)
(3 up-div. sem. cred.)

Note: One would think that "everybody" is computer literate these days. I took the above course in 1991 and found it very valuable, as I was fairly new to the computer.

Essential Statistics
This course provides an introduction to the ideas and techniques of the field of statistics. It begins with an ìOverview of Basic Concepts and Termsî and then covers a series of topics in more detail, keying them to two workbooks.
(Instructor: Ketsela)
(3 up-div. sem. cred.)

Note: I haven't done the above course, since I covered statistics in independent study workshops and wrote a basic paper on the subject for a core curriculum course. My own research (ISP and Master's Thesis) was carried out in a naturalistic anti-positivist format using conventional and critical ethnography. I took a scholarly post-structural stance that generalizing to populations (a pet habit of statistics) is largely irrelevant in the social sciences. Of course to defend this stance I had to do a large amount of extra research and writing so I could refute the value of statistics. Having said that, I believe that statistics is valuable in grounded theory and related research endeavors, in attempting to generalize results to or to create new theory, rather than populations. So I know I'll be taking statistics soon - yeeccccch!

PH502 (formerly PH402)
Ethics, Individuality & Leadership in the Humanities and Health & Human Services
Designed for graduate students in the humanities or in health and human services, this course provides a historical and problem-solving foundation in ethics so that students can learn to apply ethical principles and processes in the humanities and health and human services fields and also be challenged by an exploration of provocative contemporary ethical issues in a variety of fields.
(Instructor: Crews and faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: The above is a long and complex course on the important issues and questions around ethics in modern life. I wrote close to 20 papers for this one, and although I found it to be an experience of personal growth, I was very glad when I was finished.

PS501
Psychology as a Professional Career or Active Avocation
This survey and review of the considerations and concerns involved in a professional career or pursuit of a vocational activity in the various subfields of psychology discusses roles, professionalism, ethics, licensure, continuing education, etc.
(Instructor: Crews and faculty as assigned)
(3 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: The above course I found very valuable. The topics which were proposed allowed me to reflect and take action in writing on a variety of issues which I encounter in my worklife. Extremely valuable for human service practitioners.

HS598
Special Topics & Prior Experiential Learning at the Masterís Level for students of health & human services
(A learning contractcourse)
Of the first 30 semester units awarded a student in a graduate (e.g., masterís) program, no more than 5 semester units may be awarded for prior experiential learning.
(Instructor: Rollin & faculty as assigned)
(up to 5 grad. sem cred.)

Note: The above course allows one to propose life/work experience, prior credits, etc. for credit. Or, one can undertake a special independent study by learning contract, or simply do something else from the curriculum.

HS543 (formerly IS341A)
Final Summary and Oral Review for students in the Master of Science in Health and Human Services degree program.
Each student produces a Final Summary paper and has an interview with the Dean (usually by telephone) that summarizes and brings to completion the degree program.
(Instructor: Rollin)
(2 grad. sem. cred.)

Note: The above course is actually part of core curriculum and required.


Elective Courses:
Note: There are also various elective courses which can be used to round out a degree program within a specific concentration. Two examples of such courses are as follows (and already commented on above):

• PS501 : Psychology as a Professional Career or Active Avocation
• PH502 (formerly PH402): Ethics, Individuality & Leadership in the Humanities and Health & Human Services

Guided independent studies in specific areas are also available within the CPU program, via learning contracts.

RETURN TO TOP OF DOCUMENT

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1993-2000: Continuing the Story of My Own Experience with Non-traditional Higher Education (at CPU)

By 1992 I had become more interested in family therapy and organization development. There was something interesting about the interplay of complexity in relationships which was pulling me, whether those be families or larger groups in the workplace. I then decided to take CPU's "submatriculation" option, which would allow me to complete a masters degree even before completing my Bachelor's program, which was actually near completion. Once I started the Masters I focused my areas of interest on family therapy and organizational thinking. In 1992 I arranged, with a local consultant, for a practicum in team-building. In 1991 I had completed a six-month internship by learning contract with an international NLP trainer and expert in behavioral modeling. This is where I received my first exposure to organization development, and I liked what I saw. I had already had years of experience in training groups so some of the OD model and values came naturally.


In 1993 I contracted another internship (in family therapy practice). This was scheduled over an eight-month period. In 1994, after 7 months into the family therapy internship, I was invited to apply for a full-time position. One of the reasons stated was that my abilities and theoretical grounding were seen as more advanced than my peers from major local universities and some regionally accredited schools in the U.S. pacific northwest. This was partially so because I had already been taking courses and supervision with AAMFT (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy) approved supervisors prior to beginning the family therapy internship. It also helped that the agency was looking for a male to fill the position. Even prior to completing my M.S. I served for two years as an supervisor of graduate family therapy interns from two regionally accredited institutions (Pacifica, and LIOS) - this was done under the supervision of my agency's clinical supervisor. In some ways I have been really lucky on this non-traditional path of education. I currently work with the same agency I started with in 1993, and am looking for the right opportunity to do a Ph.D. I have already written close to 300 pages of a Ph.D. project from independent research I have been doing.



RETURN TO TOP OF DOCUMENT

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Things to be Aware of If You are Thinking of Enrolling in a CPU Program

The following comments are wholly my own opinion unless otherwise stated. A person considering enrolling in a CPU program should first consider his/her own purpose for enrolling. What need is this person seeking to satisfy? Or what does this person wish to achieve in embarking on a degree program in the first place? If one wishes to obtain a "career ticket", that being a licence to practice a certain profession, then I don't think CPU is the place to achieve such a goal, as it definitely falls outside CPU's mandate. CPU's written mandate is to "provide adult-education, distance-learning programs for accomplished individuals" seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees in Arts & Sciences, Administration & Management, or Health & Human Services. The key word here is accomplished - that usually means that one already has a career track. If one is a member of that group of individuals who have "already demonstrated some success in their fields" (CPU, 1996), desires to develop oneself further professionally and personally, wants to "round out" their experience with relevant new knowledge in a personalized program, desires to make a contribution to one's field based on an integration of experience with new concepts, and if reasonably priced "non-residential degree programs in a wholistic frame of reference" appear interesting, then the CPU approach might be a good fit. More on CPU's programs and educational philosophy can be found at the CPU Web-site.


In addition to other learning endeavors the CPU curriculum includes an excellent structure for 'taking stock' of one's already accomplished learning and abilities. One frequently finds that certain already accomplished skills are applicable to many contexts of personal and professional life and can be brought to bear in an academic presentation or analysis. For example, in naturalistic research approaches such as "participant observation", the researcher's experiences, observations, and impressions count in arriving at the final conclusions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Spradley, 1979, 1980). Such researchers are encouraged to be self-reflexive (see definitions) in their relational collaboration with who/what is being learned or researched (Moustakas, 1990; Anderson, 1997). In the CPU approach it is you, the learner, who counts as most important; what you bring to the learning environment and what you already know is important, and the CPU curriculum reflects that.


A Proceed-with-Caution Caveat:
CPU is not yet regionally accredited in the U.S., so if you live in the U.S. and there are third parties in your life that require you to hold a regionally accredited degree, then the answer is obvious. If however, you are not constrained by this class-oriented "inside the box" thinking, the CPU option could be a possibility as its programs are excellent in developing life-long learners and facilitating personal and professional development. The programs are also very reasonably priced and the quality of service delivery is excellent.


On the negative side CPU is also currently involved in a litigation process with the private postsecondary education authority in California (formerly called the CPPVE, now called the BPPVE). This dispute seems to have stemmed from a situation in late 1995, when CPU's state licence was not re-approved by the state after having held the highest state education licence - known as "full institutional approval" - for approximately 10 years; prior to that two of CPU's degree programs had state approval - since 1983. Prior to that CPU held what was known as initial "authorization" since 1978, one year after the school's founding.


There are a lot of questions regarding this dispute which remain unanswered. We do know that the State was rapidly changing its education regulations for private postsecondary institutions and CPU was trying to keep up with those changing regulations. Under "Standards of Approval" in a state document (CPEC, 1995) the following demonstrates the changing regulations:

An important change from previous law is the requirement that the institution actually be an educational enterprise that provides instruction to students rather than merely an assessment or credentialling enterprise that merely grants credit for previous student learning or for student writing assignments (p. 62).

While I can't actually speak for CPU on this matter it is plausible that one area where CPU could have some difficulties meeting such new regulations would be its use of "learning contracts". Under learning contracts the institution provides specific guidelines for the criteria to be met, and the student (with faculty supervision) designs a learning contract and learning ativities to meet these criteria, complete with methods for evaluation. (Click on the hyper-link for a full introduction to the concepts involved in the CPU Learning Contract). We also know (from the media and from government documents) that the Governor of California announced allegations that bureaucrats within the former version of the BPPVE (the CPPVE) were openly persecuting private postsecondary institutions with what appeared to be a vendetta. Out of reaction to these activities the governor ordered the closing down of that bureaucracy (the CPPVE) by a veto of Senate Bill 2960, which would have extended the life of the CPPVE until 2002. CPU was attempting to appeal the CPPVE's decision to withold re-approval, but the decision against re-approval was upheld. Interestingly, Bill 2960 had passed the Senate with a vote of 77 (for) to 1 (against). Just days before the CPPVE was forced to close by the Governor of California, the CPPVE held a final meeting to issue the paperwork to close down CPU (source, John Bear). The focus then shifted to the civil justice system and CPU lost another appeal in administrative court in 1997, but has kept fighting the closure with appeals in the higher courts.


CPU was ordered by a court to close last year (Feb/ 1999), and ordered by another court to close permanently in Jan/2000. I understand that there is one appeal left (with the Superior Court in Almeida County, CA) which should be coming up before summer. Recently, John Bear, eminently known specialist on non-traditional and distance education, reported that he had a meeting with the vice-present of CPU. Bear announced on the internet that during the meeting (also stating that both had not had contact with each other for about 13 years) that the CPU official produced documentation that led Bear to believe that three former employees of the CPPVE had signed affadavits that they had been instructed by their boss that they were not to re-approve CPU during or after the re-approval inspection visit. Bear also noted recently on his web-site that from the CPU perspective the CPPVE (now BPPVE) had failed to prove or show that CPU had not met criteria for re-approval, while the state maintains that the onus is not on the state to prove that an institution no longer is meeting the criteria that the state is now bringing into regulation. This is a blatant lack of public accountability on the part of the state, one that gives off the strong stench of an absolute abuse of power by bureaucrats at the top level of this agency. Here are John Bear's comments on the matter (from his web-site http://www.degree.net):

Columbia Pacific University Ordered to Close
In January 2000, after three years of legal backing and forthing, the State of California's Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education ordered Columbia Pacific University to close down immediately and make refunds to all students who enrolled after June 25, 1997. Columbia Pacific is asking the Court of Appeal of the State of California (First Appellate District, Division one) to overturn the original order to close (dated June 25, 1997) and apparently intends to stay open until the Appeals Court issues a ruling later this year.

The Nature of Columbia Pacific's appeal
The essence of Columbia Pacific's appeal relates to the issue of Burden of Proof. They point out that the California Supreme Court ruled, in an unrelated case, that "When an administrative agency initiates an action to suspend or revoke a license, the burden of proving the facts necessary to support the action rests with the agency making the allegation..." The state agency's initial closure order states that "CPU has the burden of proof to show that its application for re-approval should be granted by this council.... CPU has failed to meet its burden of proof in this matter." The state seems to acknowledge that the burden of proof lies with the state, but it claims that "Columbia Pacific University had ample opportunity to raise the burden of proof issue at the administrative hearing but failed to do so. It is now barred from raising the issue in this forum." Columbia Pacific maintains that "this statement is wholly without basis." It seems that it is this "burden of proof" issue on which the appeal hinges. (Bear, 2000)

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Abuses of Power and Bureaucracy Mandarins: Items that Cast Suspicion on the CPPVE's Refusal to Reapprove CPU's Programs in 1996, and CPU's Court Battle with the State

The following are some posts from nontraditional and distance education expert John Bear, and information from the web-sites of the BPPVE and the various agencies of the State of California . Bear's comments have been posted to Internet Usenet group alt.education.distance, between 1996 and 2000. At the end of the various posts I write my conclusion.

January 13th/ 2000:
The BPPVE wrote on its web-site that, among other things, CPU

* awarded excessive credit for prior experiential learning to many students;
* failed to employ duly qualified faculty; and
* failed to meet various requirements for issuing Ph.D. degrees.

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January 7th/ 1999:
John Bear wrote the following on alt.education.distance, regarding another BPPVE allegation about CPU. :

According to the state's law suit, CPPVE was also concerned when they discovered a dissertation entirely in Spanish, and determined that none that student's committee members could speak or read Spanish.

Apparently, none of these allegations have been proven by the state in a court of law.

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January 26th/ 1996
John Bear wrote the following, in part, on alt.education.distance, regarding the appeals process CPU would have to go through regarding denial of approval by the CPPVE:

There has been discussion here regarding the status of Columbia Pacific University in California. It has been suggested that CPU "lost its license" or "lost its approval." It is important to be very clear that this is not so. In California, the process works like this when a state-approved school such as Columbia Pacific comes up for reapproval: 1. A Visiting Committee makes a report to the Executive Director of the Council for Private, Postsecondary and Vocational Education. 2. The Executive Director of the Council makes a recommendation on whether or not to reapprove. 3. If the school is not satisfied with the recommendation, they can appeal, and there is a hearing before an administrative law judge, who makes his or her recommendations. 4. The full council then either accepts, modifies, or rejects this recommendation. 5. If the school disagrees with the action of the full council, they can take legal action. While this process is ongoing, the school is, for all intents and purposes, approved: it can enroll students award degrees. Following a negative recommendation (step 2), a matter often not made public (but someone, not me, did post the information in an education news group), Columbia Pacific will enter the appeal process, which can take six months or more. They remain open, in business, able to enroll students and to award the degrees of a state-approved university.

Note that on the above that Bear states: (1) A Visiting Committee makes a report to the Executive Director of the Council for Private, Postsecondary and Vocational Education after making an inspection visit at the institution. (2) The Executive Director of the Council makes a recommendation on whether or not to reapprove the institution based on the report of the visiting committee who have actually made an onsite inspection at the institution. According to Bear, the executive director is supposed to make a recommendation after the visiting committee makes its report.. It appears from certain evidence that has been referred to by Bear, that the executive director of the CPPVE tampered with the whole process; (see next paragraph and block quotation of John Bear).

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January 15th/ 2000
John Bear posted the following message, in part. The message indicates that there is evidence to believe that the executive director of the CPPVE jumped the gun and told the visiting committee prior to the inspection visit not to reapprove Columbia Pacific University, rather than waiting for the visiting committee to carry out its inspection and then turn in its recommendations:

Lunch yesterday with Les Carr, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt), principle owner (for 23 years) of Columbia Pacific, following his terms as president of two regionally accredited universities. First communication of any kind in 14 years. Carr, who apparently monitors this newsgroup, wanted me to have certain information.

The documents he shared with me persuade me of the following:

1. There are affadavits from three former staff at the school approval agency [the CPPVE] in Sacramento attesting that they had been told by their boss that CPU would lose its approval before the visiting team made its inspection.
   
2. These would be part of CPU's appeal of its closure order, which will take place in Superior Court in March or April.

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August 13th/ 1996
In the following posting to alt.distance.education the informant quotes a personal reply from CPU president Dr. Richard Crews on the matter of CPU not being reapproved by the CPPVE.

Deja.com: Re: CPU
Subject:Re: CPU
Date:08/13/1996
Author:K. Winston Caine <positivechurch@enter.net>

<< previous · next >>
I inquired about the current status of Columbia Pacific's approval
and here is what Richard Crews had to say:

"Columbia Pacific University's approval is in full force. We were astonished in January to receive a notice of denial, but have been reassured that CPU's approval is intact pending "appeal." The "denial" was illegal; it was not issued by the Council (as mandated by statute and regulation) nor with due process, but peremptorily, and from the Executive Director alone. It was also based on a very superficial and flawed "evaluation" with 80-some errors which we pointed out, but our response was ignored. We called in an independent review team and were highly praised by them. We are embarrassed at the Council's (or rather the Executive Director's) abuse of due process but most of all by the failure to understand the merits of CPU's educational system. We are holding firm, appealing, and have every confidence we shall prevail.

"You may quote me on any of this, but please do so with the full statement so that readers get a full, fair picture. The Executive Director of the Council has perpetrated a very frustrating bit of prejudicial misadministration. CPU is an institution of high academic standards; apparently because it is not cut from some standard mold, some education authorities do not considered it worth the trouble of understanding.
"Thanks for your concern,
"Richard Crews, M.D. "President"

-----------------------------------------------------------
Interactive inspiration;
visit Positive Church Online
http://www.enter.net/~positivechurch
<< previous · next >>

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January 17th/ 2000
John Bear posted the following message, in part, on alt.education.distance, regarding the CPU appeal:

Part of CPU's brief to the Court of Appeal, First Appelate District, Division One, refers to 400 alumni who are full-time faculty at traditionally accredited colleges and universities. It is safe to predict that some, perhaps many, of those receive a salary differential, and will supply affadavits.

The appeal is apparently to be heard in March or April, Almeda Superior Court Case No. 786530-7, The Hon. Henry Needham, Superior Court Judge.

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February 19th/ 1997
John Bear wrote the following, in part, on alt.education.distance re: CPU:

The co-founders are a former president of a major regionally accredited university (Carr; Lewis, in Illinois); and a Harvard-MD psychiatrist (Crews; who has been full-time president for 15 years). The academic VP (Blum) is a former president of the regionally accredited Point Park College, and has also been there 15 years. These are three academics, who generally know what they are doing. During the 4 or 5 years I consulted with CPU, late 1970s, I reviewed quite a lot of the doctoral work done in my field. I was generally impressed with the quality of the work, and with the credentials of the adjunct faculty who supervised it.

CPU's licensing situation is still murky, I believe. As far as I know, there is no word on what will happen to state licensing in California when the California Commission on Private, Post-secondary and Vocational Education goes out of business in less than 18 more weeks.

Not on the above how Bear refers to two important facts: (1) that the leaders of CPU are experienced academics, two of which have also served as presidents of U.S. regionally accredited universities; and, (2) that Bear himself "reviewed quite a lot of the doctoral work done in my field"; and "I was generally impressed with the quality of the work, and with the credentials of the adjunct faculty who supervised it".

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May 9th/ 1997
John Bear wrote the following, in part, on alt.education.distance, on the impending demise of the CPPVE:

The "reauthorization" bill is AB71. This is what it says at the top: "INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wright (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Baca, Bowen, Knox, Kuehl, Ortiz, Vincent, and Wayne) (Principal coauthors: Senators Alpert, Solis, and Vasconcellos)."
As of May 7, it had been returned to committee for a third reading. Still no indication (that I know of) whether the governor supports it (or even knows about it) -- or what will happen at midnight on June 30 if it doesn't pass.

The reauthorization bill (AB71) that Bear writes of was introduced after the governor vetoed Bill 2960, which would have extended the life of the CPPVE (and the Private Postsecondary Education Reform Act of 1989) until 2002. The Senate passed Bill 2960 with an overwhemning majority, with a total of 77 "yes" votes and 1 "no" vote. The governor then vetoed Bill 2960.

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1996
The California web-site titled 1996 Education Legislation as Acted on by the Governor - Final Report (http://www.assembly.ca.gov/edu/1996bils.htm) posts the following on the bill to continue the existence of the CPPVE:

AB 2960 (Firestone) - Private Postsecondary Education
Extends the June 30, 1997 sunset of the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform (PPVER) Act of 1989 by five years; requires an evaluation of the program by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) every five years, beginning on January 1, 2000; and requires the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (CPPVE) to annually report on its activities to the Legislature and the CPEC.
STATUS: Vetoed by the Governor.

Note above that after passing the Senate, Bill 2960 was vetoed by the Governor. The reasons given for the Governor's veto of the bill are found by clicking on the link dated "Amended 06/04/1997", at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_71&sess=PREV&house=B. In that document the following is written with respect to the veto of Bill 2960:

At the end of the 1996 Legislative Session the Governor vetoed AB 2960 (Firestone and Campbell), which would have extended the sunset date for the Act from June 30, 1997 to June 30, 2002. In the Governor's veto message the following concerns were raised:

• The level of fees required for compliance and the ability of small schools to stay in business. Larger, more capitalized schools do not have the same problem as the smaller schools that operate on a much smaller margin.
  
  
• The manner in which the staff of the Council carry out their responsibilities.
  There are reports from some schools of alleged reprisals and vindictiveness by Council staff. It was recommended that the Council provide an administrative appeal process short of litigation.

Bill AB 71 then replaced the vetoed Bill 2960. Bill AB 71 was introduced in 12/12/96 and was amended 8 times before being enrolled. On the amended rendition presented to Assemble on 6/16/97, the following appears on the transition from the now defunct CPPVE to the proposed BPPVE (the portions struck out appear as such in the document):

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 71, as amended, R. Wright. Private postsecondary education.
(1) The existing Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989, until June 30, 1997, establishes various requirements and standards for the approval of private postsecondary educational institutions to operate in California and to award
degrees and diplomas.
This bill would repeal and reenact those provisions and in doing so would make numerous substantive changes.
(2) The
The existing act establishes the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education with specified duties and responsibilities.
This bill would repeal and reenact those provisions, and in doing so would make numerous substantive changes. The bill would create a Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs, operative January 1, 1998.

Further information on the history of Bill 2960 and Bill AB 71 is contained below. It was located at (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/95-96/bill/asm/ab_2951-3000/ab_2960_bill_history.html), and (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/95-96/bill/asm/ab_0051-0100/ab_71_bill_history.html).

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COMPLETE BILL HISTORY

BILL NUMBER : A.B. No. 2960
AUTHOR        : Firestone
TOPIC        : Postsecondary Education: Private Postsecondary and Vocational
        Education Reform Act of 1989.

TYPE OF BILL :
Inactive
Non-Urgency
Appropriations
2/3 Vote Required
State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy

BILL HISTORY
1996
Sept. 30 Vetoed by Governor.
Sept. 10 Enrolled and to the Governor at 4 p.m.
Aug. 30        Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 77. Noes 1.
        Page 8841.)
Aug. 15        In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be
        considered on
Aug. 14        Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 1. Page
        5564.)
Aug. 8        Read second time, amended, and to third reading.
Aug. 7        From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes
        2.).
Aug. 5        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com.
        on APPR.
June 27        From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with
        recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Re-referred. (Ayes 9. Noes
        0.).
June 18        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com.
        on ED.
May 31        Referred to Com. on ED.
May 30        In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
May 29        Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 2. Page
        6927.)
May 24        Read second time. To third reading.
May 23        From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 1.) (May 22).
May 16        Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
May 15        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended.
Apr. 24        In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request
        of author.
Apr. 10        From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR.
        Re-referred. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 9).
Mar. 7        Referred to Com. on HIGHER ED.
Feb. 26        Read first time.
Feb. 24        From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
Feb. 23        Introduced. To print.

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        COMPLETE BILL HISTORY


BILL NUMBER : A.B. No. 71
AUTHOR        : Wright
TOPIC        : Private postsecondary education.

TYPE OF BILL :
Inactive
Non-Urgency
Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy

BILL HISTORY
1997
July 18        Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter        78, Statutes of 1997.
July 18        Approved by the Governor.
July 18        Enrolled and to the Governor at 2:15 p.m.
July 18        (Corrected July 17. ) Senate amendments concurred in. To
        enrollment. (Ayes 71. Noes 2. Page 3275.)
July 17        In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. Re-referred
        to Com. on HIGHER ED. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2 From committee:
        With recommendation: that Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes
        11. Noes 0.) (July 17). (Corrected July 16)
July 17        From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes
        1.). Read second time, amended, and to third reading. Read third
        time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 4. Page 2266.)
July 16        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com.
        on APPR.
July 14        Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.
July 11        From committee: Amend, do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on
        APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.).
July 3        Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on B. & P.
June 23        Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.
June 19        Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
June 18        From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on RLS. Re-referred.
        (Ayes 8. Noes 1.).
June 16        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com.
        on ED.
June 12        In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
June 4        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com.
        on ED.
June 3        Referred to Coms. on ED. and JUD.
May 23        In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
May 22        Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 41. Noes 34. Page
        1866.)
May 15        Read third time. Urgency clause refused adoption. (Ayes 43. Noes 31.
        Page 1624.) Read third time and amended pursuant to J.R. 23.5.
        Ordered returned to third reading.
Apr. 28        Read second time. To third reading.
Apr. 24        From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 5.) (April 23).
Apr. 21        Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Apr. 17        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended.
Apr. 2        In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request
        of author.
Mar. 19        From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR.
        Re-referred. (Ayes 8. Noes 5.) (March 18).
Mar. 17        Re-referred to Com. on HIGHER ED.
Mar. 12        From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer
        to Com. on HIGHER ED. Read second time and amended.
Feb. 7        Referred to Com. on HIGHER ED.
Jan. 6        Read first time.
1996
Dec. 16        From printer. May be heard in committee January 15.
Dec. 12        Introduced. To print.

May 13/ 2000
John Bear posts an encouraging piece of news on www. degree.net, under the title "Columbia Pacific University Saved by the Bell, At Least for a While"

In January 2000, after three years of legal backing and forthing, the State of California's Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education ordered Columbia Pacific University to close down immediately and make refunds to all students who enrolled after June 25, 1997. Following various legal maneuvers, things came down to May 8th, 2000, the day CPU was to post a $2 million bond and send a mailing to all students and alumni offering them a refund. Literally hours before the deadline, the Appellate Court agreed with CPU's brief (and, in effect, overruled the state's brief) and stayed the bond and refund order until the full appeal of the closure order is heard, probably in July, 2000. - John Bear

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Conclusion and Thoughts Toward the Future of CPU

I can only imagine what all of the above might mean when one includes the earlier allegations of the CPPVE's leaders tampering with and attempting to influence a re-approval certification panel. The story points to probable manipulations involving practices of power and control by certain bureaucracy mandarins, by tampering with due process. It is hoped that this will all come out in the court case, and CPU will be reinstated with its approval. One can also imagine the damages brought about by such manipulations - to the reputation of CPU, to the students, and to the alumni - when such a practice is carried out by those in positions of power. Some alumni who hold professorships with various universities have reported difficulties obtaining tenure, or obtaining well-paying teaching positions that they were able to acquire previous to the past five years. Some alumni have expressed that if the BPPVE has a case against CPU then CPU should be punished but not shut down. Shutting down CPU would clearly demonstrate that the BPPVE (formerly CPPVE) does not act in support of consumers, several thousand of which hold degrees from CPU. These alumni and students will suffer damages despite refunds that would occur for students.


Whether CPU wins its court battle and is reapproved, or loses its court battle, there are plans of a merger with another university, which appears to involve legitimate accreditation in the short term. I have confirmed with the accrediting agency that the institution in question has indeed made an application to that agency. Nothing other than that could be revealed at this time by the executive director of that agency. (I will not reveal the name of the institution or accrediting agency until a legal merger has occurred and at least candidacy has been achieved by that institution - the best way for a consumer to view this is as an intent, and the consumer should only believe and act on what is verifiable). In a recent exchange of communication with CPU's vice-president, he revealed to me that, should CPU win its court battle with BPPVE, CPU will be in a very good position to begin a class-action lawsuit against the CPPVE. Such a class-action lawsuit, if successful, would help recover damages to CPU and its alumni. Meanwhile, I and many other alumni (and students) watch with wonder, apprehension, and bated breath.


In all honesty, enrolling with CPU at the moment for any reason other than personal growth and satisfaction (and the program delivers highly in those areas) may be equivalent to buying stock in a high-tech company or mining company with little track record in earnings, so the price/earnings ratio is enormous and such stock would only be purchased on speculation and promise of future performance. I am not implying that CPU has not performed well. By most accounts CPU appears to have performed very well in both curriculum and administration. What I am addressing is "public perception as performance". If the public perception is very favorable and supported by state licensing and legitimate accreditation the prestige barometer climbs high. After all, educational institutions have always been associated with the consiousness, hopes, and dreams of the public. And one of the selling points in attaining a degree, from individual and public perception, is the prestige associated with completion of such a large undertaking. There may be little or no prestige associated with CPU at this time - in fact, on the prestige scale, the indicator may be far down into the negative - possibly seen by many in the public domain with doubt. In other words, CPU's stock value (public favor and associated prestige) is currently low. But I think (and hope) that it will spring back, like many stocks spring back into action and pay off for their investors.


In August/1999 I received a letter from CPU's vice-president, addressed to students. The letter announced with excitement that CPU would be merging shortly with another university, a move which would open up new academic possibilities for both students and alumni. None of this has come to pass as of yet, and appearances are that this merger will not come to pass until CPU has had it's final day in court on this matter and knows for sure what its options are. CPU's vice-president is adamant that the merger will take place whether or not the university wins its court battle. Yet, the president of the particular institution with which CPU will merge tells me that this particular school will not assume any debtload incurred by CPU. The recent January/2000 judgement ordering CPU to close also ordered CPU to refund any tuition to current students, with particular emphasis on those students who reside in California. So while I have received great value from the CPU curriculum, the fact is that there is no guarantee that CPU will continue to be around in the future as a legally recognized institution, only promises and hopes. And as every person that's lived a little knows - promises by themselves aren't enough; and CPU has had 5 years of great difficulty with these legal matters. That, my friends, is the negative side of the matter. To their credit, though, CPU's leaders are fighting hard to put these unfortunate matters to rest once and for all. Hopefully, they can get on with rebuilding their institution to its prior condition, before the offensive assault by the Executive Director of the CPPVE started taking its toll back in 1995. From there CPU can be built further, to a well-received and well-respected status. Hopefully, a form of legitimate accreditation will be an integral component of that rebuilding.


The fact is, that although an institution may have great programs, it must also maintain a high degree of image management for the public consumption. What this means, particularly in the new era of accelerated communications technology (the NOW), is that a school must have some form of legitimate accreditation in addition to a legal status as an institution. CPU has spent years 'caught between a rock and a hard place' on this matter of accreditation. The policy of WASC, the regional accreditation body for California, Hawaii, Guam, and other U.S. Western states, required that an institution in California must hold state approval prior to qualifying as being accreditable (accreditation being a complex and expensive 3-7 year process). Although CPU held such "full approval" for 10 or more years, its president wrote to alumni in 1992/1993 that WASC did not wish to accredit institutions that were fully non-residential. This letter to alumni from the president of CPU stated a desire to attain legitimate accreditation and implied a restructuring plan that the school would embark upon over a ten year period. While the letter acknowledged the difficulties in attaining accreditation through WASC, it also expressed hope that some new possibilites were opening up for accreditation because of some potential changes in federal regulations. These changes never came to pass in a way that would allow for such hoped for accreditation. Two other letters written by CPU's leaders in 1995 (in the alumni newsletter - summer edition) expressed excitement and hope that CPU would soon be re-approved, despite some difficult "negotiations" which were going on with the CPPVE. These letters also announced an impending move toward the beginnings of an application process for regional accreditation with WASC, provided the school was re-approved. CPU's leaders also asked for alumni help, which would be required in raising funds and other matters as part of the forward march toward accreditation. Unfortunately, an announcement was made (by John Bear, on Internet Newsgroup alt.education.distance) in late 1995 that the CPPVE was denying re-approval to CPU. Hopes for accreditation were quickly diminished, as CPU's status as a state-approved institution entered a state of limbo. That limbo has lasted the past five and one-half years. Hopefully, CPU will come out of this limbo much stronger than ever. And I hope that in the near future I can eliminate this proceed-with-caution caveat from this document.


So why do I stick with the CPU program? Well, first of all I've finished my M.S. - I have only an oral review/ thesis examination left. I like the program and believe it has been ahead of its time. I believe the program fulfills a unique need for a distinct group of adult learners with a lot of life experience. I also like the people at CPU and have always found them to be of the highest professional calibre as well as being quite warm and friendly. I think this school deserves to continue. As I have written previously, I have studied a lot of post-structural writings in the past years. What the post-structural philosophers call for in education, equality, deconstruction, and integration of narrative knowledge - CPU is doing rather than simply parroting.



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About the CPU Mission and Philosophy

Note: This is from the CPU web-site (1998-2000), and the CPU General Catalogue (1989). Some of this has already appeared earlier.

Founded in 1978, Columbia Pacific University provides adult-education, distance-learning programs for accomplished individuals seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees in Arts & Sciences, Administration & Management, or Health & Human Services. Self-paced scheduling and life-achievement evaluation are included in the Columbia Pacific University program. To be admitted, an applicant must have established a career focus and demonstrated a capacity to learn from higher education. CPU's curriculum is designed for self-paced learning at a distance based on the importance of Individuality, Integration, and Independent Study. Most of our students are working professionals.

Individuality

• Each person is unique; each individual's background provides him/her with a personal array of abilities and interests that are different from any other's.
  
• An individual's life experience is most satisfying and productive if he/she can acknowledge and develop this personal pattern of abilities and interests.
  
• Education can - and should - be based upon, draw forth and facilitate the development of that individuality.
  
• It is a proper role of higher education to enhance and refine this process for accomplished individuals (who have previously obtained meaningful levels of productive creativity) . . . so that the individual can expand professional productivity and acceptance, as well as make personally meaningful career developments.
  

Integration

• There are many aspects to an individual's life experience: one's interest and activity at times focus on consideration of health, family, recreation, spirituality, etc.
  
• All aspects of an individual's life experience can be integrated to mutually support and facilitate the other aspects.
  
• Education can - and should - help an individual develop this personal integration and support
  
• It is a proper role of education to challenge the accomplished individual to develop more effective and comprehensive integration of body, mind and spirit, which are the significant dimensions of personal experience . . . so that the individual can develop clearer and personally relevant goals, as well as a lifestyle that is satisfying, healthful and effective in supporting the individual's goals.
  

Independent Study

• The potential sources of ideas and information relevant to an individual's interest may be many and varied.
  
• An individual's activities can be most satisfying and product if that person can investigate these sources effectively.
  
• Education can - and should - provide guidance in making such investigations broad in scope and efficient in process.
  
• It is a proper role of higher education to stimulate, guide and acknowledge dependent study, as well as intellectual and experiential inquiry that is self-designed and self-motivated . . . so that the accomplished individual can engage in self-designed and self-motivated intellectual and experiential inquiry that is comprehensive in its sources, efficient in its methods, integrated in its personal involvement and effective in it outcome.

Although the American system of education is extensive, complex, and in many ways quite flexible, it often does not provide subjective content which is focused on an individual student's particular interests and needs, nor educational delivery systems which are accessible to an individual who is active in a chosen vocation - perhaps already committed to a career path. Pursuing higher education often requires an upheaval of family and community roots and commitments, interruption of professional activities, and sacrifice of financial resources. Columbia Pacific University is designed so that an individual does not need to leave his or her home and community, interrupt a career, or abandon familiar education resources in order to earn an academic degree.


A mature an self-directed individual can participate in planning the curriculum content, the types of instructional resources to be used, and the schedule for completion of an individualized degree program. Someone who is already active in a career field can obtain the academic perspective and rounding out of an area of knowledge and the recognition of accomplishments that an advanced degree program provides.


The University is committed to programs of excellence in higher education - programs which produce demonstrable improvements in learner knowledge, proficiencies, skills, and attitudes. These improvements are consistent with established, clearly expressed standards of performance comparable to those of recognized accredited colleges and universities.

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About the CPU Approach
From the CPU General Catalogue (1989)

A non-traditional individualized and self-directed curriculum requires not only involvement but active participation of the students in designing and carrying forward their programs of study. Personal initiative and self-reliance are essential for successful participation and progression in such programs. The University does not take on the role of a protecting or disciplining parent, or an all-wise and all-powerful source of authority and wisdom. Such roles would be inappropriate and would, in fact, tend to stifle rather than advance the independent initiative and educational maturation of the students we seek to serve. What the University does provide is an organization and system for enabling an independent and self-reliant individual to plan and carry out an educational; program: to receive

1. Accomplishments guidance in organizing and implementing independent study plans
2. Assurance of the thoroughness and appropriateness of subject content
3. Facilitation of linkages with suitable educational resources
4. Responsible assessment of the resulting studies
5. Award of recognition for the educational

We believe it is of utmost importance that students learn not only the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of a particular academic and professional field, but also that they learn how to learn. Specifically, we believe it is of paramount importance in the modern world for students to be knowledgeable and up-to-date in their chosen fields, and equipped to engage in self-directed, life-long independent study.

Malcolm Knowles, Professor of Education at North Carolina State University and Boston University, and the Executive Director of the Adult Education Association, has emphasized this perspective in a slightly different way.

We now know that in the world of the future we must define the mission of education as to provide competent people - people who are able to apply their knowledge under changing conditions; and we know that the foundational competence all people must have is the competence to engage in life-long learning. We now know, also, that the way to produce competent people is to have them acquire their knowledge (and skills, understandings, attitudes, values, and interests) in the context of its application . . . .

Education is no longer seen as the monopoly of educational institutions and their teachers. We now perceive that resources for learning are everywhere in our environment and that people can get help in their learning from a variety of other people. The modern task of the education, therefore becomes one of finding new ways to link learners with learning resources.

To accomplish these goals, the University has curriculum requirements of two types:

First, students in the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Administration and Management, and Health and Human Services are required to undertake and demonstrate successful completion of four projects which form the basis for accomplishing individualized independent study in an integrated wholistic perspective.

• Gaining concepts and abilities in accessing a varied array of information resources applicable to a wide range of topics and fields
  
• Connecting personal research interests through other fields through a broad, wholistic, and futuristic perspective
  
• Developing a personal life-style which supports and encourages individualized independent study
  
• Demonstrating the mastery of these concepts and skills by the production of a major independent study project

Second, each of the schools has core requirements covering the subject area of the school. These are based on specific Knowledge Areas defined by the Dean and Faculty of the school. Each student is required to earn a certain number of academic credits in each of several Knowledge Areas of the student's school in order to demonstrate breadth and depth of familiarity with the conceptual and factual content of the specific degree field.

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Re: Minimum Required Length for ISPs, Theses, and Dissertations at CPU

The length of student works also vary greatly depending on subject matter, type of work done, style of presentation, and many other factors. Although there is no set answer, because the question of "required" (or, at least, "recommended") minimum length is asked so often, as general guidelines, the Academic Council has recommended to faculty that a bachelor's ISP [Independent study project] should be a minimum [sic] of 50 pages (typed, double-spaced), a master's thesis a minimum [sic] of 100 pages, and a doctoral dissertation a minimum [sic] of 150 pages in length.

Columbia Pacific University (1991). "Guidelines for Form and Organization of Independent Study Projects (ISPs, Theses, and Dissertations)", in Guidelines for Course IS441-541: The Versatile Independent Scholar. pp. 243-244.

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Re: Criteria for Content Analysis of Bachelor's ISP's at CPU
From: Columbia Pacific University (1996). "Grading and Scholastic Standards", in CPU General Catalogue, pp.59-60.

The Deans Council has established the following formal criteria for content analysis of
bachelor's level work. These criteria are primarily for the final Independent Study project, but may be used wherever else they are applicable in other curriculum submissions.


KNOWLEDGE

• Review of the literature is sufficient.
  
• Presentation of facts, definitions, and ideas is sufficient in theoretical breadth.
  

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES AND SKILLS

• The problem is formulated clearly.
  
• Formulations of hypotheses to be tested use logical thinking.
  
• The methodology is appropriate to the problem and applied satisfactorily.
  
• The conclusion covers all points of the introduction.
  

APPLICATION (PROBLEM SOLVING)

• Methodology is applied effectively.
  
• There is a logical progression of thought in problem solving and analysis of data.
  
• Limitations of the data are recognized.
  
• Conflicting viewpoints are enumerated.
  
• Practical applications are enumerated.
  

ANALYSIS

• The concepts and relationships demonstrated are identified clearly.
  
• Inference, implications, and inductions are drawn from the data clearly and thoughtfully.
  

SYNTHESIS

• Concepts and relationships are explained clearly.
  
• Implications for further studies are described clearly.
  

EVALUATION

• There are soundly reasoned perspectives toward the data and conclusions.

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Re: Criteria for Content Analysis of Masters Theses at CPU
From: Columbia Pacific University (1996). "Grading and Scholastic Standards", in CPU General Catalogue, pp.59-60.

The Deans Council has established the following formal criteria for content analysis of
master's level work. These criteria are primarily for the final thesis, but may be used wherever else they are applicable in other curriculum submissions.


KNOWLEDGE

• Review of the literature is extensive with studies on studies related to application in the field.
  
• Presentation of facts, definitions, and ideas is extensive in theoretical breadth with emphasis on how the current study has application in the field.
  

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES AND SKILLS

• The problem is formulated clearly using terms and concepts appropriate to the area of study and their common usage and application in the field.
  
• Formulations of hypotheses to be tested use logical thinking with appropriate deductive or inductive steps.
  
• The methodology is appropriate to the problem and applied expertly.
  
• The conclusion covers all points of the introduction.
  

APPLICATION (PROBLEM SOLVING)

• Methodology is applied effectively.
  
• There is a logical progression of thought in problem solving and analysis of data.
  
• Limitations of the data are recognized and relative to alternative methods.
  
• Conflicting viewpoints are described with emphasis on application versus theory.
  
• Practical applications are described.
  

ANALYSIS

• The concepts and relationships demonstrated are identified clearly in terms appropriate to application in the field.
  
• Inference, implications, and inductions are drawn from the data clearly and thoughtfully with appropriate inductive logic.
  

SYNTHESIS

• Concepts and relationships are explained clearly and integrated with emphasis on application to the field.
  
• Implications for further studies are described clearly and related to application in the field.
  

EVALUATION

• There are soundly reasoned perspectives toward the data and conclusions presented in an intellectually sophisticated way. The study and related conclusions have significant implications for application in the field (i.e., field work) and use by fellow practitioners, academics, or researchers working in this area of study.

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Re: Criteria for Content Analysis of Doctoral Dissertations at CPU
From: Columbia Pacific University (1996). "Grading and Scholastic Standards", in CPU General Catalogue, pp.59-60.

The Deans Council has established the following formal criteria for content analysis of
doctoral level work. These criteria are primarily for the final dissertation, but may be used wherever else they are applicable in other curriculum submissions.


KNOWLEDGE

• Review of the literature is comprehensive.
  
• Presentation of facts, definitions, and ideas is comprehensive in theoretical breadth.
  

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES AND SKILLS

• The problem is formulated clearly using terms and concepts appropriate to the field.
  
• Formulations of hypotheses to be tested use logical thinking with appropriate deductive or inductive steps.
  
• The methodology is appropriate to the problem and applied expertly.
  
• The conclusion covers all points of the introduction.
  

APPLICATION (PROBLEM SOLVING)

• Methodology is applied effectively.
  
• There is a logical progression of thought in problem solving and analysis of data.
  
• Limitations of the data are recognized and relative to alternative methods.
  
• Conflicting viewpoints are described.
  
• Practical applications are described.
  

ANALYSIS

• The concepts and relationships demonstrated are identified clearly in terms appropriate to the field.
  
• Inference, implications, and inductions are drawn from the data clearly and thoughtfully with appropriate inductive logic.
  

SYNTHESIS

• Concepts and relationships are explained clearly and integrated with the field and with alternative or conflicting viewpoints.
  
• Implications for further studies are described clearly and related to the broader field, and show philosophical breadth of thinking and imaginative originality.
  

EVALUATION

• There is a soundly reasoned perspective toward the data and conclusions.

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Definitions Page

CAUSALITY: (CIRCULAR CAUSALITY):
Refers to the idea that events are related through a series of interacting loops or repeating cycles (from Nichols & Schwartz, 1991). Theorists observe that behaviors that represent patterns of communication that are linked together in additive chains of stimulus and response. This model of sequential causality enables therapists to treat behavioral chains as feedback loops. When the response to one family member's problematic behavior exacerbates the problem, that chain is seen as a positive feedback loop. The advantage of this formulation is that it focuses on interactions that perpetuate problems, which can be changed, instead of inferring underlying causes, which aren't observable and often not subject to change (Nichols and Schwartz, 1991, p. 195).

CAUSALITY (LINEAR CAUSALITY):
Refers to the idea that one event is the cause and another is the effect; in behavior, the idea that one behavior is a stimulus, the other a response (from Nichols & Schwartz, 1991).

COMMUNITY-OF-CONCERN:
Also known as a "league", the term has emerged in the narrative therapy movement and refers to a gathering of persons who have a desire to protest the effects of a particular problem on people's lives. The membership constituency usually involves a majority of clients, mixed with an assortment of therapists, family members, friends, teachers, journalists, and community activists. Such communities are structured in similar ways to many other grassroots political organizations, such as Youth against Violence Committee, or a Doctors for Peace Group. A League's purpose is directed toward combating a particular identified problem (e.g. anxiety and depression) and the structures that support the problem. Leagues allow for the distribution of client knowledge and experience from one client to another. In addition, they often voice strong opposition to those cultural and professional institutions that are problem supporting. A League's mandate acts to undo the knotted dichotomy of difference, distance, and status presently wedged between therapists and clients. Leagues can be seen as another step in stretching the ideas of transparency and reflecting teams into the community (from Madigan & Epston, 1995).

CONSTRUCTIVISM:
Refers to a perceptual theory which states that the structure of our nervous systems dictates that we can never know accurately what is 'really' out there in our sensory perceptions of the world. Therefore, we have to change from an 'observed system reality' (the notion that we can know the objective truth about others and the world) to an 'observing system' reality (the notion that we can only know our own perception and therefore construction of others and the world). This view has a long and noble lineage, from Vico and Kant to Wittgenstein and Piaget (from Hoffman, 1988). Gergen (1985) calls for the term 'constructivism' and its meaning to be incorporated into the phrase 'social constructionism'.

CYBERNETICS (FIRST ORDER):
The study of control processes in systems, especially analysis of the flow of information in closed systems (Nichols & Schwartz, 1991). Closed systems such as the interaction of piston and valve and the thermostatic heating system were initially used as metaphors by which to understand family functioning. In the family therapy field the cybernetics paradigm enabled the therapist with a framework for diagnosing human interactive processes within families (communication), and ascertain what might be functional vs. dysfunctional. Within this framework the therapist was placed on an elevated expert platform, having the knowledge and ability to diagnose and intervene with (fix) a family's problems. This was not unlike a mechanic's ability to fix someone's car, because the family was seen to be like a machine. Families were not seen as possessing self-knowledge by which changes could occur in their process.

CYBERNETICS (SECOND ORDER):
A shift in theory from envisioning the family as a closed system that was machine-like and could be manipulated (fixed or tuned up) by an expert therapist, to an enhanced view of the family as a natural open system. Similar to (but not exactly to) a biological system, such a system is self-organizing and maintains itself through continuous input and output from the environment. Being an open system would be additionally expanded in that the consulting therapist would become part of it through the therapeutic dialogue. Under this circumstance, the therapist would have to surrender the view that he/she could have objective knowledge of structures or sequences in the family that had to change in order for the family to achieve a healthy functionality. In fact, the idea of a family being functional or dysfunctional would be based on a first order cybernetics perspective and would have no place within the second order view. Engaging in an ongoing process of self-reflexivity (see definition of 'reflexivity'), the therapist would consider his/her interaction with the family, and related ideas, beliefs, hypotheses, etc.; and would generally be willing to discuss such matters as part of the interaction. For example, if the therapist felt confused or stuck, he/she would say so to the family. The therapist would also be willing to discard any hypotheses about the family, in addition to being willing to invite and work with the family's own hypotheses about itself. Within this approach, the family and therapists together become as a problem dis-solving system (from Anderson & Goolishian, 1988; Hoffman, 1988; Anderson, 1997). This represents a small but major (paradoxical, eh?) shift in envisioning families, functioning, and change, as well as the therapist's role in intervening with families. Families were suddenly de-objectified from occupying the assigned role of being the observed "other". Therapists starting observing their own interactions with families in what became a larger problem-dissolving system which now included the therapist and family. Family hypotheses about the problem and family local knowledge started being honored.

DECONSTRUCTION:
The analysis of a piece of text to reveal the discourses and systems of oppositions operating within it (from Burr, 1996). In narrative therapy: deconstruction has to do with procedures that subvert taken-for-granted realities and practices: those so-called "truths" that are split off from the conditions and the context of their production; those disembodied ways of speaking that hide their biases and prejudices; and those familiar practices of self and of relationship that are subjugating of persons' lives (from White, 1993).

DISCOURSE:
The word can be used in two ways- (1) to refer to a systematic, coherent set of images, metaphors and so on that construct an object in a particular way, (e.g., the spoken and written assumptions, beliefs, and research that makes up a professional paradigm or worldview, and (2) to refer to the actual spoken

EPISTEMOLOGY:
The word is usually used in two ways. (1) The philosophy of knowledge; the study of the nature of knowledge and the methods of obtaining it (from Burr, 1996). (2) Used by anthropologist/family therapy pioneer Gregory Bateson to mean worldview or belief system (from Nichols & Schwartz, 1991).

ETHNOGRAPHER:
A researcher who engages in ethnography, a naturalistic form of research historically associated with anthropology. Ethnography seeks to attain a goal which Spradley (1979, p.3) describes as "describing another way of life from the native point of view". This is much different than going into another culture as an expert who gathers information, and interprets and writes up the information from one's own cultural perspective. Such a manner would normally do an injustice to the culture being researched. The ethnographer uses a naturalistic approach to research and imposes no pre-knowledge upon the culture being researched. All hypotheses arrived at during the research are usually negotiated with the subject, as are all interpretations. The idea is to represent the other from the other's point of view. The word "culture" can be considered to mean any human grouping being researched, foreign or local. More importantly is the relational aspect between the researcher and the subject, the "self" and "other". Spradley (1980, p.3) states that naturalistic inquiry should be carried out in a natural setting that is comfortable for the person being studied. Spradley goes further and states that rather than studying people, ethnography means learning from people (1980, p.3). This is also observed by family therapy pioneer Harlene Anderson (1997, p.63), when she describes her way of allowing the client's expertise to come forward. In naturalistic research the researcher uses oneself as an instrument and regularly checks back with participants (sometimes called "informants") to verify any hunches or hypotheses as they come up. Boscolo, Cecchin, Hoffman, and Penn (1985) have discussed how they began to work collaboratively with clients by regularly asking their clients for their own hypotheses about their family situations - the therapists report how they took great pleasure in letting go of their own hypotheses in this process. They report that this allowed for a greater working relationship with the client family. In education a similar collaborative stance can be taken for adults; the educator can serve as a consultant who "draws out" the local knowledge of learners and helps them integrate such knowledge into an overall academic program.

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY:
A theory based on a biological model of living systems as whole entities which maintain themselves through continuous input and output from the environment; developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy (from Nichols & Schwartz, 1991). Under this perspective, the human person is a living system, as is any couple, family, or community.

HYPERREALITY:
Stemming from philosopher Jean Baudrillard, this theory of reality is an attempt to come to grips with the fact that we live in an image-saturated culture. Hyperreality is a postmodern sense of the real that accounts for our loss of certainty in being able to distinguish clearly and hierarchically between reality and its representation, and in being able to distinguish clearly and hierarchically between the modes of its representation (from Fiske, 1996).

MODERNISM:
Although the word "modern" has chiefly been used to mean "now" or 'current period' (from Cahoone 1996) 'modernism' be viewed as the principle intellectual and scientific movement which sprang out of The Enlightenment. Burgmann (1992) states that we can think of modernism as the conjunction of Bacon's, Descartes's, and Locke's projects, as the fusion of the domination of nature with the primacy of method and the sovereignty of the individual. Modernism eventually gave rise to positivism, a movement which began in the early nineteenth century, and defined by Lincoln & Guba (1985) as "a family of philosophies characterized by an extremely positive evaluation of science and scientific method", and which became the chief modality upon which 19^th and 20th century scientific inquiry has been based.

MULTIPHRENIC CONDITION:
Refers to a sense of self associated with the current 'postmodern' era; and brought on as the technologies of social saturation (e.g., communication technologies, television, etc.) expose us to an enormous range of persons, new forms of relationship, unique circumstances and opportunities, and special intensities of feeling. Related to the ingestion of enormous amounts of information, the multiphrenic condition refers to a division of the self into a chaotic multiplicity of often competing concerns, opportunities, and ruminations; a multiplicity of self-investments (from Gergen, 1991). Related somewhat to hyperreality (see definition of 'hyperreality').

NATURALISM:
An alternative paradigm (to positivism, in research inquiry), which is now traveling under the name "naturalistic". It has other aliases as well, for example: postpositivistic, ethnographic, phenomenological, subjective, case study, qualitative, hermeneutic, humanistic. What is salient is that , first, no manipulation on the part of the inquirer is implied, and, second, the inquirer imposes no a priori units on the outcome; meanings/ conclusions of any kind are arrived at between the researcher and the researched through a process of collaborative dialogue (from Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

PARADIGM:
A paradigm is a world view, a general perspective, a way of breaking down the complexity of the real world. As such, paradigms are deeply embedded in the socialization of adherents and practitioners: paradigms tell them what is important, legitimate, and reasonable. Paradigms are also normative, telling the practitioner what to do without the necessity of long existential or epistemological consideration. But it is this aspect of paradigms that constitutes both their strength and their weakness - their strength in that it makes action possible, their weakness in that the very reason for action is hidden in the unquestioned assumptions of the paradigm (from Patton, 1978, p.203, as cited in Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
In reference to the individual, a paradigm is seen as an underlying philosophy or framework by which we make sense of the world (from Steven R. Covey, 1990)
This underlying framework is usually influenced by our experiences with family and others over the course of our lifespan (Shotter, 1993), and includes our beliefs and values. Shotter expands further on this by stating that the frames of reference making up this framework are drawn from a "multiplicity of interconnecting social and cultural narratives".

POSITIVISM:
The belief that we can only know what we can immediately apprehend. That which exists is what we perceive to exist (from Burr, 1996). In research, positivist scientific investigation uses the hypothetico-deductive method; the results provide either support for or refutation of the theory being tested (Guba, 1990, as cited in Linfield, 1995).

POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY:
A phrase applied to Europe and the U.S. in the last third of the twentieth century, in which the problems of production have been solved. By implication it is a society now confronted with questions of priority, ecological balance, and justice (from Weisbord, 1978, p. 76).

POSTMODERNISM:
Refers to two distinct sets of phenomena: those occurring in social and cultural theory, and those actually taking place in society (from S. Lash, 1990). In social and cultural theory: refers to the rejection of 'grand narratives' in theory and the replacement of a search for truth with a celebration of the multiplicity of (equally valid) perspectives (from Burr, 1996); in part, a new term for post-structuralism in the arts (from Sarup, 1989).
In society: postmodernism refers to a description of a new type of society (from Sarup, 1989); a contemporary experience (typically described in terms of fragmentation, self-conscious irony and pastiche) (from Lowe, 1992); current conditions in society, largely a by-product of the technologies of social saturation (from Gergen, 1991).

POST-STRUCTURALISM:
Refers to the rejection of structuralism's search for explanatory structures underlying social phenomena. In linguistics, also the view that the meanings of signs (e.g., words) are not fixed, but shifting and contestable (from Burr, 1996). Post-structuralists, like Foucault, want to deconstruct the conceptions by means of which we have so far understood the human (from Sarup, 1989).

REFLEXIVITY:
Refers to a term used by social constructionists to refer to the application of a theory back onto itself and its practices (from Burr, 1996). For example, therapists utilizing a second order cybernetics/postmodern perspective engage in a self-reflexivity as part of the way in which they interact with their clients (see 'cybernetics: second order'). What this means, in essence, is that the researcher shifts from an "observing other"; and gathering information to an observing/participating with other while also observing oneself's observational and participatory practices. In the CPU model the learner is engaged in observing oneself (local experience and knowledge) for the purpose of integrating it into an academic program. The University agents are also engaged in a similar practice, in that they are observing how they participate with the learner in helping to "draw out" the learner's already existing knowledge. There is an effort to flatten the traditional learner/educator hierarchy by de-objectifying the learner. The faculty recognizes that the learner already possesses certain knowledge that is equivalent to credit worthy endeavors - the attempt is to create a level playing field where both self and other in the equation are equals with different ranges of expertise, a collaborative process.

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM:
A theoretical orientation which underpins the newer approaches currently offering radical and critical alternatives in psychology, social psychology, and other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities; these newer approaches include such terms as 'critical psychology', 'discourse analysis', 'deconstruction', and 'post-structuralism' (from Burr, 1996). Social constructionism is also known as relational theory. Social constructionist inquiry is "principally concerned with explicating the processes by which people come to describe, explain, or otherwise account for the world (including themselves) in which they live" (from Gergen, 1985). Social constructionism holds the view that people create reality (or culture) through discursive interaction (talking, communicating directly or through literature, print and other media). Coupled with this is the notion that culture creates mind, thus indicating that such processes are relationally recursive; that is, the individual in discursive interaction has the ability to influence others, and be influenced by the greater community and/or through its agents (media, etc.) (Bruner, 1996, as cited in Shotter, 1996). The social constructionist approach places a large emphasis on the identification of discourses within disciplines. Such discourses, usually spoken and written, contain and reinforce the paradigm that the discipline adheres to. Realities are shaped to a large degree by such discourse. One aspect of such discourse is the notion that knowledge must be taught via an educator/learner interaction. This aspect of the higher education discourse oppresses, marginalizes, and subjugates local knowledge, thereby keeping it from being privileged in an academic environment without being taught in a traditional interactive format.

STRUCTURALISM:
The belief in and search for explanatory structures which are held to give rise to the 'surface' phenomena of, for example, society or human thought and behavior (from Burr, 1996). Any theory (e.g., psychoanalytical theory, or a first order cybernetics systems theory) which claims the ability to clarify human thought or human behavior/interaction is essentially structuralist.

SYSTEMS THEORY:
A generic term for studying a group of related elements that interact as a whole entity; encompasses general systems theory and cybernetics (from Nichols & Schwartz, 1991). To envision a family as a system would imply that one is utilizing systems theory as a lens with which to understand the family. A distinct racial culture can be visualized as a system, as can a couple who are having a relationship. Even a workplace can be visualized as a system, and is done so frequently in otther to understand the dynamics of organizational behavior.

TEXT:
Anything which can be "read" for meaning. As well as written material, this potentially includes pictorial images, clothes, buildings, food, consumer goods and so on (from Burr, 1996).



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