Hello class,

The first part of the last assignment I mentioned is now online. I am requiring this because I noticed that attendance declined in the last week or so, and yet some questions or grapevine comments I obtained led me to question whether people had adequately reflected on what I have been attempting to teach you or at least encourage you to consider. So I felt that in the last week it will be useful to review this in a more structured format.

It is due Tuesday which as a reminder you are required to attend for course credit. Detailed instructions are in the document online in course documents (on blackboard). It is not graded for right answers, it is only required that you respond thoughtfully and participate in sharing what your reflections and studies this semester have brought you to now.

Not much activity here yet.  Anyone here ever been part of a forum?  I admit, I'm usually more of a lurker when it comes to open posting, but we don't have much time left, and I'd like to get a little collection of op/ed pieces laid down here.  In fact, if Chris creates blogs for his future classes, I wouldn't mind contributing to those as well.

Anyway, I thought I'd show y'all some links I found today.  We all have pretty similar views on psychology; where it can take us, what we can accomplish, and what kind of schooling we need to go through in order to get to our desired roles.  I, however, identify with Carolyn the most.  To say that you are wasting your time and money on college is taboo most places, and Eastern is not the exception.  Hell, half of us freaked out about Chris's rogue teaching strategy, despite the fact that we're sitting in our other classes wishing we didn't have to write papers, and go through the ritualistic mental binge and purge.

I understand that some of you are different.  Some students find pleasure in the traditional exploration of knowledge.  Because we are an accredited university, we are socially required to make the traditional procedure (that is, poring over textbooks) the standard.  If you are offended by a class that takes a different route (or in our case, grabs a machete and makes its own),  ask yourself why.  Is it because you prefer learning through textbooks and tests?  If so, what's stopping you?  If you have the motivation, you can easily buy a textbook and absorb the information.  In fact, if you want the information, look at all the books to offer!  You don't have to be enrolled in an Ivy League to buy the textbook.  If you have the ability to truly learn in a class taught traditionally, you have the ability to take it into your own hands and learn it yourself.

Granted, my thoughts on this class are a little late in the game, but hey, I told you I was a lurker.

Here's an article from Forbes on why college might not be so necessary.

Eric

Resources related to today's discussion

Today we talked about two places that present noteworthy alternatives to the norms of diagnosing and either institutionalizing or isolating those who are different or extraordinary.

L'Arche

Here is the book I am reading where I learned about these communities where the so-called normal folks try to live and love with so called different folks on a basis of equality rather than separation: Living Gently in a Violent World by Hauerwas and Vanier.

Interestingly for us, this community was founded by Christians, although it is open to people of all faiths. Here is the wikipedia page about their international network of communities.

Here are their USA communities. I noticed they have one in Erie PA and Washington DC. Although we obviously can't get to one in an hour and a half during our scheduled class time, I would be open to coordinating a visit with any students who are interested in learning from them first hand. I would be willing to volunteer my time over a weekend or break. If the spirit is willing but the wallet is weak, we will find a solution, so that won't be a barrier.

Vidarasen and other villages in europe

Here is the book by Nils Christie: Beyond Loneliness and Institutions

It sounds like it shares some basic similarities with L'Arche, without the religious origin, and with several differences in practice too. So far I couldn't find any official website for these communities (either that, or it was in Norwegian and I can't tell... and my family never passed on their knowledge of Swedish, which is different enough from Norwegian anyway).

However here is a review of a film about Vidarasen and another similar community in Russia.

Although neither of these books are of course going to be required at this point, it would really be helpful if someone interested chooses to read them and give me feedback about whether they might be useful to assign to future classes.

Finally we talked about the Simple Way, which as far as I know isn't a community where 'normal' and 'disabled' live together (although I'm starting to feel that normality is pretty disabled). However it is an interesting alternative community and they do outreach to different people who live around them. I had difficulty getting into contact with them even though I tried getting involved in the church that they seemed to be affiliated with. BTW as you may know this place was set up by Shane Claiborne, our celebrated Eastern grad. I read his book with Chris Haw: 'Jesus for President' before the Fall term and it's one of the things that (a) convinced me that Eastern might have some potential to support the ideals I read about in the gospel but hardly encountered in a church and (b) to be skeptical in this political season and start taking responsibility for change rather than deferring hopes for that onto leaders.