[NLA] building policy vision

[Eileen Eckert]

Hi Catherine, and others,
Catherine, you're right that the themes I listed are consistent with the 
ideals of western democracy. I was operating mainly in the framework of 
cognitive psychology, but I think Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, for 
example, has its own roots in the fundamentally democratic work of Jon 
Dewey. While you see what I've written through the lens of your work on 
building/protecting democracy (sorry, I can't do justice to your position), 
my own experiences with liberation work that is not so classically "western" 
also heavily influence my ideas.

Involvement in anti-apartheid and other human rights work; travel to EL 
Salvador and study of Latin American revolutionary struggles and the role of 
popular education and literacy work in those struggles; community organizing 
here; learning within a progressive framework; past participation in 
program-, regional-, and state-level policymaking; extending teacher-student 
and colleague relationships to know the people I've worked with beyond their 
official roles--all of these and other experiences contribute to my current 
level of understanding. They're also mostly outside the scope of teacher 
preparation and certification mandates. I wouldn't say that everybody should 
have the same experience and background, but I would argue vehemently 
against policy that privileges one approach/philosophy of learning to the 
exclusion or marginalization of others, or that sets boundaries that can 
fence us into too small an arena. I would also say that the broader our 
conception of the field, and our willingness to include many different 
voices in the discussion, the more effective and powerful we will be. That's 
another reason I think it's so important that we look at the basic 
assumptions we make and the (often tacit) mental models we apply to our 
advocacy work.

This thread has reminded me of a diversity-training workshop I once 
attended, where one participant refused to leave the level of political 
analysis and look inward at his own personal beliefs and actions. While it's 
certainly important to be able to analyze the world, I believe we also need 
to be able to look at ourselves. I asked if people would share the personal 
principles that guide their own actions. A couple have used my own as the 
basis for further dialogue, but no one has shared their individual view of 
the "big picutre" or the principles they bring to advocacy efforts. I don't 
want to make assumptions about why this is so. Maybe most people deleted my 
message without reading it, or just aren't interested in this line of 
dialogue. Maybe this list doesn't feel like a safe place to share personal 
reflections. I know I hesitated to share my own, and what I shared is more 
academic and less "me" than it would be if I were <entirely> among friends. 
But if we are going to advocate for policy that affects the field as a 
whole, don't we have some responsibility to both engage in reflection about 
how it all fits together, and to be accountable to ourselves by being open 
about what we're advocating, and why?







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