I’ve had the pleasure this week to attend the 2006 Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL) International Conference in Boston. CAEL is a national, nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand learning opportunities for adults by working to remove policy and organizational barriers. I enjoy attending the annual CAEL conference because there are so many colleges and universities around the world doing exciting work with adult learners, and the folks I met this year were no exception.

One particular session really resonated with me. The presenter for “Narrating Lives: From Silence to Civic Engagement” was Dr. Barbara Vacarr, associate professor and director of the Learning Community Bachelor’s Program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Vacarr also interviews Holocaust survivors and collects their stories on video for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.

Vacarr is an avid proponent of transformative learning theory, which was pioneered by Dr. Jack Mezirow and essentially refers to the learning that takes place when an adult becomes aware of the life events that have shaped who they are and what assumptions they make (both consciously and unconsciously). These life events are our “stories”; transformative theory suggests that true learning can only happen when we assess and reflect on the consequences of our lifelong assumptions and investigate alternative ways of thinking.

Adult learners bring their stories to the classroom—there are some they might share (e.g., marital status, number of kids, profession), but it’s the “silent” stories that are often the ones that fuel adults creatively and shape who they are. The inequities we have experienced in life—whether economic, political, generational, historical, etc.—as well as the privileges—will impact the way we learn.

Vacarr shared with us the story of one of her students. Beth (not her real name), who came from a privileged upbringing, registered for one of Vacarr’s Holocaust studies courses, which included a weekend trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Vacarr informed all of her students that they should dress casually, in jeans and sneakers, to ensure comfort on the trip. Which everyone did—except Beth. Beth arrived at the bus freshly manicured and pedicured, looking (as Vacarr described it) as if she had just walked out of a top fashion magazine. Other students kept their distance. At the end of the weekend, Vacarr wasn’t sure the experience had any impact on Beth. Everyone parted ways.

Some months later, Beth stopped by Vacarr’s office with a story to tell. She had been in a local grocery store when she overheard a woman asking the store manager where the baby formula was kept. “I’ll get it for you,” the manager said. “We keep it locked up.” If it had happened a year prior, Beth said, she would have gone about her business thinking nothing of the exchange. But something about the woman’s question snapped Beth back to Vacarr’s class—back to the Holocaust Museum and her role as bystander to unthinkable oppression. She found herself walking over to the store manager and asking why the baby formula was kept locked away.

“Because there are indigent people who come in and steal it,” he replied.

Beth was stunned. “There are people in Cambridge who steal?” she thought. Then she thought, “there are people who actually steal baby formula?” And finally she realized, if there are people stealing baby formula, people must really need it. Therein laid Beth’s “disorienting dilemma”—a situation that didn’t fit the assumptions created by her life of privilege and was the necessary catalyst for transformative learning.

Beth left the store, went home, contacted the Enfamil company, and a few months later was running a successful baby formula program out of the basement of her church.

“My personal environment had prevented me from understanding there were people in real need,” Beth explained.

What are the silent stories you’re carrying with you? How can World Campus help you examine them and, perhaps, transform them into new ways of thinking?

Posted: Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
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