Lifted by the Heart: Writings from Option- Journal of the Folk Education Association of America edited by Chris Spicer. Circumstantial Productions, 214 pages, 2009.
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The love that an educator exercises must contain genuine respect toward others, and a healthy humility about oneself. |
EDITORIAL AND REVIEW
On a recent road trip from my home in Minneapolis to Nova Scotia and down the East Coast to Atlanta I had the privilege of visits with both Chris Spicer in Northampton, Massachusetts and Kay Parke at her retirement home in Black Mountain, North Carolina. I first met them both in the 1990s when I joined them for a short stint on the Folk Education Association of America (FEAA) board. This book was in its final stages of production when I visited so I didn’t get to see it, and thus did not get to heap compliments on the two in person for a fine piece of work: Chris for the choices he made in putting the book together and Kay for leaving the legacy of her work in the journal, Option, from whose pages the book is constructed.
This book is the best introduction I know to folk school and folk education in North America – what Chris advocates calling “people’s education.” This is a tradition that has inspired many, including famously, Myles Horton, whose piece in the book describes his experiences in Denmark that preceded the founding of Highlander. The Danish Folk School is also a part of my inspiration for educational work. In the 1969-70 academic year while supervising the teaching practice of future mathematics teachers in the College of Education at the University of Minnesota I also conducted a year-long Free University class that met in my apartment. I called the class “Free Schools and Some Educational Alternatives.” The very first meeting of that class was about Danish Folk Schools. An undergraduate classmate of mine who had just returned from a folk school in Denmark was the guest speaker for the evening. It was a pleasure to find an article in this collection by her, an article describing both her experience creating a folk school here in Minneapolis in the early 1970s, and her returning to Denmark for a lifetime career in folk schools.
During the road trip mentioned above I also stopped for a short visit in Northern Maine with Alan Furth, the current FEAA board chair. The folk school and folk education tradition of the past is not the only inspiration for educational work building democracy and community. The Cobscook Community Learning Center in Lubec, Maine which he directs is an extraordinary project in the present, a living version of this tradition. Check them out at www.cclc.org.
More information about the book
From the Forward by Chris Spicer:
People's education is an on-going experimental process, It is a way of learning together that supports our search,
our growth, our need co express, and to seek. It keeps us anchored in a place and in a culture of community. It provides the possibility where, as Grundtvig writes, "all who attend... could return to their task with increased desire, with clearer views of human and civic conditions ... and with an increased joy in the community of the people."
This book is organized into four sections. The Introductory section is designed to provide a flavor of the journal Option, as well as set an artistic sense for the discussion and portrayal of people's education. It begins as an issue of Option would have traditionally started—with an editorial—in this case, a handful of long-time Editor Kay Parke's writings, pieces which capture Kay's no-nonsense, dedicated and very personal style. "The Roots of Folk Education" includes articles focusing on the theoretical and practical aspects of Grundtvig's ideas and legacy by Danes and Danish Americans well versed in the history and practice. For those new to these ideas, here is some foundation for the educational principles and pedagogy.
The heart of this story is to be found in the third section, "Folk Education in North America." This collection begins in nineteenth century America and stretches over one hundred years to the 1990s to include sketches of the newest experiments (at the Audubon Expedition Institute in Maine and Plaza Resolana in Santa Fe, New Mexico.)
Finally, a "Reflections" section serves two purposes. It begins with three articles revisiting some of the essential principles of folk education from a contemporary perspective—from a Dane, a Swede and our co-founder, Kay Parke (the only article in this collection not actually printed in Option). The three subsequent articles provide some review of ongoing work carried out by FEAA over the years to find definition and connection for folk education in our relatively unreceptive North American culture. The final article discusses the international scope of Grundtvig's inspiration.
We hope this book energizes learners and teachers across towns, states, and provinces of North America, and the world. We hope it inspires all of us to keep digging out more of the story. And to keep the story unfolding.
From the DEDICATION by Mary Cattoni
This book is dedicated to three "awakening, enlivening and enlightening" spirits who founded and guided the Folk Education Association of America, FEAA, through its 30-year history: to Kay Parke, longtime Editor of Option, in whose honor this volume was originally conceived as a Festschrift in celebration other 90th birthday; to John Ramsay, co-founder with Kay, of FEAA at Berea College, in 1977; to Chris Spicer, who carried forward the mission and work of the Association from 1988 on, under the name Folk Education Association of America (FEAA), and later as the Institute for People's Education and Action (IPEA).
All three were inspired in part by their experiences with the Scandinavian Folk High Schools to bring together like-spirited educational endeavors in the U. S. wherever they may be. Kay and John met at Berea College in 1973, at a time when each had been touched by Scandinavian folk high school experiences of their own and were interested to further similar endeavors in the U. S. Kay, who had been Librarian at the New York Agricultural and Technical College in Cobleskill, NY, had spent a sabbatical year of research at Ringerike folk high school in Norway in 1958-1959, and had visited many schools there, and in Sweden and Denmark.
In the years to come, she returned many times to Scandinavia, visiting many more schools, and deepening her interest. John had been teaching and was Director of Campbell Folk School, when in 1971, he had the opportunity to see the Danish folk schools in action when he visited Denmark for a seminar on Grundtvig. That experience, as he has said, "put the seal on my zeal," inspiring him to form a series of summer seminars in at Danish folk high schools which continued for many years. They both wanted to see if the spirit of the Scandinavian movement could be captured for U. S. education. Realizing that there were several separate efforts toward this end going on in the U.S., they saw that if those could be brought together, they might be able to have a greater impact on American education and society. And so the Folk Education Association of American was formed.