From listproc@pulsar.acast.nova.edu Mon Oct 13 18:45:07 1997 Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:16:01 -0400 From: listproc@pulsar.acast.nova.edu To: aedmod@fcae.acast.nova.edu Subject: GET HORIZONS VOL8N2 (1/1) Archive HORIZONS, file vol8n2. Part 1/1, total size 97056 bytes: ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------ ********************************************************** ********************************************************** ******************** ******************** ************* ************* ******* ******* **** **** *** *** ** ** * NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION * * ISSN. 1062-3183 * ********************************************************** Volume 8 Number 2 Spring 1994 ********************************************************** EDITORS Nancy Gadbow................Nova Southeastern University Maria Ligas.................Nova Southeastern University COPY EDITOR Donald Rigg.................Nova Southeastern University EDITORIAL BOARD H. K. (Morris) Baskett......The University of Calgary Ina Sue Brown...............Syracuse University Dale Cook...................Kent State University Karen Garver................University of Nebraska Susan Imel..................Ohio State University Jan Jackson.................California State University Janice Johnson..............University of British Columbia John Kingsbury..............Nova Southeastern University Patricia Lawler.............Widener University Norma Long..................College of Notre Dame of Maryland Robert Preziosi.............Nova Southeastern University Mark Rossman................Walden University Burt Sisco..................University of Wyoming Sue Slusarski...............Syracuse University Marlene Smadu...............Nova Southeastern University NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION is a refereed journal published by Nova Southeastern University's Programs for Higher Education. The journal is transmitted electronically through the Adult Education Network (AEDNET), accessible through BITNET and Internet. There is no charge for NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION as received electronically. Copyright of individual articles is retained by the authors. Any item that appears in NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION may be retreived without permission. However, when this material is quoted or reproduced, the author, title of the item, and issues must be cited. To correspond with NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION send email to horizons@alpha.acast.nova.edu or send postal mail to NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION, Nova Southeastern University, Programs for Higher Education, 3301 College Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314. page 2 N E W H O R I Z O N S I N A D U L T E D U C A T I O N CONTENTS Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 I N T R O D U C T I O N Editor's Preface .......................................... 2 A R T I C L E S The Singing Heart of Highlander Folk School Vicki K. Carter ........................................... 4 Political Correctness, Post-Modernism, and Academic Adult Education William S. Griffith ....................................... 25 F O R Y O U R I N F O R M A T I O N Cumulative Index to New Horizons .......................... 31 How to Obtain Back Issues of New Horizons ................. 35 Call for Manuscripts ...................................... 35 Announcement of Special Theme Issue ....................... 36 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 EDITOR'S PREFACE This issue of NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION contains two articles. The first article THE SINGING HEART OF HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL by Vicki Carter presents the story of Zilphia Horton whose contributions to the Highlander Folk School greatly enhanced the role of the arts, especially music, in the programs there. For adult educators Highlander has been a special place in our history where informal adult education has taken on new meaning for those who have read about its programs centered on citizenship, the southern labor movement, and civil rights. Vicki Carter's article captures the significant influence which Zilphia Horton, Highlander's "singing heart," had on cultural pluralism, folk page 3 music, dance, and drama in the school's programs during the period from 1935 to 1956 when she died. Further, by focusing on Zilphia Horton and her work, it offers a different way to view Highlander's history. The second article by William Griffith POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, POST-MODERNISM, AND ACADEMIC ADULT EDUCATION considers this very current issue which professors of adult education and others face on college and university campuses today. He examines the topic of political correctness and the related postmodern foundations, using several examples to illustrate the range of views and complexity of the problem. He suggests some steps that professors of adult education and students can take to approach this problem as they pursue the disciplined study of their field. This INTERACTIVE ARTICLE will no doubt stimulate some active discussion on this topic. Directions for response are given at the end of this article. page 4 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 THE SINGING HEART OF HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL Vicki K. Carter The Pennsylvania State University ABSTRACT From 1932 until 1961, the Highlander Folk School conducted informal adult education programs focused on the southern labor movement, citizenship, and civil rights. Beginning in 1935 until her death in 1956, Zilphia Horton, first wife of Highlander's founder Myles Horton, enhanced the cultural pluralism of the school by developing a curriculum which incorporated and elevated the importance of folk music, dance, and drama. This paper discusses the life and contributions of Zilphia Horton, Highlander's "singing heart," and addresses the role of music in particular, and the arts in general, at Highlander. Two frequently neglected areas of adult education history (women and culture) are highlighted by examining Zilphia Horton's presence at Highlander. In Charleston, South Carolina, during the fall of 1945, the Food and Tobacco Workers walked out on the American Tobacco Company. The predominantly black and female union membership persisted in their strike, picketing for more than five months through periods of miserably wet and cold weather. To raise drooping spirits they began to "sing themselves away" with the hymn "I'll Be All Right Someday" ("Moment of History," 1965, p. 37). Nearly 45 years later in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a pro-democracy student was photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the English words "We Shall Overcome" (Anderson, 1990). These two events, occurring at opposite sides of the world and separated by two generations, were nevertheless joined through the artistry and life work of Zilphia Mae Johnson Horton, portrayed by Dunson (1965, p. 28) as the "singing heart" of Highlander Folk School. page 5 From 1932 until 1961, Highlander Folk School provided adult education centered around the southern labor movement, citizenship, and civil rights (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). In UNEARTHING SEEDS OF FIRE, Adams cautioned that school founder Myles Horton's dominant personality may have overshadowed not only its plan for social action but also other talented and committed individuals associated with Highlander. Myles' first wife, Zilphia, was such a person. This paper examines Zilphia Horton and her distinguished work in the categories of teaching and administration, drama, and folk music. Zilphia Horton's contribution to the evolution of the well-known song "We Shall Overcome" is also traced. The legacy left by Zilphia Horton and an analysis of the role of folk music in particular, and the arts in general, in education for social action at Highlander Folk School complete this study. For the most part the paper uses secondary sources which have recounted the history of the Highlander Folk School. These sources were drawn mostly from the literature of adult education and from music history. Highlander's various initiatives are more than adequately covered in the major scholarly efforts of Glen and Aimee Horton (Myles Horton's second wife), in the more emotional but less objective work of Adams and Bledsoe, and a variety of journal articles, essays, and books, some about Highlander and others by or about Myles Horton. A few of these authors knew Zilphia Horton, most did not. In reading widely in the adult education sources, the contributions of Zilphia Horton were unfailingly mentioned, woven into the thematic fabric of the different movements, residential sessions, and events. At no time, however, was Zilphia taken from the margins and put at the center where her work could be explored as standing on its own. In many ways, in fact, the literature of music history acclaimed her work more than the studies of Highlander did. Therefore, it is in the spirit of the recent historiography of women and other marginalized groups that this "sidebar" highlighting Zilphia Horton is offered as a way to view Highlander's history a bit differently. Zilphia Zilphia Mae Johnson was born on April 14, 1910 in the mining town of Spadra, Arkansas, where her father owned and operated a coal mine. She was of Spanish and Indian heritage. Zilphia played and studied piano from the age of five, and then attended the College of the Ozarks from 1929 through 1932 where she majored in music. Following graduation page 6 she taught school in Arkansas for two years and, during this time, won top awards in the state for piano and voice. Zilphia's interest in the labor movement began to unfold when radical Presbyterian minister, Claude Williams, attempted to organize her father's workers for the Progressive Miners' Union. After she refused to honor her father's request to sever her connection with Williams and his church, she was disowned and forced from her home because of her "revolutionary Christian attitudes" (Glen, 1988, p. 34). Zilphia's appearance at Highlander Folk School, early in 1935, set in motion events which helped make the school a landmark in adult education for social change. Her visit to Highlander was intended to provide her with a fundamental understanding of the labor movement in preparation for moving on to a more established school such as Brookwood Labor College. Instead of the brief sojourn she had planned, Zilphia married Myles Horton just two months after her arrival and stayed for 21 years (Bledsoe, 1969; Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989; M. Horton, 1990; Parker & Parker, 1991; ZILPHIA HORTON FOLK MUSIC COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 6, 1964). One of Highlander's goals was "conservation and enrichment of the indigenous cultural values of the mountains" (cited in Peters & Bell, 1987, p. 250). The Danish folk school, conceived in the late nineteenth century by Bishop N.S.F. Grundtvig and Kristen Kold, was one of the models Myles Horton had used to conceptualize a structure for the school he created in 1932 (Adams, 1975). The Danish schools had revitalized native culture, emphasizing music and poetry because "a revolutionary spark seemed inherent in these ways of communicating" (p. 23). Zilphia's strong determination to use her musical and dramatic talents in an activist manner provided the impetus for fulfilling the objective of similar cultural components at Highlander (Adams, 1975; Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). Accounts of Zilphia's personal traits and attributes reveal a number of seemingly disparate characteristics. For example, Glen (1988) represented her as calm and quiet. Aleine Austin (1991), who knew Zilphia as a Highlander student and teacher, portrayed her as a tall woman having high cheek bones, almond shaped eyes, long black hair, and a "completely open and natural manner" (p. 49). Pete Seeger described her singing voice as unpretentious, not the "show-off" kind (Austin, 1991). Yet, Adams (1975) and Myles Horton (1990) both reported that Mrs. Horton, who subsequently bragged about the accomplishment, was accurate enough with a pistol to page 7 extinguish a cigarette. Glen (1988) and Austin (1991) further describe her as dynamic, vital, buoyant, and charismatic which seem to support this latter depiction. According to Bledsoe (1969) her alto voice was strong, powerful, and intense; she encouraged people to sing, whether in small groups or in the thousands, whether they were attending a residential session or walking the picket line. Through her ability to relate warmly to people who differed from her and from each other, Zilphia was able to inspire trust and confidence and was able to help people forget personal problems and begin to forge understanding. Seeger commented that her "straightforward directness couldn't help but affect anybody who came into contact with her," and her approach to music and singing favored Black singers and the Black church (Austin, 1991, p. 50). All sorts of people who, under normal circumstances, would not sing with strangers, would sing for Zilphia. During evenings at Highlander she would share the songs she had collected, often playing traditional mountain instruments in accompaniment. Having sung together, the cohesion required for sharing commitments became easier (Adams, 1975; Austin, 1991). In their personal lives, the Hortons lived simply, starting out in a one-room log cabin without running water. They had two children: a son, Thorsten, born in 1943, and a daughter, Charis, born in 1945 (Adams, 1975). In a St. Louis POST DISPATCH article commemorating Highlander's second quarter-century, May Justus, one of the Folk School's friends and neighbors, said Zilphia, more than anyone else, "made glad the hearts of young and old alike" with her musical abilities (cited in Bledsoe, 1969, p. 95). Zilphia was active in most facets of Highlander Folk School, working, until 1954, without remuneration. As a member of the teaching staff and the school's musical director from 1935 until 1956, she also served as fund raiser, consultant, lobbyist, evaluator of programs and workshops, and on the Executive Council. She collected hundreds of songs, published songbooks, and corresponded with famous contemporaries on a variety of topics (Dunson, 1965; M. Horton, 1990; ZILPHIA HORTON FOLK MUSIC COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 6, 1964). Zilphia Horton was considered to be a highly effective, capable, and popular teacher committed to working within Highlander's structure of residential courses, community interests, and extension activities. As a staff member she also participated in pre- and post-analyses of extension projects and strike activities. Within three years of her page 8 arrival at Highlander Folk School, she had assumed responsibility for an integrated cultural program which enhanced the school's reputation among southern workers while consolidating and enlivening its residential curriculum (Glen, 1988). Zilphia's involvement in activities outside the school's cultural program, some of which are highlighted in the following section, confirms her broad-based skills and overall commitment to social action and other Highlander goals. Zilphia as Teacher and Administrator Toward the end of 1937, during her second year at Highlander, Zilphia joined other school constituents in La Follette, Tennessee, helping to set up a shirtworkers' union numbering over 1,000 members and organizing an education rally to teach new members basic labor organization. Union primers were used to acquaint members with parliamentary procedure and methods associated with unionization efforts. Opening the classes with singing led by Zilphia became a traditional part of this process (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). In 1938, along with Eleanor Roosevelt and Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, she attended the first Southern Conference for Human Welfare (S.C.H.W.) convention in Birmingham, Alabama. The S.C.H.W. was a prominent southern alliance and interracial coalition hoping to relieve economic problems and forge political and racial change in the late 1930s and 1940s (Glen, 1988). In 1940, Zilphia's activities stretched beyond community and regional interests. She became a member of the YWCA National Sub-committee on Music (Zilphia Horton Folk Music Collection, 1964). And, in a dual role as fund-raiser and artist, and for an audience including congressional representatives and cabinet members, Zilphia performed at a December, 1940 benefit concert in Washington, DC. The event, organized with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, included poetry reading by Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress. Zilphia sang with famed blues singer Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. At her urging, Leadbelly premiered his now classic commentary on racial discrimination, "Bourgeois Blues." The concert was a public relations victory as well as a financial success for the school (Glen, 1988; "Program Assists School," 1940; Thomas, 1968). Zilphia participated in a three-day session to analyze and review the 1942 extension program for C.I.O. unions in New Orleans. The following year in Knoxville, while continuing to lead the union membership in labor songs, she also trained page 9 officers in grievance procedures (Glen, 1988). In his discussions with Paulo Freire, Myles Horton spoke of his admiration for Zilphia's talent for teaching grievance handling; he felt she kept people's interest by using dramatics and through role-playing, an unnamed technique at that time (Horton & Freire, 1990). Starting in 1947, as Highlander unsuccessfully struggled to build programs for local farmers, Myles and Zilphia assumed most of the responsibility for course development, education conferences, and rally organization for both white and black union members. The formation of the first black farmers local in the state was one positive outcome from this initiative (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). In the late 1940s, having broadened its focus to include the southern labor movement in general, Highlander began renewing its presence in the community, working toward stronger local acceptance of the school's racially integrated structure. As part of this process, Zilphia presided over a community club between 1950 and 1952 (Glen, 1988). Also during this time, accusations began which labeled the school as sympathetic toward Communism, accusations which helped to alienate Highlander from its previous partnership with the C.I.O. An example of this estrangement was found in a disparaging reference to Zilphia and "her notoriously radical husband" in ALABAMA, a publication representing the state's large farming interests (cited in Glen, 1988, p. 116). Reacting to the change in the C.I.O., unions in general, and their increasingly oppressive racist attitudes, Zilphia commented in 1952, "[the unions] have become so reactionary and . . . so complacent they've lost their ideals, and I don't care anything about singing for people like that" (cited in Thomas, 1968, p. 41). Sometime earlier in her 1945 C.I.O. School evaluation, Zilphia had somewhat prophetically noted another union issue, that of gender, when she described the bitterness expressed by male students against women in industry (Glen, 1988). Thomas recounted that during this period "the labor movement became middle-aged and institutionalized and ceased to be a singing movement" (p. 41). A small group consisting of Myles, Zilphia, and three new staff members were responsible for coordinating the emerging integration and civil rights program at Highlander. In anticipation of the movement, the school had developed workshops on public school integration (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). In November, 1954, Zilphia represented the school at a page 10 Charleston, South Carolina N.A.A.C.P. dinner attended by Justice Thurgood Marshall and J. Waties Waring, the judge who had outlawed the exclusion of blacks from Democratic party primaries (Tjerandsen, 1980). She traveled to Charleston frequently during the developmental stage of the South Carolina Sea Islands Citizenship School, evaluating Johns Island in terms of its potential as a prototype site. Her first visit included a controversial overnight stay with black project leader Esau Jenkins (Bledsoe, 1969). For the predominantly black and isolated Sea Islanders, her trip signified "a glimpse into a new world" (cited in A. Horton, 1989, p. 218). Zilphia sang for the islanders at school and at church, her own study of southern music broadened by exposure to their Gullah dialect and "shouting" style of performing the old spirituals. Zilphia and Myles laid the groundwork for this successful Highlander initiative that was subsequently transferred to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1961 (G. Carawan & C. Carawan, 1989; A. Horton, 1989). Strangely, Zilphia's name was absent from most other school records in the 1950s after having played a substantial role in the labor movement of the past two decades. Her activities, narratives, and recommendations had been well- represented, but suddenly disappeared from staff meeting minutes, correspondence, and other school documents. There was some speculation around Highlander that Myles was having an affair, a speculation later refuted by family and several staff members. Zilphia, along with the rest of the faculty, shared much disillusionment concerning organized labor, although she continued to sing for labor and farm groups. Possibly feelings of isolation due to the fading labor movement, and/or her husband's involvement in other pursuits were explanations for this notable lack of visibility (Glen, 1988). Drama Drama, as well as music, played an important part in Highlander's approach to adult education. Highlander's initial uses of drama as an educational tool were labor chautauquas, resembling those developed by Brookwood Labor College and staged during August and September, 1935 in Atlanta, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama. The traveling worker's education program included labor plays, puppet anti- war plays, and group singing of labor songs. Zilphia studied workers' theater at the New Theatre School in New York shortly after her marriage. The drama class she taught during the page 11 1936 summer residence term successfully continued the chautauqua style of the course but also taught the theory behind workers' theater. The class wrote a play, held a mock A.F.L. convention, and presented performances as the "Highlander Players" to appreciative union workers in Georgia and Tennessee (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). Under Zilphia's tutelage an emphasis on educating, as opposed to entertaining, those who were participating in the dramas began to emerge. Her approach was consistent with Highlander's experience-based learning philosophy, demonstrating the use of drama for education of union members and for building a union (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). Dramatics or "living newspapers" (Brameld, 1941, p. 146) stimulated attendance at union meetings, addressed important labor issues, outlined union perspectives, and helped individuals develop a sense of worth, power, and self- expression. The goals of Highlander's dramatics classes were similar to those at other workers' schools such as the Bryn Mawr Summer School and the Southern Summer School for Women Workers. Resident students often left with the ability to improvise in a logical, effective manner, and to function as producers, actors, and directors (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). A 1938 student paper discussing drama claimed that "workers' lives have much more drama in them than the average middle class person's . . . . It is out of the lives of workers, out of strikes . . . that drama and art grow" (cited in A. Horton, 1989, p. 118). In the late 1930s and early 1940s, plays in general, and specifically those developed at Highlander, were staged at local unions and other centers of workers' education. Scripts of the most requested Highlander plays such as LABOR SPY, GUMBO, DUES BLUES, and the musical farce LOLLY-POP POPPA, were printed and circulated. Zilphia was the author of LOLLY-POP POPPA as well as composer of its original music. At first, the subject matter of these labor plays focused on employer paternalism and union organization; after World War II, the role of organized labor in the war and poll taxes emerged as topics. The 1938 Elia Kazan film PEOPLE OF THE CUMBERLAND, featuring Highlander's activities among southern workers, was shown for Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House and energized the school's drama efforts (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). Folk Music Music became a vital ingredient at Highlander immediately upon Zilphia Horton's arrival (Glen, 1988). page 12 Unfortunately, Zilphia wrote little about the essence of music and its place at Highlander. Adams (1975) transcribed some of her thoughts: Music is the language of and to life. Music has been too generally thought of as an art form for leisure time, performed and enjoyed by and for the chosen few. The people can be made aware that many of the songs about their everyday lives - songs about their work, hopes, their joys and sorrows - are songs of merit. This gives them a new sense of dignity and pride in their cultural heritage. Their lives can be enriched also by learning folk songs of other nationalities. The folk song grows out of reality. It is this stark reality and genuineness which gives the folk song vitality and strength (p. 76). Zilphia became a collector, publisher, and reviser of folk songs. Many songs were mimeographed and distributed on picket lines, at residence sessions, and at workshops, a practice she had initiated as a resident student (Adams, 1975). Drama carried the "message of Labor" and workers' songs were resources to help students learn "to liven up meetings and picket lines" (cited in A. Horton, 1989, p. 117). Highlander's on-site classes were believed to be the first in the South; often picket line study groups were taught labor songs and group singing techniques which were implemented on the spot. Teaching songs on the picket line was dangerous, as evidenced by the 1935 machine-gun shooting of Wellesley College graduate and Folk School librarian Hilda Hulbert. Adams (1975) recalled Zilphia's description of what took place after the shooting: I looked around and the police had disappeared. There had been quite a few of them around, too. One was lying in a ditch. I said to him, "What are you doing there?" He said, "Well, lady, I've got a wife and three kids!" . . . after the firing stopped, a few of us stood up at the mill gates and started singing "We Shall Not be Moved." . . . people began to come out . . . and we stood and sang . . . . That's what won them recognition. That's what a song means in many places. That song is almost a labor hymn (p. 75). Part of her success with labor leaders was Zilphia's choice of quickly-learned, familiar material. As the musical director and a teacher of music, she urged students not only page 13 to share songs from their personal experiences but also, with the help of her piano or accordion, assisted them in composing words and music to express themselves through their own songs. She would alter the words and invest them with strong elements of protest, thereby providing material suited to the experience and needs of people fighting to improve their lives and circumstances. For instance, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" was transformed into "John L. Lewis Had a Plan, C.I.C.I.O." Her students reinvented "Dixie" as "Look Ahead, Working Men" (Glen, 1988). This "musical surgery" was a part of a "deliberate 'folk process'. . . found throughout the history of protest music" (Thomas, 1968, p. 39). For many programs at Highlander, and for extension activities such as the La Follette rally in 1937, Zilphia developed mimeographed songbooks featuring mountain ballads with labor words (A. Horton, 1989). Bledsoe (1969) described this July 4th Labor Celebration at La Follette as "a Tennessee mountain equivalent of MEISTERSINGER, Act III" (p. 199). The importance of the musical program was well- established by the late 1930s. Teacher and students often sang at local and state C.I.O. union meetings and at workers' education conferences (A. Horton, 1989). Zilphia's cultural program achieved international fame in March, 1937, when the British Broadcasting Corporation presented a concert of Southern Highland music originating from the school (Glen, 1988). Students reported that they "entertained the huge gathering with songs of social significance and our mass chant" at the Tennessee Textile Workers Organizing Committee (cited in A. Horton, 1989, p. 121). Zilphia's relationship with the Textile Workers Union of America (T.W.U.A.) enabled its Southern union leadership and the national union to find a common ground (Dunson, 1965), and she directed the southern delegates' singing at the 1939 Constitutional Convention of the new T.W.U.A. Later in the year she was recognized nationally when the T.W.U.A. published one of her collections, LABOR SONGS, with introductory notes by C.I.O. leaders John L. Lewis, Sidney Hillman, and Emil Rieve (Adams, 1972; Dunson, 1965; A. Horton, 1989). Lewis and Hillman (cited in Thomas, 1968. p. 41) said: A singing army is a winning army, and a singing labor movement cannot be defeated . . . . When hundreds of men and women in a labor union sing together, their individual longing for dignity and freedom are bound into an irrepressible force. Workers who hesitate are swept into the movement . . . united by their purpose and their singing. . . (John L. Lewis). page 14 . . . labor songs . . . have expressed not only the dreams of an aspiring labor movement but have also been properly used as a rallying-cry to maintain discipline, morale and high spirits in great moments of struggle (Sidney Hillman). Through Zilphia's interests and research, Highlander became known as "the singing school" (Tjerandsen, 1980, p. 168) joining Lewis' "singing army" of the southern union movement. Lewis' words also contributed to one Communist proponent's advocacy for LABOR SONGS; he saw "folk music as the solution to the need for labor propaganda songs" (Denisoff, 1971, p. 66). Zilphia and the Highlander Folk School were prominently featured in a 1941 survey of pioneering and promising efforts in American workers' education. In the survey, the "Fifth Yearbook of the John Dewey Society," she was quoted twice. First, she described her dramatics method; later, she commented on her students' interest in song leading classes which "seemed to be based on the growing realization of the need for group singing . . . and consequently the need for leaders" (cited in Brameld, 1941, p. 147). The survey also observed that labor music as "original music written by or for workers" was a "rich field almost untouched" (p. 147). The Tennessee State Library and Archives holds both a 38- page listing of Zilphia's music collection and the full collection in microfilm format as well. A number of these songs were revised and used in the civil rights movement, the most famous being "We Shall Overcome" (Zilphia Horton Folk Music Collection, 1964). A few of the songs still sung today have "continued a militant tradition of native topical song that first blossomed with the Depression, grew with unionization, and then became a vital part of the present civil rights movement" (Dunson, 1965, p. 30). Zilphia's eclectic, wide-ranging collection included mountain ballads, spirituals, hymns, picket line songsheets, and folk, labor, and popular songs. Symbolic of the struggle for democracy and indicative of group feelings, spirituals in particular played a large part in labor singing (Lovell, 1972). Square dance calls, poems, rounds, musical tapes, notes, labor union songbooks, and some published material dealing with folk music completed an index of over 1,300 items. The scope and content note from the Horton collection profiled most of the items as songs of social protest, embracing topics such as Unionism ("Awake You page 15 Sleeping Workers"), Racial Intolerance ("Black Man Fight Wid De Shovel"), World Peace ("United Nations on the March"), and Politics (Vice-President John N. Garner as described in "Ballad Of An Evil Old Man)". The Horton collection also included the history of the song, the event about which it was written, and the composer; alterations, such as those in the evolution of "We Shall Overcome," may often be traced through the collection. At Highlander, Blacks learned songs of white workers and white laborers shared songs of black sharecroppers (A. Horton, 1989), a non-discriminatory posture reflected by the variety of this collection. In addition to this personal collection, recordings of Zilphia singing, and learning songs from Africa, were preserved in the HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL AUDIO COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 9 (1964). The Evolution of "We Shall Overcome" Certainly the most well-known outcome of Zilphia Horton's song collecting work was her recognition of the powerful nature of one song. THE song to many thousands of Southern freedom seekers (Student Peace Union, 1966), the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement (Thomas, 1968), and the "'Marseillaise' of the Negro rights revolution" (Shelton & Gahr, 1968, p. 185) is now known as "We Shall Overcome." The 1945 picket line performance of "I'll Be All Right Someday" evolved into the pro-labor "We Will Overcome," a stanza from the original hymn (Fowke & Glazer, 1960). Resident students brought the song to Highlander; it was sung and altered there by staff and students beginning in 1946. According to Austin (1991), who was present during the summer of 1946 when members of the Charleston, South Carolina Food and Tobacco Workers Union arrived at Highlander, Zilphia drew this and other songs out from the strike participants. At the time it was both a song of protest and an exuberant spiritual. When she began performing the song, Zilphia slowed the original tempo and accompanied herself on the accordion (Dunson, 1965). Of "We Shall Overcome," Zilphia said: "It was more than a union song," and "new words that would express its universality for all people struggling against injustice should be written" (Austin, 1991, p. 52). While visiting in New York Zilphia taught the song to folksinger Pete Seeger, who altered its title by changing "will" to "shall;" in California, Seeger taught the song to folksinger Guy Carawan (Glen, 1988). Zilphia closed the 1947 Southern C.I.O. School by commenting on the "big thoughts and page 16 big ideas" of the group, discussing their jobs as leaders in relation to world goals, and finishing her remarks with the words "we will overcome" (cited in A. Horton, 1989, pp. 154- 155). In 1958, two years after her death, Pete Seeger sang the song at Highlander, invited there for the school's 25-year reunion by Myles Horton, who lamented "without Zilphia, we need others to lead songs" (Seeger & Reiser, 1989, p. 8). As is true with many folk songs, verses to "We Shall Overcome" were added continuously. For example, in the summer of 1946, the summer of the song's arrival at Highlander, the verse "We will win our rights" was added. In another instance a July 1959 raid at Highlander, which eventually resulted in the closing of the school and confiscation of its property, produced the new verse "We are not afraid" (Adams, 1975; M. Horton, 1990; Seeger & Reiser, 1989). In 1963 Senator Kenneth Keating of New York, responding to a call by the House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate "Communist subversive involvement in the Folk Music field," concluded his Senate-floor speech with the following statement: "in the words of that inspiring song - we shall overcome" (DeTurk & Poulin, 1967, p. 110). President Lyndon Johnson used its title when he presented the 1965 Voting Rights Bill (G. Carawan & C. Carawan, 1968). Myles Horton, in his interview for BILL MOYERS' JOURNAL (Conti & Fellenz, 1990), stated the song had spread to Ireland, Chile, Cuba, and China; he didn't know of any song of that kind so widespread. The song Zilphia collected and nurtured became a part of world history and culture, appearing on picket lines, at protests, on the Senate floor, and in political arenas both radical and conservative. Folk music had become one of the basic tools through which Highlander responded and connected to the civil rights movement as it had, through Zilphia, to the labor movement (Bledsoe, 1969). Denisoff and Peterson (1972) felt that the importance of "We Shall Overcome" was its synthesis of the American protest song tradition, combining religion, labor songs, and civil rights. Oldendorf (1989) wrote about Highlander's employment of song in citizenship education, using a vocabulary of song titles to characterize the school as a group asking "Which Side Are You On?" singing "We Shall Overcome," and powerfully expressing their desire for change. Influence of Highlander Music on School Culture Denisoff (1983) identified six primary objectives for a song of persuasion; one objective was to create and promote page 17 "cohesion, solidarity, and high morale in an organization or movement supporting its world view" (p. 2). Adams (1975) suggested "no organizer . . . would fail to use the union- building potential of mass meetings . . . . singing brings people out of the silences of their individuality" (p. 70). In 1972, Adams depicted music, usually organized by Zilphia Horton, as "one crucially important way Highlander nourished the working out of new interpersonal relationships" (p. 508). Denisoff (1971) described the Folk School as a local institution, created during the Depression, which used native folk material for social and economic purposes. He also acknowledged Zilphia Horton's educational background, musical direction at the school, and collection and dissemination of songs in support of organizational missions. While attending Cumberland University in 1924, Myles Horton became aware of a lack of appreciation for his native cultures and heritages, a perspective so often a part of higher education (Adams, 1975; Glen, 1988). It was even possible Myles had begun to accept the view penned by historian C. Vann Woodward who considered "nothing issuing from his native region in the way of arts and letters . . . was worth notice" (cited in Adams, 1975, p. 6). Myles Horton later wrote, however, "efforts to live out our ideals makes possible the development of a bit of proletarian culture as an essential part of our program of workers' education" (cited in Adams, 1975, p. 36) and that "learning would grow out of the life lived together" and out of "song and music" (cited in A. Horton, 1989, p. 31). At the time of Highlander's founding, folk culture was dormant and even square dancing was considered immoral by the community. The school began to sponsor evenings organized around traditional cultural activities such as fiddle and guitar playing, dancing, skits, and group singing on an informal basis (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). In his "talking book" with Freire (1990), Myles said [he] learned a tremendous lot from Zilphia . . . who brought in a whole new cultural background, drama and dance and music, oral history, storytelling - all kinds of things that I'd grown up knowing but just hadn't thought of as being related to learning. So a lot of the learning I got came from staff together trying to learn from the people. And that was the beginning of what really became Highlander (pp. 41-42). Highlander was "a place where it was right to sing, to dance, and to talk" (Bledsoe, 1969, p. 140). True to the page 18 school's stated goals, music and drama both educated and entertained. These disciplines were considered equal in importance to courses such as Public Speaking, Parliamentary Law, and Contract Negotiation. Music, drama, movies, and tape recordings helped build on the knowledge and experience of participants and introduce other choices, viewpoints, and values. Music developed student leadership, communication skills, a positive self-image, and contributed to a sense of solidarity and pride in their heritage; it provided inspiration and sustained hope (Adams, 1975; Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989). Myles Horton often discussed music as a component of Highlander's educational structure. He commented about music being included in everything and about culture as a totality (Conti & Fellenz, 1986), crediting Zilphia with helping him comprehend the value of music and culture in nurturing social change (Horton & Freire, 1990). Although his own contributions were restricted to collecting the song "No More Mourning," which he turned over to Zilphia (Conti & Fellenz, 1990), and adding the verse "The truth shall make us free" (Bledsoe, 1969; M. Horton, 1990) to "We Shall Overcome," Myles' reference to Highlander as "the only instrument I ever learned to play" (Peters & Bell, 1987, p. 243) revealed his cognizance of music's critical place in the school's agenda. Myles also believed singing signified an emotional base required for a movement to have meaning (Bledsoe, 1969). In his 1973 essay, "Decision-Making Processes," Horton noted that music and singing, as in the manner of the Danish folk school model he employed, played a crucial role in all Highlander's endeavors; maintaining or rediscovering musical heritage increased the sense of community, raised awareness, and actually contributed to Freire's process of "conscientization." At the 1989 Kellogg Summer Institute on "Learning in the Social Environment," Myles Horton was asked for a retrospective on how he saw the role of music at Highlander (Conti & Fellenz, 1990): My way of approaching the role of music is culturally. We leave out culture so much in education . . . . Singing was integrated with the rest of the culture because it was so integral to the total program. . . . We made culture . . . part of the experience because it has always been a powerful thing. . . . We were interested in democratizing culture, in having a page 19 pluralistic culture . . . . we wouldn't try to get everyone to develop the same plans while working on different situations, so we don't expect people to have the same cultural background. Our respect for cultural backgrounds . . . is part of being a democratic society (p. 13). The Legacy of Zilphia Horton Zilphia Horton died unexpectedly on April 11, 1956 after drinking a small amount of carbon tetrachloride used to clean office typewriters. Whether she intentionally drank the poisonous liquid or thought the clear liquid was water, a medicinal dose of moonshine, or some other potable was not known; whatever the case, an undiagnosed kidney condition was aggravated and she died shortly after being admitted to Nashville's Vanderbilt Hospital (Adams, 1975; Glen, 1988). Zilphia, realizing she would not survive the poisoning, felt "she had lived a useful life, and hoped she left behind some things that would continue to be useful" (Adams, 1975, p. 78- 79). To this end, folksinger Guy Carawan, who first visited Highlander in 1953, returned to the school, revitalized the musical sphere of activity, and "took up Zilphia's mantle" (Bledsoe, 1969, p. 236). Although demonstrating his commitment to the nascent civil rights movement by carrying on his work, distress over and his perplexity at her untimely death contributed to some atypical behavior on the part of Myles Horton. For example, he demanded the immediate resignations of some staff members, purportedly to help preserve a "quality" Zilphia had given Highlander, a quality Myles deemed "worth preserving and building upon" and which was apparently threatened by personnel who suggested the school build alliances with local mill and factory owners (Glen, 1988, p. 139). Following her death, a "Songs for Zilphia Memorial" was held in Chicago. Dr. John B. Thompson, a dean at the University of Chicago, said Zilphia had "helped all the countless people she touched to make dark and dreary places throughout the South more human, more joyful, more songful, and gay" (cited in Bledsoe, 1969, p. 152). Austin (1991) pointed out that had Zilphia given collecting and performing folk-songs more of her attention, she might have achieved as much fame as her friends Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, and others. Instead she focused on "teaching songs to empower people" (p. 50). Zilphia herself said "we share . . . spirit and struggle when we sing together" (cited in Austin, 1991, p. 50). page 20 Zilphia Horton's life was remarkable for two principal reasons. One reason was her aggregation of culture into the processes of learning; the other was a musical context for social action through education. Zilphia's teaching techniques demonstrated her conviction that growth through knowledge was more vital and more joyful when people's needs and lives were considered in terms of a functional whole. People made better decisions when the different aspects of their lives and work were interrelated and had continuity. Zilphia's educational background, and her critical role in labor education, enabled her to integrate culture effectively into the learning process. Highlander Folk School's ideology was broad-spectrumed, even vague, eschewing a precisely defined framework and preferring to allow the people and the situation to define how educational activities served cooperative and collective solutions. In conjunction, Zilphia's cultural program supported the Folk School's ideology and its conceptual axioms such as democracy, harmony, community action, and reciprocity. Culture, particularly folk music, became a foundation for building solidarity, identity, leadership, and a sense of cultural pride. Myles Horton (1990) believed "the history of Highlander could in many important ways be told by the music-- traditional songs and songs of struggle--brought there by the people" (p. 133). Music at the school was a sharing of heritages, a source of encouragement for voiceless workers seeking human rights. Group singing also supplemented the liberatory and humanistic educational philosophies practiced at the school with techniques of behaviorism. Zilphia Horton's approach softened confrontations inherent in activism. The juxtaposition of contradiction with the consonance of voices singing together was a successful and unique combination for Highlander in its educational niche. Zilphia's work at Highlander, considerably overshadowed by her husband's, resulted in the school's cultivation of native folk music, a focus described by Josh Dunson (1965) as one of two reasons for Highlander's survival while other workers' schools were closing their doors. Braden (1962) described Highlander as a pioneer in the use of folk music for social education, saying the school's music symbolized a "thread that has joined together the progressive tradition of that 'other South' as it moves from one period of history to the next" (p. 30). Hughes (1985) suggested an page 21 absence of the ideals and initiatives at Highlander Folk School might have delayed or diverted integration and civil rights in the South, and "We Shall Overcome" would have remained an unknown hymn or spiritual. Zilphia herself became a legend in the labor movement, and for the civil rights and freedom movement in the 1950s and 1960s the effects of her work were immeasurable (Bledsoe, 1969). Conclusion The use of music and drama bolstered Highlander Folk School's experiential approach to learning. Music, dance, and drama helped improve the school's relationship with the community and enhance the image of labor in the South. Adams (1980) felt the programs at Highlander Folk School both celebrated and reinforced beauty and pride in the unique culture and ways of doing things for people living and working in the heart of Appalachia. During her tenure at Highlander, Zilphia Horton, more than any other person, nurtured and contributed to the strengthening of these creative spirits. In doing so, she cultivated a powerful bond among Highlander's students, friends, and sympathizers. Both as a woman, an educator, and an artist who understood the importance of drama, song and dance in the processes of education, Zilphia Horton has been a neglected pioneer worthy of attention in adult education history. REFERENCES Adams, F. (1972). Highlander Folk School: Getting information, going back and teaching it. HARVARD EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, 42, 497-520. Adams, F. (1975). UNEARTHING SEEDS OF FIRE: THE IDEA OF HIGHLANDER. Winston-Salem, NC: Blair. Adams, F. (1980). Highlander Folk School: Social movements and social change in the American south. In R. Paulston (Ed.), OTHER DREAMS, OTHER SCHOOLS: FOLK COLLEGES IN SOCIAL AND ETHNIC MOVEMENTS (pp. 214-234). Pittsburgh, PA: University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh. Anderson, W. T. (1990). REALITY ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE. San Francisco: Harper & Row. Austin, A. (1991). Zilphia. SOCIAL POLICY, 21(3), 84-52. page 22 Bledsoe, T. (1969). OR WE'LL ALL HANG SEPARATELY: THE HIGHLANDER IDEA. Boston: Beacon Press. Braden, A. (1962, February). Highlander Folk School: The end and the beginning. SING OUT, pp. 30-31. Brameld, T. (Ed.). (1941). WORKERS' EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. New York: Harper & Brothers. Carawan, G., & Carawan, C. (1968). FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE: SONGS OF THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, WITH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS. New York: Oak Publications. Carawan, G., & Carawan, C. (1989). AIN'T YOU GOT A RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE? THE PEOPLE OF JOHNS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA: THEIR FACES, THEIR WORDS, AND THEIR SONGS (rev.ed.). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. Conti, G. J., & Fellenz, R. A. (1986). Myles Horton: Ideas that have withstood the test of time. ADULT LITERACY AND BASIC EDUCATION, 10(1), 1-18. Conti, G. J., & Fellenz, R. A. (Eds.). (1990). SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND ADULT LEARNING. Bozeman: Montana State University, Center for Adult Learning Research. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 326 660). Denisoff, R. S. (1971). GREAT DAY COMING: FOLK MUSIC AND THE AMERICAN LEFT. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Denisoff, R. S. (1983). SING A SONG OF SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE (2nd ed.). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Denisoff, R. S., & Peterson, R. A. (Eds.). (1972). THE SOUNDS OF SOCIAL CHANGE: STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE. Chicago: Rand McNally. De Turk, D., & Poulin, A., Jr. (Eds.). (1967). THE AMERICAN FOLK SCENE: DIMENSIONS OF THE FOLKSONG REVIVAL. New York: Dell. Dunson, J. (1965). FREEDOM IN THE AIR: SONG MOVEMENTS OF THE SIXTIES. New York: International Publishers. Fowke, E., & Glazer, J. (1960). SONGS OF WORK AND FREEDOM. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. page 23 Glen, J. M. (1988). HIGHLANDER: NO ORDINARY SCHOOL, 1932-1962. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL AUDIO COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 9. (1964). Nashville, TN: Tennessee State Library and Archives. Horton, A. I. (1989). THE HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL: A HISTORY OF ITS MAJOR PROGRAMS, 1932-1961. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing. Horton, M. (1973) Decision-making processes. In N. Shimahara (Ed.), EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION: PROMISE AND CHALLENGE (pp. 323-341). Columbus, OH: Merrill. Horton, M. (1990). THE LONG HAUL: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. New York: Doubleday. Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990). WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING: CONVERSATIONS ON EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Hughes, C. A. (1985). A new agenda for the south: The role and influence of the Highlander Folk School. PHYLON, 46, 242- 250. Lovell, J., Jr. (1972). BLACK SONG, THE FORGE AND THE FLAME: THE STORY OF HOW THE AFRO-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL WAS HAMMERED OUT. New York: Macmillan. Moment of history. (1965, March 27). THE NEW YORKER, pp. 37-38. Oldendorf, S. B. (1989). Vocabularies, knowledge and social action in citizenship education: The Highlander example. THEORY AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION, 19, 107-120. Parker, F., & Parker, B. (1991). MYLES HORTON (1905-90) OF HIGHLANDER: ADULT EDUCATOR AND SOUTHERN ACTIVIST. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 336 615). Peters, J. M., & Bell, B. (1987). Horton of Highlander. In P. Jarvis (Ed.), TWENTIETH CENTURY THINKERS IN ADULT EDUCATION (pp. 243-264). New York: Croom Helm. Program assists school. (1940, December 7). THE NEW YORK TIMES, p. 13. page 24 Seeger, P., & Reiser, B. (1989). EVERYBODY SAYS FREEDOM. New York: Norton. Shelton, R., & Gahr, D. (1968). THE FACE OF FOLK MUSIC. New York: Citadel Press. Student Peace Union (Ed.). (1966). SONGS FOR PEACE: 100 SONGS OF THE PEACE MOVEMENT. New York: Oak Publications. Thomas, G. (1968, Summer). Hear the music ringing. NEW SOUTH, pp. 37-46. Tjerandsen, C. (1980). EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP: A FOUNDATION'S EXPERIENCE. Santa Cruz, CA: Emil Schwarzhaupt Foundation. ZILPHIA HORTON FOLK MUSIC COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 6. (1964). Nashville, TN: Tennessee State Library and Archives. page 25 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, POST-MODERNISM, AND ACADEMIC ADULT EDUCATION William S. Griffith Professor of Adult Education the University of British Columbia ABSTRACT Professors of adult education encounter hostility and opposition from some practicing adult educators who believe that since "truth" has been discovered regarding a number of politically sensitive issues, professors ought only deliver the "politically correct" version of the "truth." Further, the editors of the ADULT EDUCATION QUARTERLY are confronted by individuals filled with "righteous indignation" regarding the practice of allowing any males to act as referees for manuscripts submitted by feminists who use a variety of non- traditional research and reporting styles. This article addresses the steps professors might take to deal with the challenge of political correctness claims and the perceptions of post-modernists. Academic adult education in North American, and in other areas as well, is a field under siege by hordes of "politically correct" individuals and groups. By politically correct, I refer to a mind-set that reflects a mistaken belief that "truth" has now been discovered and the biggest task faced by the converts or missionaries of such "truth" is to find ways of silencing the oppressors or at least controlling them so that they become unable to promulgate their heretical hegemonic gospel. The missionaries believe that race and gender are now the "oppressions of the month" and conveniently overlook the simplistic assumptions on which their revelations are based. In this article I intend to address the nature of the problem, as I see it, regarding political correctness and to suggest that a (not THE) possible solution is to accept some, though not all, of the basic notions contained in a postmodern page 26 philosophy of knowledge. Finally, I shall offer some ameliorative steps that might be taken by professors of adult education (and possibly by their students) to improve the nature of graduate study in adult education at this time in the maelstrom of academic thought. Political Correctness Pierre Berton, a columnist for the Toronto Star, observed that Something very ugly has been happening on the campuses of this country. Free expression is being stifled, political in-correctness is being censored; the freedom to voice unpopular views is being eroded. Remember the case of Phillipe Rushton at the University of Western Ontario? Rushton, a psychology professor, had conducted some research, the results of which enraged a good many people. He claimed it showed, among other things, that women had smaller brains than men, and that Asians outranked white[s] and blacks, in that order, on scales of brain size, intelligence, lawfulness, and sexual restraint. Quite properly, his research was attacked as flawed, but that is not really the point. The then premier of Ontario, David Peterson, who hadn't read the research, immediately declared that Rushton should be fired. On what grounds? That Rushton's research was "morally offensive to the way that Ontario thinks." Wow! Ain't that a lulu? Make sure your research fits into Ontario's thinking boys, or it's Outsville for you. To the university's great credit, Rushton was not fired or even suspended. But when he tried to give classes, the students themselves howled him down, as they are wont to do any time somebody appears on campus they don't like. Poor Rushton was forced to lecture to the television cameras, safe from the howling mob (Berton, 1993). In the April, 1994, issue of UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS, the newspaper of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Tim Lougheed asks, "How Far is Too Far?" regarding the prevention of harrassment and discrimination in Ontario, the topic of a policy statement by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. Lougheed notes that the policy statement begins by saying that the government of Ontario has adopted a policy of zero tolerance of harrassment and discrimination at Ontario universities. He quotes John Fekete as saying: "We're training people to stop saying 'I disagree page 27 with that' and to say instead, 'that idea is offensive or 'that book demeans me.' It makes the disagreement sound objective" (Lougheed, 1994, p.7). Lougheed also reported the case of a professor who testified that a group of lesbian feminist students prevented his discussing a lesbian feminist poet because he was not himself a lesbian poet (!). I want to report a personal experience that I found quite disquieting, not in Canada, but at the Annual Conference of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, during a meeting of the Editorial Advisory Committee for the Adult Education Quarterly journal. The co-editors were explaining how they made an initial determination of which manuscripts were worth being sent to referees and which referees were most appropriate for reviewing the specific manuscript. Two members of the editorial board spoke out strongly, insisting that any feminist manuscript could not possibly be judged by males. No disagreement was voiced to this outrageous assertion. To assume that one's capacity to judge scholarly writing was primarily a function of one's gender is not only unsound on any logical basis, it is also offensive and insulting. Generalizations based on emotion rather than reasoned arguments ought to be challenged when they are uttered, though I confess at the time I did not rise to the occasion. So much of the politically correct posturing is based on inappropriate evidence and emotion. It is the inappropriate use of generalizations that the postmodernists in our midst can help us to overcome. Postmodern Foundations Let's begin with a paradox: "All generalizations are false." Although this assertion cannot be true without first being false, I find it the most attractive assumption of post- modernism, which is, after all, not bound by any conventional reasoning. To me this assumption means that in matters of social science, the humanities, and education, the basic "truths" that have been accepted in much of our teaching are based on studies or simply direct experience with specific populations; yet, the conclusions that may be appropriate for the specific population are applied indiscriminately, e.g., to ALL adults, or ALL programs, or ALL men, or ALL women, or ALL Americans, or ALL African-Americans, or ALL Asian Americans, or ALL Jews, or ALL "senior citizens." Acker and Oatley (1993) reported that "In recent years, postmodern critiques have questioned the idea of a unitary female 'subject' and the usefulness of any feminist 'grand page 28 theories,' while women of colour have attacked the white, middle-class bias of theories claiming to apply to all women" (p. 265. How can we explain the tendency of authors and speakers to base their conclusions on shaky evidence obtained from studies of populations that are not identical with the specific population they claim to represent? For political reasons authors and speakers may find it convenient and possibly persuasive to present such shaky evidence to non- reflective readers and audiences. If the role of an intellectual and an academic is that of a social critic trained to challenge dogma and to express critical views, then all professors of adult education would be expected to exercise discrimination in accepting and endorsing claims of relationships that are based on unwarranted extrapolation of the results of narrowly designed research. The coining of a variety of new terms, e.g., Afrocentric, womanist, African-Ameripean, often in an attempt to identify a specific group or philosophy, unfortunately tends to adopt a universalist approach, conveniently overlooking intra-group variation in the interest of presenting a solid front for the political agenda being promoted. As Daniele Flannery (1994) has noted, " . . . the results of seeking universal truth are that a single group becomes significant, represents everyone, and sets the standard for behavior" (p. 20). The difficulty here is that there is no clear basis for determining just how much variation within a group is compatible with the grand generalizations made by proponents of selected points of view. The persisting problem faced by post-modernists is determining the extent to which any generalizations whatsoever are defensible. While humanistic approaches may reflect the idea of each person being totally unique, no guidelines for practice in the physical or the social sciences are of utility if all they predict is infinite variation. Flannery suggests that in considering the value of a theory it is useful to ask two questions: "Does the theory promote similarities within differences? Does it value differences while seeking common elements in peoples' struggle against oppression and exclusion?" (Flannery, 1994, p.23). So, while a greater awareness of diversity may be advocated, in order to provide any practical guidance for action, similarities (uniformities) must be identified. To assume the nihilist position that nothing is predictable and all is chaos is certain to disempower any adult education researcher, teacher, administrator, or policy maker. Without some assumptions of uniformity, no matter how precisely defined, no practical page 29 guidance is possible. What then passes for "truth" or tested knowledge in the graduate study of adult education? Implications for Graduate Study in Adult Education I believe that both professors and graduate students in adult education can approach disciplined study of their chosen field in four ways that are less biased and have fewer errors than may now be the case. One approach is to insist that individuals be encouraged to say "I disagree with that for the following reasons . . ." instead of laying claims that "the idea is offensive" or "that statement demeans me." It is highly questionable to ignore the intention of the writer or speaker. Encouraging or permitting the confusing or equating of intention with interpretation is miseducative, for it confuses the clear expression of an idea with a supposed statement of established fact. I believe it is essential to identify differences of opinion as being what they are instead of insisting that the only interpretation that matters is that of the listener or reader. A second fundamental approach is to beware of the unsound over-generalization, regardless of the intentions of the speaker or writer. The postmodern approach can be useful if it increases the sensitivity of professors and students to unwarranted generalizations. Political rhetoric often depends on the use of glib generalizations in order to persuade a non- reflective audience to the views of the politician, and in my view adult education has at least its share of politicians. Fairness in relationships requires vigilance in detecting politically-based unsound conclusions. A third approach is to devote a considerable amount of time to epistemological considerations, so that professors and students alike become more adept at questioning the grand theories and universal generalizations on the basis of disciplined study of those theories and generalizations. Perhaps the amount of time devoted to a discussion of the concept of evidence with regard to the various claims to "truth" and "established knowledge" could profitably be increased in graduate programs. Finally, in order to avoid encouraging the cultivation of cynics and nihilists, professors and students can engage in the thorough examination of the extent to which existing generalizations apply to specific audiences. The practice of adult education teaching, administration, or disciplined inquiry depends upon the wise accumulation of knowledge, for page 30 without sound generalizations, we would be condemned to invent our practices eternally. REFERENCES Acker, S. & Oatley, K. (1993). Gender issues in education for science and technology: Current situation and prospects for change. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 18(3), 255- 272. Amstutz, D. D. (1994). Staff development: Addressing issues of race and gender. In E. Hayes & Colin, S. A. J., III (Eds.), CONFRONTING RACISM AND SEXISM (pp. 39-51). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bailey, J. J., Tisdell, E. J. & Cervero, R. M. (1994). Race, gender, and the politics of professionalization. In E. Hayes & Colin, S. A. J., III (Eds.), CONFRONTING RACISM AND SEXISM (pp. 63-76). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Berton, P. (1993, December 4). Why muzzle tenured profs and campus rags? TORONTO STAR, December 4, 1993. Colin, S.A.J. III. (1994). Adult and continuing education graduate programs: Prescription for the future. In E. Hayes & Colin, S. A. J., III (Eds.), CONFRONTING RACISM AND SEXISM (pp. 53-62.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Flannery, D. D. (1994). Changing dominant understandings of adults as learners. In E. Hayes & Colin, S. A. J., III (Eds.), CONFRONTING RACISM AND SEXISM (pp. 17-26). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Lougheed, T. (1994). How far is too far? UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS, 35(4), 6-7. Ng, R. (1993). "A woman out of control:" Deconstructing sexism and racism in the university. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 18(3), 189-205. ************************************************************** [Editor's note: To respond to William Griffith's article, please send your comments to AEDNET as follows: Subject: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS (GRIFFITH) Responses and discussion on this interactive article are encouraged for a three-week period following publication.] ************************************************************** page 31 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 1994 F O R Y O U R I N F O R M A T I O N CUMMULATIVE INDEX OF NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 1 Number 1 Adult Education in Nicaragua: Adapting and Growing in a Changing Reality by Samuel Simpson Volume 2 Number 1 Propaganda in Adult Education by Richard Novak The Informing of Adult Education by Adult Development by Nancy E. Hagan Procedures for Writers in the Field of Adult Education: How to Make Your Writings More Consistently Accessible within Computerized Information Databases by Judith Gwinn Adrian Feminist Methodology: A new Way of Knowing? by Carolyn Chase Volume 2 Number 2 Into 'Terra Incognito': Considerations on the 'Timeliness' and 'Importance' of the Carnegie Corporation's Early Involvement in Adult Education by Michael Law page 32 Women and Literacy in Tanzania by Sharon Cramer Bell Physical Learning Environments: Why Be Concerned? by Rodney Fulton Introducing Metaphors of Chaos to Adult Education by Robert Domaingue Volume 3 Number 1 Comparison of Computer and Audio Teleconferencing: One instructor's View by Norman Coombs Intellectual Suppression: Australian Case Histories, Analysis and Responses by Roger Boshier Volume 4 Number 1 Straight Time and Standard Brand Adult Education by John Ohliger A Comparison of Folk High Schools in Denmark, and East and West Germany by Robert Wendel A Descriptive Appraisal of Functional Literacy in Nigeria by Muyiwa Igbalajobi and Ayodele Fajonyomi Intentional Changes by David Price Volume 5 Number 1 Community Adult Education In America: An Overview by Michael W. Galbraith and David Price page 33 Community Adult Education In Developing Countries by Linda Ziegahn Facilitated Community Development In A Rural Area by Allen B. Moore and Mary Anne Lahey Envisioning A Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out by Daniel V. Eastmond Volume 5, Number 2, Fall 1991 Technology in the Classroom of the Future by Wayne Hurtshuh Model Building and Strategic Planning in Continuing Higher Education by Paul J. Edelson Culture Wars by Michael E. Ehringhaus Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 1992 Characteristics of Adult Education Students and and the Factors Which Determine Course and Program Completion: A Review by Mary F. Sheets Working Toward More Effective Adult Christian Education: A Case Study of Youngville Baptist Church by Robert C. Ballance In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development by Susan Slusarski Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 1992 Customer Satisfaction Studies: Implication for Job Related Continuing Education by J. A Farmer, J. G. Land, L. L. Gilbert, & J. R. Ainsley. page 34 Bringing the Partners Together in Workplace Literacy: A Canadian Perspective by M. C. Taylor, L. Shohet, & C. Macleod. Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America by Terrence R. Redding Volume 7, Number 1, Spring 1993 Radical Adult Education with Older Persons by Eric Friedrich Theory-based Practice: A Model SDLS Program by John L. Lewis and Barbara K. Mullins The Need for Continuing Education for the Deaf: Are Adult Educators Listening? by Kimberly A. Townsend Towards an Anti-Racist, Feminist Teaching Method by Tania Das Gupta Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 1994 Planning for an Evaluation of a National Vocational Education Program in a Developing Nation by Edgar I. Farmer, Raymond G. Taylor, Hyunyoung Kim, and Yacouba Konate Student Diversity and the Culture of Higher Education by Rae W. Rohfeld Asking the Right Questions: Assessment and Program Planning for Adults with Learning Difficulties by Ellen Arnold page 35 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 HOW TO OBTAIN BACK ISSUES OF NEW HORIZONS To obtain any issue of NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION, please send your email request as follows: Address message to -- listserv@alpha.acast.nova.edu (NOT to AEDNET) Subject: -- (not necessary) Message -- get horizons vol6n1 (In this example vol6no1 is the requested issue as selected from the index.) To request an index, type the following in the body of the message: index horizons NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 C A L L F O R M A N U S C R I P T S New Horizons in Adult Education, founded in 1987, is a refereed electronic journal which provides faculty, graduate students, researchers, and practitioners with a means for publishing their current thinking and research within adult education and related fields. The journal is published two or three times a year and is transmitted through this electronic network -- AEDNET. New horizons publishes research, thought pieces, book reviews, point-counter-point articles, conceptual analysis, case studies, interactive articles, and invitational columns. The editorial staff welcomes articles for review submitted either electronically through AEDNET or as conventional paper copies through regular mail. If you would page 36 like to submit an article or obtain guidelines for manuscript submission, you may contact New Horizons in Adult Education by e-mail or mail. E-mail address: horizons@alpha.acast.nova.edu Mailing address: New Horizons in Adult Education Nova Southeastern University Programs for Higher Education/FCAE 3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314 NEW HORIZONS IN ADULT EDUCATION Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1994 S P E C I A L T H E M E I S S U E A special theme issue is planned for late 1994 or early 1995 which will focus on TECHNOLOGY AND ADULT EDUCATION. With the rapid pace of change in technology which may affect teaching and learning, we are confident that a diverse range of topics can be addressed in this special issue. We encourage interested persons to submit articles for review related to this theme. ------------------------------ Cut here ------------------------------