Author: Yelakov Vladimir, Kazakh American Free University, Kazakhstan
Introduction
The purpose
of the article is to summarize and analyze two contrary positions presented by
L. A. Daloz in regards to the role of the adult educator in promoting adult
growth and development. In both articles called The Story of Gladys Who
Refused to Grow: A Morality Tale for Mentors (Daloz, 1988a) and Beyond
Tribalism: Renaming the Good, the True, and the Beautiful (Daloz, 1988b),
the author brought enough arguments to convince the supporters of each
position. However, consulting additional resources related to ethics of adult
education in terms of mentoring adults in their learning, there is more
evidence in supporting the idea that the adult educator plays a key role in
shaping the development of adult learners. At the same time, the reviewed
literature not only supported the author's arguments but also presented
additional factors that stress the significance of the adult educator in
successful promotion of adult development and growth in the learning process.
In the
first article The Story of Gladys Who Refused to Grow: A
Morality Tale for Mentors (Daloz, 1988a), Daloz described his mentoring
experience with an old woman who decided to pursue her college degree. In this
article, Daloz (1988a) described Gladys as not ready to transform as a learner.
To support this point, the author brought Gladys's words: "The Lord gives
us our lives, and it is not ours to decide a thing like that!" (Daloz, 1988a, p. 4). Moreover, Gladys did not have an
impetus for self-directed learning which can be demonstrated by the fact that
she had no idea of what she wanted. However, once the author realized that she
was interested in writing stories, he suggested her some directions that would
be beneficial for her college degree. Nevertheless, in spite of Daloz's advice,
Gladys was struggling with the writing course as she could not "[separate]
form from content" in her writing style (Daloz, 1988a, p. 5). Gladys's
reaction to the critique was negative because she thought her personality was
criticized, not her ideas and writing style. Also, Gladys's unwillingness to
transform and develop was backed up by her family. The author brought the
evidence that neither her son nor her husband supported her learning: "She
can't benefit from a college degree", or "I don't see what the hell
she wants this damn degree for" (Daloz, 1988a, pp. 5 – 6). Thus, her
refusal to grow and develop was consolidated by her family which in a way can
be characterized as causing the tribalism effect (Daloz, 1988b). Based on this
example provided by Daloz (1988a), it can be inferred that not all adult learners
can develop and benefit from their education. As for the role of the educator
in this case, I can refer to the question posed by Rossiter (1999) who proposed
to differentiate between challenging and helping learners achieve their
learning outcomes. In my opinion, Daloz in this case did not challenge Gladys's
mindset. He just facilitated her writing course which resulted in no
transformation of her feelings about learning.
In the
second article Beyond Tribalism: Renaming the Good, the True, and the Beautiful (Daloz, 1988b), Daloz presented the standpoint contrary to the previous one.
Based on the life stories of two women living in completely different
societies, he brought up the issue of tribalism, its effects on adult
development, and the ways to be used in order to overcome obstacles and bridge
the gap between old-fashioned traditions and new life expectations. Daloz
(1988b) demonstrated how tribalism can perpetuate those deep-rooted traditions
and beliefs and thus narrow a human's worldview. "Tribal thinking assumes
its own morality to be right and other codes to be less right, if not plain
wrong" (Daloz, 1988b, p. 239). Thus, according to Daloz (1988b), the role
of the educator is to challenge the adult learner so that he / she can realize
that the truth is not something that is given (and the two cases clearly
demonstrated that), but the truth is something that is constructed and
questioned. Following this idea, I support this point of view on the role of
the educator in promoting adult growth and development.
The Role of the Adult Educator in Adult
Development
Transformational Theory and Adult Development
From the
literature review, it becomes evident that transformational learning and adult
development are closely connected concepts (Merriam & Brockett, 2007). If
considered from the perspective of transformational theory, adult learning is
about adult development. As stated by Merriam, Caffarella, and Baumgartner
(2007), transformational learning is comprised of "The mental construction
of experience, inner meaning, and reflection" (p. 130). Having accumulated
much life experience, adults are able to apply their experience to solve
various problems, and this process usually results in change and development.
The only thing that is needed for transformational learning to start is a
meaningful event in an adult's life. This event can be a powerful impetus to
motivate an adult to engage in transformative learning. In this case, if a
person is able to critically think about and analyze the factors which caused a
particular event, he / she will construct new meanings of the world and their
environment (Cranton, 2002).
To
illustrate this idea, I would like to refer to the second article presented by
Daloz (1988b). In both cases, Lale and Susan regarded themselves as normal
people and did not feel any inclination to question their present worldview and
hence change their attitudes towards other cultures. Their narrow
"tribal" life was unchallenged until they faced a dilemma which
created favorable conditions for transformational learning. One day, Lale met
women from other tribes who also had their own "truth", as well as
Susan realized that her college teacher and classmates did not share her views
on the American culture (Daloz, 1988b). Thus, those events would provoke a
fundamental change in the way they saw themselves and the environment in which
they lived (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007).
Consequently,
the role of adult education in general and the adult educator in particular is
to provide learners with opportunities to step aside from their family
upbringing and consider a particular issue from a different perspective. This
idea is also reflected in the works of other educators. For example, Gould (as
cited in Tennant, 1991) "conceives of personal growth in terms of the
inner freedom gained through striping oneself of the false assumptions acquired
during childhood" (p. 195). Thus, challenging adults' previous assumptions
about various aspects of their lives ignites the change in their attitudes
towards those assumptions and leads to transformation. Actually, this is the
main difference of transformative learning from informational learning, which
simply implies extending already existing cognitive abilities (Kegan, as cited
in Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007). In this respect, knowledge
becomes static if no transformation takes place, hence no development. Thus, it
is obvious that the adult educator should take an active position in fostering
adult transformation and development.
The Adult Educator as a Challenger
Given the
purpose of transformational learning in adult education, I believe it is
ethical and necessary to teach learners how to transform their worldview in
terms of reconsidering their attitudes, values, and beliefs concerning their
adaptation to contemporary society, which is diverse, multicultural, and
pluralistic. In this case, the role of the adult educator is to have adults
realize that knowledge is socially constructed and it is a dynamic process.
Nowadays, many techniques are known to facilitate the process of
transformational learning. Among them, some of the most popular are those
techniques which enhance critical thinking abilities (Brookfield, as cited in
Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007) as well as role plays and
simulation activities in which learners are immersed in a concrete problematic
and challenging situation that encourages their reflective capacities (Cranton,
2002).
Based on
the cases provided by Daloz (1988b) in the second article, the most appropriate
teaching technique would be that proposed by Lamb (as cited in Merriam,
Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007), which includes "putting participants
in unfamiliar and new situations, … maximizing the diversity mix of
participants, … and repeated team opportunities balancing action and
reflection" (p. 155). In this regard, adults are exposed to a diverse and
multidimensional learning environment that can challenge their set of attitudes
and beliefs and therefore trigger transformation towards a more pluralistic
worldview. The result of this transformation is that an adult undergoes the
process of reconsidering his / her paradigms of given traditions contradicting
other "truths". Thus, the adult learner proceeds from a self-centered
perspective towards a pluralistic vision of different people and cultures
(Daloz, 1988b).
As is seen
from the earlier discussion, the adult educator plays a significant role in
supporting adult development through facilitating which should definitely lead
to challenging an adult's previous assumptions about his / her tribal culture.
By facilitation, the adult educator can foster the learner's reflection and
considering alternative points of view (Cohen, 1995). To make this facilitation
more effective, the adult educator should guide the learner through the process
of substantially reviewing their current set of views on their upbringing,
social environment, culture, and education. Following this, Cohen (1995)
proposed several approaches that maximize the effectiveness of the facilitation
process which in turn challenges the adult learner's worldview. Some of the
most important strategies are summarized below.
Thus, the
adult educator should put hypothetical questions in order to broaden the
learner's views. In this case, the educator applies the so called "what
if" approach that provides the adult learner with a variety of different
perspectives on the same values and beliefs. The result of this is encouraging
the adult to explore important topics from different perspectives (Cohen,
1995). Also, to enhance the learner's critical reflection, the adult educator
can create a simulated reality through role playing and providing controversial
questions. This will cause the learner's self - examination enhanced by
"feelings of fear, anger, guilt or shame" (Mezirow, as cited in
Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 136) for being biased in
regard to other cultures and "truths".
Along with
posing hypothetical and controversial questions, the adult educator should
provide multiple points of view to stimulate a more profound analysis of
decisions made by the learner (Cohen, 1995). This enables the learner to
broaden his / her worldview beyond the existing paradigms. In turn, new
perspectives can enrich the learner's experience and thus lead to further inner
development. Moreover, this approach is very valuable when the learner due to
the barriers placed by limited experience and "tribal" environment is
not able to analyze as well as make analogies with and differences between his
/ her own culture and others. Again, this particular case can be applied to the
situation experienced by Susan from Daloz's (1988b) second article. For
example, when faced by the dilemma that her viewpoints are not shared by her
teacher and classmates, Susan could have conducted a personal study collecting
different points of view on the American culture and lifestyle. After that,
Susan would have considered this issue from a number of different perspectives
and then with the help of her college instructor and classmates she would have
been involved in a mutual analysis of all the options and alternatives
presented by each individual. Finally, based on that analysis, Susan could have
constructed her new knowledge that would represent the issue of the American culture
and lifestyle from the diverse and pluralistic perspective.
As was
already mentioned above, supporting adult growth and development is not only
based on facilitation provided by the adult educator but also on challenging
the learner's mindset boundaries. To provide such a challenge, the adult
educator "may assign mysterious tasks, introduce contradictory ideas,
question tacit assumptions, or even risk damage to the
relationship by refusing to answer questions" (Daloz, 1999, p. 206). Thus,
the purpose of challenge is to reveal the gap between the learner and his / her
present environment, create a discrepancy or even conflict in the learner's
worldview, and then call for closing this gap. In a broader context, challenge
should be always accompanied and followed by the learner's self-reflection
(Daloz, 1999). If the learner is challenged but not provided with an
opportunity to reflect on that challenge, he / she may not be able to
productively adapt to and interact with the outside world different from the
context of the classroom. In this case, self-reflection allows for building the
concept of contextualism in the learner. As stated by Mezirow (as cited in
Merriam, 2004), "Individuals at the final stage of reflective judgment can
offer a perspective about their own perspective, an essential condition for
transformative learning" (p. 63). Thus, combined with self-reflection,
challenge will lead to the development of the adult learner's personality.
However,
from the ethical perspective, it should be noticed that pushing adult learners
to higher stages of development is a risky affair. As adult educators, we
should keep in mind that pushing our students to develop is like indoctrinating
them or imposing the educator's opinion. This kind of action must be definitely
avoided in transformational learning. "People develop best under their own
power" (Daloz, 1999, p. 182), so the adult educator should only create
favorable conditions for transformative learning to take place. Also, too much
challenge without appropriate support can have a negative impact on the
learner. This may result in the learner's retreat and hostility to learning and
development. Thus, it is necessary for adult educators to take into account
these factors in order to avoid adverse effects that hinder transformational
learning and inhibit adult learners from sustainable development.
Summary
The adult educator plays an indispensable role in sustaining adult
growth and development. Functioning as a facilitator and challenger, the adult
educator creates favorable conditions in which adults engage in
transformational learning. The educator provides learners with problem-solving
and critical-thinking situations in which they learn to challenge their
assumptions about their old meanings of the world surrounding them. Through
this process, adults are becoming more aware of the differences and diversity
of their environment. As a result, adults who were nurtured by their parochial
tribal cultures transform their views on different cultures. Adult development
takes place and in the process of transformational learning adults begin to
realize that the entire world is comprised of multiple "truths" and
that each of them has the right to exist. Thus, adults construct their
knowledge, they do not take it for granted and this enables them to reflect on
their self and the world around them. In this learning process, the adult
educator not only enhances the effectiveness of transformational learning but
also accelerates it being a mentor for the adult learner and guiding them
through all the problems they encounter in the process of their development.
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