From Admit to Alum: Qualitative Research and the Cycle of Learning - - PDF document

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“From ‘Admit’ to ‘Alum’: Qualitative Research and the Cycle of Learning in Innovative Institutions” Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life, Stanford University Eli Orner Kramer, Doctoral Student, Southern Illinois University Carbondale Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:30-11:45 a.m. Eli Orner Kramer: Rabbi Patricia and I attended college at the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies (formerly Johnston College) of the University of Redlands in two different eras-- graduating in 1976 and 2012 respectively--yet we share a profound passion and appreciation for the Johnston education. At Johnston’s 40th Renewal, a bi-decade reunion

• f all Johnston classes, Patricia began to ask:
• How do we bring our education into the world?
• What happens after Johnston?
• Is there a relationship between experimental pedagogy and social justice?

She studied the literature on the history of experimental education by facilitating a Johnston seminar in 2010, where we met and I joined the study. We hope to illuminate Johnston's unique contribution to higher education, consider experimental education and social justice, and help advance the small field of research devoted to American innovative higher education. While the literature uses a variety of schemes and concepts to define innovative or alternative education, and with full awareness that these schools have diverse curriculum,

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different historical and social contexts, and varied success, what unified these schools was how they function within culture; they imagine what a world beyond their own could look like; and through their resistance to the perceived status quo (on which they rely for their identity), they prefigure a world that could be. A resistance to the perceived modern culture, and a vision of a world that offers more opportunities for life and dignity, has made these communities places that cultivate persons with a sense of agency. The United States is unique in its long history of these utopian, innovative, and alternative institutions of higher education. The middle of the nineteenth century heralded the earliest and some of most prominent of these counter-cultural dreams. Since the mid- nineteenth century such schools have had a unique philosophy of education, which includes a strong research mission. Despite these schools’ dynamic combination of utopian communal practice with an organic vision of progress, interest in them has generally been reserved to their faculty and students, progressive educators, and the intellectual avant-garde. It was not until the late nineteen-seventies and early eighties that higher education scholars and researchers begin to take some notice. The book that instigated the small field of innovative/alternative higher education scholarship is Gerald Grant and David Reisman’s The Perpetual Dream: Reform and Experiment in the American College.1 They analyzed the experimental undergraduate education movement in the 1960s, and explored its roots in the earlier reforms of the

1 Gerald Grant and David Riesman, The Perpetual Dream: Reform and Experiment in the

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1920s and 1930s. The authors distinguished among four types of “telic reform,”2 carried

• ut in the early to middle twentieth century: Neo-Classical, Aesthetic-Expressive,

Communal-Expressive, and Activist-Radical. They then offered a critique of the successes and failures of these institutions. Further, they suggested how such reform might be implemented more broadly. Building on the work of Grant and Riesman, Steven R. Colman wrote a dissertation, and published an article on alternative higher education in the 1920s and 1930s.3 In 1991 and 1994, philosopher of education L. Jackson Newell (President Emeritus of Deep Springs College, who has recently written a book on its history) led an innovative course that researched and published on fourteen of these schools. In line with

• ur speculations, they concluded that “maverick schools:”

…appeared to start with the ideals of visionary founders. For some, the ideal concerned the citizens who would emerge from the learning experience—from Berea, for example, learned and socially conscious Appalachians who could help enlighten their communities; from Prescott, individuals with keen understanding of important human connections with the natural environment. For others, the ideal concerned the learning experience itself—from the highly structured study of ideas and information from classic texts at St. John’s to the interdisciplinary, discussion-

2 By “telic reform” they mean “… to signify those reforms, that emphasize ends and purposes

that are different from, if not hostile to, the goals of the regnant research universities…” in the early to mid-twentieth century. See: Gerald Grant and David Riesman, The Perpetual Dream: Reform and Experiment in the American College (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 17.

3 Steven R. Coleman, "Dangerous Outposts: Progressive Experiments in Higher Education in the

1920s and 1930s," in Reinventing Ourselves: Interdisciplinary Education, Collaborative Learning, and Experimentation in Higher Education, ed. Barbara L. Smith and John McCann (Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing, 2001), 16.

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focused exploration of contemporary issues at Evergreen. Whatever the source or aim of the ideal, it is noteworthy that the beginnings of each college described in this volume (with the possible exception of College of the Atlantic) owed much to personal visions of social justice activated by uncommon energy and determination.”4 Also building on Grant, Riesman, and Newell, Joy Kliewer studied the successes and failures of the alternative higher education movement during the nineteen-sixties, in The Innovative Campus: Nurturing the Distinctive Learning Environment.5 She identified “…five dimensions that ‘mark out the territory’ of innovative institutions of higher education…”6 : “interdisciplinary teaching and learning, student-centered education, egalitarianism, experiential learning, and an institutional focus on teaching rather than research and/or publication.”7 In my Masters thesis, I explored the first generation of innovative schools in the mid-nineteenth century, while also adding needed philosophical analysis of what unifies the aims of these schools, and their place within American culture, despite their quite divergent histories, curriculum, and success. In our current study, we hope to contribute to the field by identifying what happened to alumni of one alternative school of higher

4 L. Jackson Newell, Katherine C. Reynolds, and L. Scott. Marsh, Maverick Colleges: Fourteen

Notable Experiments in American Undergraduate Education, iii. He has recently completed a new book on the history of: L. Jackson Newell, Deep Springs: The Saga of Lucien L. Nunn and Deep Springs College (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015).

5 Joy Rosenzweig. Kliewer, The Innovative Campus: Nurturing the Distinctive Learning

Environment, xvii-xviii.

6 Ibid., xviii.

7 Ibid., xviii-xix.

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education; our alma mater. Like other members of the panel, we believe that such research has a place in the general academic literature, will help support the best practices

• f these schools, and will also support their admissions and retention.

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann: Johnston students design their education around self-defined concentrations rather than standard majors. The alumni we interviewed had concentrations from, “Art Therapy and Buddhism: Contemplative Practice through the Visual and Poetic Arts” to “History, Social Change and the Radical Tradition.” But whatever the concentration, I often joke that we all majored in chutzpah. Hence, a social science study carried out by a philosopher and a rabbi…. This is how a 2002 graduate who served as a Johnston admissions officer explained the place to prospective students: “I would open up a course catalogue and say, "If you go to a school [with a] major that's already been negotiated without you, here it is. You follow." Then I would hold up a blank piece of paper [and] say, "[Here, at Johnston], there's nothing to follow."8 At some point, that blank paper becomes a graduation contract, which turns out to be essential in our research. We interviewed 33 alumni from every decade of the institution and invited them to reflect on their graduation contracts. This has given us three data points—a narrative graduation contract, a recent interview, and a written

8 Interview 50.1.13.15

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reflection on the undergraduate contract. We also surveyed a wider group of alumni, which Eli will speak about, interviewed current and founding faculty, visited multiple innovative institutions and built valuable relationships with our CIEL colleagues. We still have coding and analysis ahead of us, and recognize the difficulty of teasing apart what students come in with and what they attain through their education9, so today’s thoughts are provisional, based primarily upon self-report and alumni anecdotes. Eli Orner Kramer: Of the 115 respondents to our survey roughly 76% of them attended Johnston in the last two decades. About 60%, attended Johnston for their entire undergraduate experience, and graduated from Johnston. While the reasons students chose Johnston varied, this sentiment was frequently expressed: “I felt empowered and challenged by an educational program that allowed—well, required—my ownership. As I was attempting to claim the same agency in other aspects

• f my life at the time (coming out of an experiential-learning senior year in Denver high

school), I was intrigued by the opportunity to do the same with my upcoming college

• education. Also, while I was a high-performer academically (and was valedictorian of my

class), I wasn't motivated by grades, so a program that didn't have them was very attractive.”10

9 Thanks to Stanford Education Professor Emeritus Larry Cuban for calling this to my attention. 10 Survey Respondent 98

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86% of those surveyed described “student ownership of learning” as an “essential” part of their Johnston journey. Further, 70% of respondents said the “living/learning community” aspect of their education, was “essential.” Johnston seems to cultivate strong autonomous agents while having a robust community life. We suspect that autonomous critical thinkers, and strong community life, are not mutually exclusive. In fact, at their best, they mutually reinforce each other. Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann: In their book, The Perpetual Dream, Grant and Reisman categorize Johnston as an example of the Communal-Expressive telic reform. Noting the pervasive T-Groups and psychological orientation in its early years, they see evidence of a religious or mystical quality — “the desire to experience unity and to find mutual growth in the support of a group, thorough openness to others.”11 Even after T-groups waned, interest in transpersonal psychology, a commitment to the living/learning community, and relationships between students and mentors continue to shape the Johnston experience. Our admissions alum who showed students a blank page to demonstrate student agency and self-authorship, also assured them that a Johnston education cannot be experienced in isolation.

11 Grant and Reisman, p. 28

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He says, “The contract process involves dialogue with your advisor, your friends, with the actual contract committee. And that's an essential lesson for the world at a lot of levels, from pragmatic to relationships to networking. Those are the two biggest things. That it's not in a vacuum and it's not something you follow…I think that's the DNA of what the Johnston education involves. The blank piece of paper that you have to fill, but not alone.”12 A 2006 alum prefaced her graduation contract with these thoughts, “…in true Johnstonian and living-learning fashion, I cannot separate the academic from the

• personal. In explaining what I study and why, it is apparent to me that my school work is

full of my life and what matters most to me. A paper I write, a project I present, a single paragraph I read over and over, a discussion I have in class or a professor’s office; these events are always personal because they are independent yet intertwined explorations of what I see, do, and think about everyday, and ways of understanding—the constant shifts in focus and blurring of lenses—that both reflect and alter how I see, do and think. This is what makes me ask questions.” 13 While these sentiments may resonate with many undergraduates, it is rare that they are proclaimed and etched in the academic record. For many people we interviewed, insights from intentionally weaving the academic with the personal pervaded their entire lives. After reading her graduation contract, an award winning professor of education wrote, “Throughout my career, particularly as a teacher educator, I have had one mantra: we don’t teach subjects like

12 Interview 50.1.13.15 13 Graduation Contract 27.7.28.14

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math or history or English or Art; we teach kids. My students have repeated that statement to me for decades: ‘Here is the best thing I learned from you – we don’t teach subjects; we teach kids.’ I was stunned when I read the words from my 20-year-old self in the grad contract: “I believe that each student in a classroom should be able to expect to walk away with at least some self-knowledge and/or some self-acceptance. This faith assumes that teaching is not only Math or English or History; it is people. If that can be remembered, the struggle to be a good teacher is already won.” She mused, “I had absolutely no idea how deeply the roots of the core philosophy of my teaching actually went.”14 An arts activist lives who with three other Johnstonians explains that, nearly a decade after graduation, “We very much function as an intentional community and a family of sorts…. We all do different things professionally. … There are points of intersection and a commonality, not just in terms of personal or political values that Johnston supported… but also the perpetuation of engaged critical thinking... we push each other to not be lazy about the world around us and our responsibility.”15 The quasi-religious Communal-Expressive embrace of the living/learning community provides fertile soil for civic engagement, service and social justice for many

• Johnstonians. While the school was not founded upon civic commitments like some

maverick colleges, the qualities of “democratic self-governance, personal responsibility

14 Graduation Contract Reflection 22.1.13.15 15 Interview 27.7.28.14

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and the study of the liberal arts and sciences,”16 at the heart of many of these schools seems to foster communal awareness and civic responsibility. A 1997 graduate who joined the Marine Corps and now works in law enforcement draws a through-line from the Johnston community engagement to his engagement in public service. “…virtually every Johnston student will take the shirt off their back to protect or to defend or to come to the aid of another …student when truly necessary. It's almost ingrained in you as a Johnston student from …that first day, that when we need to come together as a community we will do that. We'll sound the trumpet and we'll have that 10 p.m. community meeting and we'll be there until hours in the morning. That's the sole purpose of the Marine Corps, but I saw that so many times in Johnston…”17 Our university professor, who retired from her position, but not from seeking justice and equity, writes, “As I explored the roots of my passion for fighting for justice and voice for high school students in the rural, suburban, and inner-city high schools at which I taught, and for students, staff, and faculty at my university, I realized that Johnston was the place where those early seeds were nurtured and bloomed.” “When I retired, I truly believed that it was time to hang up my sword and allow my horse to graze in the pasture. I’m beginning to see that when I am confronted with

16 L. Jackson Newell, Deep Springs: The Saga of Lucien L. Nunn and Deep Springs College (Salt

Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015) p. XIV.

17 Interview 24.7.30.15

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injustice, I have to polish the sword and whistle for the horse once again. I feel that in tracing the arch of my involvement in giving voice, speaking out, supporting, and taking action over the course of my career, Johnston is the central link, the place where I learned that sitting back and being quiet is unacceptable. One doesn’t just talk about injustice;

• ne acts. For me, that’s the Johnston legacy.”18

For an Irish Catholic physician who worked in Indian country for most of her career, started a global health organization and treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, refusing to accept the world as it is has permeated her education and medical practice. As one of a few women in medical school in the seventies, she told us,“ I didn't feel like anybody at my medical school was like me. Maybe a very few people. We… started a [program for underserved people] in my medical school class. I think I was able to do that because of Johnston…I knew how to organize, I knew how to talk to people. I knew how to move things along.” “My first year of medical school, we didn't have any nutrition so what do I do? I start a nutrition class, right? Why wouldn't I do that? I'm coming from Johnston. Wednesdays at noon…I have a…series of 10 lectures.” “I get called into the dean… ‘What are you doing? You're not allowed to do that. We don't teach nutrition for a reason.’ I said, ‘Well, what would that reason be? We all need to learn nutrition and people are coming who want to learn about nutrition.’ Oh my

18 Graduation Contract Reflection 22.1.13.15

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goodness, you would have thought I was from outer space. I thought I could control the

• curriculum. I didn't want to control the curriculum, I just wanted to learn nutrition.”19

Asked about the roots of public service, she said, “I am committed to equity and social justice. I don't know if that came from Johnston but what I know is that Johnston let me believe that it was okay to feel that way and to have that be a North Star for me. I have had many, many experiences in medicine that left to their own institutional devices, would have tried to tear that out of me.”20 For three classmates and former housemates in the same city, who each intended to become creative writers and instead became community organizers, Johnston’s role in fostering social engagement was nuanced. “The three of us, creative writers changing the world—by not writing!…I think that there’s a certain quality or character that is, for the person that gets drawn to it, and I think through the living-learning environment… you become politicized into thinking about things communally. I think that is the launching point for many folks into a broader social justice framework. … Johnston is kind of like a petri dish. We kind of [were] playing around with social change on a very, very, very microscopic level and I look

19 Interview 33.7.31.15 20 Interview 33.7.31.15

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back at that and I think, man, all that time I was trying to improve that; tiny little mostly white wealthy community.” 21 He continued, “[The Academic Director invited me to teach]… graphic design to the boys and girls club in the community, which was predominantly low income people…of color, and I had this kind of aha moment. “Wow,… there’s a bigger world out there.” I think that Johnston does a good job of bringing in the right people and then giving them the right framework to move on to do that work.” 22 Another of that trio echoed Grant and Reisman’s communal-expressive telos, when she said, “ I think there will always be personal transformation and personal

• growth. Hands down, yes. Even if you took nothing out of Johnston, you come out of

Johnston knowing yourself in some kind of way that you didn’t going in.” I don’t think we put anything in our structure to guarantee [a social awakening] but there’s so many things in our structure that guarantee you will know yourself personally and individually better. … folks who are looking for [a social justice

• rientation] or have the potential for that, or come in to that framework,… it will rocket

you out, but… for someone who wasn’t looking for that at all, [I don’t think] that it really guarantees you will find it.” 23 Eli Orner Kramer:

21 Interview 25.8.4.14 22 Interview 25.8.4.14 23 Interview 36.8.4.14

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The fairly inconclusive responses in our survey to the question “I am or was involved in social justice, civic or community activities?” seem to affirm her perspective. There does not appear to be any significantly self-identified increase, or decrease, in engagement in said activities because of a Johnston education. While we cannot say that Johnston (and perhaps other innovative/alternative schools) increases civic/social justice engagement, we speculate that rather, it provides a supportive community environment where those with such an orientation can flourish and refine their critical praxis. In other words, Johnston calls people with a strong sense of agency and among them are those with a social justice/civic orientation. Once on campus, the education and community support them throughout their undergraduate experience, and helps them hone skills for their future vocation. Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann: Many of us here today initiate educational opportunities consonant with the values of innovative education, among them, “Bringing Theory to Practice”, the Project

• n Purpose and Values in Education housed at Harvard, Georgetown’s “Formation by

Design” and Stanford’s “Whole Student, Whole Stanford Project”. Every campus has its

• wn culture. When we asked our interviewees what qualities of their Johnston education

would translate to the broader realm of higher education, nearly everyone spoke about student agency and self-authorship, the living- learning community, the quality of relationships with mentors and the emphasis on the art of teaching.

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One educator insisted that it is an ecosystem; it can’t be instituted piecemeal. Another said, “Johnston brings together every best practice that matters in higher education: small class sizes, relevant learning, contact with professors, collaborative relationships with colleagues, deepenings on community and what it means to be a citizen

• f the world, and intellectual inquiry with and without ego etc… The amazing experience

and learning is not unique to Johnston, it’s just a lot easier to have once you arrive.” We conclude with the thoughts of a fellow traveller—a college professor who participated in alumni summer seminars and reflected on the experiences of two family members who were undergraduates at Johnston, while he had attended a large state

• university. He spoke of “a common respect for hearing out diverse voices and patiently

listening rather than jumping in and dominating conversation. The Johnston model encourages patience, and self-expression, which asserts one's view without shutting

• thers out. It allows innovation from younger people, who plan their education, rather

than consume it from teachers. Professors are more partners and mentors, and serve as role models. This active exchange, and placement of trust in students… brings confidence to Johnstonians nurtured and supported to take their ideas, and those of their peers and mentors, seriously (but seasoned with humor and communal camaraderie). The experimental education is simply that: giving students more say in how they want to attain knowledge, and cultivate wisdom.”24

24 Survey Respondent 97

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It is our hope that these qualities can indeed, be more broadly shared and appreciated throughout diverse contexts in higher education, and that the passion and conviction that underlies the commitment to education so manifest at this meeting may, in some small way, be affirmed and nurtured by this work.