Occupy Palo Alto

In the General Assembly, we’ve talked about various actions and projects. One tool that has great potential is Study Circles,

Several Occupy sympathizers in Transition Palo Alto are planning a series of films and discussions on Study Circles in the spring.

Steffy R. asked that I post some background information on Study Circles, so here are some excerpts of articles on the web. Click on the links for the complete article.

-BA

Study Circles: Schools For Life
Cecile Andrews, In Context
Cooperative learning, democratic participation, respect for individual views, and learning from the collective wisdom of the group
—
Imagine this: Sitting around a dining room table littered with cups and the remains of banana bread are seven or eight people. A burst of laughter dies down as a woman continues her story about trying to persuade her 16 year-old son to wear a helmet when he rides his bike. A man wipes tears of laughter from his eyes and nods vigorously – “Yes, I know just what you mean. My son did that, too. But I read an article the other day that said ….”

These people are engaged in one of the most fulfilling human pastimes – conversation. But they’re not at a dinner party. They’re part of a study circle – a way of learning that is springing up across the country, a method of study that has been referred to as “education by the people.” In our thrill-seeking, high-tech, hectic times, people are turning to a relaxed, simple, low-tech form of fulfillment – educating themselves in an informal, egalitarian setting.

Members of community groups, churches, business groups, and unions have used this small-group discussion format to seek understanding and common ground when they faced difficult issues or hard choices. And formal adult education offerings are starting to include study circles on a variety of issues and topics.

This growing interest in study circles is part of a larger movement. People are discovering their own authority in education just as they are in medicine and religion. This reflects a growing conviction that there is a collective wisdom in groups, that education and understanding go hand in hand, and that learning can truly be available for all.

The Diversity of Truth

When people take responsibility for their own education they are, in part, saying that they want to come up with their own ideas – to examine their experience and discover their own truths. In study circles, participants learn to listen to each other’s ideas, not as points to debate, but as different experiences of reality. They may not agree, but they learn to accept that – just like blind men feeling different parts of the elephant – each person may be limited by his or her own perspective.

In the study circle, each participant feels empowered to think for themselves. Anxiety about appearing foolish is lost. Since there is no one “right” answer, all are free to say what they think, to sit back and relax, and enjoy learning and thinking. Participants are encouraged to speak their minds freely and to engage in friendly disagreement.

Often, written materials are used as a basis for discussion, and these are sometimes chosen to reflect diversity of opinion. Study circle participants have a special opportunity to investigate their own capacities to communicate with and affect others, to improve their listening skills, and to use their critical faculties.
(Fall 1992)
Cecile Andrews is a long-time author on the subject of simplicity and originator of the Simplicity Circle idea. She’s involved with projects to build Sustainability and Community in Palo Alto and in her North Seattle Neighborhood.

Website: www.cecileandrews.com/
YouTube talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia5YTifXKmY

For more on Simplicity Circles, see Cecile’s book The Circle of Simplicity.

You Got To Move: Stories of Change in the South (Highlander Folk School)
Lucy Massie Phenix, Milestone Films

You Got To Move: Stories of Change in the South
Director: Lucy Massie Phenix
USA. 1985.
86. Color.

Milestone: Lucy Massie Phenix’s remarkable documentary You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South celebrates individuals and communities who dared to change the world for the better. Inspired by the filmmaker’s experiences at Tennessee’s world-renowned Highlander Research and Education Center, the film captures the enthusiastic spirit of a place that has helped people unite at the grassroots level.

Highlander “grads” have long been active in some of the most significant movements for justice — leading the fights for Civil and Labor rights and working to protect communities from the ravages of strip mining and toxic waste dumping. Rich in the language and music of the South, You Got to Move tells their stories — chronicling how “ordinary” people discovered the courage and ability to confront reality, and change it. It is a film that champions civil action and makes you want to move!

The DVD release commemorates the upcoming 80th anniversary of Highlander, whose attendees included Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and was the source of the song “We Shall Overcome.” The premiere also memorializes the 50th anniversary of the Albany Movement — a landmark in the history of American civil rights activism — which was led by students, including Bernice Johnson Reagon (founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey In the Rock and a nationwide leader for human rights) who appears in the film.

Lucy Massie Phenix (director):

“What is it that makes people stop feeling powerless, and makes them want to change? As a result of a 1980 conference given by Physicians for Social Responsibility on the Medical Consequences of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War, it was this question that became the focus for my next film. I went home to the South to make it because there I had seen the clues to the answers. Some of the people in YOU GOT TO MOVE I had known for twenty years.

“I had seen their process, I had seen the changes they helped to bring about, the obstacles they were up against, and their commitment for working for “the long haul.” It was the process of the people in the film beginning to trust what their own experiences taught them, and their growing refusal to take the judgments of “experts” on matters in their own lives, that shaped the form and meaning of the film, and which makes it universally relevant in a time when this process is taking place all over the world.”
(January 2012)
The Highlander Folk School is one of the most influential example of the Study-Group method.

Also at YouTube: A second trailer for the film. -BA

A Guide to Building Stronger Communities through Public Dialogue
Study Circles Resource Center and Marci Reaven, PBS
Toward a More Perfect Union in an Age of Diversity:

Readings and a study guide to accompany the PBS documentary Talk to Me and A More Perfect Union, which don’t seem to be available on the web.
-BA

From Guidelines for Study Circle Participants
The goal of a study circle is not to learn a lot of facts, but rather to deepen understanding and judgment, and to think about ways to make a difference on a community issue you care about. This can occur in a safe, focused discussion when people exchange views freely and consider a variety of views. The process — democratic discussion among equals — is as important as the content.

The following points are intended to help you make the most of your study circle experience.

• Make a good effort to attend all meetings. The comfort level and depth of conversation depend upon familiarity with other participants.
• Think together about what you want to get out of your conversation.
• Help keep the discussion on track. Make sure your remarks are relevant.
• Speak your mind freely, but don’t monopolize the conversation.
• Listen carefully to others. Try to really understand what they are saying and respond to it, especially when their ideas are different from yours. Try to avoid building your own arguments in your head while others are talking — if you’re afraid you’ll forget to make a point, write it down.
• Be open to changing your mind. This will help you really listen to others’ views.
• When disagreement occurs, don’t personalize it. Do keep talking, and explore the disagreement. Search for the common concerns beneath the surface.
• Don’t waste time arguing about points of fact. For the time being, you may need to agree to disagree and then move one. You might decide to check out the facts together before your next meeting.
• Value one another’s experiences. Think about how your own experiences have contributed to your thinking.
• Help to develop one another’s ideas. Listen carefully and ask clarifying questions.

(1997)


Study Circles Training Material
National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) (Canada)
Good basic how-to guides. My favorites are:

What is a Study Circle
Role of the Facilitator
Role of the Participants
Dialog vs Debate
Troubleshooting

– BA
(undated)

Tool for Creating Your Own Issue Guide
Everyday Democracy
What’s This?

If you’re starting a large-scale, inclusive dialogue connected to action and there is not an issue guide on this site that works for the issue you will be addressing, this is the place for you. This site will guide you, step-by-step through the creation of an issue guide that you can use for these dialogues. Along the way, you will work on understanding your issue, researching what people are saying about it, and ways to address it.

If you want to create a whole issue guide, this tool can take some time and energy. But, we believe, it is worth the effort. We will also be suggesting a number of face-to-face meetings with other members of the community. The total time for all those meetings should be about six hours.
Is This Right For You?

While there are many important issues and causes, not all of them lend themselves to large-scale community-wide dialogue and problem solving. Issues that work best for such a program… …

What Will This Tool Do?

• This online tool will help you write an issue guide for use in large-scale, inclusive dialogue projects connected to action. If you follow the suggestions, you will:
  • Define your issue
  • Do background research
  • Interview people and hold meetings to find out more in-depth what people think about the issue
  • Create the issue guide by filling in key pieces of an issue guide template (you will have the chance to edit or alter everything you do, throughout the process)
• At the end of this, you will have an issue guide that you can use in your dialogue-based project – and share with others who might be interested in doing something similar in their own community.

…
(undated)

Study Circles in Sweden
Staffan Larsson & Henrik Nordvall, Linköping University
An Overview with a Bibliography of International Literature

This text aims to give an overview of the study circles as a tradition and state of the art at present time. The point of departure is primarily the Swedish context, even though there are some comments about study circles elsewhere. This focus is justified by the fact that although study circles do appear worldwide, their status in Sweden as a mass phenomenon is rather unique and has attracted attention from outside observers. Academic publications written in English about the Swedish study-circles do, however, exist, but only a few are recent. Drawing on results from empirical research done by Swedish researchers, as well as public statistics and evaluations, our ambition is to portray the study circles and their institutional context in Sweden.

First, there is a discussion about definitions, pointing out the lack of an exact notion of the study circle, but also suggesting an approximate answer – a study circle grammar. In order to provide a deeper understanding of the realities, there are also some very concrete examples, with respect to content and process. The idea is to communicate a richer and more down-to-earth meaning.

The same thought is applied to the second part, where participation and outcomes are presented. These are based on recent statistics, but also reports about the study circles from the participants’ point of view – their experiences and understandings.

The administrative and economic support system is important for the operation of the study circles and consequently, it is described in a rather elaborate way in the third part. We think it will help readers to have some knowledge of this context for the Swedish study circles, which we think is different elsewhere.

Finally there is a bibliography of literature on study circles in Sweden and internationally. The ambition of the bibliography is to capture as much as possible, written in languages that can be read by an international audience. A number of useful web addresses are also included in order to provide easy access to important resources. The bibliography will hopefully be a tool for those who want to learn more
(2 July 2010)
Full report available online as PDF.