time they were organising a big day in [area of Greater Nottingham] - a
lifestyle change day and I sort of came into my own then and did loads of things
for that. ”
This quote crisply illustrates how learning for personal change (Quadrant A in Figure
2, p. 12) can lead directly to learning for social transformation (Quadrant D).
6.5 Self-awareness, independent thought, autonomy
Stacey explained how adult education had led to her personal development:
“[Adult education in creative subjects] makes you think of issues that might be
difficult and might be things you haven’t wanted to think about before because
they might be difficult to think about .. and then perhaps deal with them. ”
A counselling course helped because:
“ it makes you think about your feelings. .. I’d never done that before. .. I’d
always done as I was told. ” (Stacey)
The prime message of one interview was the notion of education as a shock absorber.
The respondent refers several times to the way education gave her independence, the
ability to stand on her own two feet. She experienced terrible acrimonious relations
living with her husband’s family and explains that partly as a consequence of her
previous education, she would not submit to her mother-in-law’s “emotional
blackmail” but was able to fight back and maintain autonomy.
Denise describes the difficulties she experienced attempting to find out what was
wrong with her son. It was not until he was seven years old that he was eventually
diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Denise feels that her education did not help
initially because it had discouraged independent thought:
“ You’ve got your knowledge from books. I hadn’t been at that level to
question...[ ... ]..When I was at school, you sat there and were taught and you
kept quiet .. This is how it is. Don’t question it.. You would just accept. It was
the same at college to a certain degree .. Because it’s written down, it must be
true sort of thing. The person’s an expert. ”
This attitude caused Denise problems when her son did not develop as he was
expected to:
“ Read the books. They tell you what to do and it’s not working. It must be me.
I’m doing wrong. .. This is how it should be and it’s not. [ ... ] I’m not talking
to him enough, like the book said. .. What am I doing wrong?”
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