Additionally important is some form of communicative action between members of
the group. This normally, but not always, includes class discussion. For example,
Louise, a middle-class art therapist, changed her views of Asian young men due to
participating in a short course at her local school:
“ ... they do know a lot and it takes you by surprise .. when you talk to them
they’re really studious and really studying hard and have already achieved a lot
and done a lot. It makes you realise they’re not that young and life-
inexperienced as you have imagined. ”
Another change of view, this time towards a working-class man, is also apparent for
another middle-class woman, Sylvia, on her creative writing course. The growth of
tolerance is mutual and enforced by the routines of the subject in terms of constructive
criticism of others’ work:
“I go to a creative writing course now, at the University of the Third Age. And
there’s a man there called Danny Brown. I call him Danny B and I hope they
hang him in the morning. But his language is absolutely abysmal. Every other
word is a swear word and to speak is awful. And I can’t stand it. And when he
read out one or two of his pieces I actually got up and left the room. Ijust . I
thought . and one of the last pieces he wrote was actually blasphemous ... But
since then he seems to have got better and the last two meetings we had. We all
criticise each other’s work you see, and he gave me very constructive criticism
to mine. Because I had to write about the ‘Gorbals’ and I don’t know anything
about the ‘Gorbals’ at all. But he does, he’s Scottish, very Scottish, and he gave
me some quite good clues and constructive criticism about how I’d written
about the ‘Gorbals’ and Ifound that very good. And he was very constructive
and he wasn’t swearing or anything. When he actually talks to you he’s a very
clever man. ”
Courses with mandatory social interaction, which can be enforced within the
discipline as in the case of creative writing illustrated above, but also through a
professional (nursing, teaching, training to be a therapist) or access (open university,
access courses) context encouraged the growth of tolerance:
“It made me open my eyes a lot more to how people are or how differently they
can live. ” (Rita)
“ I met my first battered wife. I couldn’t believe it . ” (Tina)
“ I suppose one thing that affected me is that I kind of believed a lot of
propaganda about asylum-seekers, in that I bought the trip about it, you know,
about them economic migrants rather than genuine asylum-seekers. And being
here and . there’s quite a lot of asylum-seekers here and just, you know,
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