Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: growth of pc

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: kowens@teleport.com (Jeff Owens)
  • To: permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: growth of pc
  • Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 16:51:31 -0800

Lawrence wrote:
>Having the free online PC symposium (sans the drinking part for me)
>give ample reference and promotional to everyone offering PC education for
>a fee is a vital component of said free course; & competition and word
>of mouth (& word of Web) should be really good for business. As was stated
>earlier, a hands on, in person course and workshop is a far better way to
>teach PC and motivate a following.

This discussion of a course or ongoing educational forum sounds very
interesting and I hope something results. All I can think of to
contribute is some ideas, but would be willing to devote time if
and when something is implemented.

I wonder about the words "free course". This seems to be a
construct our culture uses often and is tied into measuring
everything with money. If anyone is to learn from a course then a
lot of time is required and time has value. Time isn't free. I
would prefer an up front expectation that the symposium requires
both work and time.

I'm not sure how students could commit time to a course. Maybe help
with the course itself. If they are not willing to do that then they
may not be worth spending time on. My personal bias is to view all
learning experiences as focused discussions among students. The
concept of a teacher implies that someone has all the answers. Instead,
a group with someone facilitating can be a lot more dynamic and
rewarding learning experience. Also, the graduates would be less
passive and more interested in exploring on their own.

I'm puzzled about why the questions of quality and detracting from
existing courses have become issues. The quality or absence of
quality would depend upon how the course was structured and that
has not been defined. It seems premature to kill an idea which
has not been given a chance to grow.

As for detracting from existing courses. I would love to take
every course around and read all the literature that has been
written. One course is not going to fill that void. Also, the
market for Pc material is very small at the present and any effort
to expand the exposure of Pc should help everyone. This seems to
fit the basic Pc ethics statements of helping the earth and people.

Another possible outcome of not making Pc accessible is that those
less qualified might try. This seems to be happening to some
extent. I've seen Pc mentioned is several places and the results
were confusing.

Regards, jeff

----------
Jeff Owens (kowens@teleport.com) Zone 6-7 Permaculture
Underground house, solar energy, reduced consumption, no TV




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page