permaculture

[Scott Pittman <pci@permaculture-inst.org>]

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject:
> [permaculture] Re: course length
> From:
> "Michael Kramer" <MKramer@hawaii.rr.com>
> Date:
> Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:56:14 -1000
> To:
> <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
> To:
> <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
>
> With all due respect, 72 hours can be divided up in many ways, and I've seen
> and taught successful versions of the certification course in a variety of
> formats, including a 9-day course, for 9 x 8 hours/day = 72 hours. 
It was and never has been the intention that the certification course be
72 hours "only".  If you read the information written by Bill
Mollison he always said 72 hours "class time".   There is still the
practicum, the design exercise/critique, and the talent show included
in the course curriculum.  The course was originally a three week
course, and still is with some instructors, and reducing it to two weeks
was consindered the miminum time necessary to adequately cover all the
materials.

> As teachers of biodiversity, we permies should embrace as many varieties of
> certification formats as possible in order to serve our diverse students. In
> my 15 years of teaching permaculture, the certification course has been run
> as two-week, three-week, four-weekend, and semester-long versions, just to
> name a few examples. While a 14-day residential course might be considered
> "best practice" by many, this just isn't practical for many people, and it
> certainly isn't the only way to do it.
>  
The time argument is the same as the money argument, people are just too
busy or too poor to take the course so we should accomodate them
by giving it away over a weekend.  I glad that we don't have the same
criteria for determining the amount of time to learn to do brain surgery, or
build a bridge.  I think this attitude has more to do with teacher
convenience than with a real desire to convey information.  Of course
you can teach
any thing you want over any time span you want for any amount that you
want, my concern is that you not call it something it isn't - a Permaculture
Design Certification course.

> I would also like to point out that there are no rules about certification
> at the moment because there are no standards or people to enforce them. We
> have the equivalent of "gentlemen's agreements" (excuse the gender
> exclusivity) to teach in the way we were taught, but this is a choice. For
> the 72-hour course as it was originally designed is certainly not the only
> way to imagine one could become a certified permaculturist, and I mean this
> in terms of both format and content. Why 72 hours? Why not 144? or 288? We
> may see the logic of continuing the same model of the course just because it
> was how we were taught or we believe it accomplishes our objectives of
> assuring that students leave the course "knowing" permaculture, but there
> are many other paths to such an outcome.  The course is heavily weighted
> towards land-based design of agricultural systems, but this is an arbitrary
> focus and more an example of the application of permaculture design in a
> particular dimension of human experience, and not the most important realm
> to some. Would a course that focused primarily on invisible structures
> suffice to earn certification? I think it could, and it might be much more
> attractive a course for certain populations in certain locales.
>  
I beg to differ with you, sir.  The rules of certification have been
very clearly laid out in numberous publications and, for the
most part, been adhered to by most teachers of permaculture since the
early eighties.  That continuity has been what is responsible
for what little consistensy  that exists in the permaculture movement
and is what still allows us some credibility as teachers and prac-
ticioners.  There have always been specialty  courses given on every
conceivable aspect of permaculture; finance, social, legal, pruning,
gardening, forestry, and etc. and to my mind no one has wanted to call
these courses certification courses, because they aren't certifi-
cation courses.  There is also the diploma program that allows for a
diploma in specialty areas like invisible structures, should one choose
to apply for that certificate.  We are talking apples and oranges here,
certification versus intensive specialty courses.

> I would also like to point out (again) that in the various Permaculture
> Teacher Trainings I have facilitated, I have encountered many "certified"
> permaculturists who barely grasped permaculture design - they were far more
> literate on the techniques and strategies than the design process itself. So
> perhaps this is also evidence of the need for a different, and perhaps more
> protracted, certification process. I'm not sure how much people truly digest
> in these intensive 72-hour courses no matter what the format, even though
> I've seen quite clearly that way people are blown away by the experience
> itself.
>
>  
Most people that I have known and taught in the permaculture
certification course wouldn't have the temerity to go out and
teach or start a design practice without considerable self education and
practice following the course.  The course has never
claimed to do anything but give one the basic way of thinking about and
understanding our place in the world and a beginning
process to address those issues with positive and constructive
methodologies.  Just as all other professions require an internship
period so does permaculture.

> My real point is, we must think like the guild, and plant a forest full of
> nutrient-rich educational experiences which "certify" people to apply
> permaculture in whatever ways mean something to our students. Just as there
> are many varieties of Architecture or Planning 101 in universities
> throughout the world, permaculture deserves the same respect. How ironic
> that our philosophy of polyculture is often taught in a monocultural way.
>
> Michael Kramer
> Permaculture Teacher Trainer
> Investment Advisor
>
>  
I am constantly reminded of the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix
it" in these conversations.  The permaculture certification course
has been taught around the world for near on thirty years with thousands
of graduates and practitioners quietly, and not so quietly going about
the business of healing the Earth and each other and there is always
some nay sayer who is looking for a short cut or a quick fix to a system
that is working just fine.

Scott Pittman