permaculture

[Selwyn Polit <selwyn@austintx.com>]

When I came to Permaculture less than 5 years ago, I was certainly a 
product of the western culture.  No idea which way the Sun moved 
across the sky even.  I was ignorant.  I am well educated in the ways 
of our culture but seriously lacking in knowledge of growing food and 
setting up any kind of systems that serve humans and nature 
well.  Our culture has done a poor job of informing us of meaningful 
priorities and left us ignorant.  That leaves our planet in a serious 
state with many problems.

I organize and teach Permaculture courses here in Austin (Texas, USA) 
and people hungrily eat this stuff up.  We don't want to become snobs 
with the "only" answer, but we can be proud that we are doing things 
in a far superior way than what has been done.  Bravo Permies - keep 
up the good work.

Selwyn


At 9/17/2005:12:40 PM +1000, Adam Donnison wrote:
> I too am disturbed by this thread.  There are a number of issues
> that really have me worried. There seems to me to be an awful
> number of people, and a large concentration of them within the
> Permaculture movement, that feel that formal education is the
> holy grail and we should all be qualified teachers in order to
> educate others.  This is patently ridiculous.  Formal education
> offers something only to those who can afford it and are of
> the mindset that can accept that sort of structure.  It is this
> description of educated vs. ignorant that results from this
> thinking.  Much like the platitudes of "the poor will always
> be with us" and the suggestion that starving people somehow
> have chosen to starve, I find this disturbing.
>
> We learn by different methods, at different times, under different
> conditions. But mostly we learn by doing, and we learn by observation
> and helping others.
>
> Think about this - how did you learn to speak?  Was it
> by someone "educating" you, or was it more as a process of being
> surrounded by words and a desire to be understood?  It was probably
> the latter, with a little of the former to tidy up the rough edges.
>
> I'm not saying that "education" is a bad thing, what I am saying
> is that by saying that we, the "educated", need to take on the
> mission of teaching them, the "ignorant" will result in the
> same sort of problems that colonialism embodies.   It is nothing
> more than mere arrogance.
>
> Adam
>
> Graham wrote:
> > The more I see this header 'Re: [permaculture] Educating the ignorant'
> > the more deeply disturbed I feel by it.
> >
> > The more I look into myself the more I realise how deeply ignorant and
> > uneducated I am.
> >
> > Carrie Shepard wrote:
> >
> >
> >><<<The first step might be to abandon the mindsets that you have a role as
> >>an 'educator' or that the people you propose to interact with are
> >>'ignorant'.>>>
> >>
> >>
> >>Isn't this the age-old 'snag' of applying one's values to the rest of the
> >>world?   I'm just now reading Out of Africa and Dennison gives a lot of
> >>stories of how differently the natives think about things than the english,
> >>and also how they respect her opinion on some things.
> >>
> >>I happen to be a follower of the way, and believe the poor will always be
> >>with us.  Progress as a value/goal for society is one of those humanistic
> >>lies I think, though I'd love for everyone to live comfortably and have
> >>enough food and clothing, there will always be those who have free will to
> >>NOT receive those basic promises.
> >>
> >>Blessings,
> >>
> >>Carrie
> >>
>
>
> --
> Adam Donnison                                  email: adam@saki.com.au
> Saki Computer Services Pty. Ltd.
> 93 Kallista-Emerald Road                        phone: +61 3 9752 1512
> THE PATCH  VIC 3792    AUSTRALIA                fax:   +61 3 9752 1098
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__________
Selwyn Polit
(512)926-7876
<mailto:selwyn@austintx.com>selwyn@austintx.com