The LLI Review: Fall 2011, Volume 6
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Volume 6 Fall 2011 The Annual Journal of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Explorations by and about older learners In this issue: ■ Research and Theory ■ Life Stories ■ Best Practices ■ Poetry ■ Learning Resources The LLI Review Editor E. Michael Brady Professor of Adult Education and Senior Research Fellow Osher Lifelong Learning Institute University of Southern Maine Associate Editors Robert Atkinson Professor of Human Development and Senior Research Fellow Osher Lifelong Learning Institute University of Southern Maine Rick Lamb Osher Lifelong Learning Institute University of Southern Maine Betty Welt Coastal Senior College Thomaston, Maine Poetry Editor Pat Budd Osher Lifelong Learning Institute University of Southern Maine Editorial Board Pauline Abbott, OLLI at California State University at Fullerton Marilyn Blumsack, OLLI at Tufts University Anne Cardale, National Resource Center for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes Richard B. Chobot, Consultant Rebecca Goodman, OLLI at University of Hawaii Marvin Hunt, School of Professional and Graduate Programs, Baker University Nona Lyons, University College, Cork (Ireland) Barbara Peterson, OLLI at Northwestern University Ara Rogers, OLLI at the University of South Florida Lucille D. Salerno, OLLI at University of Missouri-Columbia, Michelle Sierpina, OLLI at University of Texas Medical Branch Vincent Waldron, OLLI at Arizona State University Print ISSN 1932–7625 Online ISSN 1932–7633 The LLI Review is indexed in EBSCOHOST including Academic Search Premier and Education Research Complete. For information about how to obtain additional print copies of The LLI Review, please go to www.osher.net Cover photographs by Michael Saukstelis, Promax Productions, Inc. Copy editor: Kyle Allen The LLI Review Fall 2011 Welcome elcome to Volume 6 of The LLI Review. We have what we consider to be a well-balanced selection of manuscripts in this Wvolume representing the breadth of genres which has become our tradition with this annual publication of the National Resource Center for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI). In the following pages you will fi nd descriptions of especially interesting courses being offered in Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, memoirs, short fi ction, essays about important topics such as lifelong learning and action research, original research, poetry, and book reviews. In each of the fi rst fi ve volumes of The LLI Review (2006–2010) we have published two life stories describing the life, career, and passion for learning of OLLI members from across the United States. In Volume 6 we are publishing one more life story, but this practice will end after this volume. Robert Atkinson, who has been my faculty colleague and friend for more than 20 years and who has managed this section of the journal, is retiring. Bob will still be working with the Life Story Center at the Univer- sity of Southern Maine and welcomes your participation by way of the center’s web site: www.usm.maine.edu/olli/national/lifestorycenter. We are formulating plans to honor and celebrate older learners in a different way in future editions of The LLI Review. I wish to thank Bob for his career-long dedication to life stories through his teaching, scholarship, and work in this journal. One of the reasons I worked with Jack Hansen in writing “Solving Problems Through Action Research” was to encourage readers of this journal, who tend to mostly be active members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, including faculty and other leaders, to consider undertaking small, program-specifi c empirical studies. Action research is an excellent way to answer key questions and solve vexing problems in OLLIs, and it does not take a doctoral degree or intense technical training to undertake such projects. This journal would also welcome and consider publishing written reports based on fi ndings from local action research projects. I’d be happy to discuss any such studies you may be considering or which are already underway at your institute. iii Please share your print version of Volume 6 with a friend or colleague. I also want to remind you that this entire edition is avail- able online at www.osher.net as are all of the fi ve previously published volumes. If you have comments about The LLI Review or are consid- ering an idea for contributing a manuscript, I welcome an email ([email protected]) or phone call (207-780-5312). Thank you and be well. E. Michael Brady, PhD Professor and Editor iv The LLI Review Vol. 6, Fall 2011 Table of Contents Welcome iii By E. Michael Brady Lifelong Learning Institutes: The Next Challenge 1 By Rick Lamb My Last Violent Act: Iwo Jima 11 By Byron V. Citron My Grandmother’s Piano 14 By Diane E. Dreher Finding My Way to the New Normal 19 By Michael E. Reid My Friend Is Going Away (Poem) 22 By Claire Hasselbeck Aubade, 1862 (Poem) 23 By Michael McNamara Inclusivity: Journey of Enrichment 24 By Charlie Delp and Aracelis Rogers Interlude 30 By Bill Boudreau Leaving a Legacy: 40 Boxes and a Course 34 By Emily C. Richardson Life Stories, Autobiography, and Personal Narratives 41 By Robert Atkinson Carried By Something I Didn’t Quite See 43 By Fred Brancato Blue Ford (Poem) 50 By Wendy Cleveland Getting Up There (Poem) 51 By Barry R. Berkey v Learning Through Art: Experiencing Challenge 52 By Clare B. Fisher, George L. Hersh, Susan E. Hoffman, and Sandra N. von Doetinchem de Rande World War II Memories: Time is of the Essence 65 By Gary L. Oberts Why We Sing 71 By Ruth Flexman The Rifl e 77 By M.E. Hansburg Solving Problems Through Action Research 82 By R. Jack Hansen and E. Michael Brady At Carriage Hill (Poem) 91 By Martha B. Horne Pure Class At Myrtle Beach (Poem) 92 By Robert L. Graham It Comes With the Territory 93 By Marcella Lorfi ng Vietnam Memorial 96 By Morton Katz Math Limits (Poem) 99 By Janet Stebbins The Griot’s Story 100 By Brenda Aronowitz Book Reviews 104 By Carl Marsak, E. Michael Brady vi The LLI Review Fall 2011 Lifelong Learning Institutes: The Next Challenge Rick Lamb Abstract Based on a review of some of the major contemporary themes in the study of However, assuming adult cognitive development, this article suggests a more comprehensive under- participants in standing of the human potential for lifelong learning and the obstacles to its achievement. This includes recognition that many younger adults fail to achieve these programs their full learning potential. In this context it is suggested that lifelong learning are automatically programs might consider ways to help develop and test models for promoting lifelong learning for all adults, while still honoring their commitment to seniors. lifelong learners is a mistake. Lifelong believe the establishment of hundreds of lifelong learning programs across the country, providing a wide range of liberal and creative arts learning is not I courses for more than 200,000 older adults, is an incredible achieve- determined by ment. However, I also believe there is an opportunity for these programs to achieve even more by promoting the lifelong learning potential of all adults. where you learn, The urgency, feasibility, and challenges of such an initiative are the subjects but how. of this essay. The concept of lifelong learning is not well understood. In the United States the term is widely assumed to refer to the participation by older adults in non-credit classes in the arts and sciences but without the academic strictures associated with higher education. Often these programs are hosted by traditional institutions but operate as more fl exible, quasi-independent units. There are no entrance requirements, grades, tests, etc., and fees are very modest. Participants are usually referred to as members, not students. The faculty is almost always unpaid volunteers and brings a broad range of academic and professional experience. However, assuming participants in these programs are automatically lifelong learners is a mistake. Lifelong learning is not determined by where you learn, but how. It can be best defi ned as “a cognitive process by which [adults] continue to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes over their 1 Fall 2011 The LLI Review Lifelong Learning lifetimes.” (Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1978). As will Institutes: The Next be addressed in this article, continued development of “knowledge, skills, Challenge attitudes” is a lifetime commitment, not a one-semester course. It requires a habit of mind that provides for an openness to new ideas and willingness to rethink old ones, fl exibility in dealing with complex problems, and recogni- tion that there are few simple or foolproof answers to complex problems. It also requires acknowledgment of how one’s own assumptions and life experience can infl uence and sometime distort judgment. It is a unique but critical process of learning, relearning, and unlearning as conditions change and insight grows. The problem is that this kind of thinking and learning seems to be in short supply just when we need it most. Up until recently (as time is judged from an evolutionary perspective) our capacity to adjust behavior to meet and overcome environmental challenges was the key to our survival and ultimately led to our present planetary dominance. But now what had been an advantage is also a threat. Our brilliant technology has given us the power to exhaust our resources, poison our atmosphere, and if we really get irritated, eliminate all life on earth. As our society gets more complex so does its problems, especially those that require balancing short-term desires with long-term risks, or when all possible solutions are in themselves imper- fect and contradictory. On an individual level, the impact of technology in the last 200 years has almost doubled life expectancy, but successful aging remains a challenge for many, and competition between generations for limited resources is presenting us with increasingly painful choices.