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Black Mountain College As a Form of Life Lyubov Bugaeva

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Black Mountain College As a Form of Life Lyubov Bugaeva BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE AS A FORM OF LIFE Education as Experience Lyubov Bugaeva Saint-Petersburg State University [email protected] Pragmatist ideas that were shaped and employed in unique practices of teaching and organizing students’ life ABSTRACT: The paper focuses on a unique experiment in in Black Mountain College came from several sources – education that was realized in Black Mountain College (North Carolina) in 1933–1957 and seeks to find answers directly from John Dewey’s writings, and indirectly chan- to a number of questions. What connects the notions of neled through John Andrew Rice and Josef Albers. In the democracy, education, and the arts? To what extent is Dewey’s version of pragmatism, known as instrumental- 1930s John Dewey visited the College on several occa- ism, applicable to education in the arts? And finally, what sions. In 1936 he was elected a member of the Advisory makes Black Mountain College a revolutionary experiment in education, the importance and memory of which con- Council of Black Mountain College and served for three siderably outlasts its less than a quarter of a century exist- years, and in 1939 was re-elected for the next term. The ence? library comprised many of Dewey’s writings donated by Keywords: Black Mountain College, John Andrew Rice, the author during his visits. Dewey attended classes, Joseph Albers, John Dewey, progressive education, art, advised on the curriculum, and enjoyed formal and democracy, democratic man informal communication with students and faculty, who had meals and extracurricular activities together. In a “The democratic man, we said, must be an artist” letter to Myrtle B. McGraw, a psychologist and research- 1 (John Andrew Rice) er in child development as well as his friend and corre- spondent, Dewey reflected on the educational model at In 1940 John Dewey called Black Mountain College “a Black Mountain College, which was drastically different living example of democracy in action” standing “at the from others with a fixed or close to fixed curriculum that very ‘grass roots’ of a democratic way of life” (Dewey to liberal arts colleges usually had at the time. Despite 2 Dreier, 18 July 1940) . Falling back on Dewey’s educa- some reservations about the freedom the students had, tional ideas and theory of art, John Andrew Rice, the Dewey was rather optimistic in his account of the envi- founder of the College, stated, “the democratic man […] ronment created at the College: must be an artist. The integrity […] of the democratic The new students, twenty or so are younger than man was the integrity of the artist, an integrity of rela- the former ones, just out of high school mostly, and I am trying to find out how they fit in but tionship” (Rice 1942/2014, 328). Similarly, Josef Albers, don’t know yet; I am wondering how they react the Bauhaus artist who in 1933 fled from Germany and to the seeming lack of pressure to do “school work”. But the young people are conclusive evi- joined the College, professed later that the principal aim dence how much education is derivable from of Black Mountain College was to “to educate a student a[s]sociation with intelligent people whether they do much of what is called work or not as a person and as a citizen” (Kurtz 1944, 3). What con- (Dewey to McGraw, 8 March 1936). nects the notions of democracy, education, and the arts? In contrast, Dewey’s friend Albert Barnes, an art collec- To what extent is Dewey’s version of pragmatism, known tor and educator, had doubts about Black Mountain as instrumentalism, applicable to education in the arts? College; in his view, freedom in selecting nearly every And finally, what makes Black Mountain College a revo- course did not lead to better outcomes but produced lutionary experiment in education, the importance and chaos. Discussing it with Dewey, Barnes expressed seri- memory of which considerably outlast its less than a ous concerns about the methods of teaching, primarily quarter of a century (1933–1957) existence? about the role of the art class instructor: From my observations of the course in operation I felt that there was a confusion between activity 1 Rice 1942/2014, 328. 2 on the part of the student and the results of the Letters to and from Dewey are quoted from The Correspond- ence of John Dewey, electronic edition (Dewey 2008). activity, judged in the terms of educational val- Pragmatism Today Vol. 11, Issue 2, 2020 BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE AS A FORM OF LIFE Lyubov Bugaeva ues. There could be no question that the people in psychology at the end of the 19th century. The reflex in the art class were up on their toes, but equally arc conception treats sensory stimulus, central connec- unquestionable is the fact that their activities were not directed in an intelligent way, but were tions, and motor responses as separate entities (sensa- led by the imposition of the personality of the tion – idea – movement), while for Dewey such separa- teacher. […] His ideas, his methods, as embodied in both his teaching and in his own paintings, tion is an erroneous evocation of the mind/body distinc- represent to me a very low order of academism. tion. Assuming the continuity of body and consciousness, In short, in the development of the human facul- ties, I see very little advantage in keeping them he argues for the wholeness of experience. For instance, active, unless the activities are either intelligent- in the situation when the child sees the candle-flame, ly guided or the student has within himself the powers of selection to lead his activities into reaches for it and withdraws his hand when the fingers fruitful and intelligent channels (Barnes to Dew- are burnt, Dewey states, “the real beginning is with the ey, 25 March 1936). act of seeing; it is looking, and not a sensation of light” However, Dewey, who closely followed the ups and (Dewey 1896, 358–359). Accordingly, downs of the college,3 stayed positive; he thought of if one is reading a book, if one is hunting, if one is Black Mountain College as a critical institution “in the watching in a dark place on a lonely night, if one is performing a chemical experiment, in each long run interests of democracy” and of its “work and case, the noise has a very different psychical val- life” as a path to a “democratic way of life” (Dewey to ue; it is a different experience. In any case, what proceeds the ‘stimulus’ is a whole act, a sensori- Dreier, 18 July 1940). When the College experienced a motor coordination (ibid., 361). hardship, Dewey remarked: “No matter how the present Therefore, the experience is “the result of interaction crisis comes out the need for the kind of work the Col- between a live creature and some aspect of the world in lege does is imperative in the long run interests of de- which he lives” (Dewey 1934/1987, 50). Situations include mocracy” (Dewey to Dreier, 18 July 1940). Rice in his objects as well as relations, i.e., a complex that Dewey memoirs portrayed Dewey as an attentive listener who calls “environment.” As he puts it, “in actual experience, “had respect for the process of learning,” as a person there is never any such isolated singular object or event; who asked questions rather than provide standard an- an object or event is always a special part, phase, or as- swers (Rice 1942/2014, 331). Besides, Dewey was more pect, of an environing experienced world – a situation” than an honorable visitor; his writings were the principal (Dewey 1938/1986, 72; italics in the original). So, experi- source of inspiration for the Black Mountain College ence in the first place is “the manifestation of interactions teachers. Several key concepts of Dewey’s pragmatism of organism and environment” (Dewey 1939–1941/1988, resonate in the methods and ideas of the College’s edu- 16); interactions are necessary conditions for defining “the cational model, above all the concepts of experience and self” that is “a factor within experience and not something of inquiry based on the organism-environment interac- outside of it to which experiences are attached as the tion and of inquiry. self’s private property” (ibid., 17; italics in the original). In 1896, Dewey wrote a short but important article, Experience rests at the heart of how people think and “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (1896), where he imagine the world. However, not every interaction counts argued against the conception of the reflex arc, common as experience. For example, when the child burns his finger in the flame, the burn is the result of the interaction 3 In correspondence with Ted Dreier, a college treasurer, and Robert Wunsch, a lecturer in literature and drama, Dewey of the organism (the child) with the environment; howev- showed knowledge of the difficulties that the College experi- er, physical change (burn) becomes an experience only if enced from time to time. Thus, Dewey writes to Dreier, “I hope, earnestly, that your efforts to get adequate support for Black movement is connected with pain as the result of this Mountain College will be successful” (Dewey to Dreier, 18 July 1940); Dewey writes to Wunsch, “naturally sorry to hear of the movement (Dewey 1916/1980, 146). College’s troubles” (Dewey to Wunsch, 19 August 1944). ͳͶ͹ Pragmatism Today Vol. 11, Issue 2, 2020 BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE AS A FORM OF LIFE Lyubov Bugaeva Such an understanding of experience is the core of importance was to develop in students the ability and the the educational model at Black Mountain College.
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