sorry! I know I'm awkwardly idealistic, in a very old-fashioned sort of
way, perhaps. But then, maybe revolutionary ideas are ageless?
>reminds me of the days back in 72 when the guys around our kitchen table
>were discussing the impending revolution -- me quietly believing them,
>scared to paralysis, but bravely planning how to survive with Baby in the
>woods...
>
>YES I was VERY naive. Co-authoring my own submission: nothing is innocent,
>as Patti Lather gleefully lectured us.
>
>
point taken. nothing and no one is innocent.
>
>And besides, what of the cases when WE are THEM?
>State or municipal property isn't necessarily less rotten than privately owned.
>
ok, but what if... (uh-oh)... ya but what if property was locally-owned, not by
the State or the municipality, but by the property-users? Like a cooperative,
or like a ... a.... ooh-ooh! example. I have an example!!
I live in a lower-income area: a major concern here has been the importance
of coordinating health care services into one location, so that dental, medical,
orthopedic, councelling, health-education, health-technical (x-rays, labs) etc
are all organized into one space, single level, interconnected buildings, easily
accessible by public transit, centrally-located in the area...
and so the local clinics got together and borrowed the services
of local architects and health care workers, patient-care
representatives, nurses, doctors, administrators, etc.,
and they designed a space which meets those needs, and can be coordinated
by re-structuring existing spaces - ownership of the property is collectively
shared by the various health organizations, all of which are
non-profit, cooperatively-run clinics, where members & staff collectively
sit on their respective boards, and so on... the plan has been approved by
the Provincial health authorities, and they are in the first stages of
garnering funding (donations) from the private sector (appeals to the rich) -
here the money is coming from private sources, but ownership
is publicly shared by the immediate health care organizations.
so what if the same principle were applied to educative sites, where instead of
building a SCHOOL,
there was some re-designing for a single-level, interconnected set of
buildings and green spaces,
re-coordinated into multiple - service studios, workshops, libraries,
recreation-social spaces, sleeping rooms, and so on? What if it were NOT
organized by grades
or age-segregated classrooms or study groups, and instead were
cooperatively organized by its users, the education staff, the students,
tutors, ... what if it were all high-tech, electronically-linked to
other learning/media-based sites?
what if there were shuttle-services which could move people from one
site to another, so that real smart kids could spend time at college level
courses, and middle-aged kids could go and tutor or teach or learn with other
child-centred sites; or kids could go and apprentice with different
artisans and differently-skilled persons in other parts of the community/city?
I mean. The possibilities here are endless. Or is it that my imagination is
endlessly running away from reality?
diane, there has *got* to be a revolution. :-)
"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right."
Ani Difranco
*********************************
diane celia hodges
faculty of education
university of british columbia
vancouver, bc canada
tel: (604)-253-4807
email: dchodges who-is-at interchange.ubc.ca