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Community Learning Centers
Two of the most important characteristics of our time are the growing diversity of our population and the escalation of change and new information.
Collaboration among the diverse individuals in every setting has now become essential. Integration of new and old ideas in rapidly changing contexts also has become essential. Every social institution is dealing with these challenges, and must find ways to survive and thrive in these rapidly changing times-- most especially educational systems which have the critical responsibility of preparing students for a new kind of world. How can schools alone do what is being expected and needed for all their students? Education must surely now become a collaborative effort.
There are increasing numbers of such centers throughout the United States today. For example, in Poland, Ohio, a 103-year-old elementary school building that was about to be closed was turned into a Continuing Education Center, which now offers lifelong learning opportunities for all ages from preschool to senior citizens. It is operated by the public schools but open to the community nearly around the clock.
An extension of the community learning center concept is found in the Fidalgo Elementary School in Anacortes, a small town on the Northern coast of Washington state. Fidalgo has a sister school in Japan, with an exchange program for the teachers and students. The children at Fidalgo are all learning to speak Japanese, and since many members of the community have fishing-trade relationships with Japan, they are also studying Japanese at the school along with the students. This community learning center offers a latchkey program before and after school, adult education classes, and collaborates with businesses, the local community college, and Western Washington University--where the teachers are earning credit leading to a Master's Degree for all the new skills they are learning. The students are thriving and achieving at high levels.
Thirty years ago in Flint, Michigan, educator Frank Manley and industrialist Charles Stewart Mott developed the concept of the "lighted schoolhouse," or community learning center. These centers spread throughout Michigan, and later through the efforts of the Mott Foundation, community education centers were established in universities and state education departments through the United States. Today thousands of these programs, in numerous different forms are being implemented in communities in every state.
Dr. Malcolm Knowles, prominent leader in adult education, suggests that community learning centers can be resources to every part of the community. In these centers, he envisions teachers, educational consultants, health and social service workers, and community volunteers collaborating to offer services in schools and to the communities they serve. These communities would become intralinked through learning.
Knowles points out that most of our social institutions, including government and education, emerged during the relatively stable conditions of the last century and have therefore been geared to maintaining stability. During the current era of accelerating change as our society and all of its institutions change, a new kind of education must emerge. He stresses the importance of understanding, guiding, influencing and managing these transformations. In order to do so, we must become adept at learning and being able apply what we learn in thoughtful, practical, and creative ways.
Knowles says, "We must become able not only to transform our institutions in response to changing situations and requirements; we must invent and develop institutions that are "learning systems," that is to say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation." The learning centers we will be exploring are doing just that as they meet the constantly changing needs of their communities.
A Reader Writes . . . About Community Learning Programs
Reader Carol Lewke's response to this article.
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