Help Create Our Future. (Commentary) (2001)

This is an invitation. I invite you to help create a shared vision of desirable future directions for the broad field of adult and continuing education. If you respond to this invitation, I offer you at least three potential benefits. One is challenge and satisfaction from helping create a vision of what the broad field could become. A second is interacting with some of the most able and visionary people in the field. A third is being able to select the type and extent of your contribution. This article concludes with ways to let me know of your interest. This offer reflects my current role as chair of the Futures Committee of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) and a liaison with the Futures Committee of the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE). This initiative builds on our efforts in recent years to explore desirable future directions in the field, especially in relation to the many specialized associations of people in various segments of the field. The collaborative opportunities that have been identified suggest potential affiliations among colleagues from various segments of the field to pursue goals more likely to be achieved together than separately Such cooperation typically reflects enlightened self-interest. A major function of the AAACE Futures Committee is to identify high priority areas of shared vision. Please contact me if you might be interested in helping explore desirable future directions for the field. In response, I can send you some items at this early stage of the planning process to help you decide. One is a rationale for exploring a collaborative shared vision. A second is a draft plan for proposing, planning, and implementing some sessions related to future directions during the St. Louis meeting in November. A third is a response form to enable you to let me know about your experience and preferences related to our planning. The scope and effectiveness of our futures committee depends on the diversity of members with primary allegiances to various segments of the field. However, some of us have a secondary allegiance to the broad field itself. An appreciation of this diversity and scope can be enhanced by association with graduate study, research conferences and publications. This suggests the variety of Futures Committee members we seek in order to address the aspirations of reflective practitioners in all segments of the field. Respect for diversity should be reflected in our aspirations and procedures. Diversity and conflict are part of our pluralistic world. Conflicting perspectives and aspirations are also part of our broad field of adult and continuing education. In society, we seek to contain violence by use of conflict resolution procedures such as mediation, advocacy, intervention, adjudication, and negotiation. Such essential procedures occur regarding disputes in families, communities, nations, and internationally Denial of diversity and conflict contributes to violence. At its best, adult and continuing education can model and facilitate a democratic process characterized by diverse participants and respect for a free market of ideas, in which widely held values aid in progressing from information to knowledge, to wisdom. One goal of learning, teaching, and scholarship is an active search for meaning and wisdom. …