Global Learning Partners,
Inc. has grown from a small corporate entity with a beautiful
title--Jubilee Popular Education Center--run out of Jane's back
porch, to a virtual, global company with clients, teachers, associates
and graduates located in many important nooks and crannies of
the world.
Dialogue Education, the Principles and Practices
of what we've come to know and feel about how adults learn (many
of those principles and practices crystallized on Jane's back
porch) has been around forever, yet the phrase was only coined
some 5 years ago. Today the Dialogue Education Institute and
now the Dialogue Education Movement are testimony to an idea
and way of life that has taken flight.
Could it be that especially our time, our
era, needs Dialogue Education? Prescribed content, prescribed
answers, prescribed solutions won't address the challenges we
face in our lives, communities and our world. People treated
as if they were objects to be manipulated, simply a deposit
bank for information, is an injustice our lives, communities,
and our world cannot afford. Whether your craving for learning
is personal, communal, or world-wide, the practice and practitioners
of Dialogue Education can be an indispensable guide for growing
healthier communities, peace between peoples, and an economy
of care for one another.
My sense is that the time is ripe for change
and growth for both Global Learning Partners and the Dialogue
Education Movement. The change seems to come in larger chunks
now, alongside the patiently cultivated incremental, one-by-one
transformations. No doubt this will pose new challenges for
Global Learning Partners. And no doubt there will be many new
opportunities for growth and challenge in the field of Dialogue
Education.
Looking back to our gathering in Vermont,
we enjoyed the special occasion of commemorating 25 years of
Global Learning Partners, and a lifetime of Jane Vella's contributions.
We are truly grateful. Looking forward, may the moments and
years of reflection on all our back porches enrich our common
project for sharing what we know about how adults learn.
Peter Noteboom
President
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