Adult Educators: Thomas Ehrlich and Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Meredith commented on:

Natalie commented on:

Emily commented on Group 2. 

Robyn commented on Group 2.

Leading Adult Educators: Group One

Meredith Freeman, Natalie Guest, Emily Sheperd, Robyn Spoon

Ball State University

This paper is a collaboration of group one with a goal of sharing information about two leading educators.  The intention is to provide the reader with information about each of these leading educators concerning their background, and ultimately the impact and implications of their work on the field of adult education. Robyn and Emily collaborated on the first educator, Thomas Ehrlich. Meredith and Natalie collaborated on the second educator, Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Thomas Ehrlich

Thomas Ehrlich was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1934 (Haack, 2014). As a young teenager, he had lunches with his grandmother, and over these lunches he would discuss with her books that she suggested he should read (Learning Matters TV, 2013). From reading those books and the discussions that followed, he decided one day that he would teach law (Learning Matters TV, 2013). Sure of his goal, he graduated from Harvard College in 1956, Harvard Law School in 1959, and became a teacher at Stanford Law School in 1965 (Haach, 2014; Learning Matters TV, 2013). In his first year as a professor, Ehrlich realized he had no idea how to teach, and that there were not many resources available to aid him in becoming a better teacher (Learning Matters TV, 2013). Refusing to let this deter him, he worked with different colleagues and his students to improve and continued working throughout his career to better “understand how students learn and how good teachers teach” (Learning Matters TV, 2013, 2013). Today, Ehrlich is a visiting professor at Stanford University where he facilitates courses for students interested in teaching in higher education and for administrators to understand the needs of their faculty and students (Learning Matters TV, 2013).

            Ehrlich’s education career spans over the past 50 years, and includes teaching during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, Second-wave feminism, and the technology boom. As he worked his way into administrative positions, he continued to teach at least one course each year (Learning Matters TV, 2013). On August 1, 1987, he became the 15th president of Indiana University (Haack, 2014). Ehrlich considered some of his greatest accomplishments at IU to be that he improved teaching, research, and service at the school (Haack, 2014). He left IU in July 1994 to spend more time with his family, and they moved back to California where he taught service-learning courses at San Francisco State University (Haack, 2014). His contributions to the field of service learning and civic engagement are what he is most known for (Mustil, 2014), and what brought Group One to research him.

            He is author, co-author, or editor of 14 books, including most recently Civic Work, Civic Lessons: Two Generations Reflect on Public Service (Learning Matters TV, 2013). In previous works, he outlined civic engagement on campuses, particularly the boom in service-learning courses and community partnerships in the past two to three decades as well as educating students to understand how personal and community problems lead to political engagement and public policy (Musil, 2014). His most recent book is a collaboration with an undergraduate student, Ernestine Fu focusing on why people, particularly young people, should partake in civic engagement (Musil, 2014). It covers how civic engagement is a way for every person, regardless of if they participate in a typical government role, to make change in our communities (Musil, 2014).

In order to best understand the impact Thomas Ehrlich has had on higher education in America, it is important to understand service learning and civic education.  In the article Civic Work, Civic Lessons -- Intergenerational Reflections: An Interview with Thomas Ehrlich and Ernestine Fu, the author defines service learning as “the interaction of academic study and community service, guided by structured reflection offers students opportunities to consider what is important to them—and why” (Musil, 2014). Not only has Thomas Ehrlich impacted our broader understanding of what service learning can mean to higher education, but to the many students he has taught.

Throughout his career, community service and civic education combined with his other work to elevate his teaching and impact his places of work. Ehrlich consistently has communicated his belief that civic education belongs in the center of any academic program.  In an interview with Musil for the Civic Work, Civic Lessons article, Erhlich explained that “At their best, courses that join academic learning and community service ask why a neighborhood needs a community kitchen and what public policies would be required to eliminate that need” (Thomas Ehrlich as cited in Musil, 2014, p. 7).

Our research found a trove of books and journal articles written by Thomas Ehrlich to guide future and current educators in the areas of service, improved teaching, and civic education. Ehrlich wrote the book Educating for Democracy as a result of wanting to share his understanding of the need to include civic education into the college classroom. He recognized that there were few opportunities for students to engage in civic work (Musil, 2014, p. 8). According to Ehrlich, “Educating for Democracy is written for educators who want to help undergraduates become knowledgeable and engaged participants in many arenas of American democracy and public life.” (Thomas Ehrlich as cited in Musil, 2014, p. 4)   His work will last beyond his time in the classroom.  

            Each year when a faculty member is awarded with the Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award we are reminded of his contributions. A recipient has been welcomed into this prestigious group of past recipients each year since 1995. (Campus Compact, 2017) Honorees “are recognized for exemplary engaged scholarship, including leadership in advancing students’ civic learning, conducting community-based research, fostering reciprocal community partnerships, building institutional commitments to service-learning and civic engagement, and other means of enhancing higher education’s contributions to the public good” (Campus Compact, 2017).

Dorothy Canfield Fisher

            Dorothy Canfield Fisher was born in 1879 in Kansas, and she spent her childhood moving to different college towns throughout the Midwest for her father’s career as a professor (Champion, 2000).  Canfield Fisher also spent time traveling in Europe, which spiked her interest in language, speaking five languages fluently by the time she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 1899 (Champion, 2000).  Canfield Fisher went on to complete graduate work in France, and then returned to Columbia University to complete her Ph.D. in romantic languages in 1904 (Champion, 2000).  According to Elizabeth Wright in Champion’s text, Canfield Fisher was “offered an assistant professorship at Case Western Reserve University”, but turned it down so she could work as a secretary at Horace Mann School while helping to care for her parents (2000, p. 113).  

Prior to her marriage in 1907, Canfield Fisher published multiple short stories and also helped with writing Elementary Composition (Champion, 2000).  After getting married and having two children, Canfield Fisher “wrote and published several manuals on teaching children using the [Montessori] method” (Champion, 2000, p. 114).  Her 1927 book Why Stop Learning was based on her interest in adult education (Champion, 2000).

Two of her most important achievements were serving as President of the American Association for Adult Education and then becoming elected as the first woman to the Vermont State Board of Education (Champion, 2000).  Canfield Fisher was on the selection committee for the Book-of-the-Month Club starting in 1926 (Champion, 2000).  Another notable achievement was that Eleanor Roosevelt named Canfield Fisher one of the ten most influential women in America (Champion, 2000).

Group One is interested in Dorothy Canfield Fisher because of her life-long passion for learning at all ages.  Dorothy Canfield Fisher had many novel ideas for her time, one of those being the reversal of gender roles in a relationship.  One of her novels, The Home-Maker, focused on a wife’s changing role when her husband is injured and cannot work.  The husband ends up caring for the home and the children while the wife is in the business world (Champion, 2000).  This is a theme seen throughout a few of Canfield Fisher’s writings. According to William Lyon Phelps, Canfield Fisher “has never recovered from the teacher’s point of view” (1933, p. 5).  When reviewing Canfield Fisher’s Her Son’s Wife, Phelps stated “what is true of the pupil is true of the teacher . . . the average teacher must forget his own troubles in order to carry on his professional work” (1933, p. 7).  This particular book is about a teacher who continues to teach every day, despite going through misery at home.  It is impressive that Canfield Fisher can write such a well-respected a novel about such an un-interesting life and events.  Some viewed this novel as Canfield Fisher’s “highest point” (Phelps, 1933, p. 8). Canfield Fisher was not without her flaws. Phelps wrote that her faults in writing were “a superfluous elaboration of mere language . . . a concentration on ideas so intense that the manner of presentation suffers . . . [and a] desire to leave the world better than she found it” (1933, p. 8).  These are admirable faults, to say the least and overshadowed by her desire to better the world.

Canfield Fisher’s contributions to adult education were influenced by her experience as Secretary at Horace Mann School in New York City (Champion, 2000). Horace Mann, well known as the Father of the Common School, is revered by many as the godfather of public education. Canfield Fisher held many of the same beliefs about public education as Mann, including the importance of education to the Democratic process and the upward mobility of society as a whole. Feeling as if she would be of better use overseas, Canfield Fisher, along with her family,went abroad to aid the war relief effort in France where she came into contact with Dr. Maria Montessori. (Champion, 2000) Included in her endeavors in France, were a rehabilitation home for children orphaned during the war and a program that brought literacy training to blind veterans (Wright, 2009). Upon returning to America, Canfield Fisher translated Dr. Montessori’s works for use by American parents. The Montessori method of self-determination and independence building informed Canfield Fisher’s teaching style. In addition to being a best-selling author, as well as a mother, Canfield Fisher was the President of the American Association of Adult Education. Additionally, in 1921 she became the first woman elected to the Vermont State Board of Education. (Champion, 2000) She also served on the selection committee of the newly created Book-of-the-Month Club. From 1926 - 1951, she not only helped select the books for the club, she wrote many forwards for works by authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Richard Wright. (Champion, 2000) The Book-of-the-Month Club was important in getting literature into the hands of adult learners.

Canfield Fisher’s work helped bring to light such issues as racism, anti-Semitism, the horrors of war, and the restrictive nature of gender roles, however, some critics see her work as highly propagandized in nature and as a blatant cry for support of the war effort (Wright, 2009).

Not limited only to concerns of adult education, Canfield Fisher brought momentum to the Montessori education movement in America. A woman ahead of her time, she authored a book on Sex Education in which she fought for young people receiving factual sex education instead of a religious spin on sex (Champion, 2000) A firm proponent on adult education, Canfield Fisher authored Why Stop Learning geared toward adult learners. (Champion, 2000) Canfield Fishers work is admittedly at odds with the focus of much of adult education in America today as her idea of adult education was not the whitewashed and sanitized, bare minimum requirement classes of today’s vocational training schools and GED programs. Rather it was a journey of self-discovery not only for deep personal fulfillment through cultivation of intellect, but for progressing world improvement and societal growth. Fisher wrote, “Every, one who observes at all has realized that the necessary intricacies of a great modern country cannot be maintained unless that country can depend upon a population which does a powerful amount of learning after school-days are over.” (Rose, 1997, p. 5) Indeed, the goal of adult education for Canfield Fisher, was inextricably linked to personal development and societal change.

In today’s culture of basic skill building and bare minimum learning objectives, it is hard to find a place for Canfield Fisher’s in-depth approach to adult education. In fact, much of her work has slipped into obscurity. (Champion, 2000) The questions of what defines successful adult education and successful adulthood, albeit important questions, are not new. As Rose asserts in her piece, Toward a Vision of Successful Living, “successful adult education is not synonymous with successful living. The issue of successful living goes to the heart of the purpose of adult education.” (Rose, 1997, p. 5) As societies continually reshape and revision their definition of successful living skill, we can learn much from Canfield Fisher’s approach, particularly when it comes to the Self Determination Model of Instruction (Rose 1997). Additionally, Canfield Fisher’s legacy of work can help adult educators who focus on parent-child education, as well as education of young adults on the cusp of adulthood.

Conclusion

Group one’s research uncovered many differences between the two leading adult educators. Born and raised a full generation removed from one another, Thomas Ehrlich and Dorothy Canfield Fishers brought differing perspectives to their work. However, they both left a lasting impact on adult education in America with a core belief in educating individuals to be able to be contributing members of the democracy.  Dichotomous backgrounds and experiences of Ehrlich and Canfield Fishers are evident, but the research highlights the strong belief they both have had that education is a pathway to participation in society.

References

Campus Compact (2017). The Thomas Ehrlich civically engaged faculty award. Retrieved from

http://compact.org/

Champion, L. (2000). American women writers 1900-1945: a bio-bibliographical critical

sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Haack, A. (18 July 2014). IU president Thomas Ehrlich. Indiana University Archives. Retrieved

from https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/2014/07/18/c501/

Learning Matters TV (25 July 2013). Thomas Ehrlich, Stanford Graduate School of Education.

Why I Teach: Educators Share Their Stories. Retrieved from http://whyiteach.learningmatters.tv/

Musil, C. M. (2014). Civic work, civic lessons -- Intergenerational reflections: An interview

with Thomas Ehrlich and Ernestine Fu. Change, 46(2), 6-11. doi:10.1080/00091383.2014.895656

Phelps, W. L. (1933). Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The English Journal, 22(1), 1-8. Retrieved

February 21, 2017.

Rose, A. D. (1997). Toward a vision of successful living. Adult Learning, 8(5/6), 5.

Wright, E. J. (2009). "We are all responsible": Post-World War I parenting and the politics

of memory in Dorothy Canfield Fisher's the deepening stream. War, Literature & Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities, 21(1/2), 277-298.