Welcome to my Division III. This is my invitation to you to imagine yourself as an invisible companion in my life and work.
This journey begins with Part I: the story of my 21 years, with special attention given to the theme of myself as an educator and my process of learning to integrate thought and action (or, phrased to include the emotions, to integrate the head, heart, and hand). In particular, part I seeks to show several things: that some of my most valuable learning experiences in becoming the caring, creative, thoughtful, articulate, energetic, charismatic person I am have been personal relationships and other adventures that are typically not thought of as ``academic;'' that the process of integration is very long, difficult, social, unpredictable, but ultimately worthwhile; and that I - a normal human being with judgmental habits, insecurities, and peculiar notions - was and am successful because I am open about my strengths, weaknesses, learnings, and desires as a person, not because of my credentials, position, or discipline to external ideals.
Part II includes a description of some of my ideas concerning the psychology and practice of education and some reflections on the recent semester of enacting my ideas in the Experimental Program in Education and Community at Hampshire.
Finally, the Appendices contain a documentary perspective on my experiences and history, in particular focusing on my work in the Alternative Higher Education Network and the Experimental Program in Education and Community. The Documentation in the Appendices can be negotiated by the Documentation Index, or by several timelines of EPEC or AHEN. Before reading parts I and If, you may want to browse through the Documentation Index to gain a perspective on how the various parts of this division III fit together. Whereas part I is primarily about my experiences prior to the fall of 1995, part II and the Appendices are primarily about my experiences beginning with that fall.
I have written this Division III so that it reflects my growth during the six months I have been working on it most intensely. Thus, this Introduction is my perspective now on what I was trying to do when I started writing (but did not verbalize then), the Invitation to Part I is the perspective I had on this Division 3 and on education at the beginning of the process, written near the beginning, parts I and II reflect my perspective while writing, and finally the Conclusion is my perspective upon completion.
Together, these documents are something I think you will enjoy. Join me, in the Making of an Educator.
East Randolph, Vermont January 1997
Acknowledgments
I want to make a note here of some of the people who have played a significant role in this division III (in my life): all the people who took me seriously when everyone else was scared to (sometimes in opposition to school rules or social laws); who enthusiastically engaged with me in the most intriguing and intense psychological explorations of various depths of mind; who created an environment with me where we could take ourselves seriously; who sing and bike and dance with me; who are my models of nonjudgmentalism, patience, caring, dedication and action; who cared about me enough for me to begin to be myself instead of spending my time proving I could be myself; who have encouraged me to develop myself even when they have insisted that I could do it within a certain structure; who helped me figure out that I was capable of showing my interest in other people; who stumbled across ideas and communicated them, so that I have been able to use them; who forgot to tell me that it would never work; the people with whom I learned the first law of relationships, that is, the value of honesty, openness, and nakedness; and those with whom I learned the second law of relationships, that loving another person doesn't mean loving them for who you wish they were, but for who they really are:
Mom and Dad, my sister Kathryn Kawecki, Tim Pfeiffer, Rebecca Saunders, Clemma Jacobsen, Amanda Nims, Chris Fitz, Josh Moses, Jenny Bruns, Tom Stearns, Becky Joslin, Lisa Schmidt, Bill Batty, Kyp Wasiuk, Jim Shay, Mike Tatischeff, Greg Prince, Dominique Thiebaut, Herb Bernstein (who called me on the phone after I'd been accepted and tried to recruit me to Hampshire as a physics student. I told him that I was no longer a physicist - ``I'm a poet now.'' ``Great,'' he replied, ``Me too! You should take my quantum mechanics course.''), Matt Earls, Aaron Berman, Marjetta Geerling, Joel Gruver, Jerry Mintz, Seymour Simches, Ken Hoffman, Ron Miller, Peter Couvares (who gave me the book Writing Without Teachers for Christmas (1995), with the following inscription (which I read for the first time by chance on the evening I figured out that I wanted to tell my story): ``If there's anyone who ought to write, it's you - get to it!''), Jesus, Gandhi, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung, A. S. Neill, Helen and Scott Nearing, Leo Tolstoy.
Contacting the Author
I would love to be contacted and would engage in any discussion to which I am invited. Through email, I can be contacted at ckawecki@hampshire.edu, probably forever. The US postal service should always be able to find me at 25 Highland Avenue, Randolph, VT 05060. My permanent (mother's) phone number is (802) 728-9447.
Use of this Division III
I am not yet sure for whom this Division III will be of interest, but please feel free to use or copy it. Also, if it's useful, please feel free to make donations towards me writing more.