Dear Richard,
I'm very interested in this 'notoriously expensive and elitist' thing...
Could I ask you about this? Would you respond without getting angry?
Discussion of money always provokes irritation, which I understand, but I
hope to be open and direct with you, to help you get a clearer picture of
our work.
I'm writing as an individual who works at Schumacher College, and lives here
permanently as part of the residential community. You shouldn't take any of
my comments as coming officially from Schumacher College... although we run
everything by committee here, so I would of course feed any comments back
into the future running of the College.
Firstly, I should let you know that Schumacher College is not a commercial
organisation. We are a registered charity, have never made a profit and
never aim to. (In fact, we run at a considerable loss.) I realise that our
fees appear high, but they reflect the true cost of running a fully
residential course centre. Fees cover tuition, residential accommodation,
food and field trips, are comparable with other charitable course centres,
and are *considerably* less than commercial centres. We do not receive state
subsidy, and are able to operate only because of the generosity of various
benefactors, such as The Dartington Hall Estate, which is an educational
charity. The scholarship scheme which you received notification of is a
recent addition to our funding, from the Educational Foundation of America,
who believe that the work we do is of value. We also run scholarship schemes
within the UK, such as three full scholarships for Southwest activists.
>From a number of financial donations received from our (richer) alumni, we
offer bursaries for people who might not otherwise be able to attend our
courses. These are often directed at specific geographical areas, such as
Eastern Europe or the developing world, or at specific professional groups,
such as 'aid workers', 'teachers', or 'development workers'. But a limited
amount of bursary money is also available to support course participants
from the UK.
At present, our courses cannot attract statutory funding from the UK
government, as the rule, as you probably know, is that courses need to be
six weeks or longer. Our courses are never more than five weeks in length.
However, we are recognised as an academic institution by the US Government,
and American students can get Federal Aid to pay our course fees.
I hope we aren't elitist. I *think* we aren't elitist. My experiences here,
and the wonderful variety of people I have met here have made me *believe*
that we're not elitist...
On the Robert Bly front... it may be that Robert Bly has misogynist views -
but it's not our policy to censor what is discussed here. Schumacher College
as an institution does not take a stand on issues, but provides a location
and atmosphere in which debate and dialogue can take place, with people from
all over the world.
If Robert Bly stands up in front of people and says misogynist things I hope
(and it wouldn't be the first time) that the students will shoot him down in
flames!
I hope this information is of use to you.
Best wishes,
Kath Dalmeny
(Member of staff, Schumacher College)
At 11:11 04/02/97 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>There might be some interesting courses at the College, but it's courses
>are notoriously expensive and thus elitist. And how did Robert Bly get
>to teach there? Anyone who's read Iron John will be familiar with his
>methods and misogyny.....
>
>Richard,
>London (again sorry)
>
>
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