Philosophy program recognized nationally

Students in an innovative philosophy class develop their own courses in the humanities, and then teach them at a prison, a job-training agency for disadvantaged youth, and a rehab center. They learn much more than they teach, the students say. Most significantly, they learn lifelong lessons about democracy, says their professor.

The course at Grand Valley State University has recently garnered national attention. Community Working Classics, offered through the GVSU Philosophy Department, was awarded the 2002 prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs by the American Philosophical Association and the Philosophy Documentation Center. The program is now considered a model for universities and organizations nationwide. (See www.apa.udel.edu/apa, under prizes and awards.)

GVSU Philosophy Professor Michael DeWilde began the Community Working Classics (CWC) class in 1998 inspired in part by the work of educator Earl Shorris, who documented his experiences teaching the humanities to the Manhattan poor in his 1997 book, New American Blues. The basic idea was to take philosophy and other humanities subjects ¿ literature, ethics, art, and history, to name a few ¿ out of the classroom and into the harsh light of the real world. How would grand but abstract concepts ¿ justice, opportunity, equality ¿ stand up when discussed with prison inmates ¿ or recovering addicts ¿ or street people?

In the last four years, Grand Valley's CWC students have offered humanities classes to more than 200 people in the community. This year DeWilde and his students are teaching classes at Muskegon Correctional Facility, Grand Rapids Job Corps, a residential job-training facility for disadvantaged youth, and Project Rehab, a substance-abuse treatment facility in Grand Rapids, Mich.

'We try to offer the humanities to people in places who would not otherwise receive them,' said Ieisha Caddle, 22, a sociology senior who taught a philosophy of law class to prison inmates. 'We have this idea that when people are taught the humanities, they become more humane, and the world we live in can become better.'

DeWilde describes CWC as a kind of 'trial by fire' that persuades students to stretch themselves, test what they're learning, and become active participants in their education and community. 'They are responsible for not only the content, but the dynamics of the class, and they rise to the challenge and find resources they didn't know they had,' DeWilde said.

At the heart of the program is the value of a liberal arts education that prepares students to be educated and active citizens ¿ a concept that gets lost in today's emphasis on career-building, DeWilde said. He describes the CWC experience, which compels students to develop community organizing skills, as 'education for democracy' that they will always have with them.

'It's messy, but I think students get a larger sense of their own place, and perhaps their own power,' he said. 'The highest goal is to have both Grand Valley students and the community students and inmates be better, more informed citizens and act as full participants in their community.'

DeWilde said that he has heard from Grand Valley students and community students that their experience with Community Working Classics has been life changing. One woman, a former prostitute who participated in a class taught at an inner-city agency, reported afterwards that she had enrolled in college. Another, an inmate at Muskegon Correctional Facility, said that he cannot stop reading and thinking about the classes he has taken.

Caddle, of Holland, Mich., said that she wishes every college student could sit in her prison class and experience the dynamic exchange of ideas. 'I think I learned more from them than they learned from me, hands down,' Caddle said of the inmates.

Grand Valley students are teaching classes in the community now through March 2003. Call one of the contact numbers listed for more information or to arrange a site visit.

DeWilde will accept the American Philosophical Association award in March 2003. Previous winners include Montclair State University (N.J.), University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Trinity College (Hartford, Conn.).