by Terry Besser
Assistant professor and extension sociologist
Iowa State University Extension to Communities
Iowa rural communities are not the first place to face the problems associated with declining population. Sweden lost a third of its population around the turn of the century. In addition, a large segment of the remaining population was illiterate, had poor work skills, and did not participate in government or community. Special problems emerged when low farm prices and low wages created large pockets of poverty and waves of immigrants arrived. One way Sweden addressed this set of problems was with adult education, specifically with a form of adult education called "Study Circles."
A study circle is a small group of people gathered in someone's home or a public building to learn about a subject in a participatory manner. There are no teachers or experts dispensing knowledge. Instead, study circles use materials developed by educators, organizations, or policy analysts specifically for study circles and then adapt them to bring in locally relevant information, values or issues. A guiding principle is the belief that adults learn best by doing and discussing. Therefore, members of the study circles assume the role of discussion leader and learn to be facilitators of the group learning process.
The idea for study circles originated with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle in New York in the 1870s. By 1915 the CLSC claimed 700,000 correspondence enrollees and 15,000 study circles. For reasons we do not need to explore here, interest in study circles withered in the U.S after the 1920s. However, they found fertile soil in which to grow across the Atlantic. Oscar Olsson brought the idea to Sweden in 1902 where it was promoted by the temperance leagues, trade unions, and local governments. The trade unions and local governments were interested in study circles for their potential to educate workers and new immigrants in literacy, job skills and the basics of citizenship. Today Sweden averages around 325,000 study circles each year with almost a third of the adult population participating in any given year.
As a result of the success of study circles in Sweden, and the concern about the decline in civility and citizenship in the U.S., there has been a resurgence of interest in study circles here. In Kentucky, for example, Ron Hustedde, a University of Kentucky extension sociologist, has helped to organize hundreds of study circle-like groups. Supported by the National Issues Forum of the Kettering Foundation, this program arranges for small groups of community residents to meet regularly to learn about and discuss issues.
Like study circles, the groups use materials prepared to generate discussion and group learning. The goal of the groups is for members to learn how to engage in democratic problem solving. They learn how to accurately state and defend opposing sides of an issue, how to disagree constructively, how to critique their own position, and consider new perspectives.
Kentucky's groups differ from Sweden's study circles in that local volunteers are trained in advance to act as neutral group facilitators. Hustedde notes that it would be valuable if the "deliberative democratic discussion" process were taught in schools. Some of the adult members who participated in Kentucky criticized their schools for teaching only the argumentative debate approach to policy consideration.
The most obvious product of study circles is that residents of a community become better informed about an issue and can decide on a course of action that is in the best public interest. In some ways, however, good decisions are the least important result. Study circles offer side benefits which in many cases exceed the value of their stated goal. They bring people from all walks of life, all age groups, and backgrounds to a shared understanding about an issue of local concern. Members learn how to work in groups and how to make groups work. They learn how to resolve disagreements constructively and develop the confidence necessary to do so.
The skills, relationships and trust that are developed in the study circle process will be available for addressing future community matters. That may be the real value of study circles. If David Matthews of the Kettering Foundation is correct when he said "Democracy is formed in conversations," then study circles can provide the foundation for re-igniting local democracy.
More information about study circles is available in Leonard Oliver's book Study Circles: Coming Together for Personal Growth and Social Change and from the Study Circles Resource Center, P.O. Box 203, Rt. 169, Pomfret, CT 06258.
Contacts:
Terry L. Besser, ISU
Extension Sociology, (515) 294-6508
Del Marks, ISU Extension
Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807
