BRUCE LANSDALE HONORARY DOCTORATE
PART 4
THE POWER OF MYTH IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
BY
Bruce M. Lansdale
MYTHS THAT INFLUENCE THE INDIVIDUAL
What were the myths that had a major impact on the individual as he or she grew up during the first half of this century? Listen to a few experiences which were common in the village.
“If you aren’t educated, you are a failure; you remain a kakomiris all your life.” (But education is not measured so much by what you know, as what paper or diplomas you have.)
“The best thing you can do in life is to become a civil servant or employee.” (Only that way can you “tie up your donkey firmly.”)
“If you remain a villager, a farmer, you are condemned.” (What can we do, we’re peasants!”)
“People who work with their hands are second class citizens.”
“People don’t change.” (That’s the way God made me, I can’t change.”)
How did boys and girls grow up in the villages during the first part of this century look upon themselves, their parents, the world around them?
First, they saw the uneducated farmer, the laborer, even the technician as an individual with a small head – “ti na kanis, agramatos eimai” (“what can I do, I’m illiterate”) – and two big hands that had to work long hours to earn a living. I remember a discussion in a vocational guidance seminar with a group of our students many years ago in which we were discussing what agriculture is.
“Farming is to freeze in winter and to be boiled by the sun in the dust all summer,” said the first.
“To be a farmer is to have to work sixteen hours a day, and I don’t want it,” said the second.
“To be a farmer is to be a poorly paid laborer whom everyone exploits all your life,” was the comment of the third.
When village children in elementary school (especially those who earned good marks) said “Mamaka, thekari pira simera” (Mommy I got a ten spot today”) they thought of their hands growing smaller and their heads growing bigger.
Many stopped there, but those who passed exams and finished the gymnasium (or lyceum as it is now called) thought of themselves as having smaller hands and a still bigger head. The only thing that grew bigger was the fingernail on their little finger which proved that they no longer had to do manual labor. Finally, those who passed university exams and went on to graduate from the university saw themselves as having a large head filled with knowledge and two shrimp size hands which would no longer have to do any physical labor.
As these young village boys and girls watched themselves grow, they thought of themselves and those around them without any education as unhappy, lost souls; those with elementary school happy that they no longer had to work so hard; the bright ones who finished the gymnasium as somewhat poniros (shrewd) who knew a lot more than their “dumb uneducated parents”; and finally those who finished the university paneksipnos (brilliant individuals) who could look down and pontificate on the world around them, especially the peasant.
They looked on the peasants as individuals who were in the hands of the gods, victims of the weather and nature, ill-fated human beings who would have to spend the rest of their lives as uncouth human beings, second class citizens compared with their brothers and sisters in the city. They kept hearing the success stories of the rich people who had left the village and moved to the large urban centers or abroad and were convinced that those with any intelligence could do the same for themselves.
This is not a different view from a similar myth of the peasant as a second class citizen as seen by the fourth century B.C. writer Theophrastus in his book of essays entitled Characters.
“The rustic is the sort of person who wanders into the assembly drinking wine, and keeps saying there’s no sweeter perfume than thyme, and wears shoes bigger than his feet, and chatters in a loud voice. He won’t trust his friends and neighbors, but he confides in his own servants about the most important things … He sits down with his clothes hitched up over his knees so his privates show. And nothing strikes his attention walking down the street, but just let him catch sight of some cow, or donkey or goat and he stands and marvels … And he sings in the bath and pounds nails with his boots.”2
Aristophanes portrays similar characters in his play Acharnians or a rich peasant like Strepsidis in the Clouds who laments his moira (misfortune) in marrying the daughter of aristocracy in the city:
“Me a happy clod, unwashed, unkempt, lying around teaming with honey and sheep and olive cake. And then a hayseed like me had to go and marry the niece of Magacles Jr. from the city, proud and luxury loving like the rest of her family.”3
The village boy and girl had little understanding of Aristotle’s view of the agrotis (country person) as described in his work Politics:
“The first and best kind of populace is one of farmers; and there is thus no difficulty in constructing a democracy where the bulk of the people live by arable or pastoral farming.”4
Twentieth century youths’ view of peasant thinking was not very different from that of their ancestors twenty three centuries earlier, inflexible and even “suspicious of change”! 5 The English word paradigm, growing out of the Greek work paradigma (example), is used to reflect the limits individuals place on themselves in trying to solve their problems.6 Village children, particularly those with some education, saw their parents as unwilling to change, to break out of their “example” to try new ways.
For centuries, villagers around the world have used hobbles, tools to fasten together the legs of a horse, to prevent free motion, in the same way the young people are convinced that their village parents hobble their own minds and themselves. One of my most prized possessions is a chain with leg irons which was used to hobble horses in the countryside of Chalkidiki over 100 years ago to keep them from being stolen or wandering off in new directions “away from their Paradigm.”
What then is the role of rural development in creating new myths which will bring prosperity to rural people? First, there must be an educational system that will allow bright students to continue past elementary and high school to the university. But the myth must change. Students must learn that a university degree does not entitle all graduates to become civil servants, nor does it mean that they will no longer work with their hands.
More capable students should be allowed to specialize in theoretical courses such as higher mathematics, physics, biology, computer programming and other sciences, or classical subjects such as language, history, law or economics. But for students who intend to follow practical sciences such as medicine, applied physics, engineering and agriculture, it is absolutely vital that they receive a well rounded training, what John Henry House, the founder of the American Farm School, in 1880 called “Training the whole individual the head, the hands and the heart.”
What John Henry House envisioned as the aim of any rural development program was to create individuals with an average sized head (the knowledge needed to manage a rural enterprise), two hands with four fingers and a thumb that could perform the variety of tasks needed, and a heart that expressed an attitude open to change and willing to listen to those around who knew more than they did.
Training in knowledge – the head – involved three goals: learning what they needed to perform their job effectively; learning where they could obtain additional knowledge when they needed it; and finally, knowing what they do not know and not being ashamed to admit it, a common failing among farmers and extension agents in developing countries.
Training in skills – the hands – is expressed in the Farm School’s motto, “Laborare est Orare” (To Work Is To Pray). One of the great sources of pride for the Farm School is the willingness of its graduates, no matter what their occupation, to work with their hands. Pianoun to heria tous (their hands catch) is a very common phrase used to describe Farm School graduates. Agriculturists in experimental institutions continually comment on how vital Farm School graduates are in implementing experimental work because they combine hands that have dexterity, the background training and an attitude of openness.
The story is often repeated of the civil servant who came to the School searching for the director, Charles House. The visitor saw the legs of a man sticking out from under a car. “Where can I find the director?” he asked. “What do you want him for?” came the reply from under the car. “That’s none of your business.” replied the irate civil servant. A head poked out from under the car. “I am the director, what can I do for you?”
One often hears a Confuscian saying which reinforces the need for “hands-on” training.
I hear, I forget
I see, I remember
I do, I understand.
Aristotle expresses this concept in another form:
“The things which we are to do when we have
learned them, we learn by doing them.”7
During a Sunday Evening Service (where we attempt to emphasize “new myths” through a variety of discussions) I surprised the students by emptying the contents of my tool box all over the floor of the assembly hall to emphasize what great friends of mine these tools were. A short while later they were even more amazed when I removed my formal Sunday suit before their eyes revealing a tattered shirt and pair of short pants, my work clothes which had helped me build our summer house!
Another key element in training the nikokiris is reflected by the English word management for which there is no equivalent in Greek (or any other language, as far as I can see.) We use two descriptions of the term at the School. The first was provided by an Irish home economist who said:
“Management is doing what you want with what you have.”
A second came from an American executive, himself a capable manager. He equated managing to dancing the POLKA as follows:
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Kontrolling (with a soft C if using management by objectives)
Adjusting
The nikokiris in agriculture is not unlike the sergeant in the army, so vital to integrating the skills of the privates and corporals with the theoretical training of the commissioned officers. Just as in the army, the sergeants of agriculture can grow up to their positions through years of short course or by attending special schools such as the American Farm School. The European Community (EC), under regulation 797/85,requires each farmer to have at least three hundred hours of basic training to qualify for special loans and subsidies.
It is important in these training programs that the instructors not think only in terms of ekpedefsi (to educate, lead out), but much more the Greek word morphono, as in metamorphosis or transfiguration. The nikokiris must learn to be a problem solver to deal with the variety of unanticipated challenges he will face throughout his life while at the same time developing an understanding and a sense of pride about who he is.
At the beginning of each year I describe to new students the experience of a young sculptor who spent a summer at the Farm School working on a piece of marble from a nearby quarry.
An old peasant woman watched with admiration as the visitor was completing her statue of the Madonna and Child. After studying it for a time the woman asked, “How did you know that it was inside the marble?” I explain to the students that a primary goal of rural development is to help the peasant discover “what is inside.”
The statue teaches another important lesson. As the sculptor was adding the final touches to her masterpiece, she accidentally broke off an arm which was later replaced, leaving slight cracks. Students admiring the statue only notice the cracks when they are pointed out to them. I compare the real or imaginary flaws in their character which they tend to magnify out of proportion, and encourage them to concentrate on the beauty of their personal “statue” rather than on occasional cracks barely visible to others, the most common failing of the kakomiris.
Because of limited land holdings in Greece where the average size farm is under three hectares (7.5 acres), most nikokiris farmers, including Farm School graduates, supplement their farming occupations with a variety of other activities such as plumbing, electric repair, construction, painting, carpentry, operating a grocery, hotel or restaurant and in many cases working for a local experiment station, short course center, or developing a handicraft such as weaving.
A vital role of the rural development worker is providing adequate counseling to farm families. As one such counselor expressed it,
Some people should become university professors, others, laborers.
Some people should be scientists, others, technicians.
Some people should be teachers, others, artists.
Some people should be urban dwellers, others, farmers.
Helping each one to find his or her niche and understand that there is nothing bad or shameful about working with just your hands, just your head, living with just your heart, or worshipping with just your soul is the key role of the rural counsellor.
Andre Malraux is quoted as having said,
A man who works with his hands is a laborer.
A man who works with his head and his hands is a technician.
A man who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.
New myths should be substituted for those at the beginning of this section as guides for rural youth:
“A human who works close to the land with his hands, his head, his heart and his soul has discovered true prosperity.”
“The world needs individuals at all levels in both rural and urban occupations.”
“Making maximum use of your potential is more important than where you work.” Being self employed usually provides far greater freedom, higher job satisfaction, and potential profit assuming there is adequate capital along with the management skills to exploit it.
“If you have an appetite to work, there is no limit to what you can accomplish and the satisfaction you can find in your job.”
“More and more, farmers are gaining greater recognition while at the same time finding far greater satisfaction from rural living than their urban cousins.”
“All individuals can change in knowledge, skills and attitudes if they want to.”
There is a peasant saying which many Farm School graduates believe:
Man is born to be a peasant. He spends his life
Trying to succeed so that one day he may retire to go back to peasant pleasures. Fortunate is he who can spend all his life enjoying peasant pleasures.
Truly, that individual has discovered prosperity!
MYTHS THAT INFLUENCED THE FAMILY