Wendell berrys philosophy of education lessons from port willia

University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects January 2013 Wendell Berry's Philosophy Of Education: Lessons From Port William Jane Margaret Schreck Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.edu/theses Recommended Citation Schreck, Jane Margaret, "Wendell Berry's Philosophy Of Education: Lessons From Port William" (2013). Theses and Dissertations.edu/theses/1477 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact zeineb.

WENDELL BERRY’S PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION: LESSONS FROM PORT WILLIAM by Jane Margaret Hedahl Schreck Bachelor of Arts, University of North Dakota, 1978 Bachelor of Science, University of North Dakota, 1978 Bachelor of Science in Education, University of North Dakota, 1978 Master of Arts, University of North Dakota, 1983 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Grand Forks, North Dakota May 2013 Copyright 2013 Jane Margaret Hedahl Schreck ii This dissertation, submitted by Jane Margaret Hedahl Schreck in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of North Dakota, has been read by the Faculty Advisory Committee under whom the work has been done, and is hereby approved. Weaver-Hightower __________________________________________ Kathleen Gershman __________________________________________ Jodi Bergland Holen __________________________________________ Sharon Carson This dissertation is being submitted by the appointed advisory committee as having met all of the requirements of the Graduate School at the University of North Dakota and is hereby approved. _____________________________________ Wayne Swisher Dean of the Graduate School _____________________________________ Enter the Date iii Title Wendell Berry’s Philosophy of Education: Lessons from Port William Department Teaching and Learning Degree Doctor of Philosophy In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my dissertation work or, in his absence, by the Chairperson of the department or the dean of the Graduate School.

It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this dissertation or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my dissertation. Jane Margaret Hedahl Schreck April 10, 2013 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .vii CITATION NOTE ……… …. INTRODUCTION TO WENDELL BERRY.

WENDELL BERRY: RADICAL THINKER. EDUCATION IN WENDELL BERRY’S FICTION ……. WHAT PORT WILLIAM THINKS OF HIGHER EDUCATION ……. THE EDUCATION OF HANNAH COULTER.

THE EDUCATION OF JAYBER CROW. THE HOMECOMING SOLUTION .419 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Wendell Berry’s Kinds of Ignorance. Wendell Berry’s Kinds of Knowledge .68 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my thanks to my committee for their guidance in the process of completing this dissertation, particularly Marcus Weaver-Hightower who believed in this project from the start.

Well before their active involvement, however, I was cheered and encouraged by classmates in the doctoral program and interested colleagues at Bismarck State College. I am grateful to them all, especially Kathy Hanna who led the way, Carolyn Twingley who was my champion and a stalwart when it came to tracking down research sources, and Kitty Netzer who appreciates Wendell Berry almost as much as I do. My friend since second grade, Terry Meisner, read several early pieces, and I thank her for her interest and enthusiasm and mostly for her fierce and terrible scrutiny. She’s a tough critic, and that was appreciated.

My mother, my sisters and brother, and my daughter and son each read or listened to draft upon draft of all or part of this work. Their presence with me on this adventure is as it has ever been: constant and loving. When I decided to focus my study on Wendell Berry, my husband Dan promptly read all of Mr. Berry’s essays and now, in making decisions, sometimes will ask, “What would Wendell do?” In Dan’s held-breath suspense and confidence during this long process, I have always felt his love.

Finally, I need to acknowledge the obvious—none of this would have been possible if Mr. Berry himself did not share himself with the world through his writings. And for that we should all be grateful. vii To my mother, who has been with me “every step of the way.” CITATION NOTE The References list of citations follows APA documentation style, as do the in-text citations for any works not by Wendell Berry.

For clarity and the convenience of the reader, frequently cited works by Wendell Berry are noted by the following abbreviations for in-text citation, with the full citation listed in References at the end in APA style. Additionally, video or audio recordings, published interviews, or uncollected works by Mr. Berry are noted by the date of recording or publication for in-text citation, with full citation listed in References in APA style. ACET = Andy Catlett: Early Travels (2006) (novel) ATC = Another Turn of the Crank (1995) (essays) AW = A Wheel (poems) CH = A Continuous Harmony (1970/2003) (essays) CM = The Country of Marriage (1971/1973) (poems) CP = Citizenship Papers (2003) (essays) FHB = Farming: A Hand Book (1967/1970) (poems) Fid = Fidelity: Five Stories (1992) (short stories) Giv = Given (2005) (poems) GGL = Gift of Good Land (1981) (essays) HC = Hannah Coulter (2004) (novel) HE = Home Economics (1987) (essays) IP = Imagination in Place (2010) (essays) JC = Jayber Crow (2000) (essays) Lea = Leavings (2010) (poems) LLH = Long-Legged House (1969/2004) (essays) LM = Life Is a Miracle (2000/2001) (essays) MF = The Mad Farmer Poems (2008) (poems) NC = Nathan Coulter (1960/2008) (novel) OJ = The Memory of Old Jack (1974/1999) (novel) Ope = Openings (1965/1968) (poems) PE = A Place on Earth (1967/2001) (novel) PT = A Place in Time: Twenty Stories of the Port William Membership (2012) short stories) Rem = Remembering (1988/2008) (novel) SBW = Standing by Words (1983/2005) (essays) SEFC = Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (1992/1993) (essays) TC = A Timbered Choir (1998) (poems) TDL = That Distant Land (2004) (short stories) viii UA = The Unsettling of America (1977/1996) (essays) WB = The Wild Birds (1985/1986) (short stories) WCW = The Poetry of William Carlos Williams of Rutherford (2011) (essays) WI = The Way of Ignorance (2005) (essays) WL = A World Lost (1996/1997) (novel) WM = What Matters? Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth (2010) (essays) WPF = What Are People For? (1990/1998) (essays) Whe = The Wheel (1982) (poems) ix ABSTRACT In the midst of a proclaimed crisis in higher education, in the clamor and clamber to leverage technology for such innovations as mass open online courses and differentiated learning modules, in the speculative frenzy of preparing students for the careers of a fantasy future, and in the swirl of angst about funding accountability and economic relevance, Wendell Berry’s philosophy of education declares that the essential element missing from most current discussions and considerations of education is love.

As explained in his essays and revealed in his fiction and poetry, Berry’s philosophy centers on love as the best animator of learning: love among those teaching and learning, love for what can be learned, and love of how such learning can be applied in a beloved place on earth. Further, under his basic assumption that all life—including our own—depends on the earth, Berry’s philosophy sets the life and health of the world as the ultimate goal and standard of education. This dissertation makes a comprehensive study of Berry’s work, unearthing a philosophy of education from his essays and interviews and placing that philosophy in the context of his fictional world of the Port William neighborhood, where at its best, Port William offers meaning to its people through necessary work done well and an awareness of interdependence and belonging. It is Berry’s hope that a realignment of educational priorities, based on love and focused on the health of the world and local place, can lead us to better care of each other and the earth we share.

x PROLOGUE FINDING WENDELL BERRY I was raised on Velveeta cheese. It is not even cheese, really. Officially, it is identified on the box as a “pasteurized prepared cheese product.” And my Velveeta was typically served on supermarket bread. For years, only with my paternal grandmother did I encounter real cheese.

During Memorial Day weekend, for example, the family ritual was to pile into the station wagon and drive with Grandma the sixty miles to a large but nearly vacant cemetery on the edge of tiny Mercer, North Dakota. Our mission was to clean up the gravesites of my grandfather, his first wife, and their firstborn daughter, the latter born and dead in just two days, as we kids seemed to discover anew each year as we studied the granite dates. And here too was the plot where my grandmother would be buried in her ninety-sixth year. It was all very matter-of-fact, even lighthearted.

Grandma would bring some bedding plants, a spade, and some hand tools, and I would have to endure the unusual spectacle of my father awkwardly wielding a spade in his wingtip shoes. Afterward, with the lunch that Grandma packed, we would have a picnic, sometimes at the city park, but often at the cemetery. The staple of the lunch was cheese sandwiches, made with bread she had baked herself and cut in thick, irregular slices, holding pieces of her exotically real cheddar cheese. Sometimes too we would have applesauce that she had made with apples from her own tree.

Of course, the picnic tasted delicious, especially after running 1 among the gravestones on the windy prairie hill, but the real treat for us kids was if Dad had stopped for bottles of Coke and bags of sunflower seeds at Emil Just’s gas station. Perhaps I make too much of Velveeta. I recognize that the cheese my grandmother served had been purchased at a grocery store, too, but somehow the difference between the cheese in her sandwiches and Velveeta seems to me now emblematic of the difference in a way of life. Velveeta is a food much removed from its source, somehow to me vaguely modern and urban—and I was raised as a modern, urban kid, even in North Dakota.

Though I rambled about outdoors in a big backyard or in nearby vacant lots and prairie parks, I grew up more inside than out, more sidewalk than dirt path. My family is generations removed from making a living directly from the land. My people had city jobs even in small towns. One grandfather was a shopkeeper with aspirations of being a businessman, as his sons became, and in the early part of the century, he sold some of the first automobiles in the state.

He had arrived in North Dakota on a bicycle, but he would leave Mercer in the mid-1920s in a car. My other grandfather was a postmaster and newspaper editor. He even had a job for a time in the state’s tallest building, the state capitol. One grandmother was educated to be a school teacher and in her widowhood worked as a librarian.

When I knew her, she walked or took the bus to get around town and lived in an apartment that begged to be in a big city. It even had a Murphy bed, a great iron thing that swung out and then down from a closet in the dining room. When I hear apartments referred to as flats, I still picture my grandmother’s apartment.