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Lifelong Learning in Music: Privileging the Privileged?
Carol Beynon The University of Western Ontario Copyright © Carol Beynon
The European Commission on Education defines lifelong learning as “all learning activity undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence within a personal, civic and/or employment-related perspective” (Retrieved from http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/lll/lif/what_islll_en.html, April, 2003). This term is one that has captured the imagination of educational policy makers, curriculum developers, educators and certainly politicians in the past 15 years as our information-driven world has changed economically and socially and much of our population lives longer due to advances in medicine. As the notion of andragogy and adult education has gained stature in recent educational research, lifelong learning has become yet another contemporary trend, and its proponents are quick to point out its benefits and value to current and future society. The term promotes an ideology of a voluntary environment where, according to the European Commission on Education:
Global proponents of lifelong learning would have us believe that lifelong learning represents an enthusiasm for learning that begins in infancy and lasts for one’s entire life. To ensure lifelong learning opportunities are accessible, various public service education agencies note that a number of critical building blocks must be in place:
My first experiences with the premises/promises of lifelong learning came about through my research into teacher development in early 1990s. Researchers investigating staff development and continuing teacher education came to the realization that competent teachers continue to learn more about teaching and learning every day of their careers. Teachers and other professionals are lifelong learners because professional learning is an integral component of being a professional. However, while serving as a significant rationale for professional growth, the concept of lifelong learning has spread to encompass many kinds of voluntary learning in adulthood. In this paper, I explore some of the sociopolitical aspects surrounding the remarkable and rapid growth in lifelong learning activities, and include a commentary on the demographics of the current population, the changing values and ideologies of Canadian society, accessibility to community programs, and priorities for the people involved in lifelong musical ventures.
The accepted belief that learning is an elementary concept for children in schools has been challenged by a segment of society that has come to the realization that learning, both formal and informal, is an ongoing affair. The term, lifelong learning, makes three, and perhaps more assumptions:
Whether it is learning to sing, learning to be a gourmet cook, learning to repair a leaky faucet, or even learning to age gracefully, the concept of learning has become one of opportunity for self-fulfillment to those who are no longer of traditional school age. Lifelong learning is seen as a productive and meaningful way to spend one’s time by a predominantly middle-class, dominant population that respects the traditions of a solid work ethic. Members of the middle class were raised to believe that honest hard work and diligence would pay off in terms of making a contribution to society, a solid and respectable home life, and enough money to live comfortably. Such a concept of lifelong learning is especially relevant and attractive to those members of a middle or upper class society who have the resources—financial, physical, and health—on their side, and the ideologies of the dominant class as a fixed cornerstone.
If the concept of lifelong learning reflects a process whereby people of all ages actually join together to learn something specific and then practice it, then lifelong learning has been a natural occurrence in music for years. Musical organizations such as town bands and drum and bugle corps sponsored by local civic groups and community choirs, especially church-based choirs of the predominant white, Eurocentric protestant community, were an historical mainstay of the Canadian fabric for years. It is interesting to explore the origins of such groups and the rationale behind their formation. As The Music Man portrayed in its story, community programs such as the Police Boys Band in many Ontario towns were developed by local civic groups to provide a recreational outlet for youth, specifically boys, to keep them busy and involved in worthwhile activities. And who would provide a better set of role models than police officers in full dress uniform marching in the streets with the boys and their instruments? The men and boys played in town bands; the women and girls predominated in the church choirs. Similarly, the men and boys played baseball in summer and hockey in winter; the girls and women watched and admired from the sidelines, and for those who could afford it, slipped off to their piano or dance lessons once per week. Nothing conflicted with Thursdays nights and Sunday mornings in those days; they were saved for church choir practices and Sunday services. These endeavours were seen as means to honestly engage the public in ways that promoted the traditional values of the dominant community, provided solid activities for after school and weekends, and at the same time, they were educational ventures for those involved. The retired grandparents of these families sat at home rocking on their front porches nodding their approval, went to church on Sunday, waited for visits from their extended families, and in the last 30 years changed their dependency from the radio to the television—another not to be ignored form of recreation and learning. The entertainment for the aging population in past years was not to be found in learning new skills but in basking in the success of their roles as parents in raising responsible, God-fearing citizens in society.
However, community and personal priorities and practices have changed remarkably in the past 30 years based largely on enormous technological change and development. Towns have grown into impersonal cities while media and technology have enveloped the interests of the young and old. The middle and upper classes have expanded dramatically, the church has lost its hold on the majority of people (both young and old), and civic organizations are too thinly spread in vast urban areas and are needed far less to provide recreational activities for middle class youth. The increasing number of middle class families no longer has to scrimp to find money to spend on leisure activities, and the fabric of society has become far more diverse in ethnicity and values. Community organizations now find their niche in providing recreation and support activities for poor families and at-risk youth. And, traditional middle class families are far more likely to enroll their children in expensive private lessons and register them for sports teams, spending Sundays running to games and practices than going to church and participating and/or volunteering in the traditional events of the past. The children’s grandparents are more likely out and about following their own personal interests.
At the same time, views of aging have also changed dramatically. As little as 15 years ago, retirement at age 65 was generally perceived as the end of one’s productive contributions to society. The retired were resigned to their own or old age homes, rocking chairs and memories, largely because they had had little time to do anything else in life than work to provide an honest living. When our parents’ work was done, they were exhausted and burnt out; there was nothing they knew to do except put their feet up, watch the world go by, and be forgotten; they had spent their time, energy and most of their money ensuring an easier life for their children through education. However, the demographic has changed dramatically: the large middle class of baby boomers has grown to retirement age with comfortable double income salaries, they have had fewer children to raise than their parents, and they now have extra money and an expectation of time for leisure activities, various hobbies and interests. The media have promoted Freedom 55 as a reality for the middle class, and thousands have come to believe that early retirement is not only an aspiration, but highly desirable. Businesses have set themselves up to market and cater to the middle class retiree because that is where the profits lie. For example, at one point in time, travel to exotic places and luxury cruises were for the elite, but travel agencies have developed holiday packages in affordable ranges for those with some money and time on their hands, and travel profits have soared. With a large percentage of the boomers now retiring at age 55, early retirees are financially secure, have homes that are paid for, have children out on their own, and they have the energy and better health than earlier generations to begin a second life, thanks to medical research and technological advancements. These are people looking to fulfill their dreams according to their financial comfort and health because they have the time and motivation to do so, and they feel they have earned it.
This phenomenon is part of the postmodern phase in which we now live although there is not a lot of shared understanding yet about the analysis of what those current realities are—content for exploration in another paper. Ours is an information society where “fast-food service” is expected and demanded; where our world has become smaller mainly due to technological advances; where Canadian society has become more diverse; where economic situations are more variable–the poor are poorer and the wealthy, wealthier–and, even though governments have become increasingly more controlling of the public sector, this segment of the population is barely affected. Since the baby boomers in Canada (now in their 50s and 60s) represent the largest and wealthiest segment of the population, the norms and traditions of retirement are changing dramatically. It should come as no surprise then, that this influential group of people is determining what postmodern retirement will look like in future years, and for many this involves notions of lifelong learning that provide a sense of credibility and ethics to their newly developing value systems. The term, lifelong learning, justifies retirement for this affluent and privileged segment of the population.
How does lifelong learning fit into the fabric of education in our society? Education now involves more than just elementary, secondary and tertiary education. And, I would argue that it is naïve to assume that lifelong learning begins in preschool. Lifelong learning, as known in western society, represents a fourth level – a voluntary quest for learning – and it is evolving as it is developed. Because we have all been there we know what elementary and secondary schooling look like, just as we know, even if we have not experienced it, what a community college or university education for undergraduates and graduates entails. Where elementary, secondary and tertiary level education have the specific and significant purpose of preparing students for future careers and usually adulthood, this fourth level, called lifelong learning, provides opportunities for an older population of adults to have more whimsical and very personal goals in mind. The question must be asked, however, “to whom is lifelong learning available?” Just as critics of current society point out that university education is becoming financially out of reach for working class or poor students, lifelong learning opportunities may be only available to those who have the resources to pursue those activities.
For this paper, I talked to and observed a number of acquaintances who have recently retired. The respondents ranged in age from 52 to 67 years of age and have been retired from one to eight years. Interestingly, the two who have been retired for the shortest period of time, only in their first year, were the youngest and oldest in this small group. All are middle or upper-middle class individuals who have retired from well-paying jobs with secure pension funds, and all have children who are grown and self-sufficient living away from home. All except two have an undergraduate university degree, and several have graduate degrees. Their employed lives had involved a range of jobs in the private and public sector that involved leadership positions requiring constant upgrading and learning. The jobs included middle management positions for large companies, teaching at the school or university level, health care, and in one case, a self-employed couple who owned a medium-size farming franchise business in a rural community. In attempting to draw out examples, descriptors and kinds of lifelong learning, I have observed and asked questions of these people that focused on how they are spending the first years of their retirement and their aspirations in this next phase of their lives. Both men and women involved in my observations, and in several cases the respondents, were married couples where both were retired. In some cases, the retiree’s partner/spouse was not yet retired.
All of these people told me that they had not systematically planned for their retirement other than to ensure that they had reliable pension plans to draw upon or self-managed RRSPs. Some had planned their retirement date years ahead of time; others had taken advantage of an early window for retirement and made their minds up to retire in the space of a few months or less. Each expected to live as comfortable a life financially as they had enjoyed while working, and they anticipated that if they were fortunate to have good health, they would indeed be active for the next 30 years or more of their lives. Those who had retired early commented that they had done so to take advantage of their current health and energy levels, to have the freedom to do different things than they had been able to do while working. Interestingly, all mentioned travel as something they looked forward to doing on a regular basis in retirement, and several had already taken extensive and expensive travel vacations at least once per year. For some, the novelty of retirement wore off early and they began to seek out things to do, such as part-time work; for others, they said they were busier now than when they were working, but happily so.
My observations showed that all of these retirees are involved in some form of “formal” educational enterprise in their retirement. Individually, they were all doing different things, and some were involved in formal learning in more than one area. Their new learning experiences included: taking classical and jazz piano lessons; taking clarinet and bass clarinet lessons; learning to play softball and joining a team; learning to play french horn and playing in a band; taking various short courses designed for senior learners; taking sailing lessons; learning to fly an airplane; taking golfing lessons in summer and skiing in winter; taking voice lessons and seeking out a good choir to join; enrolled in university to become a pastoral care worker; taking community college courses to become a woodworker; learning to scuba dive; working with a personal trainer on a daily basis to learn about personal health; and, taking university history courses to understand more about geneology.
Each of these ventures represents a dream and requires commitment, passion (more than simply interest), and significant financial resources. While some took on these courses after retirement, a few of these acquaintances began these educational pursuits about five years before their planned retirement and worked them into their spare time. While they did not readily agree that they were planning these activities to keep them busy during their retirement, they noted that they had looked forward to their retirement to devote more time and energy to more whimsical pursuits.
At the same time many of those surveyed are also currently involved in part-time employment, not in the area or business from which they recently retired, but in different areas where they were allowed to develop their own timetable and parameters for the job. Opportunities had surfaced in retirement that would not have been available otherwise, and became accessible because of contacts and a flexible schedule. A few choice part-time jobs were proving to be a highlight of retirement for several people, jobs that ranged from working in a hardware store, marshalling at a golf course, or teaching at the university level. Some of the jobs require a specific set of skills while others require unskilled labour. None of these people is working because s/he needs the money, but because they want to spend their time this way. The critical question surfaces as to whether these folks are taking jobs away from the unemployed who would be qualified to do these paid jobs. Only one of the people in this group is actively and regularly involved in a volunteer capacity for community service groups. The rest are paid employees.
While “lifelong learning” is not the term the respondents in this study used to describe their hobbies and interests, there is considerable evidence among these comfortably affluent retirees that they are taking advantage of lifelong learning opportunities. For these retired boomers, lifelong learning represents an opportunity in life to follow a passion or dream that was either unavailable or not compelling enough to follow for one reason or another in earlier life. Perhaps it was that they could not afford the time or money to follow that pursuit, or it might not have led to a viable occupation. But for whatever reason, the time has come when these middle-aged individuals are both motivated and resourced (either financially or time-wise) to follow this pursuit. The logical question becomes: are these types of learning opportunities accessible by all members of society? The answer is fairly obvious -- no. These individuals have worked the system through their positions whereby they have gained access to and control of situations whereby they can avail themselves of learning opportunities. They have the resources to spend their time and money as they see fit for whatever purposes they deem to suit them personally. These are not people struggling to put a roof over their heads or food on the table. They are the privileged who, after having had a successful privileged career and adult life, have access to money and resources to help them lead the lives they want—and feel they deserve—to live in retirement. As I look around the growing number of musical performance groups and the recreation activities that have emerged in this mid-sized city [London, Ontario], I see an increasing membership of early retirees who are seeking out personal satisfaction through their own study. Wisely, they believe in the values and aspirations of ongoing mental and physical health through the arts and physical activity. Lifelong learning for them is a both a choice and a way of life. They may still be middle class society but they are privileged as such and have opportunities and confidence that are not afforded to the working poor and lower classes.
The questions that arise from this brief commentary are numerous and should give pause for thought: How many of the working poor can afford to retire? How many of the marginalized in society are participating in adult community music groups? The answer would be depressing to those who believe that such activities should be accessible to all in society. Lifelong learning—is it any more than privileging those who already have spent their lives as privileged individuals? What kinds of lifelong learning opportunities do the working poor have? What does the retirement picture look like for those less privileged? Is there such as thing a lifelong learning for the poor, or is it more correctly called survival, with their education continuing to come from the “school of hard knocks?”
Reference
European Commission on Education. (2003). What is lifelong learning? Retrieved from http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/lll/lif/what_islll_en.html, April, 2003. |