The Lengthened Line

THE LENGTHENED LINE* CYRIL O. HOULEÎ I One ofthe most rewarding experiences oflife is to see something commonplace in a new light and to find in it unsuspected depths ofmeaning. The young man suddenly catches a glimpse ofthe girl next door and looks at her with quickened interest. Something seems to have happened to her since shewas eleven—and the consequences may provehighly interesting. In scholarship, too, the pattern is familiar. Everybody has always known that some people are brighter than others, but Binet actually measured intelligence—or, at any rate, he measured something. The fall ofan apple, the salivation ofa dog, the growth ofa mold, the existence ofa nightmare: just see what has been made ofthem! And all the complexities ofthe computer are based on the familiar response of "yes" or "no," though the computer's answer is qualitatively differentfrom that ofthe girl next door. Something like this is happening to the in-service education ofthe professional . In both ideal and practice, it has been around for a long time. William McGlothlin, in his comparative study of architecture, business administration, engineering, law, medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, teacher education, and veterinary medicine found they all clearly recognized in their codes ofethics or elsewhere that education is a lifelong obligation [i]. This end gives rise to familiar means: theincidentallearning which comes from practice; informal association; reading; attending conferences , workshops, conventions, short courses, and other gatherings; and sharing in the work ofprofessional associations. Yet, in profession afterprofession, this old idea is suddenly being seen in a new light. Most professionals have from thirty to fifty years to perform their serviceand to occupy their distinctiveroles. Can they do so efficiently * Earlier versions ofthis paperwerepresented to the 1967 Midwinter Conference ofthe American Library Association and to the Chicago Literary Club. Permission to reprint has been granted by both." t Professor ofEducation, University ofChicago. 37 and honorably on the basis ofone to ten years ofpre-service education, a scanning ofjournal pages, an occasional three days at a university center for continuing education, andanannualtrip to Preservation Hallor Fisherman 's Wharf? The professional school is said to be like Janus, looking backward to the preparatory training ofits students and forward to their continuing education [2]; but is not the latter pair ofeyes myopic and in need ofstrong correction? Does the professional association take care ofits other functions admirably but treat the learning of its members gingerly and with no coherent plan? These questions have stimulated virtually every profession to have a strong concern with continuing education. To sense the immediacy ofthis purpose, you must hear the authentic voices ofthose who express it. Here are three. In medicine: "The continuing education ofphysicians is one of the most important problems facing medical education today" [3]. In the ministry: "Among the facts oflife ofthis generation ofChristians is the emergence ofthe ministry as a distressed profession. One ofthe most creative responses to this distress is to be found in the rapid, almost spontaneous growth of 'continuing education' for the ministry" [4]. In social work: "We are going to have to change our thinking to view the master's program in social work not as the substance ofa professional education, but as a catapult that gives energy and direction to an intellectual trajectory that will carry the learner hundreds oftimes farther than the two years" [5]· Every profession, it would seem, must be concerned with the education whichoccursduring thetotallife-spanofits members; pre-service training is only the first stage ofthisprocess. Thelengthened line oflearning covers fifty years, notjust one to ten. In developing this idea, each profession has gone on its way alone, winning its victories, making its mistakes, and maturing its own conceptions. To look at these efforts comparatively, however , is to see that the needs, the general objectives, the specific goals, and themethodsusedallhavea markedresemblance. Myaimhereisto present a synthesis ofthe key ideas that the various professions have learned about the continuing education oftheir members. II The root cause ofthe modempreoccupation with continuing education is that otherwise the very idea ofprofessionalism cannot survive. 38 Cyril O. Houle · Lengthened Line Perspectives in Biology and Mediane · Autumn 1967 A profession is a high calling based on abstract and theoretical knowledge , a key element in...