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Books In Review




Learning Liberation: Women's response
to men's education
by Jane
L. Thompson, Croom Helm, $30.00
(Radical Forum on Adult Education Series.)

Reviewed by Liz Burge

Learning Liberation is dedicated to "strong women and... those of us who are becoming stronger." Readers of Jane Thompson's latest book need to be as strong as the women learners and educators in it if they are to confront in their own practice the issues around male supremacy in education which Thompson outlines. This supremacy she calls patriarchy, and uses a broad definition - "the explicit and implicit subordination of women by the rule of men" given that "all men... exercise this oppression and share a very real interest in ensuring its preservation", her intention is to examine ways in which women can effectively counter this oppression - "not to describe women's education as an object of interest, but to illuminate the process through which women, against considerable odds, are learning liberation."

Her illumination is impressive: for its scholarship, its astute analysis of patriarchal attitudes and values in education, and its documentation of a key U.K. experience of women learning their liberation. Although the volume is slight (207 pages), its content is wide ranging. Arguments and experience from sociology, politics and education arenas are based in international and specifically Anglo-American perspectives. Extensive citations at the end of each chapter lead to a very broad literature base. The clarity and precision of her prose style supports yet contrasts with her evident passion and commitment to radical change.

Key themes are that women need to control their own learning, and men must learn to accept the validity of women's learning as a distinct and different form of education. Recognition of differences between women's and men's education is needed so that women's education is taken seriously. Cogent argument and arresting anecdotes from women learners support these themes.

The first four chapters outline sociological, political and economic aspects of patriarchal education, especially as these result in women's isolation, oppression and dependency. In chapter three, "The Schooling of Girls", Thompson argue that education is a tool for male capitalist domination and a powerful behavioral modifier for the voluntary "consignment to low status, low-paid jobs as a temporary diversion before marriage and family responsibilities". In chapter four, she presents evidence of the crippling effects of subordination: this evidence acts as strong contextual background to three further chapters of a feminist critique of British adult education. Undoubtedly Canadians can find equally as depressing evidence of patriarchy in official reports.



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