Humanism is important to education because it asks us all, students and educators alike, to question our learning environments, our obligations and roles, our values in relation to our place in society, our own means to care for not only our essential, intrinsic selves, but for the selves of others.

Blogging is a process of externalizing in digital form our inner conversations. It provides a tool of inclusion to that not only invites us to question and find out voices, but also invites others to join us in this largely solitary activity of self-expression. Blogging is primarily a solitary activity, not a collaborative one. Insofar as the thoughts you express during blogging mirror others’ thoughts, there is a tentative cooperation, a sharing. However, because the main focus for blogging is to develop individual capacities for self-making, for soul-work, any approach to facilitate this process needs to be voluntary, egalitarian, and respectful of the individual person. As blogging is an involved, sustained, and intensive activity in which we work hard to exercise the transcendent function, of making our personal unconscious more fully conscious (Jung), it is critical to recognize the blogging tool is facilitating identity construction and reconstruction.

Humanism requires us to acknowledge, celebrate and uphold that which is greatest in human beings: autonomy, dignity, responsibility, striving, curiosity and idealism (Pearson & Podeschi, 1999). Humanism is an ideal that we can all strive for, a call to all for the act of virtuous self-making that requires courage and determination. This process is constantly unfolding, as we become more embedded into our communities and more self-actualizing as individuals. Humanism is the one theory in education that holds individuals as more than the sum of the genetics, feelings, experiences, histories, struggles, hopes and dreams of mankind. Instead of emphasizing human limitations and conditioning, it instead directly challenges humanity as persons to strive for dignity, for responsibility, for the courage involved for making choices (Norman, 2004). Only humanism requires us to be ourselves, not passive recipients or objects of forces beyond our own control. Jean-Paul Sartre claimed that humanity has to work at making themselves, that they have no one, fixed, nature, only choices (Norman, 2004).

Blogging involves a constant activity of choice-making, of selecting ideas and expressing them. The blogging process connects others’ ideas to our own experience, weaves them into our own voiced views, and changes our views during the act of writing itself.

Hofmeyr (2006) describes the essential nature of the self-making process from a humanistic perspective: "A re-conceptualized self appeared on the scene: exit self, the product; enter self, the creator. The self is now no longer considered as the passive product of an external system of constraint and prescriptions, but as the active agent of its own formation" (p.216).

To promote the self as creator, the blogging tool requires us to place ourselves at the center of our own learning activities. It compels us to continually review and revise and re-envision our selfhood, our ideas, our deep-set beliefs. Blogging captures on the screen the choices made, the questions asked, the evolving ways we classify ideas, the numerous drafts and iterations and themes we return to again and again.

Humanism requires individuals to become prepared to make choices about themselves, their lives, their families, and their life-world. The freedom to choose, the choice to acquiesce or to withhold consent, the choice to become self-directed or not, are essentially the core issues Humanism delves into. Erich Fromm, in Escape from Freedom, summed up the individuation process and the struggle for self-actualization humans uniquely face: "Although character development is shaped by the basic conditions of life and although there is no biologically fixed human nature, human nature has a dynamism of its own that constitutes an active factor in the evolution of the social process"  (Fromm, 1969, pp. 316-317). Maslow argued that through the process of learning more about oneself, one can learn to make better value choices, further spurring self-actualization. The ability to make effective choices is one central theme of humanism. Another central theme is that there is an essential, or transcendent, self, which is that "something that impels us towards growth as individuals and impels us to attempt to improve our human society" (Pearson & Podechi, 1999).

The successful pursuit of blogging as an autonomous agent requires us to embrace solitude. The promise of improved interaction with others through blogging itself as a digital medium is illusory – the act of connection starts with the reader’s or writer’s conscious deliberate choice of finding affinity with others, not in the medium itself. From solitude comes an opportunity for self-making, writing to mirror our inner minds, and this in turn leads to self-affinity, self-acceptance, and self-knowledge. Looking outside without this self-affinity leads to over-inflated expectations about the depth and frequency of others’ interactions. In effect, bloggers need to commit to a journey of self-regulated explorations and autonomous learning. They need to acknowledge their ambivalence to solitary self-work, and be able to embrace it, work from it. Bloggers need to learn to detach from the ideas they generate, to be ever-vigilant and critical of one’s own ideas and beliefs.

Because we have been conditioned to be tied to our self-concepts, and we have come to be defined, and be defined by others, within the cages of 'a regime of truth' (Collins, 1995), we are held within the confines of the “normal” imposed from without. We are held captive within the rigid cell of our borrowed beliefs of our conscience, of how we ought to behave, imposed by others, accepted unquestioningly and without reflection (Foucault, 1979).

Blogging affords us a special chance to journal our transitions and record and bear witness to the difficulties we can encounter when told we are free to choose the topics to write about, and yet find ourselves afraid to do so, and instead surrender our will to others. According to Jurgen Habermas, "Acquiescence to the deployment of manipulative, coercive strategies is obtained at the expense of an enlargement in emancipatory potential and genuinely transformative learning" (Collins, 1995, pg. 91). This tentative stance taken by new bloggers is important to account for when guiding others towards more self-regulated blogging. Giving in to the cues and unspoken rules of conduct is counter-productive. It stifles students’ voices and shifts the decision-making away from students to the instructor, and this undermines the potential of blogging.

Humanism recognizes the importance of social forces and power relations in forming human personality, and recognizes the dangers of fostering narcissistic, selfish temperaments. It concerns itself with the synergy between the uniqueness of individuals and commonalities with others in society. This synergy, in Maslow's opinion, is the fusion of the self and the world. The 'jungle world', or zero-sum world-view, implies the betterment of the unique individual at the expense of others (Pearson & Podeschi, 1999). Humanism supports that there is both a uniqueness of individuals, but there exists the possibility of harmonious embedment of individuals within society as well. These states are complementary, not antagonistic. Maslow was quite adamant on this point: "...the possibility of growth within each one of us is betrayed whenever we diminish one another" (Pearson & Podeschi, 1999, pg. 51).

Blogging one’s thoughts without an anchor, without the intention of reviewing and reflecting on what had been articulated, is useless. Also, an insistence of one’s superiority of expression is not the goal of blogging. Blogging just for an audience of one without self-work, without critical self-inquiry, is for me not an instance of blogging. It fails to use the blog as a mirror to require us to re-align our beliefs and experiences with new experiences.

It is only through the questioning and fuller understanding of deeply held beliefs, of values, of tacit knowledge very few of us question, can we free up more and more of ourselves for the arduous journey of 'self-making' (Taylor, 1986). Blogging enables this process.

Humanism aims to assist learners to find and use their voices to venture out as witnesses and agents of change in their communities and themselves. Humanism stands opposed to paternalism, instead drawing the source for its strength from the hopes and dreams for self-actualization of individual learners, not the vested interests of institutionalized education and the organizations that act as its stakeholders. The main reason that humanism must play a central role in education policy is that when the self is reduced to observable behaviors and competencies, the objectification of humanity begins, shifting the responsibility for betterment from individual learners, to the nameless authority of social agencies and corporate interests.  Humanism focuses on how we relate to human beings and oneself, and not on how to make use of available human resources.  Humanism is a critic of the trend towards technicism, where workplace pedagogy is surrendered to the interests of CEOs, when control lies in the hands of business, industry and governments (Collins, 1985). In effect, the critical role of humanism is to counter the consequences that ensue when, instead of being autonomous learners, seeking self-education, "men and women are still being educated on behalf of their rulers" (Collins, 1995 pg. 88).

Blogging is a disruptive technology. It requires individuals in engage in continuous questioning, probing, and do so as self-regulated, autonomous agents. Blogging provides an opportunity for everyone to step beyond the technicist paradigm, where everything considered significant learning is accredited, certified, and measured. Blogging provides the potential for global self-education.

Humanism aims to cultivate this capacity for self-education, or self-direction-with-others, through a process of nurturing within intentional learning environments.  Maslow argued that the inner core of a self-determining individual is free to uncover one's real self, and decide what one will become (Maslow, 1962). This capacity for self-growth and self-renewal leads to self-actualizing growth. Self-knowledge, in effect, helps people make better choices and helps them gain better knowledge of universal human nature. Self-directed learning acknowledges that not only can adults learn, but can learn better without undue pressure from externally imposed directives (Collins, 1995).  Self-directed learning considers the individual learner as central, as the agent that first encounters and initiates learning (Draves, 1980).

Welton (2006) described Cleary and Hogan’s argument that self-education is a potentiality that students should be encouraged to gradually embrace. Both the successful nurturing of this potentiality, and its responsible, mature use, are based on how we relate with others. The self-development of one's potential depends largely on oneself and the degree one learns to embrace learning as a personal responsibility.  This type of learning, however, is best exercised and developed in a non-coercive, engaging and meaningful manner. As educators, we have the responsibility to assist the adult learner to reflect on the manner in which values, beliefs, and behaviors previously deemed unchallengeable can be critically analyzed (Brookfield, 1985). Humanist educators also need to become advocates for supportive, non-threatening learning environments.

I shift gears from promoting the blogging tool as a means to facilitate self-work through solitude to exploring other areas in which blogging can play a significant part aiding in personal growth. For example, blogging is useful for guiding learners through difficult life transitions, overcoming difficult life challenges, and leaving a legacy for others. To what extent can or should blogging be used to encourage critical self-reflection? What are the appropriate roles for educators in guiding bloggers through challenges? Can therapeutic confessional blogging even be done within a formal, structured network of learners, as a cohort? Can such a learning journey be placed anywhere within a technicist paradigm? Should bloggers engage in confessional blogging publicly without any guidance? I would venture to say that such soul-work is best accomplished within a shared space. Confessional blogging can be very therapeutic, and releasing truths can be cathartic. But does such blogging belong only to the confessional space that involves a spiritual advisor? Or perhaps it belongs to the therapeutic space that involves a trained healer? Or again perhaps this type of blogging instead belongs to an anonymous sharing space that involves a supportive group of peers?

Do these confessional learning spaces have any place within formal social networks? My thoughts are that they are quite useful learning communities, but they would probably exist independently from institutional learning networks. It would operate in a paradigm altogether different from the current model upon which institutional learning networks are currently set up. For example, the very possibility of formally evaluating such learning, and acknowledging successful completion, is controversial. In addition, though blogging circles that focus on this type of learning might arguably be incredibly useful, they would be so long as the identities of the bloggers are anonymous, and personal information scrubbed from public posts to protect privacy. Thus, participants in the confessional blogging circles would have no profiles.

Humanism is like a servant bard, cultivating the unfolding collective narrative of humanity's struggle between our tendencies towards solitary individualism and potentialities for transcendent individualism. Like Humanism, blogging gives voice to the stirrings of the emancipated self as a self-in-the-making. Blogging from a humanist perspective requires us to examine critically our personal experience and be receptive of others’ ideas. Every situation places us in a web of roles and responsibilities, stirrings of discontent, of yearning. Humanistic educators who engage their learners in blogging activities need to consider carefully different strategies to enable learners to be empowered to take part in their communities, and assist their students to become autonomous, self-directing beings.

Humanist educators believe that, in the words of St. Clair, every moment “we create and recreate ourselves, defining ourselves by constraint, but also in terms of possibility” (St. Clair, 1998, pg. 7-8). Blogging can become an inclusive tool as long as facilitators aim to prepare learners to engage in self-making and persist in this journey. All individuals are ultimately responsible for contributing to the creating of greater possibilities, and that the need to grow is the "generating force for engaging in a lifetime enterprise of self-creation that has consequences on others" (Pearson and Podeschi,1999, pg. 51).

References:

Brookfield, S. (1993). Self-directed learning: Political clarity, and the critical practice of adult education. Adult Education Quarterly, 43(4), 227-242.

Collins, M. (1995). Critical commentaries on the role of the adult educator: From self-directed learning to postmodernist sensibilities. In M. Welton (Ed.) In defense of the lifeworld: Critical perspectives on adult learning (pp. 71-97). Albany: SUNY Press.

Fromm, Erich. (1969). Escape from Freedom. New York: Avon Books

Hofmeyr, B. (2006). The Power Not to Be (What we Are): The Power and Ethics of Self-creation in Foucault. In Journal of Moral Philosophy, 3(2), 215-230

Norman, R. (2004). Introduction. In R. Norman, On humanism thinking in action (pp. 1-25). New York: Taylor & Francis.

Pearson, E. & Podeschi, R. (1999). Humanism and Individualism: Maslow and his Critics. In Adult Education Quarterly, 50(1), 41-55.

Welton, M. (2006). A Rich Exchange. In MDDE 613 Forum on Postmodernism and Humanism, retrieved November 10, 2006, from http://cde.lms.athabascau.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1787&parent=9923