I have lots of opinions. So I write about them. They’re grouped into three essay categories right now.
Essays on Writing
Essays on Reading
Essays on Observations
Other assorted non-fiction work.
Editing and Judging Work:
Judge: 2018 – 2022 Utah State Poetry Society Contest
Editor: Gyroscope Review Magazine 2014 – Present
Assistant Editor: Every Day Poets Magazine 2009- 2014
Assistant Editor: Book: The Best of Every Day Poets Two, 2012
Assistant Editor: Book: The Best of Every Day Poets One, 2010
Editor: Distant Horizons – 2009 WyoPoets Chapbook
Editor: Wyoming Paintbrush – 2007 WyoPoets Chapbook
Assorted Ph.D. papers on Adult Education, just to show I can be serious when I want to.
Critical Thinking: Everything Old is New Again
A Historical Perspective on Philosophy of Adult Education
by: Constance Brewer
Abstract
Critical thinking has been an influence on education since ancient times. The Greek idea of paedia provides a starting point for tracing the development of critical thinking and its intricate partnership with education. The adult educational philosophy of Stephen Brookfield can be compared and contrasted with classical models of education, revealing several similarities between a modern take on critical thinking and classical intention. Other philosophers, such as George Hole, provide a more complex philosophical basis for the use of critical thinking in adult education that has its basis in classical ideals. Popular culture provides a third way of looking at critical thinking, and not always a complementary one. The current rush toward vocational education in place of a classical education goes hand in hand with the popular notion of specialization as the answer to societal problems. Expansion of the classical notion of paedia through the ideas of Brookfield and Hole would make critical thinking a powerful component of modern adult education.
Collision Course: Assessments of Attention Deficit Disorder
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Educational Process
by: Constance Brewer
Abstract
America is a society of measurers, comparing and contrasting everything from sports scores to the price of coffee to unemployment statistics. This measurement mentality extends to our schools, where children and adults are assessed yearly, quarterly, and sometimes weekly against a yardstick that can change from one test to the next. In order to quantify test results and promote objectivity, various ‘scientific’ methods of assessment have been developed. There have been attempts to apply these scientific methods to determine if an individual has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The diagnosis of ADD is made on a series of questions that base themselves on perceived behaviors. The inherent dangers are that often the adult with ADD has perceptions that don’t match the interviewer’s perceptions, or that the criteria are determined by remembered events, and many people with ADD have incredibly poor memories, and that subjectivity and reliability problems can occur. In the quest to create an etiology for ADD, treatment has focused on medication rather than psychosocial therapy and other non-pharmacological methods. Third-party observations about behavior are often seen as more valid than the observations made by the individual with the problem, leading to questions about motivation on the part of those recommending the assessment. Finally, tests to determine the type and scope of the ADD are based on the model developed for children, which can lead to built-in flaws in diagnosis, treatment, and education of the adult with ADD.
Organization as Religion
by: Constance Brewer
Abstract
Discussion of organizational structure falls under many forms. Popular thought assigns metaphors to describe the different organizational realities inherent in many businesses and in use by various managers; organizations as machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, and as instruments of domination. Another metaphor has been overlooked, one that addresses the underlying reason for the hierarchical structure that supports and encourages organizational metaphors, and explains the fascination with organizational theory prevalent in American society. An examination of organizations as religion and the structure of religious organization uncovers many parallels with other organizational metaphors and brings to light the reasoning behind the metaphors.