Colleagues make Coker College a great learning community

This is a holiday weekend around the country but the Hartsville YMCA did stay open for those wanting to work out on a Sunday. As I began lifting I noticed Mal Hyman in another section putting up some weights. It was good to see him back in the Ville. A few minutes later we began to talk -- instead of lift.
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Mal had recently returned from an eight to ten-day trip (if this was a new story I would check those dates) to Mexico as part of the Witness for Peace program. This is a program in which Mal, a sociologist, has had a long-time interest. This summer he went with the group to learn more about the immigration situation and drug war from the Mexican perspective. In between sets he was telling me about the people involved in the trip and some of the presentations and reports they were hearing from the people involved in these issues on a day-to-day basis. Many times I have commented that being part of a college learning community is probably the best job I have had. My colleagues are really smart people who are on a life-long learning quest.

Professor Hyman is a great example of the kind of colleague I mean. He is one of the most active teachers on campus and when he gets just a little time he looks for ways to broaden his knowledge, experience and perspective with direct activity so that when he teaches SOCIAL PROBLEMS the examples he shares with students are from some of the most up-to-date material possible. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We are going to spend some time in the next week or two at lunch and I am hoping to get some more descriptions of some of the things he learned on this most recent excursion. His major conclusion is that the linkage between what happens within Mexico and what happens in the United States in sometimes disparate areas must not be ignored. But, we interrupted ourselves quite a bit during today's discussion, so details have to come later.

Mal and I talk frequently and he is a good example but what I stress when I get the opportunity to talk with prospective Coker College students is that the effort and intelligence that Mal puts into his teaching and research is replicated over and over by some of the smartest, most caring people I have known and at Coker, they are the people leading the classes day by day.

Quck overview of Kenya's collision with Modernization and Social Change with Mal Hyman's Coker Class

(caption -- Thatched roofs and mud walls are common sights in the villages of Kenya while cities look like cities everywhere.)

Mal Hyman is in the waning days of the 2011 Modernization and Social Change class at Coker College. These are key moments in a class and I really appreciated his invitation to do a quick overview of some of the issues of social change that are facing Kenya. The truth is, my 11 days in the country just began to open my eyes to the situation of our modern world and the third world. I think the students also appreciate that fact. I also believe these Coker students will enjoy a bit of discussion about my quick observations frohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifm Kenya and the wealth of opportunities that country presents for added discussion of the social-change topic.

I am working on contrasts for this short discussion -- the capital city of Nairobi with the small, spread-out village of Muhuru Bay. The contrast of the mud hut with the multi-story Nairobi Baptist Church complex and the contrast between the classroom in which we will be working and the classes I talked with while in Kenya. The physical contrast can be stark but the social side is more the same than different -- especially when it comes to hopes, dreams and desires. Our quick class will focus on some images and then issues built arount "T" -- TIME, TECHNOLOGY, TURMOIL AND TRIBALISM.