An Interview with a Humanistic Educator

The following interview of Dr. Ron Iannone was conducted by heather henderson over the period of several weeks. Dr. Ron Iannone has written quite extensively on humanizing education. His major works include, Alternatives to the Coming Death of Schooling, School Ain't No Way/Appalachian, and several other articles, poems, and plays. His responses to heather henderson's inquiry give the reader an opportunity to seek new possibilities for curriculum and teaching. Heather: How do you bring out the inner voices in your students. Also, do you believe that the average student has the ability and desire to be the humanistic creature that you want them to be? Ron: I think those are good questions. Also, they get at what I believe about human beings. I think instinctively that we all are born with a need to care and to be compassionate not only for others, but for ourselves. And I think we can't exist unless there's somebody that we are sharing with. I don't believe we're orphans. I believe one of the major reasons why we exist is to share some part of our inner voice, soul, with others. Our inner voice is probably the most mysterious part of the human being. And I think we have this external world that's made up of many pseudo things. The most genuine parts of this world are the inner voices. And perhaps it's camouflaged a great deal by the external pressures and desires to consume, to buy, and to become part of that culture. The culture of buying, the culture of materialism, suppresses this inner voice which is the most mysterious. So, I believe that everyone has it, as I believe that everyone is innately good. And it's through societal influences that we have the so-called good people, bad people, good and evil. In order to get the inner voice to be released in another person, I think the first step is that you must share a little bit of your inner voice. How you feel about the world. How you feel about yourself. The most basic part of this, heather, is you must open your vulnerability. Once you show others you're vulnerable, some people see it as a sign of weakness, but for the most part I think people see it as you're sharing some of your soul. That's the beginning. And I think as you build up trust between yourself and others, it's really based on the model I have for inner voices. It's what one goes through in a relationship. And as you get close to people that are good friends you start sharing more of yourself. And they help you discover more of yourself. So, as this dynamic happens between yourself and another person you start trusting each other. Now, that's a tremendous risk you're taking because you are going to be sharing perhaps some very innermost feelings and beliefs and perceptions, but that's the risk you take. And it's through this sharing of that inner voice I think you grow as a human being and you recognize your humaneness. You also come to recognize, that in that inner voice, part of what we may call spirituality might be God. You also become more comfortable sharing what human beings share all the time: things of joy, happiness, love, anger, uncertainty, and to me that's the beginning of somebody understanding what that mystery is in them. I also think they come to understand the God inside of themselves. My belief is that the only strong and existing God is the God that we have, that comes and is realized through sharing love and joy with another person. I think as the inner voice grows, the inner voice starts to accept his or her God and wants to share that God with another. Basically, it's coming to understand your center of being and, to me, that's what's important. It's getting students to trust each other and also the teacher, as well as building up an element of risk taking. It also adds to that ... can you really be friends with a student? And you can. You can be friends with a student. If the student accepts you as also a human being that has resources for learning, this brings me back to taking some risk, as you become more open and honest with each other. …