Challenges and Opportunities in a World
of Changed Learning Experiences

The Case for a Self-Directed Distance Learning Program
on Political Economy

Edward J. Dodson

[July 2009]

By the standards of some who are reading this, my time as a teacher of Henry George's political economy is moderate - twenty-eight years. Early on, I learned a great deal from many mentors, beginning most importantly with George Collins. Studying and then teaching from Henry George's works solidified my understanding of and appreciation for the remarkable insights George achieved - essentially on his own.

Over these last nearly three decades of teaching, I slowly introduced what I believed were enhancements to the lesson materials that trace their origins to the era of Oscar Geiger at School. The traditional materials worked their magic during the first three decades of the School. When combined with a rigorous reading of George's writings, the weekly "homework" and subsequent discussion of student answers to these questions create an effective Socratic learning environment. During the first decade of the Henry George School -- including its extensions, affiliates and group discussions in the homes of committed "Henry George men" (and women) -- the classes seemed to promise a growing army of citizens committed to true economic and social justice. Frank Chodorov wrote challengingly that only the education effort would repopulate the ranks of activists who had rallied to Henry George but were rapidly disappearing as each year passed.

No doubt, the experience of living during the Great Depression brought many people into the classroom for a hoped-for better understanding of what was happening to their society. With but modest resources, the School hired John Monroe to nurture the establishment of extension classes all across the United States. By 1939 classes were being taught in some 200 cities and towns. In the summer of 1941, the School hosted its first convention, attended by over 200 persons involved in the education effort. Although Europe and parts of Asia were suffering from war, in the United States, Bob Clancy later reported, "1940 and 1941 were peak years with over 1,000 graduates of the basic course each year, in New York alone." After the United States entered the war, an understandable reduction occurred in the number of classes offered and students, but the School did not close its doors. One important reason was the infusion of funds by two supporters: Charles O'Connor Hennessy and John C. Lincoln. After the war the civilian population in the United States experienced a return to normalcy, with the one difference that peace was not accompanied by a return to economic hardship. Enrollments at the Henry George Schools increased.

By the mid-1950s over 75,000 people had come through the School and its far-flung locations. However, as we know, only a very small percentage of these students ever came to embrace the "Georgist" cause as their own or in some meaningful way became an active proponent of our solution to poverty and economic depressions. Had the School continued to expand, increasing the number of extensions into every significant city and town (within and outside the United States), perhaps the law of large numbers would have operated. The drift of population out of the cities and into new suburban communities that began in the 1950s had a dramatic impact on enrollments across the United States.

The School has survived but hardly thrived. One by one extension and affiliate programs were curtailed. Committed Georgists willing and able to conduct classes aged and died or moved on. Funds were withdrawn by the Lincoln Foundation in the early 1970s. And, some board members in New York and elsewhere acted destructively - with good intensions, or for reasons of their own ambition and self-interest. Equally important, the broader adult education environment was evolving in a direction that effectively competed for students. The era of the community college and skill development programs had arrived. Political activism and societal reform were directed at civil rights for African-Americans and other minorities, feminist issues, opposition to neo-colonial militarism, systemic corruption and restoring our ecosystem. Political economy had become the intellectual property of the expert.

The dedication and hard work of a handful of people have kept the Georgist education work alive with important innovations made during the last thirty years. The correspondence courses of the Henry George Institute have provided an intense learning experience for every student. And, the InterStudent program developed by Harry Pollard and Bret Barker for high school students has proven itself, suffering only from meager resources for promotion and adoption as a mainstream part a nationwide high school social studies curricula. Alanna Hartzok's leadership in developing the "Global Land Tool Network" is a welcomed addition to our inventory of programs and is reaching individuals in countries where no Georgist education has ever been offered. The School of Economic Science reaches others. And, even the Lincoln Institute's programs on the taxation of land values finds an interested audience within the public policy community. Yet, collectively we reach such a small number of people each year that the prospect of generating global understanding of "the land question" as a result of intensive study of Henry George's works is so small as to be inconsequential. Moreover, the cost of delivering a classroom experience to students absorbs a very high percentage of the annual spending of our entire "movement."

The question I have asked myself over the last few years is how we can generate a much larger student enrollment than has been thought possible since the 1930s. As other schools and universities have discovered, distance learning -- making effective use of computer technology and the internet -- is the answer. As we do not have a large group of well-trained teachers eager to take on students or the financial resources to open extensions all around the world, our approach needs to emphasize self-directed, online course work.

What follows is my thinking on such a program, but what we need to do is establish a task force to work on a comprehensive development plan (and budget) for consideration by the board of the Henry George School. The project would begin upon adoption of a resolution establishing the task force and allocating sufficient funds to develop such a plan. In the event the board of the Henry George School declines to undertake and support this project, I urge the creation of an independent task force to consider alternatives.

DISTANCE LEARNING AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 101

The core three-course program of the Henry George Schools has always relied on the use of Henry George's books, even though the course material overlaps to a considerable extent. For the students who complete all three courses, they come away with an in-depth exposure to (if not always a thorough understanding of) George's treatment of political economy. One shortcoming of the three-course approach is that only a small number of students are willing and able to commit to what amounts to a full academic year of study. In years past, Harry Pollard tried to overcome this problem by promoting the program as a continuous 30-week course. Harry has reported in recent years that this approach worked well back in the 1960s and even later. So, this is something to keep in mind.

What I suggest is the development of an online course the student can complete at his/her own pace, conditioned upon a maximum span of time between completion of each course module ("module" used here in replacement of "lesson"). Ideally, the course would eventually be developed to be taken in any number of languages in order to reach the largest global audience. We might begin with English and Spanish-language options. Upon completion of the course and passing of a final examination, the student would be awarded a certificate and be considered a graduate of the Henry George School.

Reading assignments would be taken from all of George's works and from supplemental sources. Each module would begin with a 30-minute video lecture introducing the student to the assigned material. Alternatively, the videos could be much shorter, followed by a reading assignment and an online quiz, that if passed, would move the student to the next video and reading. The modules could also provide links to material on other websites to support points made or introduce the student to opposing points of view that are then responded to.

George's writings will take this course only so far as I envision the course. As some of you are aware (and, if you will be in attendance at the CGO conference in Cleveland) I will be spending some time describing an alternative approach to how the "fundamental" course is delivered, an approach that incorporates an ongoing comparison of George's system of political economy with the theories offered by the competing schools of economic thought, with much of the course devoted to economic history and a critique of economic policies and programs from the time of George's death. These modules will, I believe, provide a good starting point for the developmental work of the task force, if approved by the board of the Henry George School.

Turning these ideas into a functioning educational program will not be easy or without considerable expense. The decision to go forward requires a sincere and full commitment on the part of board members of the Henry George School and the individuals who step forward to work as a developmental team. An outside firm with experience in designing distance learning systems with this level of sophistication is needed, and will require an ongoing contractual relationship to administer and maintain the website. Other staffing considerations include the hiring of a person to manage this program once it is ready to be introduced.

If what I am proposing sounds overly ambitious, I simply ask one question: Do you believe that what is being done today is the best we can hope for? Oscar Geiger and the generation of leading Georgists who decided to concentrate their efforts on public education were hopeful that the Henry George School would one day become a university and that Henry George's ideas would be firmly established as an integral part of every citizen's civics education. That did not happen, but we should not give up the effort. My thoughts on how to get us there you now have. What are yours? Cleveland will hopefully provide us the opportunity to engage in a serious and meaningful discussion. If you cannot be in Cleveland, let me have your thoughts and I will make sure they are shared.