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    Believing and doing: values in social work education

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    Believing and doing: values in social work education

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    12 views10 pages

    Linzer 6134 Perlman Believing

    Uploaded by

    nic
    Believing and doing: values in social work education

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Helen Harris Perlman Believing and doing: values in social work education A value has small worth if it can not be transmuted from idea or conviction into some form, quality, or direction of behavior len Harris Perlman, D Lt, is Samvel Dewuch disinguhed serice professor emertu, School of Social Serace Adminstration, University of Chicago. Chicago, Minos Ar secagot ered the fit grea iach de f a open vel hing fet Frond andy for wales to Be four ivy hening the gong Tangstnme ands wenty of rosa sou gh fonds upon te gene dren our hats and eg lege Coorg a tie oa orb Sto’ Blau the ougrade aod some 556 tedges ter | fad began wonder dou! ming an he our tor whack ined we) Why id we Sy tha sae tBing’svery yea then brug Bp nd tis ws fore oor wet Arn Scroe fel ot nes i ane or he mesting in radon ony thingebe we Od feae for me, ae Drovabi foc my ll pupa a nd of fonped sop or bounced bal Prk baa" ung value of rep a bur te mores besuse wa” ge mouths een shou emerged far Cochin Hows ay ce Tupper esa rom pis csi Lisi about crt been ther ‘maenets ass specie st Clim nen we lege egance there Social Casework: June 1976 ‘alles that are so absract and softy that ho one would gaineay them. Peace, equal ity, freedom, and justice, all are pure gold vives, and everyone tresvres them, The figniy and work of every human being, the right to self-determination, the resp: roxcty between man and his scety and be- {ween rights. and. responsbities—these are values reiterated tn social work=-but they are not exclusive t social work. They are espoused by every polidcan from far TER to tar gh, they af popular ogans inscribed in our Rational documents and Upon our national monument. They are so high level as tobe safe and impregnable ‘They are also so general and abstract that they may be subject to radically different interpretations. No one would be against thes: What fy subject to argument, (op Posidon, or given to violenee, i how they Should "be. operationalized, by what ine rumen and means they may best be achieved. As soon as any one of us is pushed to move from belil vo doing, from Sbstraa co conerete, rom the ultimate 10 the proximate valves, then the conflicts and ‘the differences andthe varied ierpretatons of their meaning begin Values that guide behavior Lam, then, about to make a flat-footed value juclgment. It is that a value has small worth except as itis moved, or is moveable, from believing into doing, from verbal af- firmation into action. A’ value—defined here as a cherished belief, an emotionally invested preference oF desideratum—has Simall worth if ie ean not be transmuted irom idea or contin i some Form aly, or direcion. of ‘behavior. ‘The Power of value lies in ts governance and fuidaice for action, If values are to serve Eicion guides, they must be "drawn own to earth” They miust be “operation tlised.” changed into. instruments that fashion and direct our doing. itis usual to speak of tis evel of values as “lower,” but there is nothing disparag- ing in that term. They are “lower” inthe Serise that the) are grounded in the hard Fealities of ume and place and person-in- Situation. Their pire gold may have to be Alloyed with some haser metals to be sure, iba that is toward fashioning them into firm and strong instruments avaiable For every-day use. We is these operating, instrumental values, those that guide and govern what wte-do in our dally living, to which Tal dione, relingushing with wcloctance the headier pleasuresof the pre and the abso- ute. Our question is: How, in education J for a” profession—aocial work in this instance™ean values be taugin and incor porated and applied so that they serve noe Es defensive shioboleth, but a7 gues to Professions) acton in’ ts. daly, com. monplace forms? Tes necessary asa prologue that we rec ognize and understand thatthe very exis tence of socal work inthe special Torms it hs taken in this country ithe expression of some uhimate values, We did not make ourselves up, We were, and ar, crewed Sursocy tha sys we had ese mat welfare values to-be essential" Sora! work then, is 00" society's invention of 3 ine rumen, publicly and. privately forged and supported, by which ts averred goals for human welfare may be actualized. What social work has invented are the ways v/a pene i sein er Ji ‘Social work’s specialness, then, is at the level of proximate instrumental values, Our speciainess lies in the particular knowledges, skills, and resources that we have developed or organized by which the se Believing and doing: values social work education ee eee ee eee Pee eee aes iboats ee eek Eris tere ow or net aerate ee eee unl four cae an soca ae hve sn ge ey rough uy pores 20 ee eee SS Sans tog oe eee See ee conte. Seer Se gate tates on pe ee ee ce Bonga acs ar taped by De SORE, se ene op ON apoomforalsavrenes of Fn Social Casework: June 1978 Believing and doing: values in sacal work education and in his agency field practice. ‘tea discomfort which in moderation i snuch to be desired. Ics necessary to the tmodications of though, feeling, and ac: tion that constitute the connections be tween believing and doing: the passage from seeking Koowledge because {holds interest or i selfenhancing, ro seeking i inorder to be of use to others. To these nds the teacher in social work education, Sihether of socal work's helping processes or of its problemeareas, whether concen: trating upon the individual or the society, wihether in the classroom oF in the social gency, must, in alliance with the student, grapple with the ends and means of social Sok values, “Divine discontent"—the teacher as model One of che most valuable attributes of any teacher is that he should remain somewhat tuncorafortable. and paradoxically, that he should be comfortable with his discomfort. 1 speak of the discomfort that is the prod luct not of personal anxiety or malaise, nor of some sense of personal inadequacy, but ine product of intellectual and emotional srappling with the facts of disparity, dis- crepancy, and distance between what is Known and what is yet to be under: stood.—between what "we value and the Germans of situational realities. It is the condition ‘the poet calls “divine discon- tent," divine, I suppose, in that it serves not {o yield merely to griping and grumbling or despair and resignation, but rather in that it acs as a constant spur toward searching for what is better Father chan worse, toward discovering the lesser of cvs oF the greater of goods So equipped, the teacher begins with fone necessary condition for i Smother: that of being a “model.” Among other attributes and behaviors ie involves a Constant searching for congruence be tween believing and doing, for idenufying those proximate values that are in the di rection of ullmate ones as well as those ‘hat violate them: i includes honest recog: nition ofthe relativism of many values anc the frequent conflicts among them; it Socal Casework: June 1976 demonstrates tolerance and humility in the face of the imperfections of buman beings, indluding that of being a social worker. Such “modeling” is easier said than done. It is probably easier in the protected ambience of a dassroom than in the hurly-burly of practice when what is done must often be done quickly—and thought about afterwards, often in the dark of sleepless hours. But the honest facing up to not knowing and the uncertainties and conflicts about values as they are carried imo action, whether atthe level of personal help or political strategy, that shared sec- cognition of the gap between “ought” and “can,” “should” ani “shall,” forms a strong ‘emotional bond between teacher and stu- dent. And,’ as has been said, beliefs, at- titudes, and ideals are best incorporated when such a bond is alive. So grappling ‘with values is central to the emotional and thought changes that professional prep- aration involves. ‘The “modeling” of honesty, of aware- ress of gaps between the ideal and the real, of the consistent effort to reconcile them ‘when that is possible, and to face inherent conflict when it is not, to recognize incon- nces among themselves and between {lem and actions that seem imperative at a given time and place, ought to characterize teaching in every part of the social work curriculum. One of the instrumental values that so- Gal work education claims and cherishes is that professional education should be an integrating experience, that the student should. consistently be challenged and helped to see the parts in relation to the whole and the connections between ends and means. This goal is valuabie because the subject matters of social work are di- verse and complex, and among the surest ‘ways of binding us together, of. for exam- ple, directly helping the community or- anier and the caseworker see and feel their kinship, are our commonly held, though differently striven for, values. It follows that all good teaching, whether in class or field, requires that every abstract notion or idea that is held to be a guide or precept for action must be examined for ies oer comment, tt ace a Te Se Le ee ce tees tne gues a ae ot ee area eae ot peers sin is oreo pe eon eee eee Ce eta aay eae ee Re ce coc of ou 2 ree: eee ee Selecting professional values How do teacher and student decide and choose among values? What makes us be- lieve something is good, desirable, beter for people's well-being? Whar makes us move in the direcion the belief points to? ‘We make a value judgment. I know this i anathema to man so-

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