This is a report from a longitudinal study of chronic drug and alcohol addicts in treatment at Beit T'shuvah Synagogue's recovery centre in California. The research asks: How does it work? What works for whom? What does spirituality have to do with it? A basic assumption is that addicts suffer from one (or more) structural splits: a split between affect and logic or a split between self and context. Effective treatment is construed as recovering integrity, mending the split(s).The study reports an analysis of 28 semi-clinical interviews with male and female chronic drug addicts, mean age 34 (range 20-78). We analysed the interviews in terms of (i) structural splits, (ii) relational and contextual reasoning (RCR): recognising, reconciling and transcending apparently contradictory views and experiences; (iii) experiences of spiritual awakening. In terms of the trajectory from (i) to (ii) and (iii), we classified respondents as either 'stuck in the split' (chronic disintegration); or integrity recovered. Finally, based on the analysis of these data, we provide a theoretical roadmap from divided self to recovered integrity.
The tension between cultural pluralism and social cohesion is perhaps the single most resonant moral paradox for contemporary democracies. The challenge is no less daunting for public education. In the past forty years North American projects for Inter-cultural and Anti-racist education have had limited success. This paper argues that such projects have suffered from an unclear moral vision and from a pedagogical indifference to the developmental stages of children and adolescents as learners. This paper describes two distinct moral aims of education for democratic citizenship. It argues that the tension between the two approaches can be resolved by reference to the developmental needs of various groups of learners. A developmental approach to Inter-Cultural, Anti-racist Education is outlined.
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