Eleanor Roosevelt, William Stafford and

The Freedom to Learn

By E. Ben Crawford

Eleanor Roosevelt and United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish. WikiCommons.

If the student is imposed upon by distractions, he will miss the vigorous

involvement essential to the literary experience. Hence the teacher helps
the student to establish a self capable of responding.
The students
curiosity, his impulse no matter how small at first to participate, and in
particular his joining with others, in simply talking about his responses
these connections with his surroundings must be cultivated if he is to
extend his life into the area of richness which reading and writing embody.
Friends To This Ground, A Statement of the Commission on Literature, National
Council of Teachers of English, 1967, by William Stafford

Page 2, Roosevelt, Stafford and the UDHR

Following World War Twos over sixty millions killed, which had
followed the War to End all Wars, (WWI), with its over twenty
millions killed, Eleanor Roosevelt, with her history of steadfast
support of civil rights, was chosen to chair the United Nations
committee that drew up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
(hereafter referred to as UDHR). Ms. Roosevelt was firmly in
charge of her committee, which established a guarantee of
individual freedoms similar to those enjoyed by Americans under the
Bill of Rights. She told one committee member who complained to
her of the long hours, if you want fewer hours, make shorter
speeches. The resulting 30 universal rights, claimed thereafter by
every human being, were unanimously adopted by the UN members
(see web link at the end of this report to access the UNs UDHR).
The members of the United Nations, who never before had done so
(and never since), proceeded to give Ms. Roosevelt a standing
ovation, one that lasted for seven minutes.
I wrote this article, which includes an imaginary conversation with
Dr. William Stafford while in a writers workshop, June 29, to July 2,
2015 held at Lewis and Clark College, facilitated by Dr. Kim Stafford ,
attended by myself and five others. My interest in William Stafford
grew initially from my viewing a public television special about him,
which expanded my view of poetry. It was also proceeded by my
twice viewing the Roosevelts series by Ken Burns, which expanded
my appreciation of the work of Eleanor Roosevelt.
My fellow
students encouraged the imaginary conversation after I very
hesitatingly brought it up as an option. All of the ideas and opinions
expressed are my own, and hopefully do some justice to the
Staffords and their ongoing encouragement of the freedom to learn.
Q: Dr. Stafford I wonder if I might have a few minutes of your time?
WS: Now is as good a time as any. Lets go to my office.
Q: I didnt expect youd be able to do this quite so fast. Anyway, Dr.
Stafford, what Im doing came out of a writers workshop led by
your son, Kim.
WS:
Yes, hes an original thinker, a
compassionate human being. Im so proud.

mensch,

fine

and

Page 3, Roosevelt, Stafford and the UDHR

Q: Just a little joke, but what, exactly is in the water at Lewis and
Clark College and can I take some home?
You have such an
incredible history of fine poetsfirst Id like to read you Article 27 of
the UDHR, then my operational definition which addresses
freedom to learn more explicitly, (including an inspiring consultation
with Kim).
After the readings, Ill ask you to respond to some
questions.
WS: Okay.
According to Article 27 of the UDHR
(1)
(2)

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural

life of the community; to enjoy the arts and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and
material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or
artistic production of which he is the author.

WS: Youve implied the writing of this article could have been
better, although you admire the precepts, your operational definition
is likely therefore an attempt to make it more inspiring, yet practical.
Q: Absolutely. I also wanted to make clear that pacifism and goals
for peace are part of the process. My Masters in History is about a
peace pact.
I grew up being maltreated and traumatized, so
freedom to learn is like oxygen to me. At least my parents admired
learning and good literature. Good literature and therapy have
helped me hand in glove as it has for many of my patients and
students. Poetry from the mind and heart is a synthesis of deep
emotional reflections tied with intellectual insights.
This
automatically sets trauma on its head, because trauma tends to
fragment the mind and body, or from the body. It follows that a lot
of wars are started by people whose heads have become separated
from their bodies. Literally, wars begin by people being out of their
minds and bodies. Hitler won the Iron Cross in World War I in the
midst of constant bombardments and gas attacks. He unfortunately
became, after the war a failed artist, never learning to learn.
My operational definition of the freedom to learn from Article 27:
3

Page 4, Roosevelt, Stafford and the UDHR

Education is the process of facilitated development of personal

and social skills sets to further the greatest good for the
individual and society.
Culturally-sensitive educators empower individuals to learn in
their own styles, learning among other skills how to
disagree peacefully.
Educators welcome individual differences and diverse cultures.
Educators use non-punitive methods to advance freedom of
thought and speech.
Educators develop skill sets in science, the arts, cultural
sensitivities, and spiritual and religious beliefs that engender a
sense of individual confidence and universal engagement.
WS: I would especially not disagree with the need to learn to
peacefully disagree. This might first be taught to American
politicians.
Q:
Actually sir, workbooks on facilitative communications have
been distributed to each member of Congress -- by one of the
Mindfulness groups.
WS: But will they learn to read, write, reflect and speak as well as
they can rage?
Q: Would you care to address anything in particular about the
freedom to learn?
WS: As you know personally, a child can no more concentrate in
school if distracted by family or social abuse than if that same child
were starving. The arts are being abused as well, increasingly in
educations back seat compared to economic interests. This is most
unfortunate for the life of the mind and how critical thinking,
essential for democracy, is treated as an impediment to purchasing
power. Ill be Pavlov. You be the dog sort of thing. Critical thinking
automatically challenges the abusive parent, and society, singularly
power-driven people and such.

Page 5, Roosevelt, Stafford and the UDHR

Q: Do you feel hopeless considering how peoples attention is now

lost in texting, news, movies, politics, rumors, crime and violence,
lewd sex, substance abuse and addictive games? It seems like
peace is the last thing on anyones mind.
WS: The world has been here before. Lets look at the first stanza
of W. B. Yeats The Second Coming:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

One of the things good literature provides is perspective.

But it

takes an effort to read, reflect and absorb, as does another boon to

critical thinking, journaling.
indeed

compromising

Our distractedness as a society is

traditional

pathways

for

building

and

sustaining the common good, not just recently, but throughout the
last few decades.

Sometimes, a democratic society can seem

vulnerable to literally falling apart. This is especially true when the

main mission on earth seems that of laying in ammunition for the
next war, insisting on having things ones own way, or the world be
damned.
There is an alternative to this doomsday scenario but it involves
extremely hard work.

The individual first does the hard work of

getting to the realization, as Solzhenitsyn so beautifully shared in

his Gulag writings, The line between good and evil runs through the
heart of every man.

Such realizations have motivated people to

Page 6, Roosevelt, Stafford and the UDHR

examine their own lives and pick up the thread of who they are, to
make

time

every

day

for

themselves

beyond

addictive

and

destructive attitudes, beliefs and habits. There exists no better way

to do this than through reflections attendant to art:

reading,

writing, journaling, drawing, painting, sculpting, and such.

It was Plato who responded to a friend questioning him about
whether to get married or not with By all means marry.
good marriage youll be happy.

If its a

If a bad one, youll become a

philosopher, (and learn to think for yourself better). There is no

more important time in world history than right now to teach the joy
experienced in freely learning about oneself, getting with ones own
narrative, and handling losses and misfortunes by turning them into
art, instead of through acting them out on others (including of
course, spouses and children). Critical thinking people, like the poet
Havel of the Czech Republic who became its first president after the
fall of the Soviet Union, seem to know the way better, because they
have become familiar with their own darkness and are therefore less
likely to lead themselves and others astray.
Q: Dr. Stafford, a final thank you. You, like all great teachers wrote
or sat with learners with your mind open and your heart fully there,
and invited others to do the same for themselves, toward finding
their own truth, their own individual uniqueness, which is at the
very core of freedom and great literature. Thank you and God Bless.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 at

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr
Teachers are eligible to receive a kit for their students