Avalon College of Druidry

[Blackbird]

www.avaloncollege.org/

Came across this today.

On the face of it, a worthy project. However, when you actually read through the stuff there, they are offering courses up to a PhD level, although they seem to be willing to hire teachers who are certainly not qualified to teach to that level in an academic sense.

I took a look at some of the courses, many of which seem to be based around single textbooks. I would certainly not be willing to pay out for tuition, when I could simply buy the book and read it myself.

What do others think of this project? Have I missed something here, or is the whole thing a bit dodgy?

[branynos]

It's a sincere attempt to set up a college, I think the Kernos referred to on the Board of governers is the same one who's a member here.
Theres clearly a lot of cross over with OBOD given how many of the board & existing faculty seem to be members.

I'd have to agree looking at the current course list I can't see anything that I can't access from already published books, but then I know I prefer being an independant learner rather than a 'student'. It's a pretty impressive grouping of subjects to have in one place if they pull it off (a lot of the courses look proposed rather than already on offer).

[morgaine]

I have corresponded a bit with the founder of ADC. He is a well -intentioned OBOD Druid, with a general interest in things Arthurian, but the College is not focused on Avalonian Tradition. Its intented focus seems to be more along the lines of a "liberal arts of Druidism." As I understand it, it is intended to prepare students for many different kinds of organisations -- much after the manner of Three Stones Pagan Abbey.

This is the sort of study I would undertake for a diversion from my own work, not one I would pursue as preparation for it. However, as regards claiming the titles of academia (as I see the issue) I have two comments:

(1) There are two measures of scholarship that apply to this discussion: modern academic and Druidical. To my knowledge, in antiquity the term "scholar" denoted "a learned person;" it did not attempt to regulate the methods of becoming learned.

In the dominant culture, learnedness is assessed and validated by officially authorised corporate learning centers called "Colleges" and "Universities" -- the names and structures of which appear originally to have been borrowed in great part from the ancient pagan learning centers and specifically, the so-called Druid Colleges.

On the other hand, the Druids recognised that anyone could affix their name to a paper with a fancy seal, assume an important sounding title, and claim attainments they had not earned. Thus, a Druid's accomplishments were assessed not by pieces of paper issued by officially authorised corporations, but through rigorous testing by other Druids, and later by Chieftains and Kings.

(2) Most modern Druid groups appear to me to be fully invested in regaining their old authority with the public by seeking validation through association, whether formal or informal, with officially recognised academic institutions.

Since:
- official academia is the instrument of the dominant culture and is fully invested in the perpetuation of its worldviews, and
- since official adademia is wholly unqualified to teach the practice of Druidism, having no direct experience of such practices itself, and
- since in addition to this, it considers traditional Druidical methods of teaching (and indeed, those of all indigenous cultures) "inferior" and "mythical" in nature, rather than investing them with power in their own cultural contexts, and
- since any real Druidism is supposed to derive from oral traditions...
the absurdity of any such an affiliation would seem apparent.

Nonetheless, in my observation most modern Druids seek it. In this, ADC is no different than most other groups. It is simply more blatant about it. Nor can I fault them for assuming the titles of scholarship, since the manner of their use is more in line with ancient Druidical practice... assuming, of course, that they have rigorously tested those who come to teach and found them to have attained an appropriate level of mastery in their area of expertise: Druidism!

These, then, are my thoughts... I await the deluge.

Bendithion

[Blackbird]

morgaine said:

(1) There are two measures of scholarship that apply to this discussion: modern academic and Druidical. To my knowledge, in antiquity the term "scholar" denoted "a learned person;" it did not attempt to regulate the methods of becoming learned.

However, in ancient times, the Druidic classes would have been the only educated (in the sense of formal education) people. Though we tend to think of the Druid in purely religious terms now, the Druidic teachings encompassed much of what we would now understand as scientific knowledge. In modern society, we can try to draw lines between spiritual and secular - but I believe the distinction to be unhelpful.

In truth, there were recognised methods of becoming learned in ancient times. We can gather that if anything, learning was more formal than in modern times, as essentially, the Druidic classes controlled the methods of learning and chose who would be taught.

In the dominant culture, learnedness is assessed and validated by officially authorised corporate learning centers called "Colleges" and "Universities" -- the names and structures of which appear originally to have been borrowed in great part from the ancient pagan learning centers and specifically, the so-called Druid Colleges.

But that simply adds weight to the idea that it is our modern education system which is the successor to places such as the Druidic colleges, and indeed to the monasteries in which learning took place in the Christian era.

On the other hand, the Druids recognised that anyone could affix their name to a paper with a fancy seal, assume an important sounding title, and claim attainments they had not earned. Thus, a Druid's accomplishments were assessed not by pieces of paper issued by officially authorised corporations, but through rigorous testing by other Druids, and later by Chieftains and Kings.

Indeed, it would be curious if examinations were on paper in an oral society Flippancy aside, I would say that a Druids accomplishments were measured during their time in training, and that the length, if not the content of that training can be likened to our modern education systems.

(2) Most modern Druid groups appear to me to be fully invested in regaining their old authority with the public by seeking validation through association, whether formal or informal, with officially recognised academic institutions.

Indeed, there are many people in Druidry and other paganisms who are highly educated and respected within their fields of learning. My concern with this college is that the tuition offered by the ADC is not on a par with that offered by universites and colleges, nor are their qualifications in any way comparable.

I am not against people offering training in the manner of an oral tradition, nor in the teaching of subjects relevant to Druidry. What I object to is the doling out of titles such as MA and PhD. Organisations such as OBOD have succeeding in getting their courses validated as acceptable study for an academic degree. Given that the content proposed on the ACD site is far more academically based than that of OBOD, I would think that they too could offer their courses within the framework of modern degree level study.

That they haven't, yet that they choose to use essentially misleading titles for the holders of their degrees worries me. Why choose to adopt the recognised language of academia when you are deliberately choosing to work outside of that process?

The notes for teachers on the site also makes me think that they are hiring essentially inexperienced tutors for this venture, another thing that would not inspire me to begin study with them.

/deluge ;D