The Community Course
Part 4 - Concluding Observations
Part  1   2   3   4      Chapter 23  24  25

23. The Pioneer in the Community

New Ideas and Provincialism
Some communities eagerly welcome new ideas in almost any field, while others are exceedingly set in their ways. Throughout the course of history small com­munities have been charged with provincialism, conservatism, and lack of interest in anything off the beaten track. Where there were values in danger of being lost, the small community has been a conserving influence. Where there were outmoded ways which hindered social progress, the small community often has clung to them.

Where there are no strong interests to interfere, the small community, partly because of its size, may be the best place for initiating social experiments. This has been true with reference to the co-operative movement. Community singing has had some of its most marked successes in small communities.

Reluctance to Change
In a surprising number of ways, however, efforts to do things differently come into conflict with vested interests, or with set habits. The pioneer in education in a small community sometimes has a thorny path. Parents fear that a change of program may cause their children to lose conventional credits. The kind of schooling the parents had acquires an aura of authority, and any departure from it may be frowned upon. For a teacher honestly and competently to discuss the shortcomings of democracy as it is practiced locally may bring the charge of disloyalty.

Change in the Church
Similar difficulties may appear in church affairs. Church services may be so routine, monotonous, and uninspired as to alienate young people, yet for a minister to depart markedly from the prevailing pattern, for him or her to deal with present vital issues, or to change the form of church service, may lead to his or her dismissal.

Change in Business
In business and the professions the same obstacles may appear. For an intelligent and conscientious druggist to cease selling his customers useless or harmful nostrums may lose their good will. For a physician to break the fairly universal habit of make-believe, and for him or her to tell his or her patients what he or she actually knows and does not know about their condition, and to prescribe medicine only when necessary, will almost surely bring him or her into disrepute, for a time at least. Years ago this writer encouraged a college physician to lay aside the conventional halo of medical omniscience, and to be candid with his student patients. The transition was a painful one, but the new relationship added to the physician's self-respect, and to mutual confidence. Such a change, though difficult to make, will add to the quality of life in any community.

If the community should vitally need a safe water supply, to press the issue may create strong feeling, and may "split the community wide open." There are many community interests concerning which an open-minded inquiring attitude is not easily achieved or expressed.

Challenges for the Pioneer
In a score of ways the pioneer in a small community may have a hard road. Yet, as a rule, if his or her project is sound and within the capacity of the community, it is not impossible.  Whether he or she succeeds or fails commonly will depend on his or her character, skill, and wisdom. To advise such a person to be courageous may seem to favor precipitate or ill-considered or inconsiderate action. To advise tact and patience may seem to justify timidity, cowardice, and compromise. It is not from living by rule, but by poise, judgment, character, and experience that effectiveness is achieved. A community pioneer or leader does well to give considerable time and thought to his or her own motives and methods, to his or her manners and his or her attitudes. If one's project is not going well three questions may be reasonably asked: "Is the project a reasonable one to undertake under existing circumstances?" "Am I the person to undertake it" and lastly, “In what way are my attitudes and methods at fault?"

There are a number of common-sense principles of action which, if intelligently observed, may smooth the road to pioneering in almost any community.

The Need for Competence
First is the necessity for being qualified in the field in which one is pioneering. This may not mean professional preparation. Sometimes a working person or a housewife, by taking the time and trouble to become thoroughly informed, both by reading and by first-hand knowledge of the facts, may become exceptionally well-qualified in the field of his or her interest. A vast number of undertakings in American communities are based on a sudden interest in some project without thorough and impartial study.

Becoming Informed
Before asking one's community to change its ways in any important respect one should take the trouble to be thoroughly and impartially informed. He or she should know what has been done and written in that field, and what the results have been elsewhere. Causes of failure need to be understood, as well as causes of success. When this writer was planning adoption of the alternate work and study plan for Antioch College he found various cases of failure of similar plans, with scholarly dissertations on why such a program could not succeed. Careful study indicated that in every such case the unsuccessful program had vital errors of design, and such failures should not be considered as conclusive. The success of the program as undertaken at Antioch demonstrated the accuracy of that appraisal.

Avoiding Over-Preparation
Careful preparation does not mean that all problems must be solved in advance. A community program should be a living, growing thing. Problems will arise and take form as a project develops. If those in charge are competent in principles and methods, and are alert, they will adjust their efforts to the circumstances, just as a man running a rapids in a canoe, while he needs to be an expert canoeist and to have prepared himself as well as he can, must determine his action moment by moment to take full advantage of the actual and rapidly changing situation. Sometimes competent people never begin a project because they cannot see their way through from the beginning. Often one must rely ultimately on faith and hope, and take a chance, exploring his or her way step by step.

Start Small
Continuous practice and accumulated experience are important. One can learn methods on very small projects. Practically all the problems to be met with on a large project may be present in a small one. Generally it is well to begin with some project so limited and simple that it is well within one's powers. To carry through a simple undertaking with thoroughness and excellence, learning along the way, very greatly increases the chance for success on a larger scale. It generally is unwise to jump from a very small to a very large project at a single step. Size alone creates its own kinds of problems. This writer has supervised the work of hundreds of contractors. One of the most frequent causes of failure of a contractor is the tendency, after success on a small job, to undertake one many times as large. If the unsuccessful contractor had made the transition from small to large by several steps rather than by one, learning the effect of size along the way, he might have succeeded.

Importance of Timing
The matter of timing undertakings is important.  Sometimes a project is of such a nature that its success must be a matter of slow growth through the years. Sometimes it may even be necessary to keep an idea clearly in the public eye until a new generation has grown up that is used to it. On the other hand, it sometimes is necessary to "strike while the iron is hot." If an epidemic has occurred which is traced to a bad water or milk supply, it may be possible to correct that condi­tion immediately while the need is fresh in people's minds. Two or three years later interest may have cooled off. A Rotary or Kiwanis Club may be ready to take up some project and see it through. In such case prompt action may be necessary, for in a few months the interests of the Club quite probably will have drifted to other matters and the project may seem like a dead issue. Timing is as important in community undertakings as in music, but, just as in music, there is no intrinsic value in slow or fast timing. It is right timing that is needed.

Considering Motives
The community pioneer should carefully consider his or her motives. Many community projects are promoted because someone wants something to do, or craves a position of prominence. Sometimes projects are undertaken which, though desirable in themselves, are far less necessary than something else, and the community may not be able to afford both. A community pioneer might be doing better to help someone else complete an undertaking than to start one of his or her own. Sometimes the most successful community career consists in taking hold of necessary projects which are lagging, and in helping them to successful conclusion without seeking to take the credit. Many a person who has worked and planned intelligently and patiently through the years needs just such a lift. It is a good rule not to undertake a project of one's own if one can accomplish as much by helping a project that is already under way. A tradition of successful accomplishment is of great value to a community.

Garnering Support
If a community pioneer or a pioneering organization has decided to undertake a project and has become qualified to direct it, then the manner in which support is assembled may have much to do with the chances for success. Often it is wise to explore the community for persons most apt to take an intelligent interest in the project, and to make them thoroughly familiar with it. Unless such persons can be persuaded and definitely interested, the project probably is mistaken or premature, or perhaps those presenting it have not mastered the problem themselves.

When a few people are one by one convinced and interested, that number may be increased by discussions at luncheon clubs and by articles in the local papers. Good books or pamphlets on the subject may be passed around from person to person. When an objection is raised, it often is very worth while to discuss the issue with the principal objectors, not only to persuade them, but to get their points of view and to discover any weaknesses in the program. In such discussions, even if the opponent is not convinced, the range of difference may be narrowed, personal animosity may be turned to friendship, and some degree of common ground may be found. Repeated friendly contact with opposition may be important. A vigorous opponent may kill a sound project. By correcting plans to eliminate reasonable opposition, and by eliminating unreasonable opposition as far as possible by friendly discussion, the hurdles may be greatly reduced. As a rule, opponents also are human.

Achieving Success
There are many ways in which a community project may be made successful. Sometimes an individual can carry it through until the public cannot afford to go without it. He or she may start a library in his or her home, or undertake to provide vocational guidance to high school students, or he or she may operate a lending supply of sickroom equipment. He or she may organize a club of young people to study their community and its needs. Perhaps a local club or other organization will sponsor a larger undertaking. Sometimes public opinion will demand that the local government take over a new service. Perhaps the state or national government will cooperate. If a project is sound and appropriate some source of support generally can be found or developed.

Choosing between Unity and Progress
Much has been written in this syllabus about unity of spirit in a community. Yet sometimes a community pioneer may find that, notwithstanding good will and reasonable patience, he or she is opposed by some special interest or by community conservatism. The question may then arise as to which is more important, community unity, or community progress. Especially in small communities, unity often reduces to timidity and cowardice. 

The school system may have dry rot because no one wants to object to the superintendent, who belongs to one of the best families. The water system may be wastefully administered, but its manager may be a good fellow, a member of prominent social clubs. A building that is a community eyesore may belong to an influential property holder. A town may go without adequate sewerage because retired farmers do not want to pay for connections.

Sometimes it is necessary for the community pioneer to take issue with conservatism or special interest and to carry on an open and active campaign for a necessary improvement. No organization may dare to support him or her, though individuals may compliment him or her privately. If such pioneering is carried on in good spirit and without rancor it may serve a double purpose. Courageous persistence and publicity may carry a project to completion, for bad conditions seldom can stand persistent fair publicity. 

Influence on the Young
But there may be a far greater gain. Young people growing up in a community get their opinions of what the world is like from life in that community. If community policy is characterized by timidity and cowardice, if special interests and financial or other power overrules the common good, then young people come to believe that this is the kind of world they live in. They will expect to get ahead by favoritism, by fawning on important people, by pulling strings, by patronage and, when they get power, by dictatorship and by favors. Everyone will be careful "not to stick his or her neck out." In many, many American communities that spirit rules. It is negation of democracy and invitation to dictatorship. 

Let one or a few people in a community win a battle for the public welfare against special interests and a new feeling stirs through the people. Let that happen again and again through the course of years, and young people will have new courage and self-respect. Men and women will dare to speak their convictions. Sycophants or “yes men” will lose caste. It is from such communities that leaders can come for a real democracy. Important as is unity of spirit in community life, that unity must represent common respect for and commitment to the general good, and the common habit of living with integrity, courage, and self-respect, or it is a unity not worth having. Such unity often must be fought for, sometimes for the time being against the general current of community opinion. Seldom does a fine com­munity come into being unless along the way some of its citizens have been willing to endure unpopularity for the common good.