The future of our city depends upon empowering its youth! 

INTRODUCTION              PROBLEM STATEMENT               TOPICS        BIO

 Retention of the Masses

      According to the "Individualist Voice," most of us go though life having never really lived.  We surrender our individuality, step by step, day after day -- until eventually, it dies. The process begins in the earliest days of childhood and becomes thoroughly ingrained by adulthood. 

     As kids, we mindlessly mask the beliefs and attitudes of others because we want to be "popular."  As adults, we fulfill non-chosen family and social obligations out of a sense of "duty." 

    I think such conformity ( peer and social pressures)  promotes low retention, low self-esteem and additional  negativity.  So how can one resist such negative conformity?  I think kids, adolescents and adults benefit from the philosophy of engaged pedagogy:  facilitating their own learning through shared experiences.  Sharing experiences  promotes liberatory practice which fosters self-efficacy.    I'll always remember my initiation into liberatory practice: a highly educated, "cool", stranger, that mirrored my existence, shared his personal testimony that changed my personal outlook.  I only wish this stranger had appeared earlier in my life. Personally, I uncovered the following about liberatory practice:

•  liberatory practice inundated my psyche-- heightening my thirst for awareness, learning, and educational pursuit;

•  the conformist inflicted negative responses were insignificant once applauded by the magnitude of the individualist positive responses; and

• isolating, then,  deconstucting negativity was reconstructed into neo-objectivism. 

    Therefore, by sharing my life experiences and dialoging  with my participants, we can ignite liberatory practice thoughout the audience.  And such is in demand within a society of too few positive role models and heroes--with even less to exemplify--especially within the media. As the founder of AEioU, I am a stark advocate of empowerment through education because Unequivocally--learning is life long!  

Marlon Bradley, M.Ed., Founder AEioU Goal