Summary
There's more lifelong learning here in Madison than [Bettsey Barhorst] saw going on in Illinois or Iowa. "I see the culture here is one of learning." Though she is pleased with the range of MATC's offerings - "We offer it all" - she retains concerns about access: "I don't know that we offer it easy enough," citing barriers like child care, red tape and costs. She would like the future of lifelong learning in Madison to "look like what we do at MATC, except that everything would be easier to access and that lifelong learning would be more expected."
David Wilson has been the chancellor of UW-Extension and the UW Colleges since May 2006, and he's a passionate voice for lifelong learning. Education should be "a continuous process of reaching across boundaries and bringing into your life different experiences," he says. "It's about recognizing that walls are being torn down all around the world, and we need to learn more about other nations, other cultures, other societies, other people."For Wilson, lifelong learning is about more than getting a four-year degree, going into the world of work, and "basically exhaling." Lifelong learning is "about moving out of one's comfort zone and not being afraid to help others to challenge the foundation on which you stand. Challenging that foundation should move one to want to learn more, to engage continuously in that process of inquiry and self-discovery," Wilson says, perhaps subconsciously echoing the UW's unofficial motto, the "sifting and winnowing statement" engraved on a plaque on Bascom Hall: "We believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found."See the full content of this document
Extract
It's All Good
If you're interested in lifelong learning in Madison, chances are you will have some experience with the two giants - Madison Area Technical College, which serves 44,000 individuals per year, and UW-Extension, which reaches literally millions of people statewide through its TV and radio programs, county agents, and continuing education courses. These are large institutions, but the people steering them are personab...
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