REFLECTIVE NOTES ON DOWNSIZING AND CHANGE PROCESSES Amarjit Singh Memorial University Introduction I have observed that there is seldom a social occasion where people are not engaged in conversations involving reflections on downsizing, globalization and internationalization of our life styles. It seems that the media, schooling and the popular culture have been instrumental in disseminating ideas related to these processes -- ideas which have now become part of people's common sense knowledge. Perhaps that is why it is not very difficult to witness friends, family members, workers and colleagues making references to these three social phenomena - consciously or unconsciously - in family gatherings, at workplaces, in churches, at schools, at playgrounds, in classrooms, around coffee tables and in pubs. I have also noticed that people in their own unique ways are quite able to use the language surrounding these phenomena to make sense of their past and present life experiences and in making sense of their anticipated future life chances. I became more aware of downsizing when some of my close friends, colleagues and family members suddenly found themselves in organizations which began to systematically implement downsizing policy. I have friends, family members and colleagues who have been both adversely and positively affected by the downsizing of their work places. Moreover, downsizing of schools, school boards and university departments, where most of the people I know work, have ushered in new ways of organizing these places. Consequently, programs previously offered have been changed or adjusted to new situations. New teaching and learning methods and strategies have been devised. The classroom activities have been reorganized, affecting classroom interactions. Students expect instructors to discuss and explain research done in the area of downsizing, as it relates to their experiences as students and future workers. These and other factors have motivated me to read more literature related to the phenomenon of downsizing, to try to make sense of what I have read so far, and then to share my understanding of it with friends, colleagues and students so that we could do whatever we are doing in our daily lives in a more meaningful and pleasant way. For it is through participating in social conversations of a community with the purpose of sharing our fears, aspirations, expectations and beliefs, and by adopting caring orientations towards each other, that we solve our common problems and make our community healthier, more balanced and just. Participation in the on-going conversations in one's community, as these conversations relate to the on-going discourses in other people's communities, creates the context in which each of us, to some extent, can become inspirational change agents and leaders in our own unique ways. Further, participation is one way each of us can effect change in our own locations in given surroundings. A "big change" in larger communities and a society as a whole is often a result of millions of minute changes brought by individuals struggling to resolve issues affecting the quality of their lives and communities at a particular time. It is the desire of multitudes of individuals to improve their own and their loved one's everyday lives that functions as a catalyst to bring about substantive levels of changes in the quality of living in communities and in societies and cultures as a whole. It is when each individual acts in certain social ways to reach his or her goals by taking into consideration his or her multiple intelligences, multifaceted aspirations and expectations that communities change to new levels, offering its members new opportunities in a fair, just and equal manner (Naipaul, 1990; Odin, 1996). Acting in social ways requires that individuals learn to communicate with other members of the community in a sharing and caring way. Therefore, in all cultures one can find on-going debates pertaining to the desired relationship between the individual and the community. Whose expectations should govern our actions as human beings --- the individual's or the community's? Is society possible without individuals and vice-versa? These are some of the moot questions which are asked over and again in most cultures and societies. So in all cultures it is generally agreed upon that each individual, as a social being, at least needs to be a member of a community in order to have "the social-self". Of course, an individual can also be a member of many communities simultaneously. The general point is that it is only through communication with each other that it becomes possible for both the individual and the community to fully develop the social-self. In other words, it is through developing the social-self that both the individual and the community come to know about their values, morals, tastes, expectations and ambitions. Further, in all cultures there are many communities which attract individuals with specific interests and predispositions. Some such communities, for example, are: "the community of inquirers", "the community of queries", "the community of researchers", "the community of interpretation", "the community of loyalty", "the beloved community of the church", and "the great community or world community", to name a few. Such communities and individuals affiliated with them enable each other to articulate their voices in different ways. It is through adhering to the ideals of open communication, cooperation, and public discourse that communities and individuals in them mutually learn to develop the "greater social-self". This form of self enables individuals and communities to be concerned with both local and global problems which impinge on our lives as human beings. It helps us to overcome our egotistic feeling and actions. Applying these ideas to the local restructuring of the schools means that downsizing can more likely be successful, if the downsizing process includes the voices of different "communities" in this province. To make this type of inclusion happen, all parties interested in the education of children need to build social networks. The goal of doing this should be to create a viable social and educational movement. One function of such a movement would be to produce a countervailing commonsense knowledge about the school change process. This form of knowledge would be used to make sure that any further changes in the school system in this province take place in the context of local struggles put forth by "the community of parents" to effectively challenge the "official" and "professional" forms of knowledge which have been used to formulate school restructuring policies and as a justification for restructuring schools against the will of many parents, students and others interested in the education of children in this province. These hypotheses will be further discussed in the latter part of this paper. But before doing so, it is important to mention here that there is no dearth of research on downsizing. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of articles and books written on this subject. However, in this paper I review a few studies done by professional researchers which provide some insights into the process of downsizing. My purpose is to encourage students, teachers, colleagues, parents and school personnel to make use of these insights in producing their own "educated-locally-situated knowledge", because experiencing the process of producing knowledge, in this case local knowledge, and then being able to make uses of such knowledge to solve one's own localized problems, often deepens people's understandings about the situations in which they find themselves. Such a form of knowledge also clarifies the meanings people attach to their environments. For example, reflecting on the locally produced knowledge on downsizing could help parents better to ascertain what downsizing means to them personally, and why the authorities in this province continue their efforts to restructure the educational system within the framework of downsizing. As well, producing local knowledge about the downsizing of the school system in the context of local struggles by parents could be empowering for all parties interested in the education of children in this province --- empowering in the sense that all parties would find themselves included and thus could claim to own such knowledge. Downsizing Downsizing usually involves the planned elimination of jobs. This practice was pervasive in the corporate world of the 1990s. Following this, there is also increasing pressure on non-corporate bodies to adopt business models of downsizing into their operations. Therefore, it is not difficult to observe that the universities, school boards, research and cultural centers are under pressure to adopt business management practices. There are always some people in these non-business institutions who have bought into the business model of downsizing and have become vocal advocates of this philosophy. Consequently, every day we hear of companies, academic institutions and other public organizations eliminating significant percentages of their workforces. Noer (1993, p. xiv) writes that ten years ago, organizations of all types - public, private, military, for-profit, not-for profit - have embarked on a frenzy of layoffs. Organizations that once saw people as assets to be nurtured and developed began to view those same people as costs to be cut. Employees who took job security for granted and expected to be taken care of in return for their work and loyalty have had to face a new reality in which organizations can no longer provide long-term employment or career paths or foster employees' sense of self-worth. Downsizing resulted in layoffs. Restructuring resulted in layoffs. Productivity improvement programs resulted in layoffs. Merger resulted in layoffs. Higher energy costs resulted in layoffs. Foreign competition resulted in layoffs, and on and on! Thus, in the last decade or so thousands of companies in the United States and elsewhere have reduced their workforces through downsizing for economic and organizational benefits. Casico (1993) reviewed more than five hundred research studies on downsizing and found the anticipated benefits were in fact not realized by about half of the companies. Notwithstanding these studies, according to Casico, workforce reductions are likely to continue as long as the conditions that cause companies to downsize exist. Conditions that worry companies at the present time are relatively higher overhead costs and higher levels of debt payments than in the past. Although many companies plan to cut payrolls through downsizing, research indicates that this does not produce the expected cost saving. Profitability does not always improve: In fact, researchers found many negative consequences associated with downsizing. For the majority of companies, productivity did not increase either. Most of the companies that had "restructured" reported that their productivity remained either the same or deteriorated after layoffs. Downsizing does not always keep expense levels down. More than 50 percent of companies that downsized reported that their expense levels creep back up. Researchers also observed that one out of five companies ends up replacing some of the positions that they had eliminated. Continuous downsizing does not affect all employees in the same manner. For example, middle managers have felt less optimistic about their chances for advancement in the last five years or so. Also, the number of white collar workers was significantly reduced during the recession of the early 1990s. Research indicates that employees are less loyal to companies today than in earlier decades. Many studies show that, on the average, managers left companies five years earlier in the 1990s as compared to 1981. Workers under age 35 stay on a job a median of only 2.5 years. Many studies show that those employees who survive downsizing become narrowly focused, risk-averse, and self-absorbed. The vast majority of companies surveyed reported that downsizing contributed to workers low morale, fear of losing their jobs, and high distrust for management. Only one-third of companies got (realized) the expected results through downsizing (Cameron et al., 1991; Cascio, 1993). Cameron, Kim and Whetten (1987) have written about the "dysfunctional effects" of organizational downsizing and layoffs. The effects have been described by many researchers as a combination of scapegoating, decreasing morale, and increasing conflict. Brockner and others (1986) see the "dysfunctional effects" in terms of the acting out of survivor guilt. Marks (1991) sees it as a combination of guilt, depression, loss of control, increased substance abuse, sleeplessness, and tension. Harvey (1988) sees it as a depression that results in wasting away. The "dysfunctional effects" of layoffs as a subset of overall downsizing strategies was reported by Cameron, Freeman, and Mishra (1991). In their best practice survey of the automotive industry downsizing, they found evidence of survivor guilt. Many consulting companies have reported that the way most of the downsizing was implemented had negative consequences. Bad downsizing strategies had caused quality and productivity to deteriorate rather than increase (The Wyatt Company, 1991, Right Associates, 1992). Dorfman (1992) reports that Mitchell and Company studied sixteen large restructurings from 1982 to 1988 and found that the organizational's stock performance trailed that of their competition by an average of 26 percent by the end of this period. (Downsizing vs not downsizing?) On the whole, the "dysfunctional effects" of layoffs are seen in two ways: as a consequence of ineffective downsizing that results in layoff sickness (Cameron, Freeman, and Mishra, 1991) or as a moral issue caused by collusion and lack of courage (Harvey, 1988). Noer (1993, p. 89) concludes that no matter how layoffs are perceived, the end result is that "layoffs have drained the work spirit, creativity, and productivity from many of our organizations." Layoffs affect people working in the organizations differently and have been identified using different labels. For example, there are victims and survivors. Layoff survivors are said to be suffering from layoff survivor sickness. Cameron, Freeman, and Mishra (1991) found that survivors of layoffs suffered from survivor guilt. They also found that the best firms were those which practiced paying special attention to survivors. Noer (1993, pp. 12-14) provides definitions of some of these terms as follow:
Noer (1993, pp. 89-93) describes the clusters of feelings that define layoff survivors sickness. He tells us how layoff survivors cope with their feelings and how those symptoms persist over time. Then he describes the four-level intervention model. For example, the clusters of feelings associated with layoff survivor sickness are:
The Four-Level Intervention Model, consists of the following parts:
Some studies show that one-third of companies do get the results they are seeking from downsizing. So what do this one-third of companies do right? K.S. Cameron et al. (1991) found six general strategies followed by companies to improve organizational effectiveness while downsizing:
What do we know? What have we learned from the experience of hundreds of downsizing attempts during the late 1980s and early 1990s? Cascio (1993, p. 103) summarized answers to these questions in terms of ten key lessons for managers:
Downsizing is a toxic process. Among other things, it leaves remaining employees with low morale. Many studies of downsizing conclude that "a key ingredient that is necessary to sustain programs of total quality management is high morale" (Cascio 1993, p. 101). In light of this, there are many things that an organization can do, both at the individual and organizational levels, to boost survivors' morale. These can be done immediately following a downsizing in the short-term and for the long-term revitalization and recovery of survivors. The focus in any organization can be at individual, structural or organizational cultural levels. While there is a need for understanding the structural and cultural levels of ongoing change, there is also a need for understanding it at the individual level. At this level several questions need to be asked such as: How does an individual survivor take greater personal responsibility and avoid dependence in a downsized organization? What type of personal interactional orientation does an individual survivor develop? What pro-active steps does he/she take to initiate personal control that results in enhanced productivity, high morale among co-survivors, and benefit to the organization at large? How could one become a leader in a downsized academic institution? I have attempted to deal with the last question in another paper (Singh, 2000). Making Sense of Downsizing In The Surrounding Social Milieu It seem to me that experiencing downsizing at the individual level depends upon how each individual makes sense of organizational and cultural change, and what meaning each individual attaches to the larger change processes taking place within the context of modernity, globalization and post-modernity. In an unpublished paper I have written about globalization as a social context in which downsizing takes place and in what ways making sense of downsizing is an individual experience. Here I will reflect on the literature on downsizing reviewed above in the context of my surrounding social milieu. In doing this, my intentions are to elaborate the discussion on hypotheses presented in the introduction of this paper. Understanding the surrounding social milieu, among other things, entails identifying social networks which shape peoples' beliefs and attitudes in a given situation. Besides, understanding of social networks is also more likely to provide insights into what the opponent groups know, or think they know, not only about challenges but also about themselves and the world around them. Social networks enable people to get involved in battles for public opinion and for media access and coverage, at local and global levels. Propaganda campaigns, psychological warfare, strategic public diplomacy, efforts not just to educate and inform people, but to deceive and dis-inform them as well revolve around social network. So far parents in various Newfoundland communities have not succeeded in establishing effective social networks in this province. Perhaps this is why they have been and still are unable to collectively produce strong local responses to educational reform initiatives taken by the school boards and the provincial government. In other words, a proper social movement which is dedicated to act as a counter force to critically mediate the educational restructuring plan in this province has yet to emerge. In order to understand why parents have not yet been able to create effective social movements, there is a need to further explore the context in which downsizing research is usually carried out. So let us focus on the research on downsizing presented herein, and notice that it can be categorized into two groups. For example, one set of research is clearly directed toward managers. It provides them with information about how to downsize organizations, what precautions to take, how to label the workforce, and what programs should be set up to help workers who have been laid off and who have survived the downsizing. The second set of studies sheds light on whether or not downsized organizations have actually been successful in achieving their goals. This set of studies shows that anticipated goals have been only achieved by a few business organizations. These studies also point out that methods used by one firm to achieve its goals cannot be easily transferred to another company. Further, the first set of studies do not fully inform the individual workers how they can resist or delay actions taken by the managers, and how to participate and interact with their co-workers to articulate alternatives to downsizing proposals prepared by their managers. These studies are not conducted from the viewpoints of the individual workers in the sense that they do not provide them information in the form of alternative theories, concepts and working hypotheses which the individual workers can use to organize their activities, communicate their ideas to the general public, and to their managers in order to have some degree of control over their workplaces. This is not to say that the individual worker can learn nothing from these studies. Of course, learning how the managers plan to implement downsizing should help the worker to some extent to think about how things are going to be changed in the organization and how exactly changes brought about might affect him or her personally. Similarly, the second set of studies does not shed much light as to how downsizing practices in business organizations can successfully be transferred to non-business institutions such as universities, school boards, schools, and department units in academic organizations. Some additional points in relation to these studiesthat should be kept in mind are that these studies are carried out by professional and career oriented social and behavioral scientists working at various institutions, occupying different positions and seemingly having multiple interests; that to carry out these studies is a costly and time consuming enterprise; and that they are couched within the frameworks of on-going disciplinary (economics, management sciences, etc.) discourses. Several questions related to the cost of studies should also be raised here such as: Who pays researchers to do research? Who are these funding agencies? How are findings of research written and conveyed to the audiences? Who are the primary audiences? Who provides the Data? Who are the beneficiaries of the research findings? What are the purposes and goals of any given research endeavor? Under what conditions is money allocated to them? What sorts of constraints are put on researchers? How does a set of research fit into some scheme of larger social or organizational policy? What is this scheme and whose scheme is it? The other related points that one needs to be aware of are that only the professionals who are well versed to converse with each other, using the language of these disciplines, fully seem to understand the logic behind these studies. Therefore, many workers who are not members of those academic linguistic communities find it difficult to understand the exact nature of the studies. This is where the challenge of producing local, experiential, commonsense knowledge lies. The assumption here is that professional knowledge, alone, produced by the experts in particular academic disciplines, is not sufficient to make policy decisions (e.g., to decide to downsize schools in a given school board or an academic unit, etc.) which have the potential to affect the lives of many workers, their families and communities.In addition to this, employees in the organizations have to be aware of the official knowledge. This form of knowledge is produced by the state (e.g., the government, etc.) which variously affects people's ways of thinking and living daily lives. So it is assumed here that a good policy making process in a given organizational setting, as well as in the public spheres, should take into account these three forms of knowledge. In light of the above discussion, it seems necessary that people working in any organizational environment need to cultivate certain sets of abilities and skills of their own to enable them to produce contextually specific translation of professional and official forms of knowledge, in our case on downsizing, even though the translated knowledge may not be totally sufficient for making sense of one's local environment. To be sure, translation generates its own problems. But the point is that individuals should be able to produce local knowledge of their own through developing a new set of language, allowing them to re-articulate any downsizing situations and the subtle nuances that surround those situations. This new set of language could be a more effective vehicle for expressing their concerns about downsizing than the professional or official languages. Workers' own experiences on the work sites could be a rich source of producing a new set of language. Through this learning process and raised awareness, they could become organic researchers in their own right. In this newly created role of researcher -- as familiar and focused participant observers of their own workplaces --- they can describe their own experiences about downsizing and produce their own suitable narratives. In this way they can also overcome the problem of lack of financial support to conduct research. In order to achieve these goals, locally specific ways to change work places would have to be found. In summarizing, what I have said above is well expressed by Young and Levin (1998, p. viii) "that knowledge is something people make for themselves, whether individually or, more often and more powerfully, in groups or social settings. Our sense of what the world is and how it is to be understood comes from the collision between each of us as a person --- our ideas and experiences --- and the events of our lives, many of which are beyond our control. People can and do disagree vehemently on what seems to be straightforward matters." Now I will briefly talk about such organizations as schools, school boards, parent teacher associations, student unions, universities, academic units in universities -- places I am most familiar with -- which were subjected to downsizing regimes and, about other sites such as department meetings, social gatherings, coffee lounges, hallways and offices where people talk about their concerns about downsizing. In interacting and communicating with friends and colleagues at these sites over the course of my daily work, downsizing has been talked about in many different ways. I have noticed that people tend to identify themselves with three distinct groups. These are: the staunch advocates (The Staunch) of downsizing, the resister of downsizing group (The Resister), and the seekers of the middle path (The Seeker). The Stauncher cites numerous studies to rationalize downsizing as the only panacea to reform universities and education systems at various levels. The Resister counteracts arguments of the Staunch by citing their own set of studies on downsizing. Both these groups use professional knowledge to support their interests, goals and ambitions. I find the interventions of the Seeker in the interaction process most meaningful and useful in making sense of the downsizing process. This I have witnessed, experienced and continue to experience. Therefore, what I have come to appreciate most is how the Seekers have learned to play the roles of change agents and leaders at the very sites where they interact and communicate informally with their friends and colleagues. They translate professional knowledge on downsizing into locally nuance language -- through the use of selected cultural stories, metaphors, myths and examples -- and then infuse their translated language into the on-going conversations at these informal sites. I have observed that in this way they have been able to influence various actions taken by the other two groups, at least to some extent. For example, let us consider the thrust toward reforming education in the last three decades in North America. School reforms have forced school boards in this province and in other places to restructure. This has basically meant downsizing -- an effort to reduce the cost of education as expected by the state (the government). The other rationale given by the proponents of school reform was and continues to be that schools will be more efficient, effective and accountable, if they are restructured following the foot steps of downsizing as practiced by the business organizations. Restructuring of school boards has also meant lop-sided changes brought to the curriculum. I have observed several school boards giving priority to science, math, literature and reading as core curriculum at the expense of a more comprehensive curriculum emphasizing the importance of music, physical education, religious, cultural and multi-cultural studies. In this case, the Staunch advocates of science and math-dominated curriculum and downsizing seems to have won the debate, and so have been able to dominate school restructuring process. Significant in this context is the fact that the whole restructuring process has been the site where much cultural learning has taken place (in the sense of consciousness raising and enhancing the feeling of empowerment) due to the actions taken by The Seekers. This group, like the other two groups, consist of people from all walks of life: students, teachers, professors, parents, school personnel, government officials, business people and various other people who are interested in schooling from K-12 and in post-secondary education in this province in general. Here I will briefly focus on the actions of a multitude of parents as, the Seekers, and their engagements with the personnel of school boards and government officials. Together the Staunch and the Resisters have successfully imposed upon parents massive official school restructuring plans, affecting their family and community lives against their wishes. It is significant to point out here that teachers were and are officially discouraged from opposing the policies of school boards and the government. This is one reason that the focus here is mainly on the parents. Whilst the school boards and government used economic efficiency, productivity, and accountability arguments to restructure the school system (read downsizing the system) and pushed for science- and math-dominated curriculum, the parents have many other concerns. To be sure, parents are interested in efficiency, productivity and accountability of schools. Of course, they want their children to learn math and science. That was not and is not the problem. Their problem has been with the whole logic of the restructuring process. Parents perceived the way the restructuring process was carried out and the very content of it to be utterly uncaring, abstract and undermining of the healthy social relationships they, and their schools and communities had cultivated through hard work over the years. They thought that in the restructuring process there was no real concern expressed for the feelings, sentiments, emotions, attachments, affection and love, the families, friends, children and communities have for their schools and their locality. Read letters from many concerned parents to the editors of local newspapers, and listen to their daily comments on the radio and television talk shows. Read their presentations to the school boards and school councils. These were the sites where parents, individually and collectively, tried to resist, contest, modify and challenge the abstract, professional and bureaucratic logic of the restructuring process. In their own language they talked about how restructuring of their schools would negatively affect their communities, families and children's lives. In caring and articulated voices they expressed their concerns and understanding about issues such as: the effect of restructuring on the sleeping pattern of their children, who will take them to school if the school bus transportation schedule is changed, which school their children will attend, how far this school is from their homes, and how stressful their family relationships would become. These parents wanted to find some local middle path, a more caring local way, to resolve the problems posed by the school restructuring regimes based on the logic of globalization. In their locally situated conversations, followed by concrete actions taken by them, one sees how individuals, in their own little ways, function as leaders and cultural workers. This is where one also can deepen his/her understanding of global/local discourse (Wilson and Dissanayake, 1996; Dundas, 1997/98; Snow, 1991; Harris, 1999; Arruda, 1997; McGrath, 1997; Cantwell, 1995; Conners-Stack, 1995; Kelly, 1997; Hoddinott, 1999) and its dynamics. To watch individuals try, little by little in their own unique ways, to modify the overwhelming impact of the abstract globalization forces on their lives, has been one of the most thrilling learning experiences for me. Beside individual actions, parents seeking a middle path also have collectively organized marches to protest against the restructuring efforts of both the school boards and the government. They have taken legal actions against school boards. They have attempted to start various types of social movements. Still they could not stop the radical restructuring of their schools. One of the triumphant chairs of a school board has this to say: "The last three years have been very challenging for everybody on the board." She pointed out that "They were personally challenging for me because of the many threats I' ve received....... the threats were not only made to me, but to members of my family." She continued, "All members of the board have received threats at one time or another." The local newspaper reported her saying that all members of the school board should be very proud because through school reform they made huge savings for the government. After three tumultuous years of bitterness, what has the chairwoman learned? She says that "of great concern to me is that we don't talk enough about the children, which is why we're here. We talk more about bricks and mortar." And then she says "We're all at fault for that. We have to talk more about what's best for our children. I will be a pain in the butt talking about children when I'm not in this chair any longer," (The Telegram, January, 2001). Ironically, this is what many parents desperately tried to bring to her attention---not once, but over and over again, ever since the school restructuring process began, and ever since she started making decisions against parents' concerns about their own children and the children of others. Parents' main concern was and is that children's interests were and are barely kept in mind in the school restructuring plan. The chairwoman talks about "we" and "our". What meanings is she attaching to these words? Is she talking to members of communities she belongs to? Is she talking about a community of "the implementers"? Or a community of "the downsizers"? Or "the community of professionals" which emphasizes the value of education and schooling either only in terms of economic return to the business community, or in terms of some vague, human resource development oriented educational policy of the government in power? She does not seem to pay much attentions to the voices of the "I" and "you" and the "they". Her discourse and actions have tended to exclude (or had the effect of excluding) these voices during the restructuring process. Obviously, she did not believe that social and educational policies are heterogeneous in nature and ought to be determined by taking into account the concrete struggles of parents, children, families, communities, teachers in schools and all other parties which did not constitute her "we". Any educational policy would be more successful and accountable if it links the voices of the "I" and "you" and the "we" and "they" before any action is taken. Parents, as active participants of their children's education, have the right to speak about their own realities with their own voices, and therefore, ought not to be prevented by the school board and government authorities from naming their authentic experiences with the schooling of their children. These acts of naming by parents ought not to be unduly directed and managed by the overwhelming narratives of the "experts" working for other interest groups, pushing their own discrete set of educational reforms. Parents' concerns must be given ethical priority in the school restructuring process. Moreover, the voices of different segments of parents should be given the preferential option in bringing about any changes in the structure of schools attended by their children. Parents' voices should be listen to from the stand point of the nonprofessional/official and be contrasted with voices of the professionals and the government officials. However, in understanding the standpoints taken by different parties, it is important to be aware of the totality of social relations which are now increasingly being influenced by the local/global dynamics. To be sure, no one can deny that the education system in this province needs changes. However, in order to achieve this goal, efforts need to be made to restore the collective will and the public confidence in the change process. This will require educating the public (i.e., all parties involved in educational process) in the context of many public spheres. The public sphere is a site where people freely can debate their concerns, which are not solely related to economic matters, market functioning, and government social engineering plans. Parents in this province, individually and to the lesser degree collectively, knowingly or unknowingly, have greatly contributed towards this need for the public education in the context of the public spheres. It should be recognized that in this way they have greatly enhanced the public spheres in this province, and have substantially contributed to the democratic and democratic living aspects of Newfoundland's culture. Historically, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have been able to create and maintain their own individual self-image and collective identity as unique, independent minded and caring people. In the arena of educational reform, parents as true Newfoundlanders and citizens, have made use of these rich cultural resources in challenging the narrow educational agendas of the professional educators and the agenda of government officials. In doing so, parents have shown they have the ability, skills, courage, and local commonsense knowledge to articulate issues pertaining to the education of their own children in their own voices. It seems each parent has learned to empower himself or herself and has learned to voice his or her concern in the public spheres. In the history of this province, and in the context of globalization, it seems that it is the right time for each individual, as a parent and active citizen, to regain his or her pride and confidence in himself and herself through engaging the policies effecting the education of all the children in this province as a whole. As I pointed out in the beginning, change -- social, cultural, political, and economic --- is brought about by the actions of a multitudes of individuals who are determined to achieve goals they have set for themselves in the context of their cultural history, personal biographies, unique localities in which they live, and their relative positions in society. References Arruda, Arthur (1997). Re-conceptualizing the 'viability' of small rural schools vis-a-vis a provincial political-economic crisis: A critical exploration of Newfoundland's education reform movement. Master of Education Thesis. Faculty of Education, Memorial University. Brockner, J. & others (1986). 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