One Way To Help Students Learn The Difference Between Public & Private
Community organizers try to help people understand the difference between public and private relationships. Often, those in power will try to blur that division when it suits their purposes (for example, politicians kissing babies). Or, for example, since our organizations would often be made up of religious congregations and decision-makers were sometimes members of some of them, they would try to influence pastors or congregation’s leaders. They, in turn, would point out that when it came time to participating in public life, it was a public relationship and public dialogue –and when it came time to personal issue, it was a private relationship and a private dialogue. In public life, the relationship was conditional — based on negotiation and reciprocity. In private life, the relationship was often based on love and friendship. This separation was particularly important to demonstrate in public settings.
And we carried this distinction over to how people needed to act in the context of the organization – at our meetings, with the media, whenever they were in the public eye.
I apply one element of this concept (I’ll write future posts sharing how I incorporate other elements of this idea) in
