Last May I was on my way to Valencia Community College's West Campus where I teach when I heard Earl Shorris, author of Riches for the Poor (1997/2000), interviewed on National Public Radio. Shorris explained that poverty and homelessness in America was the best kept secret in town. In fact, he said that poverty in America hides behind a veil. What we do not see does not exist, or so we think. Shorris believes that most of us are self-insulated. The real conditions of poverty and homelessness remain obscure. Furthermore, he believes that the root causes of poverty and homelessness should be unveiled and examined if we, as Americans, are truly interested in helping to resolve this plague of the human spirit. This is where education and knowledge as a source of power enter the door Shorris has courageously opened.

In fact, the poor and homeless often experience, as Shorris contends, such a loss of self-dignity and confidence that they have been encased in what he calls 'the surround of force' and have been excluded from 'the moral life of downtown'. According to Shorris, forces such as hunger, isolation, illness, landlords, police, abuse, drugs, racism, neighbors, criminals, and agencies of government, designed to assist the poor, actually enclose them in a 'surround of force' which makes it virtually impossible for the poor and homeless to extricate themselves from such conditions. Shorris also contends that those immersed in the abyss of poverty have been excluded from 'the moral life of downtown' by which he means the moral alternative to the street, such as the theater, museums, concerts, and lectures. He believes that the humanities is the way out of this conundrum and that knowledge is a source of real power.

To this end, Valencia Community College, under the conditions of a grant recently awarded by the Florida Humanities Council, is in the process of working out the details of a college-level credit course of study in the humanities for poor and homeless individuals of Central Florida based on the model created and developed by Earl Shorris at Bard College in New York City. We are hopeful that The Clemente Course in the Humanities will be implemented by Valencia under its umbrella by January, 2003.

Like Shorris, we believe that the humanities and the pursuit of knowledge is the 'door' to a recovery of self-dignity and confidence among all poor and homeless individuals of our community. No poor or homeless person needs anyone to 'rescue' or 'save' them from poverty or its conditions. Since everyone possesses unlimited potential, a route of escape from the abyss of poverty already resides within each person. The radical nature of the humanities, with its emphasis on art, literature, philosophy, and the politics of freedom, may play a functional role in this regard. It may even create a context out of which poor and homeless individuals may be able to recreate themselves and eventually transcend the pain of poverty and homelessness. After all, knowledge is power!

     John Scolaro is a professor of Humanities at Valencia Community College's West Campus and Project Director of The Clemente Course in the Humanities.  See http://valencia.cc.fl.us/clemente for more information about The Clemente Project.