ABSTRACT
Why should we expect the illiterate villager to adjust to the way of thinking of the educated man? Why should he alter his perception of the world to understand us?…Is development a one-sided process of duplication?…It is perfectly possible for an educated man to adapt to the concepts used by the illiterate villager, but he has to study them. (Fuglesang 1977:96)
A South Indian proverb states that “The plant in the courtyard is not a medicine,” meaning that what is familiar and close is often overlooked as a valuable resource. This proverb is an appropriate beginning for this chapter, for what we will discuss is not a new method of education but rather a use of the familiar to explain the new-education by analogy.
