adult learners learn best when their experience is utilized and
their adultnesss" is respected by involving them in debate and
experimentation?
Perhaps one of the answers is that we have been so conditioned
to one-way communication techniques from our early experiences
of schooling. We became accustomed to "sitting at the feet" of the
teacher. Also, especially in Third World countries, anyone in a
teaching role seems to command great respect. This is fine-as
long as it does not mean that such a figure should never be
challenged or that the learners should never be in a position to
take their own initiatives in the educational process. And when
the extension activities are integrated with administrative and
political structures and involve local administrators, officials and
politicians, there is a tendency to adopt the speech-making ap-
proaches commonly used in barazas.
To meet educational objectives most effectively and to preserve
the "persuading" rather than the "directing" nature of extension,
we need to utilize a variety of participatory, discussion-based,
action-based methods as well as the more "top-down" presenta-
tion methods. We will see that each of the three main modes of
communication will have its particular applications and advan-
tages.
The next few chapters of this manual will be exploring these
applications and advantages-and offering suggestions for mak-
ing the most of each of the common extension methods.