LITERATURE IN REVIEW
On the other hand , he offers this somewhat unsettling analogy : “ We ’ re like shellfish that continue to open and close their shells on the tide schedule of their home waters after they have been transplanted to a laboratory tank or the restaurant kitchen .” His guides to transitions run from rites of passage to adulthood in indigenous cultures , to the developmental paradigm of Erik Erikson , to the Hindu fourfold stages of life , to the riddle of the Sphinx , to Odysseus ’ s wanderings .
The past three years , of course , have been a breeding ground for forced change , and a challenge for everyone in schools , as well as colleges , perhaps exceeded only by those faced by health care workers . A large number of faculty and administrators are using this time to take stock and make changes / transitions of their own . The Boston Globe said on July 6 , “ An extraordinary number of local colleges and universities have presidential vacancies this year ,” and two well-known
“‘ We ’ re like shellfish that
continue to open and close their shells on the tide schedule of their home waters after they have been transplanted to a laboratory tank or the restaurant kitchen .’
”
independent schools near where I live each have about two dozen staff vacancies .
Whether you are contemplating or experiencing a personal transition , or are charged with guiding a group of individuals or a whole organization through a transition , one of these books , if not both , should help . •
* For the sake of verbal economy I use the pronoun “ he ” consistently , rather than explaining which ideas are attributed to William alone ( in Transitions ) and which to William and Susan ( in Managing Transitions ), or switching back and forth from “ he ” to “ they .”
Richard ( Dick ) Barbieri continues to write for CSEE , NAIS , and a number of online publications . He serves as Chair of the Development Committee of Freedom House , a Boston area program that supports underserved students of color and new immigrants through high school and onward to college .
CSEE Connections Fall 2022 Page 19