History
THRESHOLDS IN EDUCATION
30TH ANNIVERSARY(2005)
There ae places in the world that are neither here nor there, neither
up nor down, neither real nor imaginary.
These are the in-between places, difficult to find and even more
challenging to sustain. Yet
they are the most fruitful places of all.
For in these liminal narrows, a kind of life takes place that
is out of the ordinary, creative, and once in a while, genuinely magical. We tend to divide life between mind and matter and to assume that
we must be in one or the other or both.
But religion and folklore tell of another place that is often
found by accident, where strange events take place, and where we learn
things that can’t be discovered in any other way.
--Thomas Moore
In the summer of 1973, several professors from the former Department of Secondary Education at Northern Illinois University discussed the possibility for an education journal that united secondary school practitioners and university professors in dialog. They talked about problems, experiments, research, and new developments. This group, under the leadership of Dr. Leonard Pourchot, proceeded to elect a board of directors, establish a non-profit foundation, solicit charter members, elect a managerial staff, and set the wheels in motion for a long range goal of publishing the first issue of Thresholds in Secondary Education in February, 1975 (Maple, 1975). Thirty years later, the College of Education and the Thresholds in Education Board still carry on this endeavor.
The word “thresholds” best represented the intention to explore ideas and share viewpoints which could lead to new educational advances while respecting achieved values and knowledge bases. The Thresholds in Secondary Education journal would stimulate thinking, influence education practices, inform, and inspire (Pourchot, 1975).
Over the years, Thresholds has broadened its focus beyond secondary education to include dialogue between educational theorists and practitioners from diverse locations. In 1977, the journal was retitled Thresholds in Education. Today it remains dedicated to the examination and exploration of new educational inquiries, theories, viewpoints, and program innovations.
The title of the journal was well chosen and more than ever is relevant to the needed forum among educators in these complex times. The threshold is a structure familiar to all cultures from ancient times. Taken literally, it is the traverse beam of a doorframe. But it also stands as a metaphor for moving through time, place, and process. Thresholds are crossing-over places where we venture from the securely known to the uncharted spaces. In Native American tradition, these are places of power (Bruchac, 2000). To the ancient Greeks, the threshold was considered to have a dual nature as both a barrier and a point of transformation—a duality “embodied in the god Hermes who functioned as a guardian of thresholds and as a guide for those who crossed them” (Hoffman & Hoffman, 2000, p. ll). This same idea is found in the deity Legba of West African origins, revered in vodoun, who inhabits threshold sites including crossroads or intersections. As a divine intercessory, Legba serves as a “Guardian of and a guide across the borders of the world of the living, the dead, and the Iwas (the gods)” (Connor, 2000, p. 71). Thus, the threshold—always located between inside and outside—is “akin to the Japanese idea of ma, a word variously translated as interval, gap, space, opening (Thorpe, 2000, p. 98).
Perhaps the freshest meaning is as a symbol of new beginnings. We are at the threshold of a new millennium: a place and time that holds a sense of possibility, peril, and promise. But since we can see only so far into the future, we may perceive the unknown as a void shadowed with the anxiety that the unknown can provoke. Guides are therefore always necessary. As educators, we can become the best guides of one another.
Such transitional places, as Moore describes them, are neither here nor there. . . difficult to find more challenging to sustain . . . but these are the very places where we learn things that can’t be discovered in any other way. Thresholds in Education has sustained this insight for 30 years, often with difficulty. The source of its vitality as a guardian of the dialogue between theorists and practitioners has been its commitment to the integrity of both kinds of work. Thresholds has also been a guide for those readers who are crossing over from one level of learning to another: from theory to practice/practice to theory.
The journal has remained small and agile. Its content has been varied, marking points of transition in the educational landscape. It has examined all dimensions of the educational enterprise. It keeps crossing over into new territory. It has kept itself open to the possibilities that were beyond the site of present vision. Issues continue that openness as the writers lead us to examine the changing terrain of accountability imperatives—both the promise and the perils that may await.
It is with pleasure and pride that we welcome you to this 30th anniversary year. Our colleagues of 1973 may never have imagined fully the thresholds we would need to approach and perhaps cross. But their vision for the journal is still enacted. We pledge to you, our readers, a renewed commitment to maintaining this journal—a place in time and space for discovery, discussion, and debate. We welcome your comments and critiques.
-The Thresholds in Education Foundation Board
References:
Bruchac, J. (2000. Leaping over. Parabola, 25(1), 6-9.
Conner, R. P. L. (2000). Men-women, gatekeepers, and fairy mounds. Parabola, 25(1), 71-77.
Hoffman, D. & Hoffman, S. (2000). The gods of metes and bounds. Parabola, 25 (1), 11-18.
Maple, R. J. (1975). How Thresholds began. Thresholds in Secondary Education, 1(1), 2.
Moore, T. (2000). Neither here nor there. Parabola, 25(1), 34-37.
Pourchot, L. L. (1975). What’s in a name? Thresholds in Secondary Education, 1(1), 2.
Thrope, D. (2000). The threshing place. Parabola, 25(1), 98-100.