Those Who Do Not Learn From History…

…well, you know:

There is a theory that says that the process of institution building by outsiders will consist in the building of some sort of a structure, its apparent collapse when the foreigners leave, and the emergence of something indigenous out of the ruins and experience.

–Extension in the Andes: An Evaluation of Official U.S. Assistance to Agricultural Extension Services in Central and South America, by E. B. Rice, MIT Press, 1974, ISBN 026218071S, p. 423

I found this interesting study while delving further into the garage this weekend. (I can see the floor again!) It covers US activity from 1942 – 1967, and the conclusion, no matter how hard the author tries to skate around it, is that the entire program failed miserably — a rather stunning indictment considering the length of time covered! Why did it fail? Category Error:

The US … model that American technicians attempted to transplant … perhaps could have succeeded under conditions similar to those obtaining in the US in the 1940s and 1950s. The land grant structure was firmly rooted in the US by then, there was a backlog of new technology to disseminate, the systems of rural credit and farm supplies had extended to all counties, most farm families had one literate member, and extension agents could count on a wide radio audience. [By contrast, the agents should have] worried less about methods and more about improvising production programs for farmers who had no credit, no markets, no neighborhood fertilizer dealers, and who were visited rarely if at all by professional agricultural people other than the agent himself. (p. 425.)

Gee, can anyone think of a current situation in which we might similarly be focusing our efforts incorrectly due to category error?

Oh, BTW, in cleaning the garage I’m being ruthless about tossing books I’m not likely to read again before I die. This is one of them. Anybody wants it, shoot me an email before Friday and it’s yours.