The oral tradition in special care issues

n January 21st of this year, in connection with the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., I had the distinct pleasure of hearing the late Alex Haley, author of ”Roots”, describe some of the forces which shaped his formative years. He spoke simply and eloquently about the significance of the oral tradition. Parenthetically, there was eloquence in the gestures of the translator for the deaf accompanying the speaker. Mr. Haley’s thesis was that the spoken word, carried down through the generations, was indeed history and was a force which in itself generated history. In his accounting of his boyhood memories, the speakers assumed as much importance as the message. Both subject and speaker, and even the setting, were things which were imprinted on the mind of the young listener. inspirational. He believed in what he spoke. importance of the oral tradition. Those of us who teach have the opportunity to pass on our experiences to our students and to our audiences in courses and seminars, to share with them our experiences complete with failures as well as successes. We need to attach more than just scientific rationale to explain why we do the things we do. This is more than what is implied by the usual case presentations.