PARTICIPATE IN THE CLUB
Hello PACC member:

I want to thank all those who expressed an interest in improving the club. It will take a commitment by all our members to make it work. Those of you who have worked with democratic groups know that it is the group that is the leader. The board members are supposed to represent the interests of the members of the group. Each person gets one vote in the decisions of the group.

The main reason why this type of organization works so well is because any person can potentially rise up to lead the whole group, and know what the whole group wants to do to improve. Here are some of the benefits of a group that participates in the group's welfare as compared to a traditional organization. The first is member centered, considers total development, internal discipline, two-way communication, activity centered, makes learning interesting, has flexibility, tentative, and changing goals, members are active, thinking and problem solving are encouraged, sensory experiences, leader as director of learning, interrelated with society, individual attention and recognition of individual differences.

Over the years our club has become more authoritarian, and the leadership has landed in the hands of a few. This is not healthy because individual interests have a difficult time to be heard. The members of the board no longer follow the interests of the members; but look to the leaders for guidance. Special interest groups become the interests of the few, instead of the interests of various special interests of the members. The membership becomes conservative, and few new things get considered. It becomes more, and more difficult for any one member to do anything novel without the approval of the few. The greatest problem of having only a few members do most of the work is that it makes the whole organization very weak, and gives it the greatest chance for total failure and collapse.

A traditional group is not too interested in the structure of the club, as long as it feels everything is going all right. A participatory membership would see the need to help out, and anyone who wants to help out would be appreciated. More of you need to help out, and many more of you need to communicate your interests in doing something to improve the club.

The main goal of a traditional group is to stay in power and do everything it can to stay in power. The main goal of a participatory group is to get all of its members involved in the club.
I do not feel that it is a matter of having you glass half full, verses having your glass half empty.
As long as there are members that feel that they always know what is best for the club, there will be a problem. When any member is not able to run successfully for office without the cooperation of the few; then that organization must look hard to see if it is a lawful organization. If the Bylaws are not being followed, then it is not what the Bylaws say it is, and the club is not the PACC.

I feel it is important for the members to have a copy of the: membership list, E-mail list, Treasury's report, Yearly Financial report, and to have ways to know what the members are interested in learning, doing, and becoming.

Happy Computing,
Phil Cutrara