: Re: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261

Tue May 13 12:16:40 EDT 2003

Debbie,
Sounds like in your case the federal funding is worth it, and there's more 
funding than increased costs.

Just to be clear, I'm not proposing or advocating for a boycott. The "what 
if" is a way to reflect on the assumptions that can box us in. Two 
complementary experiential learning processes are discovery learning (i.e., 
exploration of the "problem space" and no specific goal or endpoint for the 
learning--this is sometimes called the master orientation) and problem 
solving (i.e., start with a specific problem to be solved or goal to be 
reached and focus learning on activities that have clear relevance to that 
goal). My question was more in the realm of discovery learning--what if we 
let go of the "federal funding is automatically good or necessary" idea and 
explore possibilities? Maybe we can come up with some options that aren't 
immediately apparent from inside our current framework for thinking.

By the way, I like your idea of inviting Bob Sweet or other prominent 
advocates for particular legislation or methods as guests on the NLA.

Eileen

From: "Debbie Yoho" <dwyoho at earthlink.net>
Reply-To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: RE: : Re: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 10:27:42 -0400

Eileen, a "boycott" wouldn't work in our state because those who choose not
to boycott would only absorb the funding that is "unclaimed" by those who
do boycott--that's the nature of formula funding. The state would just
recompute the formula.

Nine years ago, we had no federal funding.  We were surviving.  But only
serving 121 learners.  Now we serve over 700.  The federal funds allowed us
to grow.  We could go back to where we were, but aren't willing to do so
without replacing the federal funds because learners would suffer.  Debbie

Deborah W. Yoho
Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net

 > [Original Message]
 > From: Eileen Eckert <eileeneckert at hotmail.com>
 > To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
 > Date: 5/13/2003 9:06:13 AM
 > Subject: RE: : Re: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
 >
 > I'd like to respond to Allan's statement:
 > "Now, in practical terms, what can be done since few institutions can
even
 > consider doing without their federal dollars that they have been
dependent
 > on for so many years?"
 >
 > I agree that few institutions will consider doing without federal
funding,
 > but is it true that they <can't>? Does the dependence on federal funding
 > still come from a real need (after all, does the funding even cover the
cost
 > of all the mandated activity anymore?) or does it come from a mindset
that
 > says you can't let go of federal funding no matter how expensive the
 > attached strings? I don't just mean the mindset of the people in the
 > program--it's hard to imagine any college turning down federal funding.
 >
 > What would happen if a number of colleges and large K-12 based programs
 > decided to forego, or to boycott, federal funding and accompanying
 > regulations? (I ask about those because many smaller programs have let go
 > of, or been frozen out of, federal funding already.) For those who really
do
 > run or work in such programs, think of the specific things you have to do
in
 > order to be eligible for federal funding. How much time do those things
 > take? How much staffing and money? Does federal funding pay for anything
 > except its own mandated activities? Does it even cover all of those? How
do
 > mandates "pull" the direction of your program, and do they pull it in a
good
 > direction or are they a distraction or a roadblock to what you really
feel
 > you should be doing?
 >
 > I think that a boycott might just be greeted gleefully by members of the
 > Bush administration ("Oh, goody, they're privatizing all on their own!"
 > they'd say), so I'm not advocating for that even if it were realistic to
 > think it might happen. However, I think lots of creative thinking happens
 > when we let go of assumptions about what has to be, even if it's only
 > hypothetical. With some of that creative thinking, we might generate some
 > ideas about what actually can be done.
 >
 > Eileen
 >
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