[AAACE-NLA] Activism or apathy?

[David Rosen]

Dear Adult Literacy Advocate,

It's 7 days into the Literacy President online survey -- the half-way 
point.  How are we doing?

First the good news:  three states have had five or more participants: 
Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.  The top state  is New Jersey, 
with 15 participants.  I think that's because of the leadership at the 
state literacy organization, NJALL, in getting the word out.  Way to go 
New Jersey!  I also want to say that Montana has stepped up to the 
plate, too

But... with only 73 participants -- only one of these an adult learner 
-- so far this is an apathetic response. If the Literacy President 
Group writes the candidates saying:  "in a national survey of what the 
most important questions are to the adult literacy field, 73 
respondents said...." it would surely convince the next President that 
this field doesn't deserve much attention.

Is it the survey itself, or technology barriers to getting to the 
survey?  I don't think so. Several years ago I put together an online 
survey about what name the field should have and got hundreds of 
responses.

Last week I got a message from Linda Shohet, a Canadian colleague, who 
said that while this year's Summer Institute at the Centre for 
Literacy, with the topic  "Impact of Policy on Practice in ABE," has 
generally high registrations, and while in the past American 
registrations at Summer Institutes have generally comprised a fourth to 
a third of the participants, this year so far only one person from the 
U.S. has signed up. Why?
And what can *you* do about this?

If you have:


Five Minutes:
Take the Literacy President Survey

      http://www.litpresident.org  (choose survey from menu at the left)

Ten Minutes:
E-mail information about the Literacy President Survey to your colleages

A couple of hours:
Use Literacy President learning activities in your classes.

      http://www.literacypresident.org  (choose lessons from menu at the 
left)

Two Days:
Go to Montreal on June 28th-30th.  For more information, contact Linda 
Shohet at the Centre for Literacy:  lshohet at dawsoncollege.qc.ca


Then -- after you have taken action -- post your thoughts about what's 
happening -- and what can be done about it.  Is it the end-of-the year 
press of activities? Is it that everyone is working hard on the 
election? Is everyone working to save Even Start and Corrections 
Literacy? Are we depressed about the national state of literacy? Has 
our energy shifted away from the national to state and local advocacy?  
Or is it something else?

Take action now -- if nothing else, at least do the survey and get five 
others to do it.

Thanks.


David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net