[AAACE-NLA] Help Needed-Constructs for the Message

[ttweeton at comcast.net]

Debbie, I will put my two cents worth in.  I think the case needs to be made that by giving services to these people and having them succeed,  we are taking them off the shoulders of the public because they will  be self sufficient and productive members of society and hopefully become  integrated into the work force. So society benefits   a great deal   in return for the initial  small investment in each individual down the road.
Tanya Tweeton
ESOL and GED Programs
Fort Lauderdale,Florida

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> I've changed the subject line again. I hope nobody gets annoyed. But as 
> this conversation between George, Andrea and I continues it seems what we 
> are really discussing is how to craft a message about the importance of 
> education/adult education/literacy that is compelling to all sorts of 
> people. 
> 
> >From Andrea: 
> 
> "I do regard education as frequently a sacred calling, and anyone who has 
> ever worked in the trenches of their own egos, with students, really does 
> understand this." 
> 
> My first foray on this very list, as David Rosen will remember, was about 
> education as a "sacred" calling. I know exactly what Andrea means, and 
> agree. But I have learned that I must temper my strong passion for the 
> "sacredness" of education, especially when advocating in the 
> super-conservative environment of South Carolina, or I run the risk of 
> being written off. George's "good school" construct is much easier to 
> sell, and indeed, is the current paradigm for our own state department of 
> education and the current state director, who is on a crusade to 
> "professionalize" adult educators. 
> 
> On October 20, our agency will host a luncheon for the decision-makers at 
> the United Way who control 1/3 of our budget. Our United Way is heavily 
> influenced by the largest businesses in this community, and is in its sixth 
> year of generating accountability processes based on the business model 
> (outcomes--indicators--cost effectiveness--measurable results, etc.). I 
> will have 10 minutes of their undivided attention to make a case for 
> continued, or more, funding for our literacy program. 
> 
> Should the meat of this brief message be: 
> 
> a. education is a good investment, and we are ready to make the "hard 
> decisions" to "target" those most in need AND most likely to benefit the 
> most from services, or 
> 
> b. education is a civil right, and we are in the empowerment business of 
> working with the whole person, any person who is able to articulate his/her 
> own need and engage with our services to take them where they want to go, or 
> 
> c. education is a science, and we are the best local resource to insure 
> high quality service based on proven practices legitimized by research and 
> delivered by professionally-guided and monitored instructors. 
> 
> ?????? 
> 
> Do I tell them what they want to hear (which is option a), or do I tell 
> them what is closer to the truth, (which is option b) or do I opt for the 
> usual message heard from educators in this community, which is option c? 
> Or do I just essentially present all of these three constructs neutrally, 
> and just ask them to think seriously about their own biases and the 
> implications for real people when funding decisions are made (which is what 
> my little voice says is the way to go.) 
> 
> The ballot box is open. I would love to have the members of this list 
> guide my decision. What do ya'll think? 
> 
> Deborah W. Yoho 
> Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv 
> Past 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 
> 
> 
> 
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