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

[Art LaChance]

Sometimes I wonder which direction the finger of responsibility would point in should we as a nation come to the realization that adult literacy services are a critical part of societal structure.  By that I mean, if there is a 'problem' then the problem has a source.  To date we've relied on the philosophy that uneducated families breed uneducated children and by golly that's their choice in American life.  But is that true.?  I think if we validate adult literacy to the point of supporting it in relation to it's need within the community then the finger of responsibility would point backwards into each student's life and may come to rest on the very powerful and influential system that failed to accomodate them in the first place.  

art


Art LaChance
Gilmer Learning Center
Ellijay, GA


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ttweeton at comcast.net 
  To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 2:38 PM
  Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Help Needed-Constructs for the Message


  Geroge, you said "
  First, I don't believe the relationship between adult literacy education and the economic productivity of individuals (particularly below the GED level) is typically direct or easy to prove, say on a given annual basis, which most funders want"

  Well that is exactly it George. Money  IS the bottom line with the funding and the merits of the programs. Unfortunately it would be nice to say there is a broader impact and of course there is. You have erxplained all the advantages to society and they ARE real,  but the legislators don't care too much about "pie in the sky" so to speak. They want the bottom line, pure and simple. If we can prove that these programs are cost productive in the long run for society, then I do believe we may hit some of the jackpots. In Florida our aim in educating our adult population  is to eventually see that they enter the workforce and our programs are developed towards that aim.There is nothing wrong  with that picture as far as I can see if it brings in the money to educate them. We must be practical George. There simply isn't enough money to fund everything and each program is valued in terms of the returns (monetarily) that it  hop efully brings.

  TanyaTweeton
  ESOL and GED programs
  Fort Lauderdale,Florida
    -------------- Original message -------------- 

    Karen, Tanya, others,

    I'd be a bit cautious here for a couple reasons. 

    First, I don't believe the relationship between adult literacy education and the economic productivity of individuals (particularly below the GED level) is typically direct or easy to prove, say on a given annual basis, which most funders want. Second, adult literacy education has a broad array of impacts, those both direct and those more subtle and indirect, which in my view, needs to be incorporated into discussions of the public value of adult literacy education. 

    The grid that Debbie has constructed points to this broader impact. So does the EFF project in linking impact in the realm of worker, family and civic education to the underlying influence of lifelong learning, and implicitly, development over time, which I refer to as growth.

    What's also often missing in the promotional literature and accompanying reports is the reciprocal influence of adult literacy education in the nurturing of communities, society and the culture in the creation (however modestly) of a public ethos that values education, development and the enhanced capacity of citizens themselves to contribute to the strengthening of various local institutions and groups, which, historically, has been a hallmark of the US democratic ethos of participatory engagement.

    Finally, particularly for the volunteer sector, one of the vital contributions to the public good is the opportunity that such agencies open up to citizens to volunteer both in the lifeblood of the agencies (and thereby enriching them) and in the educational and cultural development of participating students. In making this latter statement, the enrichment is also reciprocal in that often volunteers learn as much as students and are as equally enriched.

    I think our field has the capacity to narrate this broader story, which I believe it is essential to do, both for its own vitality and viability and in order to help establish the force field in which something like its fuller impact can have a better chance of being realized within the constraints experienced and opportunities available within the context of the US political culture.

    Admittedly, this is a bit more complex than the story lines often used, but, I argue, realistic within the contexts of (a) what is actually accomplished through adult literacy education and (b) the various myths and story lines that are at least plausible within the sets of values and mythologies (I use the word mythology in a neutral, descriptive, rather than pejorative way) inherent within this country.

    George Demetrion

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Karen Limkemann
      Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 10:42 PM
      To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE; dwyoho at earthlink.net
      Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Help Needed-Constructs for the Message

      Amen to Tanya's comment. Simply put if an individual
      is not a productive part of the economic structure of
      an area they are are drain on it. This is the message
      adult ed and literacy providers needs to spread.


      --- ttweeton at comcast.net wrote:

      > 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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