[AAACE-NLA] adult literacy & the U.S.political tradition

[ttweeton at comcast.net]

George, I understand  and "hear you" that you do not agree with the Supreme Court decision, however it is what it is. Perhaps some day, as in all things, the penduleum will swing the other way  with other Justices, and there may be a different interpretation of the Constitution in some other case, but for the moment...........

  You said " The issue is not so 
much whether literacy among the adult population is a right or a privilege.  
The issue is the role of adult basic education in providing the population 
with the basic tools and knowledge to participate in and contribute to the 
very blessings of liberty to which the Constitution aspires."

I too agree  of course that  adults should be educated. We discuss endlessly here  the good  reasons to do so. But that decision that you take issue with, I can see,  has,  most probably, repercussions with funding  of Adult Education. So if anyone questions why there is such a lack, perhaps that case is part of the background for the  reason. Maybe a big part. It seems clearer to me at least, now, why funding Adult Education  is not  seen as such a priority......... right or wrong. 
Tanya Tweeton
ESOL and GED
Fort Lauderdale, Florida


-------------- Original message -------------- 

> 
> Hello Tanya and others, 
> 
> As we know interpretation is a complex process that involves a range of 
> explicit and implicit meanings in which a range of plausible perspectives is 
> plausible, and in fact likely. For our field, one critical issue is how the 
> definition of literacy is interpreted, by whom and what assumptions 
> undergird it. 
> 
> One thinks also of that body of writing that Christians refer to as the Old 
> Testament. While there are clear affinities between various Jewish and 
> Christian interpretations of those texts, as portrayed in the New Testament 
> by the Apostle Paul in his various letters, drew selectively and 
> discriminately on aspects of that foundational literature that not only fit 
> in, but seemed to have fulfilled the core vision of the early Christian 
> community that in Christ, the Scriptures were fulfilled. That 
> interpretation, having a certain validity and integrity on its own terms, 
> was and is highly contested by Jewish theologians and rabbis who obviously 
> view that foundational literature in a different light. Thus, the text 
> speaks, but it does not speak for itself. Moreover, its various meanings 
> are not only often not self-evident. Rather, since interpretation depends 
> not simply on the text, but on the transaction between the text and the 
> reader(s), many of its various meanings remain to unfold within and through 
> the crucible of history itself in which the struggle for definition is often 
> contentious. An interesting project for those who may have an interest is a 
> comparison and contrast of the Christian New Testament with the Jewish 
> Talmud on their mutual reflection of the foundational texts in the Jewish 
> Pentateuch, the Prophets and the various books of wisdom (Psalms, Proverbs). 
> The technical term for this interpretative work is referred to as 
> hermeneutics, based most fully in the contemporary period on the work of the 
> philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamar, especially his opus Truth and Method 
> 
> Then there is the political tradition of the United States in its foundation 
> in the declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of 
> Rights, which, in viewing the role of the relationship between education and 
> the strengthening of our civic polity needs to be examined in light of the 
> broader aspirations which informed this truly remarkable period of history 
> in which a nation, ours, was truly invented. No single value such as 
> liberty, rights, democracy, or the rule of law dominates over the others. 
> Rather, at least at its best in what the Preamble of the Constitution as our 
> collective quest for "a more perfect union," they are interwoven in the very 
> fabric of our public life and political culture. In what can only be viewed 
> as an irony of a very high sort, the Czech leader and philosopher Havel 
> Vacal addressed the U.S. Senate some years ago on the power of these very 
> values. It was as if he was reminding us of the power of these values which 
> had given shape to the Czechoslovakian Revolution against Soviet Tyranny in 
> which the U.S. Senate was hearing it fresh in a way that no American 
> political leader had spoken since the time of Lincoln. 
> 
> Keeping in mind the radical impulse inherent in the Declaration of 
> Independence that has moved well beyond the intent of its primary author, 
> Thomas Jefferson (a slaveholder), let us look at the role of adult literacy 
> within the fabric of our public ethos and political culture through the 
> various intents and plausible meanings of the Preamble of the U.S. 
> Constitution. Let us meditate on each word and on all of the words in their 
> combination. Let us do a critical reading of the text that is before us, 
> that which is declared as the foundational document of the government of the 
> United States of America: 
> 
> "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, 
> establish Justice, insure the domestic Tranquility, provide for the common 
> defense, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, 
> do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." 
> 
> The civic intelligence and the material well-being (as opposed to 
> extravagance) of the nation's population are essential dimensions to a we 
> the people government in quest of a more perfect union. The issue is not so 
> much whether literacy among the adult population is a right or a privilege. 
> The issue is the role of adult basic education in providing the population 
> with the basic tools and knowledge to participate in and contribute to the 
> very blessings of liberty to which the Constitution aspires. 
> 
> I conclude with the following passage by Lincoln: 
> 
> "Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system 
> respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject 
> which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man receive at least a 
> moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own 
> and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the free value of our 
> institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this 
> account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be 
> derived from all being able to read the Scriptures, and other works both of 
> a religious and moral nature, for themselves." 
> 
> 
> George Demetrion 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: ttweeton at comcast.net 
> Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 10:40 PM 
> To: Catherine B. King; National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE 
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Re: Is literacy ability a privilege? 
> 
> As I see it Catherine, a Supreme Court Justice's duty is just to interpret 
> the Constitution, not create what isn't there. 
> 
> Tanya Tweeton 
> 
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> 
> Hello Tanya Tweeton: 
> 
> Thank you for publishing the interesting quote 
> from Justice Powell, which I copy below: 
> 
> "Education is not among the rights afforded explicit protection under our 
> Federal Constitution. Nor do we find any basis for saying that it is 
> implicitly protected, thus he continues, "this finding that education is a 
> fundamental right as an argument is unpersuasive." 
> 
> It is the highest of ironies that a judge, who is above all 
> an advocate for the rule of law, would deny that those 
> who are governed by that law have a fundamental 
> right to become able to read it. 
> 
> Catherine King 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: ttweeton at comcast.net 
> To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE 
> Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 2:37 PM 
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Re: Is literacy ability a privilege? 
> 
> 
> David , this is what I know about the rights to Education in this country 
> thru my studies in School Finance. 
> 
> One of the most important cases involving the question of states financing 
> of Education in all districts, equitably ( which most don't) and whether 
> they should, comes from the case of San Antonio Independent School District 
> v. Rodriquez 1973, where the United States Supreme Court upheld the Texas 
> school financing system , stating that Education was not a fundamental 
> right under the federal U.S. Constitution, although it stated that 
> "one of the most important services performed by the state, it does not fall 
> within the small catagory of rights that the Supreme Court court recognizes 
> as being guaranteed by the Constitution." 
> This case was decided by a 5-4 vote. 
> 
> Justice Powell goes on to say. 
> "Education is not among the rights afforded explicit protection under our 
> Federal Constitution. Nor do we find any basis for saying that it is 
> implicitly protected, thus he continues, "this finding that education is a 
> fundamental right as an argument is unpersuasive." 
> 
> Our founding fathers do not mention Education in the Constitution. Scholars 
> surmise that they wanted to leave these decisions to the states (being 
> afraid of too much federal control ) and not follow along with what Europe 
> had done, in giving control of Education to the governments. 
> 
> So, I guess, maybe then Education should be considered a priviledge. 
> 
> Tanya Tweeton 
> ESOL and GED programs 
> Fort Lauderdale, Florida 
> 
> 
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