[AAACE-NLA] Framing adult literacy arguments

[AWilder106@aol.com]

Debbie,

Let me clarify.  There is a vein of thinking  in adult literacy which I identify with Fingeret and Demetrion, at some times, that supports the idea that full (rather than low) literacy is not necessary to lead a fulfilling life.

I also know a number of low literate adults, it turns out, who live very good lives, earning good money, with solid families and family life.

I think perhaps this strain of thinking  came about to disprove through example the contention that low literate people were of  deficient capacity, criminally inclined, social and emotional isolates and misfits.  The attempt was to defuse a stereotype. This I would call a tenet of the field--a low literate person can lead a good life.

What does a person  need to survive? An infant  needs  liquid food, being held and stroked and talked to. That seems to me a right, but it can be  denied. What happens when this right is denied?  Anything?


The US is rather light  on the written sources for human rights in official documents.  But the UN is not. I know  the UN has lost credibility  these past  couple  of years, but the document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is still there.  It covers everything that is usually talked about on this subject on this list serv.

Freedom is a tricky concept, too.  Freedom To?  Freedom From? Some might support the idea of "freedom" as running counter to the UN document--for instance,  freedom from government interference...(scholing?) (roads?) (FBI searches?)

Now, let's go back to "the pursuit of happiness." It has the benefit of leaving pursuit up to the individual, sort of.  Suppose we say that individuals who sign up for adult literacy classes, and those that form waiting lists, are trying to pursue happiness, as seems reasonable.  This I like.  Its very broadness as a concept makes it applicable in many instances.

This is not to say that these concepts, Human Rights, Freedom, Pursuit of Happiness, aren't useful tools for thought and action, because I think they are,and some writers, thinkers and do-ers have thought them through carefully and usefully.

I know you are  looking for a framework, so am I.  I think we should be able to figure one out that can stand up to assaults of logic, observation, and experience. 


Andrea