[AAACE-NLA] A safe place to haggle

[David Rosen]

AAACE-NLA Colleagues,

Debbie Yoho wrote:

"Am I correct to assume that one place where we can safely haggle  
about it all is right here, without worrying about out disagreements  
hurting the mutual Cause? I just need a reality check."

Here are my thoughts about what should or should not be said about  
adult literacy on an electronic list:

• When the adult education and literacy field (including English  
language learning and numeracy) goes to Congress or to a state  
legislature with a request, we must all put an oar in the water and  
row in the same direction.  When we are rowing, trying to move  
forward, is not the time for public disagreement.  It is the time for  
unity and for support of the goals and requests determined by the  
leadership in our field.  Leadership in approaching Congress and the  
Administration, as I see it, is provided through our representative  
national organization, the National Coalition for Literacy, and its  
member organizations. There is plenty of opportunity through the  
member organizations, through individual membership in the NCL, and  
through this electronic list, throughout the year, to discuss what we  
should be asking and what facts and arguments we should use to  
support the request.  Currently the major goal -- set by the NCL  
several years ago -- is at least $1 billion in federal funds for  
adult literacy.  For more information about the NCL, go to http:// 
www.national-coalition-literacy.org/

• Despite the intimate feel of the electronic list environment (most  
of us read and send messages from personal computers in our homes and  
offices or from mobile personal data appliances)  an electronic list  
is a public environment, as public as calling a radio talk show,  
sending a letter to the editor, or speaking in a public forum.  And  
our every word is recorded and saved in the archives that are  
accessible by anyone searching for our names.  That is the reality.

• In this, or any other public forum, anyone has the right -- and in  
a democracy many of us would argue, the civic obligation -- to speak  
his or her mind as long as no laws are broken and the discourse is  
civil.  On this or other electronic lists those who follow the list  
rules of netiquette, the list's stated purposes and guidelines (as  
interpreted by the moderator) should be encouraged to post their  
views.  I appreciate and learn from the differences of opinion.  The  
different points of view help me in areas where I have not yet formed  
my own views.  It's one of the reasons I subscribe to electronic lists.

• If there were organized opposition to adult literacy, we probably  
should not discuss strategy on public lists such as this one.  
However, as I see no evidence that we have organized opposition, I  
see no problem in voicing opinions about national goals and  strategy  
here.

however...

• As you get ready to post -- or respond to a post -- on an  
electronic list, ask yourself: Do I want this to go to a public forum  
or do I want this to go to privately to (an) individual(s) ?  The  
answer to that question may depend on what you want to accomplish.

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com