[AAACE-NLA] Earth Day, Sustainable Development, Adult Literacy

[tsticht at znet.com]

Research Note                                   March  19, 2006

Earth Day, Sustainable Development, and Adult Literacy Education

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

Each year April 22 is celebrated as Earth Day in the United States. On that
day the nation reaffirms a commitment to the conservation and preservation
of natural resources such as rivers, forests, air, and animals, including
humans. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 and masses of
people took to the beaches, lakes, forests, and other sites to clean-up the
environment.  Today, Earth Day is celebrated as a part of the international
movement known as sustainable development (SD).

In 2005 the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, announced
the launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-2014).  The SD movement is an international effort to
focus environmental and human resources development activities on actions
which improve the present conditions of life without limiting the
possibilities of improvements by and for the benefit of future generations.
In his announcement, the Secretary-General noted that:

"Literacy is a key lever of change and a practical tool of empowerment on
each of the three main pillars of sustainable development: economic
development, social development and environmental protection.

Experience and research show that literacy can be a major tool for
eradicating poverty, enlarging employment opportunities, advancing gender
equality, improving family health, protecting the environment and promoting
democratic participation. A literate home environment is a boon to child
development, having a positive impact on how long girls and boys stay
enrolled in school and how effectively they learn. In recent years, many
literacy programmes have become increasingly oriented towards local needs,
especially through a focus on community development and environmental
protection. Such approaches seek to provide an enriched version of literacy
that goes beyond the basic mechanics of reading and writing to embrace life
skills and relevant content."

Adult literacy education is one of the human development activities that
nations are engaged in today to advance SD. Adult literacy education is
recognized both as an educational activity that can convey useful
information to adult learners about the need for development of natural
resources in a way that contributes to present and future needs and as a
technical means of communication and an aid for thinking and reasoning that
contributes to the further development of the learner.

Cora Wilson Stewart and Early Work on Sustainable Development

In the United States, adult literacy education for sustainable development
was originated by Cora Wilson Stewart,  founder of the Moonlight Schools
for adult literacy education in Kentucky. In 1915  Stewart published the
Country Life Readers: First Book. In this book she followed the principles
of what today I call Functional Context Education
and embedded or integrated the teaching of reading and writing skills with
content important in the improvement of life for the farming folk of the
hills and hollows of Kentucky. In this regard she anticipated the words of
Secretary-General Annan to "provide an enriched version of literacy that
goes beyond the basic mechanics of reading and writing to embrace life
skills and relevant content."

On pages 36-37 of the First Book, CWS focused on the conservation of soil
and waterways and relayed a story about the problems farmers might have if
they do not control soil erosion. The story states:

"Look at the little brook !
It runs down the hill.
See, it is full of mud."
"Yes, it is taking away soil.
The mud in the brook is made up
of the richest part of the soil.
The land gets poorer and poorer.
It will not raise a good crop."
"What can be done?"

[new page]
"Run and tell the farmer that the
brook is stealing his soil."
"The farmer knows it."
"Then why does he not come and
stop it?"
"The farmer is too lazy and shift-
less. With care he could keep his soil.
He could sow this hill in grass and
use it as a pasture.
He could plant trees here.
He could fill these gullies with
brush.
There are many ways to stop the
brook from stealing soil.
No brook shall steal my soil."

Instructional Approach to Sustainable Development

The instructional approach that CWS used in the Country Life Readers and
in the Moonlight School classrooms followed Functional Context Education
principles that contemporary research has confirmed as useful for adult
literacy education and the sustainable development of learners after their
educational experience in the classroom.

First, she builds new knowledge of reading and writing on the prior
knowledge that learners bring with them thereby making it easier for
adults to learn by relating new learning to old learning.

Second, she integrates the teaching of basic skills of reading and writing
with content that relates to the daily life of the adult learners outside
the classroom to hold interest and maintain motivation to attend class.

Third, she facilitates transfer of learning from the classroom to the
world outside the classroom by developing new knowledge that learners can
apply in their daily lives.

Fourth, the latter, in turn, offers the possibility of further learning by
adults to extend and sustain the development that they achieved while
attending school.

In adult literacy development there are three different aspects of SD:

(1) The education of adults to conserve and preserve natural resources for
the benefit of present and future generations, this is the major
environmental focus of SD.

(2) Additionally,  in adult literacy education SD refers to instruction that
will help adults use, sustain, and continue to develop their new literacy
skills outside the classroom and in the homes, communities, and workplaces
where they live everyday. This relates to the emphasis in Functional
Context Education (FCE)  on the use of authentic materials that will help
students  transfer new knowledge and skills from the classroom to the world
outside the classroom. In Secretary-General Annan’s words, this is "literacy
that goes beyond the basic mechanics of reading and writing to embrace life
skills and relevant content ."  This emphasizes the need for
"post-literacy" activities in many communities such as the development of
newspapers, "how to" manuals, books, etc. so that adult new literates will
have something to read outside of the classroom. It also calls for lifelong
learning opportunities so that adults can sustain and continue to develop
their literacy skills.

(3) Finally, in the field of adult literacy education, SD also refers to the
intergenerational transfer of language, literacy, and positive attitudes
toward education and schooling  that generally occurs as newly literate
adults behave differently with their children and create "A literate home
environment" as UN Secretary-General Annan states. This calls for a Life
Cycles education policy that recognizes that investments in the literacy
development of adults may provide returns in improving the educability and
literacy achievement of the adult’s children,  which in turn sustains and
contributes to the further literacy development of the community.

[Note: Materials discussing Functional Context Education and Life Cycles
education policy can be found on the internet at www.nald.ca under Full
Text Documents searched by S for Sticht. All materials can be downloaded
for free.]

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net