[AAACE-NLA] A Memorial Day Message

[tsticht@znet.com]

A Memorial Day Message

May 24, 2006

Adult Literacy Educators Will Free the World: Tomorrow, Just You Wait and
See

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

In the hearts of men and women who have fought in distant wars there is
always the hopeful anticipation of getting mail from home. But for hundreds
of thousands of those who fought in wars from the Revolutionary War through
the Civil War, World War I, Word War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam
War, reading and writing were skills as foreign as the faceless enemies
they fought. But there was hope.

In all these wars, adult literacy educators have been there to teach
warriors how to use the most powerful weapon of all time: literacy! These
literacy teachers, the unsung heroes of our Nation’s many conflicts, have
not only brought the rudiments of reading and writing to soldiers and
sailors, they have also inspired the troops in service to their Nation.

During World War II, in the Army Reader used in Special Training Units to
teach recruits how to read and write, the fictional soldier, Private Pete
and his buddies got into a conversation about the war. Pete’s buddy, Fred,
spoke first, "My father was in the Army during the first World War. It
seems to me that he fought for the same things that we are fighting for
today. He fought for freedom and for our rights as free men. Now we are
fighting for the same things again."

A corporeal said, "Yes, that’s right. And in order to be really free, men
must have plenty of food, good clothing, and a place in which to live. They
must have also enough education to be able to read, to write, and to think
for themselves."

Private Pete, who was listening, said, "Yes, but what about the people in
other countries? What about the people all over the world?"

"Well," said the corporeal, "As examples, look at the Russians and the
Chinese. They have learned to do many new things in order to save their
freedom. And, of course, the British people are doing all they can to help
win the war. So you see that it is true that we are all working together to
defend our rights as free men." Later, the corporeal says, "The struggle for
freedom must never end." (pp. 131-133)

There was not only the urgency in learning to read and write to stay in
touch with the folks back home, but there were other reasons, too. Many
troops turned to music and singing to keep up their spirits. In England,
one of the inspirational songs that people, both civilians and military,
learned kept hope for the war’s end alive. And newly literate troops in
distant lands could learn to read and sing it, too:

The White Cliffs of Dover
(Words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent, 1941)
 There'll be blue birds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.

There'll be joy and laughter
And peace ever after,
Tomorrow
When the world is free,

The shepherd will count his sheep
The valleys will bloom again,
And Jimmy will go to sleep
In his own little room again,

There'll be blue birds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.

And today we wait. We wait for wars to end. We wait for freedom around the
world. The United Nations Decade of Literacy, with the theme of Literacy as
Freedom, still calls the adult literacy teachers of the world to action. We
can have faith that pencils, paper, and indefatigable efforts by these
purveyors of hope will, in time, make the world free. Tomorrow, just you
wait and see.

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