[AAACE-NLA] White House Conference on Global Literacy

Sat Sep 23 14:47:15 EDT 2006

For 25 years as a member of UNESCO's International Jury for Literacy Prizes
I and other members of the Jury had to argue to keep the literacy prizes
focused on adult literacy programs. There was pressure to expand the prizes
to children's education. But with long term members on the Jury, some of
whom had had high level positions in UNESCO's administration, on UNESCO's
Council of Directors, and as Ambassadors to UNESCO from member states we
were able to keep the prizes focused on adult literacy program. When I left
the Jury in 2003 I was the last of the long term Jury members and apparently
new members with only brief appointments do not have the experience and
longevity (which the UNESCO culture felt obliged to honor) to argue against
policies that weaken the adult literacy program. I still argue that the
prizes at least should be focused on adult literacy programs. How long they
will last as recognition for adult literacy programs I do not know given the
new role of the U.S. back in the House.

I am saddened when policy level people like the Asia/Pacific person that
John mentions think that you turn the faucet off before you mop the floor.
They obvisouly do not understand that by "mopping the floor" with adult
literacy programs, they go a long way toward "turning the faucet" of future
illiteracy off through the intergenerational transfer of health, motivation,
language, and literacy from parents to children. That is why I continue to
press for a multiple Life Cycles education policy so that people come to
understand the importance of adult literacy education for children's
acquisition of literacy. Tom Sticht

Quoting John Comings <comingjo at gse.harvard.edu>:

> Yes, I agree.
>
> The disrespect for adult literacy in UNESCO is not new. I was at one
> UNESCO
> meeting 15 years ago, when their Asia/South Pacific director said, "We
> need
> to turn off the faucet before we mop up the floor" as a defense of his
> position to put all funds into primary schooling.
>
> --On Friday, September 22, 2006 1:57 PM -0400 Jon Steinberg
> <jons at lacnyc.org> wrote:
>
> > Reply to John Comings:
> >
> > Conferences bringing together prominent officials and their wives and
> > mothers in support of literacy can be valuable, but as Director of
> > NCSALL, I'm sure you would agree that an organizational structure that
> > promotes and supports adult literacy work is vital as well. On the
> > international level, that structure was the Adult Literacy and Non
> > Formal Education Section within the Division of Basic Education of
> > UNESCO. On July 1, this section was eliminated by the Assistant
> > Director-General for Education, Peter Plympton Smith. Mr. Smith was
> > nominated for his position by the Bush Administration.
> >
> > The high-level adult literacy specialists at UNESCO have been
> dispersed,
> > their positions eliminated. Responsibility for programming has been
> > transferred from Paris to a UNESCO "project," in Hamburg Germany, now
> > known as the Institute for Lifelong Learning. The United Nations
> > Literacy Decade has been transferred to a newly-created Division for UN
> > Priorities; in place of the international literacy specialists formerly
> > in charge, the new office has one mid-level functionary and an
> > assistant. The Assistant Director-General for Education cancelled the
> > September 8 International Literacy Day celebrations and the
> > International Literacy Prizes award ceremony. (One of this year's
> prizes
> > was to go to Venezuela; this may have had something to do with the
> > cancellation.). At least one international meeting of literacy
> educators
> > has also been cancelled.
> >
> > Laura Bush may be an effective Honorary Ambassador for the Literacy
> > Decade, but a strong, highly visible UNESCO program staffed by trained
> > specialists would also seem useful in a campaign to bring literacy to
> > hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. Thanks to the Bush
> > Administration, that program no longer exists.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
> > [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of John
> > Comings
> > Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:08 AM
> > To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
> > Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] White House Conference on Global Literacy
> >
> > I attended this conference, and I feel it should be viewed within the
> UN
> >
> > culture. Some of you, Tom Sticht for example, are familiar with that
> > culture and some are not.
> >
> > One of the ways in which UNESCO supports positive change is through
> > conferences in which Ministers of Education, officials from donor
> > agencies,
> > and sometimes heads of state are educated about an issue and persuaded
> > that
> > they must take action. This conference targeted Ministers of Education
> > and
> > spouses of heads-of-state. The conference will be followed up with
> > conferences in the Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and
> Caribbean,
> >
> > and Asia/Pacific regions. The goal, as I understand it, is to generate
> > the
> > support of national governments and donor agencies for efforts that
> > provide
> > opportunities for the 800 million adults and youth who have never had a
> > chance to learn to read, with a  particular focus on women and girls.
> >
> > I've been to some of these UNESCO conferences before. This one was the
> > most
> > spectacular, in terms of US government participation. George and Laura
> > Bush, both of their mothers, Condolezzsa Rice, Margaret Spellings, the
> > director of USAID, Karen Hughes, and many others attended. You may not
> > like
> > them, but they are our government. The Director General of UNESCO, the
> > CEOs
> > of several foundations, and many other important players in
> > international
> > development attended.
> >
> > I have no way of knowing if the Bush administration is going to put
> > money
> > behind this initiative, and the only new US investment announced was a
> > US
> > grant for $1 million to UNESCO's new statistics institute in Canada to
> > develop a form of the NALS for use in countries with very high rates of
> > Level adults. However, something called the Millennium Challenge Grants
> > was
> > mentioned as a source of US funding. Even if the US support is not
> much,
> >
> > the real payoff will come if UNESCO can capitalize on the momentum
> > generated by this conference and persuade member countries and donor
> > agencies to invest in adult literacy and improve access to and the
> > quality
> > of primary schooling in countries with very low literacy rates.
> >
> > Several people who teach in or run adult literacy programs in Asia,
> > Africa,
> > the Middle East, Latin America and the US spoke about their programs as
> > part of the conference. Their stories were amazing. Those of you who
> > have
> > visited adult literacy programs or primary schools in poor rural
> > communities around the world know how much work needs to be done.
> UNESCO
> > is
> > the UN agency that should be leading the advocacy effort.
> >
> > Ten years ago, I worked at World Education, which was founded by an
> > extraordinary woman, Welthy Fisher. Welthy was once criticized for
> > taking
> > money from a source that held views that contradicted her own. Her
> > response
> > was, "I will take money from the devil and sanctify it." Given the
> > recent
> > remarks of the President of Venezuela, Welthy Fisher might have some
> > good
> > advice for those who support literacy but not the Bush administration.
> >
> > John Comings
> >
> >
> >
> > John Comings, Director
> > National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
> > Harvard Graduate School of Education
> > 7 Appian Way
> > Cambridge MA 02138
> > (617) 496-0516, voice
> > (617) 495-4811, fax
> > (617) 335-9839, mobile
> > john_comings at harvard.edu
> > http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu
> >
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>
>
>
> John Comings, Director
> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education
> 7 Appian Way
> Cambridge MA 02138
> (617) 496-0516, voice
> (617) 495-4811, fax
> (617) 335-9839, mobile
> john_comings at harvard.edu
> http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
> AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org
> http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla
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> http://literacytent.org
>
>