[AAACE-NLA] Fall From the Literacy Summit

Tue Aug 7 14:13:13 EDT 2007

Thanks Deb,

These issues, too, are thoroughly discussed in Conflicting Paradigms,
especially chapters 3-5 and more fundamentally throughout the book.  Ch
3 discusses the globalization thesis underlying the vision of the
post-industrial economy/society which sparked a lot of imaginative
forecasting from the 60s on.  Ch 4 focuses extensively on the politics
and policy dynamics giving both the Workforce Investment Act-National
Reporting System under the Clinton administration.  Ch 5 discusses key
field-based responses.

For additional info, see the following review:
http://reading.org/Library/Retrieve.cfm?D=10.1598/JAAL.49.6.10&F=JAAL-49
-6-Kazemek.html

George Demetrion

________________________________

From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Debbie
Yoho
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 12:13 PM
To: aaace-nla
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Fall From the Literacy Summit

Colleagues:  Tom Sticht's sober summary of the state of the AELS is a
reality check we need to heed.  In a few months we will reach the 10th
anniversary of the Workforce Investment Act.  Tom is right to pause and
take stock of what, if anything, has been achieved in the past decade.

The WIA was passed, in my view, because business interests succeeded in
highjacking the adult education agenda and recasting it as an
"investment".  Putting aside the ineffectual rhetoric of the 2000 Summit
that called for a "system of...lifelong learning services", the AELS has
instead bought into the notion that opportunities for continued
education for ALL adults is the same thing as job training.  An
"investment" is a one-time infusion of effort with an expected
measurable result over a short timeframe. Well, we have tried for ten
years to make the case that the AELS should move from the margins to the
mainstream because it is a good "investment". and we have failed.  Tom's
summary of the data says clearly that we are worse off than we were in
1998.  So I ask;  whose fault is this?  Tom points out that no one seems
willing to discuss who is at fault or why we have stood still, and moved
backwards, for 10 years.  I think it is incumbent on the members of this
list to start talking about it.

At first glance I would say that this failure has much to do with the
fact that the primary tool used to move "from the margins to the
mainstream" has been the NRS, an accountability system based on the
business concept of "investment".  But I think the fundamental issue is
much more complicated.  For the past several months I have been intently
studying globalization.  The combined forces of technology and a global
economy have institutionalized social darwinism. This means "survival of
the fittest" in the marketplace.   It also sets up the mindset that
"winnowing out" the weakest among us is a good thing.  Much of the
business community, to put it bluntly, couldn't care less about adults
of little skill or education who can't compete or contribute.  The
business of America is business, (to quote a twentieth century
president) and always has been, and now the business of the world is
business as practiced by American capitalists. 

In short, I believe it is a waste of effort to continue to argue that
the AELS is a good investment.  10 years of doing so has gotten us
nowhere.  We must re-frame the message, and counteract those who are
co-opting us.

I think the time has come to assert lifelong learning for all as a human
right when we advocate.    I think educators need to forge partnerships
less with businesses and more with social activists.  I think a major
priority of the AELS should be to get behind the development of learner
leaders who are skilled in speaking up for their rights.  I think we
should focus less on skill building in our classrooms and programs and
more on critical thinking, persuasive writing, oral expression and civic
action. I have always thought these things.  I know these ideas may be
received as "liberal" or "political" or "subjective", and may even make
some people mad.  But what have we got to lose?  Bipartisan compromises
aren't working.  We are being "winnowed out".  It is time to cry "foul!"
and appeal to compassion and a sense of right, and gather around us some
new friends.

Debbie Yoho

Division Director, Turning Pages

(formerly the Greater Columbia Literacy Council)

a community service of Volunteers of America Carolinas

803-765-2555 fax 803-799-8417 yohogclc at earthlink.net

2728 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29205

yohogclc at earthlink.net

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