[AAACE-NLA] Obama Pledge to Tackle the Dropout Crisis

[Michael Gyori]

Greetings Allan and everyone,

If we wait till there is a noticeable shift in public attitudes (the sum or even more of each individual's attitude), I'm afraid that nothing will be accomplished in our and our learners' lifetimes.  

The single greatest focus (and that's where the elephant treads, in my opinion) needs to lie on the tremendous and ever-growing disconnect between especially federal education policy and mandates and the characteristics of our classrooms, wherein increasingly disenfranchised teachers are rightfully wondering how to fit a round peg into a square hole.

In that sense, it is not the public-at-large we should mobilize.  Rather, we must initiate and sustain meaningful and insightful discourse between those who teach and those who tell teachers what to teach, how to teach, and how to measure the effectiveness of the teaching and learning that take place.

I am very saddened to say this, but if there is a "police state" in any life domain, it is in the realm of (public K-12 and adult) education.

Michael
 
Michael A. Gyori 
Maui International Language School 
www.mauilanguage.com




________________________________
From: "French, Allan" <afrench at sccd.ctc.edu>
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Thu, March 4, 2010 5:31:14 AM
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Obama Pledge to Tackle the Dropout Crisis


Janet, Bob, Tom and all:
 
It seems to me that there is a very large elephant in the room that is being left out of this discussion, the American public.  It is very good and very essential that we formulate the arguments, and that we “lobby” Congress and the bureaucracy.  However, unless we can alter the attitudes of the general populace (which range from prejudice against immigrants and those at the margins, to relative ignorance of what it is we really do), attitudes that Congress and the bureaucracy really listen to, we may well be doomed to a Sisyphean effort.  I don’t have good ideas on how to change the public’s attitudes, but maybe those smarter than I am can come up with something.
 
Allan French
 
 
====================================
Allan D. French
 
ESL Instructor and Assessment Coordinator
Basic & Transitional Studies Division
South Seattle Community College
 206-768-6836  206-768-6836 
afrench at sccd.ctc.edu
 
 
 
 
 
From:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Janet Isserlis
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 5:50 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Obama Pledge to Tackle the Dropout Crisis
 
Bob and all

Thanks for this.  A number of us have been involved in advocacy efforts for many years; others may be newer to the field.

What, specifically, would you suggest we do?  What steps can people take to inform policy makers – and one another  - about the need for and value of adult education?

thanks

Janet



________________________________

From: "Bickerton, Robert P (DOE)" <RBickerton at doe.mass.edu>
Reply-To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 08:45:42 -0500
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Conversation: Obama Pledge to Tackle the Dropout Crisis
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Obama Pledge to Tackle the Dropout Crisis

Dear Colleagues:
 
Yesterday President Obama pledged increased focus and funding to tackle the dropout rate calling "an economic imperative if the United States intends to remain competitive in the global society;” here’s a link to the New York Times story:  http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/obama-takes-aim-at-school-dropout-rates/ 
 
Once again, the President and his administration are addressing an important issue – and once again they are doing it using a one-dimensional approach that ignores the vital role that adult education plays in building the skills of our nation’s undereducated and limited English proficient students so that they are prepared to benefit from and contribute to our nation’s economic health.  Isn’t it about time we increased the volume of our voices so that this administration and all members of Congress understand how short-sighted these initiatives are when they bypass the only viable alternative for students who do drop out and the more than a quarter of our nation’s workforce who lack the skills to effectively contribute to and thrive in our economy?  
 
Bob Bickerton
 

________________________________

_______________________________________________
AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20100305/c648851b/attachment-0001.html>