NLA Discussion: Adult literacy education a Constitutional Right?

[Harry Forster]

I am sorry but I am trying to catch up on this discussion.  There is a
developing body of case law on civil rights and education.  An interesting and
ever changing site is

http://www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/ 
(Welcome to the Civil Rights Project)

Harry

Harry Forster 
<hforster at strato.net>



Catherine King wrote:

> Kathleen and Angela Hock:
>
> About our students' (1) franchise, and (2) their ability to vote
> intelligently, to understand their own political culture more
> comprehensively, and hence be participatory citizens, . . .
>
> Adult educators know this fact:  Though no one is formally or
> legally kept from the poles because of illiteracy, without literacy
> and basic education, our-their franchise is, in fact, and for all
> intents and purposes, null and void, especially for those who
> have been brought up in an already marginalized environment
> where nothing is an invitation to participate, and everything public
> or printed is a threat to your existence.
>
> Angela, the fact that someone has to write a book about
> participating in the democratic process, and that it should be
> read by many of us so that we can understand our "franchise"
> in the larger sense of not just voting but participating, speaks
> to the complexities and the social, psychological, political and
> just-plain demographical barriers we must cross in order be
> involved in what this book, and others like it, is talking about.
>
> This is part of the unknowing "classism" I am talking about:
>  If someone is raised in a group-family that is already actively
> involved, this person will have a  basic model to follow from
> childhood.  And this model (and many others) is taken on
> very early on and
>
> (1) stepped into like a glove in adulthood, and
>
> (2) unwittingly projected onto others, as if everyone has shared
> in these positive experiences when they, in fact, haven't.  Their-
> our own experience is an illusion when we operate under the
> assumptions that others have our experience.   This is a common
> human problem, but becomes **institutional** when it effects
> policies and practices at the level of political power.
>
> It's a different glove for many of our adults.   Our glove (ingrained
> assumptions forged in childhood we take with us into adulthood)
> is the assumption that we have no place in that dialogue--there is
> a blank place in what should be a modeling participatory experience,
>
> . . . and so literacy and continuing education, where it is assumed as
> a part of the mental landscape at the foundations of a more
> fortunate person's basic experience of the world, for others
> participation equates to building a whole new political life where
> there is **nothing** or worse--negative, fearful experiences, to
> re-form and build on.
>
> This dimension of  classism, in part, is what I think we must get
> over when dealing with our communications with legislators.
>
> Not **all** legislators, nor do I mean **all** students have a
> negative experience here, but I think it safe to say that this dynamic
> of vastly different political inheritances is a big part of it.
>
> The "franchise" is only on paper for these people, and they
> cannot "read" it.
>
> It's not just me, but a whole tradition of folks have thought that
> there is in fact  **no franchise**  without literacy and education, and
> that, without these things, a democracy is seriously threatened--from
> a degeneration from within--because (1)  many-most illiterate,
> less educated adults do not participate, and (2) when-if we do
> participate, a democracy has a better chance with people who are
> involved in the dialogue and know themselves as political beings.
>
> This last thing has become so much more important since (1)  our
> ability to communicate has increased so much, and (2) we can no
> longer afford to foster cloistered, provincial people who pay no
> attention to political affairs in both the local and the international
> arena.  Need I mention the China debacle.
>
> At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin
> was asked, "What have you wrought?" and he answered,
>
> " . . . a Republic, if you can keep it."
>
> Best to all,
> Catherine King
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Catherine King <cb.king at verizon.net>
> To: <nla at world.std.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 4:06 AM
> Subject: NLA Discussion: Adult literacy education a Constitutional Right?
>
> > Kathleen:
> >
> > Kathleen says:  "The state literacy tests in order to vote were
> > thrown out by the Supreme Court because they were
> > used to exclude large numbers of black voters.  Literacy is
> > not a prerequisite for voting, nor should it be."
> >
> > We are not talking about  making laws that say you have
> > to know how to read **in order to be allowed to vote.**  What
> > we are talking about is saying that people who can read
> > and write, and be on the road to all the other understanding
> > that goes along with that, are **better able to vote** be
> > politically aware, and to participate.   They can't do that
> > if they cannot even read the Constitution and the Bill of
> > Rights for themselves.
> >
> > We need to have legislation (and perhaps a whole new way
> > of looking at adult education now) that speaks to the education
> > of people who **already have the franchise.**   We are not talking
> > about legitimating the franchise through reading.   We are talking
> > about educating participatory democratic citizens so that they
> > can and will participate under their own literate and political
> > power afforded to them through literacy and continuing education.
> >
> > Hope things are good in El Paso.
> > Catherine King
> >
> > - Original Message -----
> > From: <KathleenBombach at aol.com>
> > To: <nla at world.std.com>
> > Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 5:25 PM
> > Subject: NLA Discussion: Adult literacy education a Constitutional Right?
> >
> >
> > > > Kathleen Bombach
>
Project


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