[NLA] How to Work Effectively with the Media

[Thomas Sticht]

In response to my recent posting on media Catherine King asked me, 
"First, what do you mean by "returns on investments"?  

Answer: I use this phrase to indicate that money invested in an adult’s
education may do more than educate just that person; that is, it may
produce returns to investments in addition to the return in the form of
increased knowledge and skill that the person may obtain. It may
influence the education of the adult’s children. It may influence that
person’s participation in civic activity. It may influence that person’s
health and the health of that person’s family members. It may also
influence that person’s employability. I try to let people who are
unfamiliar with adult education and basic skills development, yet are
debating the wisdom of investing corporate, charitable foundation or
government money in the education of adults, understand that they are
very likely to get multiple returns to their investments beyond the
increased learning that takes place.

Catherine King said, "Second, if you mean by "returns on investments" at
least a passing reference to the "deep" relationship of education  to
democracies and civilization for everyone ala Jefferson, must this
reference be couched in terms more suitable to  the stock market and
corporate concerns than to education?"

Answer: Most people understand that economic matters concern all
individuals in all societies, whether governments be  democratic,
totalitarian, socialist, capitalist, or communist. Also, education and
economics are intertwined in all societies. In this regard, I did not
invent the phrase "returns to investment" when discussing education. The
OECD, World Bank, UNESCO, United Nations, educational economists, and
governments around the world use the phrase,  including the UK and New
Zealand where I was explicitly asked to talk about returns to
investments in adult basic skills education. 

Catherine King says, "If we are not referring to this relationship at
all, aren't we  perpetuating, on a much grander scale now, in Europe and
with media help, social and political division between the  haves and
the have-nots that cannot be recovered by any  adult education program
regardless of how much adults have "stolen our hearts" in the matter? "

Answer: No. To the contrary, we are talking about greater social
inclusion, particularly in New Zealand and the UK. That is the goal the
governments in these countries explicitly expound. In my semantic
network there is nothing in the use of the phrase "returns to
investment" that suggests exclusion of some adults from the fullest
participation in the life of their society. Even professionals in
institutions of higher education talk about the use of distance
education to get greater returns to investments in education in terms of
including more of the adult population in higher education while trying
to manage costs.  So rather than suggesting political divisions between
the haves and have-nots, getting people, including those who work in the
media,  who are not familiar with adult basic skills  education, to
consider the many returns to investment that such education can produce
is a way of encouraging social inclusion and of getting the media to 
help the society at large understand the value of making the investments
needed to transform have-nots into haves.
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