[NLA] participation and resistance

[Eileen Eckert]

Art wrote: ...we in adult lit are at a loss in
terms of how do we deal with the potential student's philosophy that we, as 
part of an 'educational' opportunity for them, will force 'values' that they 
haven't 'chosen'.

Thinking "out loud" here...When we identify with K-12, when we value 
"professionalization," how much do we align ourselves with the 
powers-that-be and by implication with the value of joining the "mainstream" 
ourselves and of "helping" literacy learners to become part of the 
mainstream? Do we give up the ability, or even the potential, to critique or 
even change that mainstream by positioning ourselves inside it?

And if we see our relationship with learners as helping them to "get" 
something, namely literacy skills, that we have and they don't, then is it 
implicit that we will also help them "get" the values they "need" (by our 
definition, and our definition must be right because we're the educators and 
we've already "got it")?

If our relationship with learners is one of mutual benefit, what do 
educators get from learners? Can learners immediately see their value to 
program volunteers and staff? Or do they feel like objects of literacy 
educators' efforts instead of co-subjects? Are we as willing to be changed 
by our contact with learners as we want them to be by their encounters with 
us?

Eileen


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