[NLA] professionalization, etc.

[Eileen Eckert]

>From Debbie: I'm curious--would you favor associating
adult ed in some way with the teacher unions?  Or some other form of
collective organizing?

I don't know. I do believe collective action is needed, but I'm leery of the 
rush to consensus and groupthink. I've worked in unionized and non-union 
environments, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Also, I 
instinctively believe that piggybacking on K-12 or college-oriented unions 
is not going to serve the adult and family literacy field in the long run, 
either with our developing identity or with practical matters of academic 
freedom, workload, pay, and benefits. But if we're not going to do it 
ourselves, then would we be better off with a K-12 or higher ed teachers' 
union, or nothing? The UAW tried to organize university teaching assistants, 
right? Maybe they'd take us on--just kidding, sort of. The whole issue makes 
me wonder how other jobs came to be professions and what's gained and lost 
in the process. I'd love to hear from labor historians.

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