[NLA] but wait, there's more--USDE web site

[Catherine B. King]

Hello Debbie:

You raise two points:  (1) academic freedom, and (2) the
relationship of adult ed to either K-12 or Higher Education.

About your second point, you say:

". . . as anyone who has worked in an elementary or high
school would, I think, agree, academic freedom does not exist
in the K-12 system.  As a principal, I was forced more than once
 to explain this to my teachers."

True.  However, we must ask if those in K-12 have forgotten that,
underneath all the other "content" they are teaching, they are
supposed to be preparing our youth to live in a democracy--think
for themselves, make responsible choices, be politically aware,
understand what it means to create and live in a civilized world
with others, etc., etc., etc.  This is no easy task, but less so if our
educators in K-12 fail to understand this political, and dare I say
spiritual, development as central to the mission of educators in a
democracy.    (What I mean by being "spiritually aware" is to
understand others as also spiritual beings who are always more
than mere functionaries of our needs--a fundamental problem
with the unwritten American credo, I would argue.)

So while K-12 is not a democracy, it's that way on purpose, but
it is failing--I would argue--to prepare our youth to live in one,
which is its "big picture" mission by virtue of living in one and
enjoying the freedoms we have, or at least the ones we have left.

And you say:  "With respect to the AELS, I could make the case
that the absence of academic freedom at the K-12 level
represents an argument to position adult education alongside
higher ed, and not beside K-12 schooling."

I agree wholeheartedly.  Though we all--including our AELS
adults--need to understand our responsible place in a democracy--
so that we may retain hope that we may keep it--the differences
in the foundational premises of K-12 and AE are so pronounced
as to make alignment of AE with K-12 a philosophical and
political absurdity.

Much could be said here; but just the fact that adults are not under
any outer compunction, but rather are there by an inner
compunction--by choice--should be enough to ward us off K-12
alignment, not to mention the unspoken sense of adult social
regression that comes with that alignment for adults.   Though the
line between "adult" and "adolescent" is, in fact, hardly clear, our
institutional divisions over the years--connected with age--have
cemented in our national mythology a sense of what is, and is not,
"adult."

(Of course, what we seem to mean by "scientific research" can
hardly talk about national mythology and its covert influence on
adult motivation--however, I claim it anyway--based on
philosophical theory.)

There is much more to this; however, your comment about
alignment is right on.  I will be interested to hear what others have
to say about it.

On your first point about academic freedom, you say:

"I remember those heady days in the 60's when I was
on-campus, and this idea was openly debated, protected, and
cherished (although a few heads got bashed in the process.)"

To this I would only say that academic freedom is hardly a
false, pie-in-the-sky ideal held over from the sixties.   I think
it's worth fighting for, which apparently we are being called
to do.  Do we need a bigger flag waving in our faces, or what?

Regards,

Catherine King





--- Original Message -----
From: Debbie Yoho <dwyoho at earthlink.net>
To: NLA LIST <nla at lists.literacytent. org>
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [NLA] but wait, there's more--USDE web site


> POsted to the list as this relevant to advocacy for literacy, although the
> beginning of the dialog between Catherine and me was off list).
>
> From Catherine:
>
> ..."Here, secular means that the political institutions are separate from,
> but related to through dialogue, the vast institutions of education.  It's
> a tenuous relationship. But it is based on a basic separateness that
allows
> fields
> of study and education to be open to new meaning outside
> of the controlling "cover" of political ideology telling us what
> we can and cannot read or study; and it allows a freedom of
> thought, ideas, research, speech, press, etc. to emerge from
> open dialogue in the University, etc."....
>
> Ah, Catherine, what a lovely framing of academic freedom!  I remember
those
> heady days in the 60's when I was on-campus, and this idea was openly
> debated, protected, and cherished (although a few heads got bashed in the
> process.)
>
> However, as anyone who has worked in an elementary or high school would, I
> think, agree, academic freedom does not exist in the K-12 system.  As a
> principal, I was forced more than once to explain this to my teachers.
>
> With respect to the AELS, I could make the case that the absence of
> academic freedom at the K-12 level represents an argument to position
adult
> education alongside higher ed, and not beside K-12 schooling.
>
> Especially in the current political climate (tipping my hat to George for
a
> minute), I'm wondering if working for a national mandate to place the AELS
> alongside higher ed could be a way to foster the flexibility and
philosophy
> that we need to improve program quality.  This would also associate the
> AELS more directly with research.
>
> So I put it to the list:  What do y'all think?  Would those of us who are
> not already working alongside higher ed be better off if the AELS money
> flowed through them, instead of K-12?
>
> Deborah W. Yoho
> Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
> President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
> Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
> 2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
> 803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net
>
>
>
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