[NLA] Does poor literacy equal poverty?

[Janet Isserlis]

Deborah

It is important to work against deficit views of learners, yes.  But 
I think we need better, clearer ways of articulating the larger 
systemic connections -- poverty, access to education, opportunity -- 
that do, in fact, affect learning for kids who then become adults.

Janet

>Andrea: A thought-provoking question. In recent years, I've found 
>myself down-playing the fact that a majority of the adult learners 
>in our program live in poverty. The stereotypes associated with poor 
>people seemed to aggravate an image of literacy learners as 
>helpless, lazy, non-productive individuals who are a drag on society 
>and at best only deserve our pity. The ws expecially a problem 
>during the Welfare "Reform" movement. Instead I prefer to speak of 
>our learners as courageous, hard-working adults who have far more in 
>common with the mainstream than differences, because their hopes and 
>dreams for a better future, and desire to learn, are more 
>significant than their current income level in terms of why services 
>should be provided. I am also uncomfortable with the "literacy is a 
>good investment" idea, which argues the need for services in terms 
>of what the rest of us can get out of other human beings. So yes,I 
>think posing poor literacy alongside poverty is indeed a! "no-no".
>
>
>Deborah W. Yoho
>Moderator, NIFL-Health Discussion Group
>Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
>2728 Devine St. Columbia, SC 29205
>803-765-2555 <mailto:dwyoho at earthlink.net>dwyoho at earthlink.net
>
>
>
>
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