[NLA] Meeting Adult Literacy Needs: Reality vs Rhetoric

[Catherine King]

Tom and Colleagues:

Your recent note says, in part:

"The United States needs 'world class' literacy and 
numeracy skills if it is to remain a leader in real output
per capita, economic growth, productivity, and 
competitiveness in the 21st century," and, 

"The Press Release quoted Secretary of Education 
Richard Riley as saying, 'This report is a wake-up call 
to the sheer magnitude of illiteracy in this country and 
underscores literacy's strong connection to economic 
status."

Apparently, and unlike Riley's assumption, it seems the 
controllers of the economy--some of whom at least are the 
people who run businesses--think the economy will run just 
fine, thank you, without our adults being trained.   

Unfortunately if it is true that business runs the economy and
they doesn't think they need US adults trained to do so, or are
so short-sighted as not to understand their own long-term
real-needs, then this implies that this behind-the-curtain "THEY" 
are also running the political order, better known as the
U.S. Government, or another word for it--our "Commonwealth."
What does this inaction and quiet mean?  

The ominous implications are much larger than the adult
education system, but for us it says--at least--that adults have 
little political voice and that no one is listening or cares, and
perhaps it's time to take another view of the matter.  

Some literature in other camps suggests that trans-national 
corporations (like those involved with NAFTA) have so 
disconnected themselves from national issues and national 
identity, and have so much invested in keeping "third world" 
economies in third-world states that they are, in fact, 
drifting the U.S. into a third world split where workers--our
adults--though different in many regards, are basically in  the 
same state of economic dependence cum political isolation 
that exists in these other countries-states.    And this suits
corporate lawyers and CEO's just fine.

For this kind of thought, if it exists, adult education and 
political voice is anathema--or anti-NAFTA--and a great
threat to corporate "development" in a trans-national arena
that thinks it depends on no particular political geography--
e.g., the U.S.--and furthermore has economic and political 
investments in keeping adults dependent and ignorant of 
their potential political voice in a democratic situation--if
we still live in one.  When someone has this much power,
there is no such thing as "trans-political." 
 
It seems to me that 

(1) if all the signs are there and still no one acts, as is the case, 

(2) if begging doesn't work, which we should not have to do,
     but as is the case, 

(3) if the powers-that-be do not understand the connection 
between their economy and adult education or worse, if
"they" consider adult education as a threat to **their** 
economy, as it looks like is the case on one count if not both, 

then we are not only in the wrong pew, but the church is
on fire.

I have argued this before, along with George Demetrion and
others--the relationship of adult education to democracies
and to the U.S. Constitution is one of identity and wedlock.
We think democracy is a given, and that the powers-that-be
share our views.  

But obviously, if Tom's note is true, something is missing 
in our own understanding of the matter--and perhaps its time 
to fund a political organization rather than another research 
report.

Regards,

Catherine King
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Education
National University
San Diego, CA



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Thomas Sticht <tsticht at aznet.net>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Cc: <tsticht at aznet.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 1:26 PM
Subject: [NLA] Meeting Adult Literacy Needs: Reality vs Rhetoric


> Research Note   2/17/02
> Tom Sticht
> 
> Meeting the Education and Literacy Needs of 
> Adults in the United States: Reality vs Rhetoric
> 
> In 1983,  the influential report entitled "A Nation At Risk" hit a
> rhetorical high in trying to scare the American public and government
> policymakers into spending more on education. It began, "Our Nation is
> at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry,
> science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors
> throughout the world.the educational foundations of our society are
> presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our
> very future as a Nation and a people. .If an unfriendly foreign power
> had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance
> that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." 
> 
> The report went on to sound the alarm that among the "educational
> dimensions of the risk before us" was the finding that "Some 23 million
> American adults are functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of
> everyday reading, writing, and comprehension." For the next three years
> after this startling revelation, the funding for the Adult Education and
> Literacy System (AELS) averaged almost a flat line at FY 84-$160million,
> FY85-$166million, FY86-$156million (constant 2001 dollars). 
> 
> A decade after the 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report, the results  of the
> National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) came out in 1993. The headline of
> the Press Release about the report from the U. S. Secretary of
> Education's office carried the dire warning in all caps "LITERACY LEVELS
> DEFICIENT FOR 90 MILLION ADULTS." The Press Release quoted Secretary of
> Education Richard Riley as saying, "This report is a wake-up call to the
> sheer magnitude of illiteracy in this country and underscores literacy's
> strong connection to economic status." Following this "wake-up call,"
> for the next three years the funding for the AELS dropped over eight
> percent from FY94-$301million, FY95-$290, to FY96-$275million (constant
> 2001 dollars).  
> 
> Now, almost a decade after the release of the NALS report, comes another
> report entitled "The Twin Challenges of Mediocrity and Inequality:
> Literacy in the U.S. from an International Perspective." This report,
> released by the Educational Testing Service in February 2002, uses data
> from the International Adult Literacy Survey and indicates that the
> average literacy skills of U.S. adults 16-65 years of age are only good
> enough to rank in the middle range of 19 highly industrialized nations
> and are therefore just "mediocre." Further, the range of scores between
> the 10th  percentile and the 90th percentile are among the largest in
> these nations indicating a greater inequality of literacy among U.S.
> adults than in most other nations in the study. 
> 
> The report goes on to resurrect the specter of skills  "mediocrity" and
> to make economic arguments similar to those of the 1983 A Nation At Risk
> report and states (p. 30) that "The United States needs "world class"
> literacy and numeracy skills if it is to remain a leader in real output
> per capita, economic growth, productivity, and competitiveness in the
> 21st century. "After making several arguments for what the report's
> authors believe are policy relevant findings, the report goes on to
> state that "If these arguments are accepted, then the current mediocrity
> and inequality in the distribution of literacy skills in the U.S. must
> be accepted as preeminent national problems and priorities." 
> 
> In the same month of February 2002, President Bush released his FY 2003
> budget proposal for the AELS in which he requested the same amount of
> funding for FY03, $575 million, as was available for FY02. If eventually
> accepted by Congress, this would result in an inflation adjusted
> decrease in funding for the AELS in FY03. The President's budget
> proposal also calls for reducing the number of job training programs for
> youth and adults from 48 to 28. 
> 
> What is striking about these three reports spanning almost two decades
> is that each time the reports were released with strong crisis rhetoric
> such as "at risk," "act of war," "wake-up call," "preeminent national
> problems and priorities,"  it as though no one, often even those who
> used it, believed the rhetoric about the need for adult education and
> literacy development. Each report was followed for up to three years by
> either no additional funding or by actual decreases in funding (using
> constant 2001 dollars) for the Adult Education and Literacy System of
> the United States. 
> 
> These findings seem consistent with one conclusion from the report on
> mediocrity and inequality in international perspective when it notes
> that the United States ". accepts in fact, if not in rhetoric, a basic
> skills underclass." (p.32) 
> 
>  
> NOTE:The report entitled "The Twin Challenges of Mediocrity and
> Inequality: Literacy in the U.S. from an International Perspective" can
> be obtained at:http://www.ets.org/research/pic/twinchall.pdf
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