[NLA] Andrea's question

[Thomas Sticht]

This is in response to Andrea’s questions about who does not enroll in
the AELS?
Tom Sticht

One Answer: About 90 percent of those eligible in FY 2000.

Using round numbers, in FY 2000 there were some 212 million adults in
the U. S. 16 years of age or older. Of these, about 85% had completed
four years of high school or more years of education. This means that
15%,  some 32 million, had not completed four years of high school and
were presumably qualified for enrollment in the Adult Education and
Literacy System,  if they were not currently enrolled in secondary
school and were not over the age of 61 years. Rounding down a bit to
take account of these exceptions, perhaps some 29 million adults were
eligible in 2000 for the AELS program based on the Workforce Investment
Act : Title 2 requirements . However, in fiscal year 2000 only around
2.9  million enrollments were recorded  for the AELS.  This suggests
that about 90 percent of adults qualified for education in the AELS that
year did not enroll in the AELS in FY 2000. 

Why not? Here are some speculations. 

1. Lack of knowledge. Perhaps they don’t know about the AELS and what
services it provides. I have not seen data in the U. S. about how
familiar the general adult population is with the AELS. I do know that
there is precious little media attention given to the AELS so it would
not surprise me to learn that a great many people do not know about and
therefore do not understand what the AELS does. I have found in many
meetings across the nation that often even those who are working in the
AELS do not have a general understanding of the national system of which
they are a part. 

2. Incorrect understanding. Perhaps many adults think of the AELS as an
adult literacy program where adults who can’t read go for some remedial
tutoring offered as charity help. This would not be too surprising given
the way the movies, TV and magazine articles have portrayed the pitiful
illiterate or functionally illiterate adult and his or her miraculous
"cure" with the help of a benevolent volunteer tutor (remember Iris?). 
If this is the image that lots of adults have of the AELS, and if they
do not think they have a literacy (reading,writing) problem, as
apparently 90 percent of adults do not according to NALS data, then it
is not too surprising to me that millions of adults do not take
advantage of the broader education that the AELS offers in addition to
the literacy instruction available for those who need it and want it. 

3. Barriers to attendance. A number of studies of why adults do not
participate in adult education programs have identified a number of
dispositional (e.g., I’m too old to learn, my memory is bad, etc.), 
institutional (classes too big, not what I want to learn, can’t go at
that time, etc.), and situational (have to work then, have to watch
children, no transportation,  etc)  barriers that adults say prevent
them from attending adult education classes. 

What to do? Here is what I am doing. 

While it is clear that the barriers of item 3 above need to be given
considerable attention, I have been focusing my own individual efforts
on items 1 and 2 above. I have written and presented papers in which I
have named the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States,
I have discussed its history, its accomplishments, the myths that I
think hold back the development of the AELS, and its marginalized status
as our nations third branch of publicly funded education, along with the
K-12 and higher education systems . I have reached some policy makers
and a few of the general public but mostly I’ve talked with adult
educators in the hope that by providing them with information I have
given them new insights and something new to advocate for, namely the
AELS as an adult education  system. This message is in contrast to
advocating for "adult literacy" per se. This is a worthwhile effort in
its own right, but I believe that casting the AELS as primarily an adult
second chance, remedial literacy program does not do justice to it or
the many charitable organizations who advocate for and provide adult
literacy instruction as a benevolent service, and it may turn many
adults who do not think they have a literacy problem away from
continuing their education in the AELS. 

Clearly my own efforts are too limited. Here are some other things I
think should happen.

1. I believe there needs to be a large, massive, continuing information
generation and educational activity to let the adults of the U.S. know
about the AELS and what it can do for tens of millions of them across
the life span. 

2. I think the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act should be pulled
out of the Workforce Investment Act and supported on its own as the
Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States of America
Act.  It should be funded at levels worthy of a great nation to provide
educational services of the very highest caliber with primarily full
time, professionally educated teachers and administrators working in
pleasant, well designed and maintained facilities.    

3. I think all programs in the 50 states and the territories that get
funding under this AELS/USA Act should proudly display the symbol,
Member of the AELS/USA. I believe that students should be informed that
they are studying in the AELS/USA and that they can be proud of their
educational and learning activities and the national educational system
in which they participate.

These are some ideas I will discuss with adult educators in meetings
across the U.S. this year in celebration of 35 years of the Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States of America.
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