[NLA] Media Alert

[Catherine King]

Art:

I have also seen what you call the "pervasive attitude"
among many "haves" who say, "I've got mine," etc.

The problem is complex; however, while the above 
attitude often blocks the way to arguments for funding
education as a liberal social program,  the attitude does 
not block the way to arguments for education as a 
continuing necessity for a strong democracy.    

We all "have" and, we may presume, want to keep, a
strong democracy-capitalist-commonwealth if any of
us has it.   

Though 

(1) education-as-social-programming or 
(2) education-as-psychological growth, or even 
(3) education-as-workforce-development 

are legitimate parts of our efforts, the connection of 
(4) education-of-the-citizen-polity  to democracy is the 
argument that strikes at what is important to ALL of us 
over the long term, as well as internationally, AND it 
strikes at what unifies all of us, including the "haves" 
and the "have-nots."

Though many of the "haves" may be heavily invested
in keeping the poor and uneducated "down" (similar
in principle to colonization), in the long run greed is 
a disease that will kill the democracy we all need and, 
in the long run, is often the forerunner of violent 
revolution (note Argentina, though I do not want to 
simplify that situation).   

Even though many legislators, etc., are among the "haves"
and may carry the attitude you speak of (often born of 
never having "been there") , when faced with the argument 
of the importance and connection of education to democracy 
(ala Jefferson) their resistance cannot be reduced to placing 
the "responsibility for illiteracy directly back to the 7 year old 
child," as if educating our poor children and adults were some 
sort of temporary "gift from above" they arrogantly and stupidly 
refuse, so "too bad for them."   

With the education-to-democracy argument, it's "too bad for
all of us."

Even if a child or adult does refuse an education, that refusal 
becomes an impetus for more, not less, efforts to educate on 
the part of those who are in power--IF an understanding of the 
relationship between education and democracy is in place.  

By the way, it takes a lot of pounding to close down a child's
questions no matter what "class" they come from or language
they speak.  This fact, coupled with the number of "recalcitrant" 
children and adults moving through our system belies the 
argument that "nothing is wrong with the educational system-
establishment-methods.  Rather it's the child or adult's "'fault.'"   

Also, if there IS an attitude problem in some cases, and I'm
sure there is, perhaps that points to something wrong in the 
**whole** conversation picture, of which our educational systems 
are a controlling part.     

While there is some truth to all of us taking responsibility for
our own education as a central part of our lives, the ground still 
must be laid for this horizon to develop, across--the-board, 
instead of setting up the conditions for failure, which is what we 
do in many cases.  I wouldn't let that argument stand for a minute.

Perhaps I have beat this drum too long; however, perhaps also
the "haves" may never break with their "bootstraps" mentality.

But that position is wedded to "education as gift" from taxpayer-
benefactors rather than "education as responsibility" of taxpayers-
in a democracy who at least give lip service to democratic
principles.  This is where the haves and the have-nots already
share the ground.  But as long as we maintain the "gift" 
underpinning, we are playing in the "haves" ballpark and will 
only win piecemeal if at all.

Catherine King
        
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Art LaChance 
  To: nla at lists.literacytent.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 5:52 AM
  Subject: Re: [NLA] Media Alert


  Kathleen, 
  I believe what we're dealing with here is a pervasive attitude among a large section of the "haves".  The attitude says basically "I got mine, you get yours, and if you don't it's not my problem".  Now the real problem here is that all who espouse this attitude are protected from responsibility in the issue, and can readily find support within the upper echelons of management, administration, political arenas, education, media, etc etc. I've heard so many times that I can't count that "We provide a quality education and if the child doesn't get it then there must be something wrong with the child", or the adult for that matter because I see the same attitude carried over into adult literacy services. 
  One of my pet peeves is the rate at which we label children with LD (real or not) and assign the responsibility for illiteracy directly back to the 7 year old child.  There's that attitude again. 
  It's already been suggested here and elsewhere that sooner or later the number of low-skill workers will eclipse the number of low-skill jobs available.  Then what?  These folks are going to feed their families, are they not?  Doesn't take a math genius to do the numbers here. 
  I aggree with you and definitely see opportunity, and need, to re-educate and reduce the influence. 
  Art 
    

  Art LaChance 
  Gilmer Learning Center 
  Ellijay, GA 
    

  KathleenBombach at aol.com wrote: 

    One of the ways we can help shape the public discourse is to react quickly whenever media images are negative about literacy and people with limited literacy. 
    I watch many news shows, and if I hear one more commentator ridicule Florida voters who had trouble reading and marking ballots, reading voting instructions, etc., I may lose it. It happened again just this weekend. I may make this my current literacy quest--alerting everyone when literacy and/or individuals who are or could be literacy learners are ridiculed and/or insulted. then I have a good excuse for keeping the news channels on. 
    Of course, correspondence needs to be polite and sincere, so that the media person who commits the offense knows we just want to help him or her understand the issues. Short is also better. 
    So here is a list of the worst and most recent offenders: 
    Tucker Carlson 
    Crossfire 
    CNN 
    New York Magazine 
    Talk Magazine 
    Weekly Standard 
    www.cnn.com/cnn/programs/crossfire 
    the email button is on the right of the page title 
    Fred Barnes 
    Weekly Standard 
    Fox News 
    www.foxnews.com/beltwayboys/ 
    there is an 'email the show' button midpage 

    Sean Hannity 
    Fox News 
    www.foxnews/hannityandcolmes/ 
    there is an email button in the upper middle of the page 

    I will entitle these notices "Media Alert" so everyone knows we are asking for some work here--an email or a letter. This has worked for other groups, so it is worth a shot. In the future I will give the day of the show with the offending description along with the name of who said something offensive. 
    Kathleen Bombach 
      
     

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/nla-nifl-archive/attachments/20020108/f9de0bf6/attachment.htm