[NLA] Volunteers and credentials

[David Godsted]

> Why is it 
> that I should expect a person to have knowledge of adult education, to devote
> his or her life to adult education, but shouldn't pay this person? The
> majority of people that work in literacy should have expertise in literacy and
> should be dedicated to the field. This dedication and expertise must be
> compensated. 
> 
> Just becuase you do one to one with a learning disabled individual  restricted
> to a limited environment does not mean that the person doing it shouldn't
> have expertise and not be adequately compensated. Why aren't you paying the
> people that do one to one? Answer: The govenrment does not think that the
> people receiving training are worth their investment. They will not give you
> moeny so that you can hire someone with expertise in learning disabilities,
> etc to facilitate literacy. So, the only way that you can provide a service is
> by relying on volunteers. If I gave you a grant to pay 50 people to do one to
> one work in the community, would you turn me down?
> 

This is the heart of our difference, Andres.  You are equating payment with
expertise.  

We recently held a regional professional development event just up the road
from you in Las Cruces.  The Coalition trainer who was facilitating the
event is an expert in community based literacy and adult basic education.

Since my organization provides professional development opportunities for
both community based and classroom based literacy programs, we invited ABE
teachers as well as community based tutors to get together and participate.

You may find this hard to believe, but the community based tutors came into
the training with far more teaching preparation than the ABE teachers had
ever received.  Thanks to Laubach and LVA accreditation initiatives,
volunteer tutors are required to have from 15-18 hours of tutor training
prior to being matched up with a student.  ABE teachers have no such
requirement.

Why should you expect a person to have knowledge of adult education, to
devote his or her life to adult education, but shouldn't expect to pay the
person?  Because the person desires it.  Don't expect it.  We will be there
anyway.

Don't forget my previous point, that these services are complementary to ABE
services in the sense that these volunteers help the hardest to serve in one
to one settings.  Again, there are many people out there who need these
services but either cannot or will not receive them from a traditional
classroom.

Yes, the people delivering the services in a one to one environment should
have adequate expertise.  Guess what?  They do.  Should they be paid for it?
If they want to.  If they don't want to, it means they are doing it out of
passion.  Why do you seek to remove that passion?

Again, there is no direct correlation between payment or expertise.  I'm
glad we live in a free country, where people who can choose to volunteer.
No, this dedication and expertise must *not* be compensated.  These are
choices individuals make, like the adult learner who chooses to receive
their services from community based programs.

If you are looking for a program where a community based program co-exists
with an ABE program, Dona Ana Branch Community College is one half hour
north of El Paso on I-10.  If you give me that grant to pay 50 people to
provide one to one services, I would very much like to use the money to pay
the hard working staff that operate these programs.  In fact, in New Mexico,
these kinds of grants are exactly what the Coalition for Literacy provide to
community based programs.
-- 
David Godsted, Executive Director
New Mexico Coalition for Literacy
3209 B Mercantile Court, Santa Fe, NM 87505
1-800-233-7587
dgodsted at nmcl.org - http://www.nmcl.org

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