[NLA] Re: NIFL Dear Colleague Letter, House & Senate

[George E. Demetrion]

Colleagues:

My comments last night should not be construed as criticism of the effort
led by Jon and David to galvanize the field in response to the
anticipated direction of NIFL in the choice of the next Director.  It was
an important initiative for the various reasons that individuals have
stated, whether or not in the final analysis it has any impact in
influencing the direction of NIFL in the coming months and years.  The
inability to get a Republican to co-sign a letter in the Senate was not
due to any lack of trying or planning.  Congratulations are in order for
a well-crafted and well-executed effort.  

However, I do want to make sure we're not putting a happy face on various
political realities that shortly may descend on the land of adult
literacy from the political and intellectual Right,  that is likely to be
imminently reflected on the fate and direction of NIFL.   I've mentioned
various concerns in recent messages and won't belabor them this evening,
except to highlight the three that concern me the most:

a)  Whether EFF is up for imminent demise, the marganilization of its
original mission, or some type of substantial transformation in its
current orientation and direction. Given the development, energy,  and
expenses that have gone into EFF during the past 8 year, has its original
vision of serving as a consensual framework to bring  broad unity to the
field in the merging a student-centered, constructivist philosophy of
learning with current and desired policy objectives, in the realm of
work, family, and community settings, been abandoned?  Will the effort as
a whole be dissolved?  Is this something we can have public discussion
about that includes official spokespersons before any such decisions are
made?  As an aside, it's interesting to me that none of these issues have
been raised on the NIFL-EFF listserv.

b)  What changes (if any) are anticipated in Lincs and the listserv? 
Will freedom of speech be eroded?  We already hear of people placing on
themselves an internal censor about posting certain messages on NIFL
listservs.  Is there a basis in fact for such apprehensions?  Assuming
the focus of NIFL increasingly shifts toward childhood literacy (a trend
that may not be in the works), are there plans to eliminate, or restrict 
the listservs.  Is this apprehension on my part unfounded, or, given the
current political culture of the Bush Administration , does it have a
solid basis in reality?  Are  individuals in official authority willing
and able to speak to this issue?  

c)  I also have certain reservations about the trend toward scientific
focus in education as the prevailing legitimizing view of educational
research.  Not that I reject science as defined by some of the studies,
but I don't view its post-postivistic philosophy as inherently any more
truth bearing or objective than other modes of knowing.  Thus, I don't
reject it.  I reject its domination.  

I can't go into this issue tonight, though the short of it is in how
canons of academic disciplines established and how do they apply to such
practitioner-based and interdisciplinary fields like education.  Without
going into more detail now, the question for the evening is whether  the
new NIFL administration is open to the broader range of research that
stems from the qualitative research as well or will these schools of
thought and work stemming from them be viewed as second class citizens? 
This,  too, is no small matter, particularly given that intellectual
taproot  of EFF stems much more from qualitative research traditions than
post-positivistic science.  Admittedly, this is a technical issue, but
goes to the core of how power mediates knowledge, which is as much a
creation of political ideology as it is of  "value-free" science--at
least that's how I see it, a point of view that is backed up by a broad
range of scholarship.

In short, I seek to raise some weighty matters about the direction of
adult literacy education as may be articulated through NIFL forums,
products, and services over the next few years.  My comments last night
pertain to these matters and to these matters only.  Are these questions
and concerns worthy of serious discussion on the NLA and EFF lists?

George Demetrion
Gdemetrion at juno.com


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