[NLA] Low Expectations for USA Policy Makers

[Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council]

Colleagues Pat, Andrea, Catherine and others:

It's good to hear a new voice regarding the issue of expectations, Pat.
Thank you for expressing your opinion.  Keep 'em comin!

A LITTLE LONG

Pat, as a "direct services" kind of administrator, I see first-hand, in
contact with the adult learners in our program, the unfair treatment and
lack of consideration our literacy enrollees experience "out there" in
"Their Community".  Many times it breaks my heart for them.  They are so
appreciative of the respect given them wherEVER they may be employed as a
worthwhile employee.  The fact is they deserve *better* because they can
*be* even **more** of a top-notch employee to the right employer.

You raised a couple of great questions regarding this issue.  As related to
my own community, I think there's a reason behind a change in employer
attitudes:  I feel the corporations in our community have become so focused
on "the bottom line" that they no longer 'give an inch' in the employment
criteria they have for hiring employees.  In my view that requirement
follows the employee into their new job, as they enter either in secrecy
about their literacy needs or under the guise of "soft-pedaling" those
concerns.

The learners' underlying fear of being "uncovered" may be one of the reasons
it's so difficult to band together to 'give a hand up' in an advocacy effort
to support the learner's employment rights (rich vs poor -- the have's and
have not's).  Because you see somebody has to take the *lead* and it isn't
going to be the corporations!  It'll *have* to be the literacy providers!
The adults we serve here would rather we *not* tell the employer that they
have employees who have so much more to offer the corporation with the
appropriate training to bring their literacy and job skills up to the
administrative level of skills.

So perhaps I just gave my views about your questions without getting into
much detail ("...Where is the call for getting people more involved in their
communities?  Where is the call to have people organize to close the growing
gap between the rich and poor in this country and around the world? ...)
It's incredibly difficult as an advocate.

Two learners' stories came to my mind as I read your email.  Only space/time
for one - I'll choose the nearly 60-year old man over the 23 year-old woman
who has just enrolled.  In my program a volunteer meets with the folks on a
weekly basis outside this facility so I have to depend upon them to share
the intricacies of personal conversation regarding issues such as
employment.  But let me tell you what I *think* happened to him.

Some time ago, he was assigned to meet with me temporarily because his
volunteer moved away.  That's when the story began:  The learner was in a
genuine stew about a company lay-off that was being tossed about in the
company's lunch rooms.  He had been referred to us years prior to this
discussion by a supervisor who believed in his skills enough to get the man
literacy help and "hired him any way".

The guy was a hard worker, both at work and at his literacy sessions --
Mind you with a pretty debilitating LD.  And loyal???  Couldn't find someone
who was more loyal to the company.  He didn't WANT "a better job".  Earlier
that year, with his feelings flashing in his eyes, he had proclaimed to me,
"I *like* what I do!  And beSIDES!  I'm good at it!"  Well, he wasn't good
enough because not only did he get laid off?  So did his supervisor.  They
down-sized and took a lot of hard-workers with them.

It's much later now.  His new tutor told me he never found a job in the
larger metropolitan area.  It didn't matter that he had as his work history
the responsibility of watching over the work of six other employees.  His
supervisor even saw to it that he was licensed in specific skills to improve
his work skills.  His resume did not matter.  Every place he applied, the
response was 'no GED no interview'.  He doesn't have a GED nor does he want
one.  I would bet that part of it is he'd struggle to get one, his deficits
are that severe.  He struggles to read and write in our literacy materials.
He also dropped out of school at an early stage of his educational career so
he'd have to be a long-distance runner to accomplish the task.

What job did he take such personal pride in?  He was a custodial supervisor
in the prior company.  He may not have been a blue-collar worker, but he was
proud.  Today?  His tutor tells me he works part-time in a small town in the
surrounding area as a janitor.  He's the bread-winner in the family so that
whole scenerio of 6 months' unemployment had to have been devasatating, when
they likely were living paycheck-to-paycheck, and now only have a part-time
paycheck.

If he had seen the writing on the wall, would he have taken a hand-up out of
poverty?  Probably not.  He was *happy* in the place where he was and the
fortune teller didn't give him the right cards.  To just do a simple, short
literacy lesson with him was tentative from one week to the next during the
unemployment period.  He would have bad weeks when he couldn't even come up
with an answer to a question he had gotten right a hundred times before or
he'd give a totally off-the-wall answer that left *him* shaking his head!
"WHY did I say THAT???" he'd say.  To do job retraining or work on a GED at
that point?  Not a good time!  Unrealistic!

The long and the short of it?  There are no simple, swift answers.  Who IS
going to step up to the plate and give a hand to our people because it's
their right in a democracy as great as ours!?  How do we close the gap?  As
Andrea so correctly identified *this* fine man,  he truly led a "desperate
life ... supported by friends (and) family".  I don't know HOW they
survived -- with a smile that beats all!  His tutoring sessions are the
light of some weeks to him, so says Carol his volunteer.

Nancy Hansen, Ex Director
SF Area Literacy Council
Sioux Falls, SD
sfliteracy at mcleodusa.net


----- Original Message -----
From: <Awilderast at aol.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: [NLA] Low Expectations for USA Policy Makers


> Dear Pat and colleagues,
>
> I agree about the horrible gap between rich and poor in this country, it
has
> been well documented, you can read several articles about this each week
in a
> major newspaper.
>
> I also know that anyone who is without a job and without the prospect of
> getting one easily will live a desperate life unless supported by friends
or
> family.  If literacy classes lead them to a job, that's fine, not only
fine
> but excellent.
>
> Been there, done that, and I have all the literacy one could ever want.
Time
> to give others a hand up.
>
> andrea

Colleagues:

I seldom if ever reply to items on the NLA list, but I want to second what
Catherine King said about democracy and adult education.  It is unfortunate
that at a time when people need to have a voice in speaking out about where
out country is headed, many state funded adult educaton programs seem more
concerned about giving standardized tests to adults and tracking whether
they got a job -- any job (NRS).  Perhaps this is the influence of WIA where
policymakers seem more concerned about whether someone got a job or made
educational gains measured by standardized testing.  Where is the call for
getting people more involved in their communities?  Where is the call to
have people organize to close the growing gap between the rich and poor in
this country and around the world?  I no longer see this happening in much
if any of adult education in Massachusetts.  Maybe it is happening in other
places.

Pat Larson -- The Literacy Project

Site Director/Teacher -- North Quabbin Adult Education Center -- Orange, MA
01364
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