[NLA] ILD, Women, and Literacy

Sat Sep 7 09:59:28 EDT 2002

Barbara's question--what more do we need to show policymakers to get the 
level of funding needed for adult and family literacy?--seems to be 
predicated on the assumption that policymakers share with her the goal of 
attaining high levels of literacy and educational achievement for all in the 
U.S., that they just don't understand the connection "teach the mother, 
reach the child," and that the problem the field faces is providing enough 
evidence to enough policymakers to make the case for needed funding.

I see the problem differently--I don't think policymakers (and those they 
represent) want full literacy, because they do understand the power of 
literacy, the connection between literacy and democracy, and the threat to 
the ever accelerating development of oligarchy that is hidden by the belief 
that this country has already achieved democracy. I don't think this 
understanding, or the decision to stifle democratic development through 
suppressing educational achievement, is fully conscious or intentional, but 
I think it exists nonetheless. If we put literacy into the contexts of 
history, economics, and politics (both domestic and global), I think the 
discussion and framing of the problem of underfunding changes, and the 
solutions change as well. I wonder about the levels of historical literacy, 
economic literacy, and political literacy among researchers and 
practitioners? How does knowledge of forces outside of education affect our 
understanding of literacy policy and practice?

>From: Barbara McDonald <bmcdonal at mail.sdsu.edu>
>Reply-To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Subject: Re: [NLA] ILD, Women, and Literacy
>Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 09:02:05 -0700
>
>When I read Tom Sticht's note on women and literacy, I was left with a
>familiar nagging question.  How can we look at the research evidence Tom
>and I presented supporting adult education  and its transfer to other
>social issues and not put significant federal and state resources toward
>adult education, womens and parents issues?  What more would we (the field)
>have to show policy makers?  I have never seen a satisfactory connection
>between research and policy - and this is a perfect example - but could it
>be more effective?  I leave this question for the group to discuss.  The
>conversations on this listserve about the helpfulness of research in
>informing policy have never been resolved.
>
>As for me, I continue to study adult education participants who have
>children.  My colleague Patricia Scollay and I still believe "teach the
>mother, reach the child" and "teach the parent, reach the child."  In our
>research we have talked extensively with more than a hundred parents
>receiving adult literacy services in the state of California.  We have also
>talked to their tutors.  We have now completed two years of interviews with
>them and are starting our third.  Our intent is to hear these parents
>stories and try to understand how their lives have been affected by
>education and how this is impacting the lives of their children.  If you
>would like to know more about this research and our findings, contact us at
>bmcdonal at mail.sdsu.edu.
>
>Barbara McDonald
>Department of Psychology
>San Diego State University
>San Diego, California
>
> >Celebrating International Literacy Day, September 8, 2002
> >
> >Teach the Mothers and Reach The Children
> >
> >Thomas G. Sticht
> >International Consultant in Adult Education
> >
> >Traditionally, nations have emphasized the education and literacy
> >development of boys and men. The failure to focus resources on girls and
> >women shows itself in the international literacy statistics compiled by
> >UNESCO. From 1980 to 1995, the illiterate population of men fell from 327
> >to 318 million, while the numbers of illiterate women grew from 551 to 
>565
> >million (Aksornkool, 2001).
> >
> >Typically, providing educational services to adults stimulates a greater
> >interest on the part of parents, especially mothers, to become involved
> >with the education of their children. Research by Wider Opportunities for
> >Women (WOW) in Washington, DC studied the effects of women's 
>participation
> >in workforce basic skills training on (1) their behavior toward their
> >children, (2) their interactions with teachers and participation in 
>school
> >activities, and (3) their children's behavior in school (Van Fossen &
> >Sticht, 1991).
> >
> >WOW trains welfare mothers in the work skills needed for higher paying,
> >non-traditional jobs for women, such as carpentry. WOW also teaches women
> >reading and mathematics skills using materials from the jobs for which
> >they are training. In their research on how a mother's education affects
> >behavior with her children, they found that as a result of their
> >participation in the job training and basic skills programs mothers spent
> >more time with their children talking about school, helping with 
>homework,
> >reading  with their children, going to and helping with school activities
> >and they talked more with teachers about their children's education. The
> >WOW mothers also  reported that their children liked and attended school
> >more, and they showed improvements in their school grades,
> >test scores,and reading.
> >
> >Research for UNESCO (Sticht & McDonald, 1990) illustrates the effects of
> >girl's and women's education on children and their educational 
>development
> >at various stages from before birth to the school years:
> >
> >Before Pregnancy
> >Better educated girls/women show higher economic productivity; better
> >personal health care; lower fertility rates; and hence they produce
> >smaller families. The latter, in turn, is related to the preschool
> >cognitive development of children and their subsequent achievement in
> >school.
> >
> >During Pregnancy and at Birth
> >Better educated women provide better pre-natal care; produce more full
> >term babies; provide better post-natal care and this results in babies
> >with fewer learning disabilities.
> >
> >Before Going To School
> >Better educated women produce better children's health care; better
> >cognitive, language, and pre-literacy development; and better preparation
> >for schoolwork.
> >
> >During The School Years
> >Better educated women produce higher participation rates in schooling;
> >better management of homework; better advocacy for children's education
> >and negotiation of school/child conflicts; and they produce children who
> >achieve higher levels of education and literacy.
> >
> >All this suggests that this year when the world celebrates International
> >Literacy Day, we should pay special attention to the need for resources 
>to
> >provide literacy educational opportunities to the millions of illiterate
> >women who will bring the next generation of children into the world. We
> >should remember that, when we teach the mothers, we reach the children!
> >
> >References
> >Aksornkool, N. (2001). Literacy: A key to Empowering Women Farmers. 
>Paris:
> >United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
> >
> >Sticht, T. & McDonald, B. (1990). Teach the Mother and Reach the Child:
> >Literacy Across Generations. Geneva: UNESCO International Bureau of
> >Education.
> >
> >Van Fossen, S. & Sticht, T. (1991, July). Teach the Mother and Reach the
> >Child: Results of the Intergenerational Literacy Action Research Project
> >of Wider Opportunities for Women. Washington, DC: Wider Opportunities for
> >Women.
> >
> >Additional Resources
> >Mason, J. & Kerr, B. (1992). Literacy transfer from parents to children 
>in
> >the preschool years. In: T. Sticht,  M. Beeler, & B. McDonald (Eds.) The
> >Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Skills. Vol. II: Theory and
> >Research in Cognitive Science. Norwood, NJ: ABLEX.
> >
> >Sticht, T. (1983, February). Literacy and Human Resources Development at
> >Work: Investing in the Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of
> >Children. Professional Paper 2-83. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources
> >Research Organization. (ERIC No. ED 262 201)
> >
> >Sticht, T., Beeler, M., & McDonald, B. (Eds.) (1992). The
> >Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Skills. Vol. I: Programs, Policy,
> >and Research Issues. Norwood, NJ: ABLEX.
> >
> >Contact:
> >Tom Sticht
> >tsticht at aznet.net
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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>
>
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