No subject

Several things happened about 30 years ago (give or take). 1) the military draft
went away. 2) the self-esteem movement took hold 3) we switched from phonics
based language ed to whole language.  4) Public education lost two things: all
those old style teachers who knew how to teach reading, and classroom
discipline.
Therefore the actual overall 'demand' for 'education' also went away and has not
returned, and I don't see anything on the horizon to regenerate that demand.
The draft stands a chance of coming back, but whatever positive changes to
societal structure that may bring with it will be a long time coming, I would
think that there will be so much resistance to the draft that we may never see
it again in the same light.  I remember clearly when I was in grade school that
nobody 'quit school' for several reasons, one of which was that the Army came to
get you and put your butt in a muddy foxhole dodging bullets.  I also remember
clearly receiving 'three licks' in almost every grade up to and including the
9th, for testing the acceptable behavior parameters.  I remember clearly that
'grades' meant something then too.  What you got was what you got and then you
had to take them home and explain it to mom/dad (which seldom reaped positive
results - always room for improvement!).   50's and very early 60's time frame.
Add to that scenario the multitudinous opportunities for unskilled labor that
have opened up during that time.  No academic skills necessary to make a living
wage and pay for that new truck, new wife, new three kids etc.
So now, today, here in America, where is the social demand for education>?  I
don't see it.  What I do see is a society that has no means of generating the
impetus for children to learn how to learn other than individual families
(mostly upper middle class to affluent) that generate their own follow-through
with their children's education.
Support for that comes from the well known philosophy that uneducated families
have uneducated children, for the most part.  CA has just cut ed funding and
increased prison funding ??  How fast is the prison pop exploding and what is
the average education level>?  "As goes California, so goes the rest of the
Union">?

Look around.  We appear to be undermining ourselves.  Look at the degree of
layoffs from industrial America, which attracted folks with low education to low
skill jobs.  Now years down the road those folks are out looking for equivalent
$$ in the job mkt and probably won't find it.  Does that mean that they will go
back to get an education? Not for long, not after they learn that it's going to
take several years of one hour classes once a week (which is all they can afford
in time due to single mom/several kid scenario, or any of several other similar
pictures) to bring their reading level up from grade 5 to GED level.
Diminishing returns takes it's toll.

And what do we show in terms of provision of services?  Contact hours?  Student
numbers?  Level completers?  Standards all set in place by folks with K12
backgrounds, or no ed background at all?  I don't see how we can get there from
here using standards of performance/funding that don't exclude the 'mandated
attendance' factor.  And I hate to continually use the old adage of '...make the
horse drink....."  But reality is reality, where is the 'need'?  It doesn't do
us much good to generate the need after the fact and that is what we in adult
literacy are attempting to do - talk them into it - hopefully before they end up
in jail for trying to feed themselves or their families.

Art


Art LaChance
Gilmer Learning Center
Ellijay, GA










Eileen Eckert wrote:

> Hi Catherine, and others,
> Catherine, you're right that the themes I listed are consistent with the
> ideals of western democracy. I was operating mainly in the framework of
> cognitive psychology, but I think Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, for
> example, has its own roots in the fundamentally democratic work of Jon
> Dewey. While you see what I've written through the lens of your work on
> building/protecting democracy (sorry, I can't do justice to your position),
> my own experiences with liberation work that is not so classically "western"
> also heavily influence my ideas.
>
> Involvement in anti-apartheid and other human rights work; travel to EL
> Salvador and study of Latin American revolutionary struggles and the role of
> popular education and literacy work in those struggles; community organizing
> here; learning within a progressive framework; past participation in
> program-, regional-, and state-level policymaking; extending teacher-student
> and colleague relationships to know the people I've worked with beyond their
> official roles--all of these and other experiences contribute to my current
> level of understanding. They're also mostly outside the scope of teacher
> preparation and certification mandates. I wouldn't say that everybody should
> have the same experience and background, but I would argue vehemently
> against policy that privileges one approach/philosophy of learning to the
> exclusion or marginalization of others, or that sets boundaries that can
> fence us into too small an arena. I would also say that the broader our
> conception of the field, and our willingness to include many different
> voices in the discussion, the more effective and powerful we will be. That's
> another reason I think it's so important that we look at the basic
> assumptions we make and the (often tacit) mental models we apply to our
> advocacy work.
>
> This thread has reminded me of a diversity-training workshop I once
> attended, where one participant refused to leave the level of political
> analysis and look inward at his own personal beliefs and actions. While it's
> certainly important to be able to analyze the world, I believe we also need
> to be able to look at ourselves. I asked if people would share the personal
> principles that guide their own actions. A couple have used my own as the
> basis for further dialogue, but no one has shared their individual view of
> the "big picutre" or the principles they bring to advocacy efforts. I don't
> want to make assumptions about why this is so. Maybe most people deleted my
> message without reading it, or just aren't interested in this line of
> dialogue. Maybe this list doesn't feel like a safe place to share personal
> reflections. I know I hesitated to share my own, and what I shared is more
> academic and less "me" than it would be if I were <entirely> among friends.
> But if we are going to advocate for policy that affects the field as a
> whole, don't we have some responsibility to both engage in reflection about
> how it all fits together, and to be accountable to ourselves by being open
> about what we're advocating, and why?
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
>
> _______________________________________________
> NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
> http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
> LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
> http://literacytent.org

_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org