[NLA] Discussion: Media and Adult Education

[PDRNRI@aol.com]

Everyone, 

I would like to make a few quick points in regard to the ongoing discussion 
of Media and public perception of the need for AE investment.

First, while the generalization of the term "return on investment" may 
suggest a capitalist-heavy cultural tendency (we do this all the time -- 
witness the myriad uses of militaristic words like "war" "task force", etc.) 
and that we should indeed be critical of the words we choose to use, I have 
to agree with David Rosen -- in this case we are specifically discussing a 
campaign to convince the public that the ongoing education of adults is 
somehow "worth"  an investment of tax dollars.  What it may be "worth" to 
Corporate America, of course, may be radically different from what it may be 
worth to, say, a Latino community action organization, or a workers' rights 
organization.  Thus, a campaign to create a real groundswell of public 
support would have to be constructed around a clear understanding of why 
"mainstream" America thinks lifelong education is or isn't worth the 
investment, and what would make it seem worthwhile in the eyes of 
"mainstream" America.  

Personally, I get the strong sense that Adult Education simply isn't 
something "mainstream" America thinks about very much at all.  Even among 
educators, I am regularly asked to explain what Adult Education "is".  Adult 
Education tends to work in the margins, with people who struggle to access 
the opportunities and rights that are largely invisible to those who have 
them.   It isn't a mainstream issue. 

The possibility that AE isn't even on the radar for mainstream Americans 
suggests that a public awareness campaign would need to make an issue out of 
something that isn't an issue to them already (contrast this with, say, an 
antismoking campaign). Thus, the appeal would do well to go initially to an 
issue which Americans are familiar with and already embrace, such as equal 
opportunity.  While they may not be aware of the range of barriers in place 
which limit access to the social and economic opportunity they enjoy (and 
uncomfortable or ambiguous about eliminating some of them), mainstream 
Americans are probably largely in agreement that equal opportunity is 
critical to our national well-being, and that education lays the foundation 
for equal opportunity.  By painting a picture of the opportunities denied to 
people of all ages, races, and beliefs -- and with an equally wide range of 
reasons for not having been well educated in the K-12 system -- we can 
generate public support for the idea that people who have not been well 
educated deserve to be educated because it is as much their right as anyone 
else's, regardless of whether they are over 18 or under 18.  

Another avenue of appeal to an idea already familiar with mainstream America 
would be focusing on the payoff to children.  This was the angle seized upon 
by RI Education Commissioner Peter McWalters during a recent interview on our 
local NPR affiliate.  While the focus of the discussion with McWalters was on 
improving K-12 performance, he made the connection for listeners that 
education for adults is critical to creating home environments which foster 
education for children.  This is a notion many Americans have heard before in 
some form (via campaigns appealing to parents to read to their children, for 
example).  

David Hayes