[NLA] Discourse on adult literacy

[George E. Demetrion]

On Tue, 1 Jan 2002 20:26:50 EST AWilder106 at aol.com writes:
>George,
>
>It doesn't have to be "democratic capitalism" or anything like that.  
>The only problem is to clarify terms before the argument.  Small c 
>capitalism simply opens up a potentially useful way of thinking, the way

>democracy opens up a way of thinking about social organization.  It
seems sensible to me to ask what people (us) mean when they (we) use
certain words, 
>particularly the words that get tossed around all the time--capitalism,
democracy.  
>There are probably other words whose meaning we should clarify so there
is some 
>agreement about the meaning of what we are saying.  Frankly, I like most
of 
>the hassling we have done over words--critical thinking.  I find it good
practice, keeps my mind agile, sharpens my thinking.

Andrea:

I like your heuristic form of thinking here that whatever else these
terms mean concretely, such concepts as capitalism and democracy are also
carriers of symbolic meaning, which opens up certain ways of thinking
about social and political organizations.  With you, I think it's
important to look at their symbol making function as well as their more
literal markers of certain key trends and tendencies within the US
political culture.  I'll be focusing on the latter here, while keeping
the former in the back of my mind, teasing out some of the symbolic
language as feasible as this message unfolds.

First on definitions:

The common sense understanding of capitalism is an economic system based
on private enterprise and the free market system. The latter certainly
doesn't fully describe the US economy since corporations get considerable
welfare from the government in the form of tax breaks and other support. 
Nonetheless, capitalism is historically linked to an economic system
based on private enterprise.

A self-evident manifestation of this is an emphasis on the profit motive
as the underlying dynamic of capitalism, particularly US style.  This,in
turn, translates into an emphasis on the bottom line that in turn is
mediated by cost-benefits utilitarian imagery.  This is one vision of
capitalism, clearly the dominant one in the country.

There is also another vision that stems from certain progressive
management literature as well as other historical sources linked to the
early 20th century progressive movement.  Here the emphasis in capitalism
is in its creation of wealth for the sustainability of the society and
culture.  Clearly a minority perspective in business literature and
social policy, it nonetheless posits another vision of capitalism than
that geared simply to preserving the bottom line at all costs.  

The emphasis from this perspective is in terms of long term
sustainability, human resource development and concomitant investment in
people and the creation of services and products that sustain the
vitality and health of the civic and social culture.  While clearly this
is an ideal, it's important to grasp this as an underplayed minority
business vision, yet one based on the more idealistic aspects of the
purposes and value of capitalism than the dominant one.  It is this
business vision in particular which the field promoting adult literacy
might draw on to flesh out the long term investment impact of adult
literacy education.

Now on democracy, there is certainly the political aspect of it by which
I mean much more than say, simply the right to vote or to speak your
mind.  Rather, particularly when focused on US democracy, I am referring
to the centrality of the three founding documents of this nation's
political culture--the declaration of Independence, the US Constitution,
and the Bill of Rights.  Through these documents there is expressed a
profound imagery of the importance of equality, liberty, and opportunity
supported by an underlying thread of civic responsibility and awareness
as the genius of the US political culture.  

These dimensions of lived political experience are so basic to our own
personal identities as well as our collective life together, that we
often don't see where these sources of identity come from as symbolized
in the names of Jefferson, Madison, and Washington, and yes Andrea,
Virginians and slaveholders all.  The contradiction does not spell
hypocrisy, but profound ambivalence and conflict, which has marked US
political democracy since its 18th century founding.  That does not mean
that it should not be embraced as our living political culture that is
subject always to gradual improvement and reconstruction, though without
ever ridding ourselves of the contradictions.  It is in the name of
liberty, opportunity, equality, and civic responsibility that one seeks a
discourse to situate adult literacy education in the political culture
and consciousness of this founding tradition.  This perspective is quite
compatible with the political vision underlying EFF.

There is another dimension of democracy, an extension of its political
manifestation linked to what Dewey refers to as a way of life.  According
to Dewey, this form of democracy is expressed in the "efficacy of plural,
partial, and experimental methods in securing and maintaining  an ever
increasing release of the powers of human nature, in service of a freedom
which is cooperative and a cooperation which is voluntary" such as so
much of our work together as a field.

As Dewey states it elsewhere:  "The democratic faith in human equality is
the belief that every human being, independent of quantity or range of
his personal endowment, has the right to equal opportunity with every
other person for development of whatever gifts he has.  The democratic
belief in the principle of leadership is a generous one.  It is belief in
the capacity of every person to lead his own life free from coercion and
imposition by others provided right conditions are supplied." 

So much of our daily work in the field is geared toward securing such
rights with and for students as well as ourselves as under supported
practitioners in the quest for equal opportunity to realize all that we
can through adult literacy education, with the capacity also, of
enriching the culture.  These are the blessings of liberty and democracy
for which we strive and for which we could claim a basis for public
legitimization if the field were ready to locate its source of identity
within such a framework of  *this* nation's democratic political culture.
 We do not need to go to Brazil or Europe to find our own political
identity.  neither do we need to deny that we have one in the name of
realism, postmodernism, globalization, or systems building.  rather, we
need to understand these forces within the context of our own political
culture rooted in the ethos of Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Lincoln,
Douglass, Du Bois, Addams, Dewey, and King.  What a great legacy we deny
if we  fail to grasp it!

Dewey's concept of democracy as a way of life stems from, particularly
Jeffersonian principles of political democracy as a point of view that
characterizes all phases of shared or what Dewey referred to as
associated  living.  Dewey elsewhere described such democracy as a way of
life in the following manner:  "Faith in the power of intelligence to
imagine a future which is a projection of the desirable in the present,
and to invent the instrumentalities of its realization is our salvation. 
And it is a faith which must be nurtured and made articulate."  

While such a vision sometimes characterizes our actions in a local
program setting,  a sort of sophisticated-like realism combined with a
coolish organizational style that may be more impressed with the imagery
of system building than movement mobilization could easily render such
Deweyan visionary language as hopelessly idealistic and beyond the pale
of reasonable consideration.   Yet one wonders whether such a stance is
not a form of negative self fulfillment of a highly self-sealing nature
so that if we don't even begin seriously consider the plausibility of
alternative scenarios, when they are proffered, they can be summarily
rejected.  May I add that such realism does not reflect the
constructivist vision of EFF, which has as its organizing synthesis the
imagery of the active citizen reconstructing self and mediating
institution through the efficacy of lifelong learning and intense social
collaboration.

There is finally the commonwealth vision also associated with the broader
aspects of the democratic heritage linked to the expansion of civilizing
tendencies in the culture through education and other humanizing
discourse.  Since Catherine King has discussed this extensively and I
have added a little in other messages, I will not further elaborate on
that here, simply just to note it.

In short, as requested, I sought to clarify the terms by which I am using
such concepts as capitalism and democracy and to suggest some ways that
the field might interface with such discourse.

On whether such discourse is important, it depends on whether one feels
the field stands on its own or is enmeshed in the broader politics,
culture and social and economic environment that gives shape to local,
regional, and national life.  Obviously I believe the later, otherwise
the discussion would be pointless.  Otherwise stated, I adhere to the
Freirian aphorism that the pedagogical is political and the political is
pedagogical all the way down and that knowledge and power are broadly,
but not deterministically correlated.  

On this reading, the politics and pedagogy of literacy cannot be
separated from the broader value system through which politics, social
structure, institutional and economic life and culture are situated. 
That is, adult literacy discourse is a manifestation of these broader
tendencies.  Given the importance both of capitalism and democracy as
symbol systems and as real sources of influences in shaping the nation's
life, I believe there is little choice other than situating language
about adult literacy within the framework of these broader contexts.

I realize this discussion is a bit long and perhaps a bit complex.  It
couldn't be helped if I was going to reflect thoughtfully to what you had
written.

George Demetrion
Lay Philosopher
Sophocles5 at juno.com

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