[NLA] Tom Sticht's "Valentine" message

[Elsa Auerbach]

The following is a response to Tom Sticht's post in which he said:

	"Adult educators and their students can join with others by acting by
	February 7th to send 1,000,000 valentines to military men and women this year by contacting Valentines For 	Troops online at http://www.valentinesfortroops.com

	This Valentine's day, show the power of literacy and send our fellow Americans who are in harm's way a 	message that a grateful nation appreciates the sacrifices they are making.  What better use for literacy than the 	defense of freedom and democracy for all."

We believe that the best way we can help these men and women so that they don't have to make sacrifices and show our "love" is to protest the policies that put them there to begin with, using our words.

Sondra Cuban
Elsa Auerbach
Debby D'Amico
Andrea Nash
Mev Miller
Eileen Eckert
Janet Isserlis

Some of the comments made by individuals in response to Tom's message include the following:

*By the way, educators might look with their  students at who joins the armed forces (or more accurately, who has little choice but to join), and at where military spending really goes (to private defense contractors making equipment, while enlisted troops often qualify for public assistance, and just had their pay cut further!) Most of the people in our armed forces are on the same defending side of a class war as we are, pawns in a push to consolidate global domination.

*Tom's message assumes that learners are US citizens who love their country -- what about immigrant learners who may "need" to be here but who are conflicted about US international policies that brought them here in the first place?

*I'm also reminded that these discussions - about policy generally,  and education policy specifically -- are not  just about the policies that send people to war, but we're also talking about policy and systems  that create  the conditions under which some people are more compelled to seek the armed forces as a means towards gaining opportunities for education); as well what policies are created, and by whom, through which decisions are made about how /if to fund education, housing, health or defense?

How does our work enable adults to understand these processes and  make informed decisions about them -- whether or not we particularly  agree with those decisions?