[NIFL-AALPD:106] From Debby, How YES! is helping African American men

From: jataylor (jataylor@utk.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 04 2003 - 10:49:11 EST


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Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:106] From Debby, How YES! is helping African American men
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Good morning, all,
Debby D'Amico, one of our "virtual visitors," asked that I forward her message 
to you.  Debby, I hope you don't mind, but I also wanted to provide our 
audience a little bit more on your background as it informs our conversations 
here.

Debby has a Ph.D. in Anthropology, and has focused on issues of race, gender 
and class since high school, in her academic, personal and political life.  
She has been a literacy researcher, administrator and advocate for almost 15 
years, and has worked in union and worker education for much of that time.  
She was a National Institute for Literacy Fellow in 1996-7, and completed a 
review of the role of literacy in welfare to work intitatives during that 
time.  Debby was Deputy Director of Education at the Consortium for Worker 
Education during the time the programs recieved the US Secretary's award for 
Excellence.  Currenlty, She is a Reserach Associate at the Queens College 
Worker Education program of City University of New York, and she provides 
technical assistance and evaluation to the Workforce Development Centers of 
the New York State AFL-CIO.

Jackie

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: DEBBYDAM@aol.com To: nifl-aalpd Subject: 
RE: [NIFL-AALPD:83] Re: How YES! is helping African American men

I can't resist jumping in here, though my discussion time is coming up later.  
The description of YES is really an answer to a question Jackie posed about my 
article.  In the same way that folks are discussing positionality here and 
acknowledging the hegemony of mainstream views, literacy programs attached to 
welfare to work or other employment efforts sometimes reinforce notions of 
blaming the individual for poverty because they do not do the things YES does.
 That is, build in time to reflect critically on why people are poor, and do 
not structure programs as if only a propoer resume and a new suit stand in the 
way of employment.  If we professionals can hold in our heads a critical view 
of power while working and getting paid, so can everyone else.  DD


Jackie's question:

Deborah, in your article you write, “…educators may be mandated to teach in 
ways that reinforce, rather than transform, differences of class, race, 
gender, and sexual orientation that affect the life chances of learners.”

It would helpful for me to better understand what you mean, before I can begin 
to explore it in my own practice as an adult literacy professional developer.  
Could you please say more about teaching in a way that *reinforces* these 
differences, and give an example of what research suggests that might “look” 
like?  On the flip side, how would one teach in a manner that *transforms* 
differences of class, race, gender, and sexual orientation?



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