Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i1IDsKI17981; Wed, 18 Feb 2004 08:54:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 08:54:20 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <1E17F485.73BC77C2.0AB94E44@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: AndresMuro@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1052] Re: Light, not heat X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Atlas Mailer 2.0 Status: O Content-Length: 5807 Lines: 79 David: The other great source that I forgot to mention was Tom Stich. He has a lot of knowledge on literacy stats, and has been arguing that the literacy crisis has been generally exagerated. He, and others have argued, I believe, that literacy crises occur hand in hand with economic crises, to create job ceilings, etc. the other thing is that older people like to say "In my times" or "when I went to school", "things were better", or "school was harder", "teachers were tougher", "we did more homework". People think that individual pronouncements like these are proof that we have a literacy crises and they didn't. but people that make these pronouncments never say things like "In my times only white middle class went to school" or "poor migrant children didn't go to school" the fact is that in the USA today, there are virtually no illiterate people by the "olden" standard, ie, sign your name. This is how liteacy used to be meassured until the 2nd half of the 20th century. One of the big claims that was made by the business world, by the SCANS people, and by the workforce people is that Americans don't have the skills to compete in the job market. Actually, this is very accurate. Americans don't have the skills to justify paying them less than minimum wage. So, corporations have chosen to leave the country and take the jobs that american elementary and High School graduates used to have, and taken them overseas. In Mexico, the philipines, taiwan, korea, singapour, etc., American corporations don't hire high school graduates to do the jobs that american employees "couldn't hack". they hire little children and women who never went to school, and don't speak any english at all. they make then work 15 hours a day, they offer no health insurance, no protection to workers, and they pay them disgustingly low salaries. In fact, the maquila industry is a significant contributor to the murder of women in Juarez. However, the levis 501 jeans that I used to buy made by a garment worker in the USA continues to cost the same as the one made by one in asia, who gets paid a tenth of what the american worker did. So, do we have a literacy crisis, or do we have an economic crisis, and we cover it with a literacy crisis? How does this apply to PD. Well, as I said before, the more that teachers are aware of this, the more they can work to build pedagogies that are consistent with these facts. Often times, students feel guilty and blame themselves for their inability to succeed. they study very hard, they work minimum wage, and they take care of little children. Yet, they feel that they are not making it while we did, and that must be because they are dumb and illiterate. We can explain to them economic realities. We can suggest to them that they can improve their skills while being aware of the reality. We can tell them that they can participate in the political, economic system in different ways. We can show them how to use literacy to have an impact on the political system. Andres In a message dated 2/18/2004 7:49:35 AM Eastern Standard Time, David Rosen <djrosen@comcast.net> writes: >Tom, > >Andres Muro has responded to my request with serious arguments and >citations. George Demetrion has added his own arguments and citations. > I, and perhaps others, would be interested to hear yours. If you >disagree with Andres and or George, what do you disagree with? Why? >What evidence do you have from theory or research? And please, on this >list, connect your arguments and evidence with recommendations for >professional development. > >Thanks. > >David > >David J. Rosen >djrosen@comcast.net > >On Saturday, February 14, 2004, at 09:31 PM, David Rosen wrote: > >> Andres and Tom, >> >> If you want me -- and very likely other NIFL-AALPD readers -- to pay >> attention to your arguments, please use reason and cite evidence. >> Abjure ad hominem arguments, sweeping generalizations, sarcasm, and >> shouting (capitalized words are considered shouting in the e-list >> environment.) >> >> Tom, concisely, what are your arguments, and what is your evidence, >> especially scientifically-based evidence which you may have for your >> arguments about reading and spelling as they apply to adults. What >> scientifically-based research on adults is the basis of your (and >> Robert Sweet's) arguments? Are you arguing, for example, that the >> reason that _all_ adults in America cannot read is that they did not >> have as children (and now as adults do not have) teachers who were >> well trained in phonics methods? (If not all? Then how many, what >> percent? What's your evidence?) >> >> Andres, are you saying that phonics-based approaches will not be of >> significant help to dyslexic adults who have difficulty decoding >> words, or are you saying that this is just one group of adults who >> have reading difficulty and that there are others? Lay it out for us. >> What are the various causes of adult reading difficulty? What's your >> evidence? >> >> And please, if you can, tell us what you think the implications of >> your arguments are for staff development, the focus of this list. How >> should we be "training" teachers of native English speaking adults who >> cannot read at all or who are reading at NALS Level 1 for example? >> Should the training be different for teachers of adults who are >> learning English, SPL 1-3, for example? What should teachers of >> adults know and be able to do to help adults who can read (who have >> decoding skills, some automaticity, and a fairly good vocabulary) but >> who cannot read well, or critically? >> >> Shed some light, please. >> >> Thanks, >> >> David J. Rosen >> djrosen@comcast,net >> > > -- go here: www.geocities.com/andresmuro/art.html
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