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 iA72OZM02381; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:24:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:24:35 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <004501c4c470$b60ec8e0$3002a8c0@ben2ut66kkx7o3> 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: "Amy R. Trawick" <atrawick@charter.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1712] Re: critical literacy X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 5394 Lines: 99 First of all, I purposefully never defined "leader" as director, which I take from your response to be your assumption. I did refer to leaders at the state, program, and classroom level--these can be administrators, teachers, students, community volunteers, presidents of student organizations. I certainly think leaders can be and are other than white, middle-class, though I agree it is difficult (though not impossible) for these individuals to be leaders of the white, middle class. I also think that there are white, middle-class folk who are critical--you didn't address them in your scheme. I also didn't say how the leaders go about developing the vision that they articulate. Even a director (let's just go there) could and arguably should develop a vision for adult education with adult learners having a major voice. The decision to include them would come from her own personal vision. She could arrive at that personal vision by prompting/lobbying from students, from teachers, from program directors, from her own reading of the literature, from an aha moment from participating in a listserv, even (gasp) from a doctoral program. Being open to different voices assumes a certain vision, don't you think? Saying to those voices "I have heard you and I will do everything in (and with) my power to uphold this vision we have created together" seems reasonable to me and not a power-hungry attempt to "disable" whomever. It *is* the role of a leader to communicate and to protect the vision. If a director wants to be a leader, he needs to do both. For the record, I don't assume to be apolitical or neutral or objective. I thought I was clear in that when I said I have my own vision and I'm not willing to compromise that for a job. If you get me, you get what I believe. Although you didn't address this, I also believe that there is not an apolitical way to teach reading or to provide PD in reading instruction; whether intended or not, the way we teach conveys a message about what (we think) is important. That's why I think it is crucial for professional developers to consider carefully the stances taken in the course of their work. I agree that professionalization can be a way to hold on to power. But you have to have power in order to hold onto it. Considering the "on the fringe" nature of adult literacy, I'm not going to apologize for wanting to organize, wanting to draw from relevant research, wanting there to be a rhyme or reason to the things that we espouse. When a field organizes, it can garner resources to support the things that matter. Amy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eileen Eckert" <eileeneckert@hotmail.com> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 7:05 PM Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1711] critical literacy > This discussion prompted me to pick up a book I hadn't looked at since > early days in graduate school. In graduate school one of the things I > learned is that getting mad is good for learning. When our emotions are > engaged--and anger's a good hook--we are more fully involved in learning. > And much of this discussion is making me mad. Andrea, you only trust > people who live in voluntary poverty to talk about social justice? What > about people who live in involuntary poverty? In order to choose poverty, > you have to have an option, and that usually means you've had enough > advantages, of social class and economic standing, to accumulate enough > for a renunciation to have any meaning. So only the elites who have nobly > turned their backs on wealth have anything to say about its distribution? > > And Amy, I agree with much of what you say, but "leaders" should > articulate the vision for adult ed? Leaders are overwhelmingly white and > middle-class, and I'll tell you, being white and working class and > "critical" definitely excludes a person from leadership, and more > education from a different perspective just makes you more dangerous. I > was much more employable in adult ed. with a bachelor's degree than I am > with a Ph.D. and this discussion is (finally) making me proud of that. > > Here's something to think about from Michael Newman's "Defining the Enemy: > Adult Education in Social Action," Chapter 16, "Enemies within." Newman is > discussing Phyllis Cunningham and Robert Carlson's chapters in another > book, "Ethical Issues in Adult Education": > > "Cunningham attacks the way many adult educators in North America appear > to organise themselves around the technology. She accuses them of turning > institutionalised adult education into 'a disabling profession': securing > their own positions by mystifying the various processes (such as needs > analysis or evaluation) and making their 'clients' dependent on them. She > attacks adult educators who claim to be apolitical or neutral or > objective." (p.55) > > "[Carlson] describes the processes of 'self-serving professionalization' > through which groups of professional elites establish exclusive codes of > conduct and by doing so 'seize the initiative' from people, prevent them > from helping each other, and require them 'to report for help to the > legally constituted helpers'." > > Professionalization, certification, I think it's all about hanging on to > power. > > Eileen > > >
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