Custom is to warn about LONG posts so due warning:

I have been reading with great interest this ongoing discussions about dress codes, boundaries, ethical codes of conduct (some of which are codified in current law in many locations); and social class and culture.

I would like to follow up on two aspects of these.

1. Boundaries and codes of ethical behavior--which impact dress and sexual mores.

I find that when I have boundary issues it is unfortunately not lack of knowledge about what boundaries are or should be in the situation, but lack of acknowledging the unmet emotional needs driving myself and possibly the other person involved into minimizing boundary issues or ignoring them. So while I find discussions of boundaries in the abstract edifying, I do not always find discussion and general agreement in theory are enough to deal with the actual.

2. dress code and class and literacy reading writing instruction, teacher/tutors and students:

Now this is a much longer set of thoughts on which I am not an expert, but the discussion has been churning around in my head and I would like to use this as a chance to see what others think as well.

Who are the people we are trying to help improve their reading and writing skills? Why do they want to do this, what is their general goal? If this is just personal improvement, fine. Teacher dress need not be much of an issue at all. Whatever you and the student are comfortable with, no issue.

However, the refugee section I work in within Wisconsin state government is currently placed administratively within the larger group that oversees Wisconsin's welfare program (W-2), a program whose primary goal is to enable participants to move out of public assistance by securing employment--hence many of them need to increase their reading and writing skills in order to do this.

But here is my concern. In this state, the W-2 population is very largely located in our one "large" city, Milwaukee, about three million residents. Statistically, the greatest majority of these welfare recipients is: single, mothers, one to three children, youngish (18-25), some high school completion, inner city/poor neighborhoods, largely African-Americans, who live in shared communities with shared cultural norms, expectation and outlook.

I heard a presentation this week from the chief economic forecaster in the Wisconsin Dept. of Workforce Development, projecting the picture of the workforce needs and shape in the next 20+ years, its trends. Manual/assembly jobs will continue to be off-shored as costing less--fewer and fewer jobs available for those who traditionally had lower reading/writing skills and could turn to manual intensive jobs for a living. No need to stress the impact, for example, of the collapse of the auto industry in the US. These jobs are not likely to return.

At the same time, the trend in jobs available will continue to be for at least some technical skills at the level of a 2-4 year post secondary education--even now employers who hire someone without a secondary education are few and far between:  most won't hire without this minimum. So jobs will require a higher educational achievement.

So back to the questions of dress, class and reading/writing in this scenario: the purpose of teaching reading and writing to this set of students is not just to give a sense of personal achievement and increase power, but to help them achieve a stable financial income through improved employment opportunities, but improved income will also likely mean adjusting social status--move to a better neighborhood, get a better home (a home at all). Having any chance to get this kind of job with require both improved reading and writing skills, but also willingness to accept and adapt the social/work culture, dress code, business culture that goes along with that job which may not be the codes of the neighborhood or sub-group of origin. In this case, teachers/tutors are also agents of change and models and gatekeepers or ushers.

So back to dress code: If I dress a lot like my hypothetical students, I put no barriers stressing how different I am, but I also don't help usher in the set of codes/norms that they will need to adjust to in the workplace.

The Workforce Development forecaster also noted that in his view of educational and workforce data, the patterns that strike him are:

1. first three years of a child's education are critical indicators of future education outcomes;
2. the mother's educational attainment is often a good indicator of the child's--the higher the mother's achievement, the more likely the child will also have a similar attainment.
3. as mentioned, this attainment will be a major factor in employment and income: poverty or above.
4. There will be few jobs for any who rely on minimal manufacture related skills (manual intensive work) so poverty is likely for these whose reading and writing and computational skills are low and who do not accept or choose to conform to the culture of work for the level of employment.

The refugees we work generally come to the US with a very strong drive to do what it will take to learn what they have to in order to support themselves and their families; the long term welfare recipients are too often generally depressed, discouraged, emotionally stressed out, have had generally a poor experience in school, have few role models for success, have struggled with relationships, are burdened with few job possibilities--one of the greatest challenges their literacy/reading/writing teachers/tutors is to inspire them with hope that things can be better, that they can achieve and find real rewards for doing this. The dress one chooses may also play a part.

Arthur Upham, PH. D.
Refugee Specialist
DCF/DFES/BWF
Refugee Assistance Services Programs Section
201 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, Wisconsin 53708
608-266-6807
arthur.upham at wisconsin.gov<mailto:arthur.upham at wisconsin.gov>


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