The following message was posted on the AAACE-NLA list and I thought
that some of you may be interested:

Colleagues,

In some graduate education classes, especially those concerned with
Critical Pedagogy and newer approaches to composition and rhetoric, the
GED is simply Reproductive Education. It's purpose is liberation only in
the sense that it grants a certificate that the student can read, write
(marginally), and can do mid-high-school math for an entry level job.
Witness the perpetuation of the five paragraph essay, a product that is
so far from writing for the real world that it is merely a flimsy
pretext for being able to write for an academic audience or corporate
America.

My currrent work in a degree program in Urban Education and Literacy
makes use of research that clearly shows that for a segment of the
population, the GED works fine for preparing students to get out of the
educational rut they are in and allow them to show up at an interview
educated somewhere in the middle of high school. Currently I would call
it a "school to work" remediation program.

But education as Freire saw it is not anywhere near the target.
Critical pedagogy, like liberation theology (the roots of Paolo
Freiere's work), requires working for social change at the grass roots
level. I doubt the powers-that-be will fund any education that seeks to
overturn the current reliance on the College Board monopoly on what
constitutes education in this country.

This is probably why you see so few, if any, funded programs that
advocate social change and individual empowerment outside of the present
educational system. There are too many kingdoms (read school boards and
state and federal agencies) that will not allow that to happen. If we
want that to happen, we will have to do it without their help.

Wm. Peter MacMonagle, M.Ed. 
Central Piedmont Community College 
Community Development/Workplace Basic Skills 
West Campus 2219 
704-330-4668 



>>> David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net> 1/5/2007 11:25 AM >>>

Hi Andrea,

Suppose we use the term "popular education" approach.  This suggests  
to me:

1. a lack of hierarchy, that teachers treat students as their equals  
in status and power although they have different roles, and the  
program or school incorporates democratic decision-making practices.  
Students and teachers, not just administrators and the board,  play a 

central role in the decision-making process;
2. a belief that the central purpose of education is to bring about  
the conditions for social and economic justice and democracy;
3. a commitment to raising the consciousness of students and  
teachers, and helping them to become critically aware of how their  
individual personal experiences are connected to larger social
problems;
4. a commitment to social change, often at the community level;
5. learning history and other social sciences from a variety of  
perspectives, for example from the perspectives of: women, people of  
color, immigrants, and workers;
6. knowledge and skills learned in the context of issues which affect 

students in their lives and in their communities; and
7. an education process characterized by discussion and debate, not  
just memorizing facts or learning skills.

I doubt that this definition is complete, and some would say that  
some elements are more important than others.  But when I use the  
term, those are the ingredients I have in mind.

I can think of a couple of community-based programs in Boston, an  
ESOL program and an ABE/adult diploma program which -- currently or  
in the past -- fit most of these criteria, but these are not GED  
programs.  Anyone know of a GED program that has these ingredients?

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net 


On Jan 5, 2007, at 10:05 AM, Andrea Wilder wrote:


> Hi David,

>

> I would be interested to know what a Freirian approach adult

literacy

> program might look like.  In your opinion, what might be the

> ingredients?

> thanks.

>

> Andrea

>

> On Jan 5, 2007, at 3:13 AM, Ujwala Samant wrote:

>

>> Dear David,

>>

>> This is one question that I have been wondering about

>> for years. Aside from the 'glory days' in the 70s/80s

>> which colleagues of mine at NCSALL told me about and

>> one in NY, I could find no Freireian approaches to

>> adult literacy. I have studied the 70s-80s classics,

>> and I have been curious as to what happened since

>> then.

>>

>> Thanks for raising this question,

>> Warm regards,

>> Ujwala

>>

>> --- David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net> wrote:

>>

>>> Colleagues,

>>>

>>> In a conversation yesterday I was asked if I know of

>>> good examples of

>>> GED preparation programs which use a popular

>>> education, or

>>> participatory (Freirean) approach.  I am only aware

>>> of one, a theme-

>>> based approach that the City University of New York

>>> adult literacy

>>> GED program has used for over a decade.  If you have

>>> others to

>>> suggest I would be pleased to hear about them.

>>> Thanks.

>>>

>>> David J. Rosen

>>> djrosen at comcast.net 

>>>

>>>

>>>

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David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net 



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