Daniel, I think that this is very true of children of
immigrants.  While I think that there are an awful lot
of books about language and immigration (and some
titles suggested by David Rosen regarding the "hidden
rules" of poverty)  I would like to add a couple of
thoughts about language.  Hopefully I am not off the
mark.  

It is true that children of immigrants have a more
acute pressure because they are trying to negotiate
two or three cultures at the same time.   They also
have a wonderful opportunity.   In many ways the
United  States has dealt much more with cultural
clashes than other countries.  English is the official
language, and a dominant language in the world.  It is
also the language  of great men and women, artists,
poets and public intellectuals.   It is actually a
beautiful language.  Thinking of different "codes" as
the word has been mentioned in this list, and keeping
in mind the post of Dr.Stitch  "A nation still at
Risk", (the government's failure to address the
literacy needs of the country, disregarding in
particular its inter generational effects)  I would
think without any hesitation that children can and
have to learn English because this is also the
language of action, advocacy and agency.  This does
not mean that other languages can not be spoken but I
don't know how many dual language programs are
successful in the country and what socioeconomic
segment of the population they target.  I know of a
dual language program in New York City
/French-English/ that targets a very affluent
population.  I worked in Bilingual Education in New
York City in a public elementary school that served
families who lived in public housing.   The problem
was not a dominant language vs the language of the
families (by all accounts under served and under
privileged) but the lack of the best resources
(manipulatives, books and teachers) for a population
that needed desperately the extra help.   To my
knowledge there were not ESL classes in the evening in
that particular school.  Though the kids and the
parents would have benefited tremendously from the joy
of learning along with their parents, of keeping an
oral tradition alive, and of taking pride in knowing
two languages, this never happened because the
resources were meager.

The lack of linguistic resources to me is the main
issue.  Framing the problem from the point of view of
oppression (English as the language of racism, sexism,
xenophobia) does not allow us to move forward in Adult
Education.  Spanish, French and Portuguese, to mention
some languages I have been exposed to, are also
languages whose different codes and discourses allow
for marginalization.

Adult educators may not need to know about "hidden
rules", which I state, most sincerely, I don't know
about.  Moving the debate among instructors and
students towards informative and critical thinking
with publications such as the "Change Agent" or
literature appropriate to the level of the students
seems to potentially have us all affirm with integrity
and honesty our commitment as educators and as
students to social justice and human rights.

There is a wonderful book about agency and
illuminating moments of solidarity and lucidity of
workers and the under served in this country.  The
book analyzes different approaches to social movements
and then it provides the authors' own interpretation
of the FDR years.  "Regulating the Poor" by Francis
Fox Piven and Richard Cloward is a classic work now
regarding marginalized populations.   It looks at
poverty in the United States through the lens of the
punitive nature of the country's  social welfare
system.

Then going back to language and its relationship to
oppression, I can' help thinking that Kafka and Walter
Benjamin wrote in German.   The devastating 
experience of these writers is a prism through which
we can only celebrate that children learn the beauty
of English.  They can breathe through their linguistic
competence.  If we had the luxury that Continental
Europe seems to have, of educating children who will
speak more than one language, then maybe we would be
in a different country.

As Glenn Young pointed out regarding learning
disabilities.  When we go from disable to enable, from
Negro to African-American, from "wet back" to Mexican,
and so on, when we share with our students that our
dignity is not negotiable, when we have informed
discussions with them maybe the hidden rules become an
open curriculum geared towards human rights.  My own
personal dream.

Respectfully,
Nadia           






  

 

  
--- Daniel Rizik-Baer <drizikbaer at gmail.com> wrote:


> and hopefully more of us will shuttle between the

> two!

> 

> Maybe a next step for this discussion would be to

> let each other know the

> ways in which we incorporate certain rules from

> different aspects of our

> lives into who we are as human beings, what those

> rules may represrent, both

> negative and positive, in the culture from which we

> borrow, and how we have

> come to utilize them in ways that do not cause us to

> contradict the true

> essence of ourselves.

> I think this would help to furthur our understanding

> of the people we come

> into contact with, in the classroom or on the

> street, who feel they

> constantly have to compromise their integrity to

> achieve success in this

> country- the pressure to conform, the pressure to

> succeed, the feeling of

> not being completely a part of any one culture, and,

> especially those people

> that are born to first generation immigrants in this

> country, the constant

> switching back and forth between expectations from

> their family and

> expectations from society at large.

> 

> 

> 

> On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Karen Wyman

> <Karenw at nmcadv.org> wrote:

> 

> >  Hi, all,

> >

> > In response to what Daniel wrote, I see your point

> about adding to the

> > tools we have able for use, and I do think that

> the use of some tools

> > requires us to go along with things we might have

> grave disagreements with.

> > To use the example of the English language, I must

> go along with its rules

> > in order to use, and some of those rules reflect

> aspects of our society and

> > culture that I abhor. Violence, sexism, racism,

> and classism are embedded in

> > the language we speak, and so we must use flawed

> tools to build our

> > understanding.

> >

> >

> >

> > Of course, we all have to live in this flawed,

> imperfect world where we

> > must take part in systems and organizations which

> we don't wholeheartedly

> > support, and I understand that in order for change

> to occur, it takes all of

> > us. Some of us will do our work from within

> existing systems and structures,

> > and others of us will work from the outside.

> >

> >

> >

> > Respectfully,

> >

> > Karen

> >

> >

> >

> > Karen Wyman

> >

> > Community Outreach Trainer

> >

> > New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

> (NMCADV)

> >

> > 201 Coal Avenue SW

> >

> > Albuquerque, NM 87102

> >

> > phone 505.246.9240

> >

> > fax 505.246.9434

> >

> > www.nmcadv.org

> >

> > karenw at nmcadv.org

> >

> >

> >

> >

> ----------------------------------------------------

> > National Institute for Literacy

> > Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list

> > PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov

> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription

> settings, please go to

> >

>

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

> >

> 

> 

> 

> -- 

> Daniel Rizik-Baer

> Family Literacy Coordinator

> Children Youth and Family Collaborative

> (818) 442-4407 cell

> >

----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

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