For those of you who are not familiar with the Highlander Folk School
(Highlander Center) that Marcia mentions below, it is the legendary
adult education center in New Market, Tenn. that has long been involved
in training union organizers, civil rights workers and leaders from low
income communities from across the southern US.  Its philosophy can best
be described by its founder Myles Horton who said "the answers can come
only from the people".  

 

 Art Ellison, former Highlander Center Board member and Policy Committee
Chair, National Council of State of State  Directors of Adult Education

 

________________________________

From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marcia
Leister
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:58 AM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List; The
Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [PD 4081] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

 

I am not sure I am responding in the appropriate form, so I am open to
advice on how to use good form in responding on a listserv.
I am an ABE/GED instructor at Bellingham Technical College in
Bellingham, WA. I am so grateful for your response, Steve, as it allows
me to respond and go deeper into some thinking I have been doing on this
topic recently myself.
I have just finished attending the WRRCEA (Western Region Research
Conference on the Education of Adults) in Bellingham, WA. I am once
again reminded of the significance of adult education being rooted in
social justice. I attended a session on the history of the Highlander
Folk School where civil rights had its roots and now continues to do
education using such current issues as globalization. I related to
presenters at the conference how I have been thwarted in my teaching
efforts over the years by such well meaning tutors as those who were
upset about my using climate change in my class readings and those who
threatened me over discussing the controversies of the onset of the Iraq
war. The presenters expressed shock at why those well meaning folks were
involved in adult education at all. It felt good to be reminded that
adult education, by many, is seen as deeply rooted in social justice, in
questioning the status quo and in using education not just to find a job
but to make the world a better place.
The Carnegie Report on Education was mentioned by presenters and
attendees alike. This report cites 5 principles that will help college
students be successful in their studies and in life in general. They
are: structure, challenge, intentionality, intensity and inquiry. In
regards to the issues of social justice in education, I think the
principle of challenge goes a long way in justifying using social
justice in education. Challenge means giving students and instructors
something they can sink their teeth into, something that has no easy
black and white answers, something to chew on. Freire made popular the
notion of teaching literacy skills by having students learn to read from
the telling/writing of their own stories. And the stories of adults in
ABE and ESL classes are ripe with social justice issues. This was such a
threat to those in power that Freire was arrested and had to seek asylum
outside of Brazil for a number of years. It is, even to this day and in
the good old US of A that my tutor and others in my program were so
upset with me for using current social justice issues to teach reading,
writing and math. But the students loved it! Their own stories that
developed as a result, went far and wide in the implications for this
kind of study. It was reality for them and there had never been a place
for them in the school system before.
I am inspired to read more validation for this as I read in this issue
of the Catholic Worker commemorating the 20th  anniversary of the
massacre at the Jesuit University in El Salvador, Universidad
Centroamericana (UCA). This massacre was carried out by a US-trained
commando unit that entered the university campus on November 16, 1989
and brutally murdered six Jesuits and 2 women who happened to be nearby.
The following is a quote from the article in this issue of the Catholic
Worker entitled November 1989 Remembered: "The Jesuits and their
colleagues concluded that they could not limit their mission to teaching
and innocuous research. So they steeply scaled tuition according to
students' family income. More important, they sought countless ways to
unmask the lies that justified the pervasive injustice and the
continuing violence, and they made constructive proposals for a just
peace and a more humane social order. As a university of Christian
inspiration, they felt still more obligated to serve the truth in this
way. That is what got them killed. For readers of a different time and
place, we can translate the high standards the UCA set for itself as
follows. First, the chief subject of study had to be reality itself. The
"literature" of various fields is a means to understanding reality,
above all the core issues of life-and -death, justice, grace vs. sin.
Second, the university had to practically engage the suffering world it
sought to understand, to serve and help transform. Third, it should take
a principled stand on the crucial moral issues of the day-not just
abortion, we might say today, but also war, lying in public and torture.
To search for knowledge without this kind of commitment would not only
unduly limit the university's mission; it would reflect a failure to
appreciate how bad things were, not only in places like Central America,
but in places like the US, as well. It would mean failing to overcome
the distorted standard discourse which we take for common sense. It
would mark a failure to address the prejudices and blind spots produced
by our socialization into the middle-class society to which most of us
university people belong. And this means it amount to a lack of academic
rigor."
Thank you for considering this!



-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Steve
Kaufmann
Sent: Tue 10/27/2009 9:23 AM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [PD 4072] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

If the issue is literacy, it does not matter what the information is.
Learners should be encouraged to read and listen to the information that
they like, whether the Bible, Karl Marx or the sports page. It is not
for
the literacy teacher to worry about the ideological orientation of the
learner, in my view.

Steve Kaufmann
604-922-8551
 <http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve>
<http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve>


--- @ WiseStamp Signature <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install>. Get
it
now <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install>


On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 8:02 AM, Cynthia Peters
<cynthia_peters at worlded.org>wrote:


> It would be interesting to talk with teachers about how they address

> objectivity in the classroom. How do they come up with objective

> sources? Perhaps another way of looking at it is to remain skeptical

of

> all sources and to look at many sources and to ask questions about

where

> the sources comes from, what interests they might represent, and what

> outcomes they might be invested in, etc.

>

> For example, what constitutes "solid information"?

>

> Cynthia

> --

>

> Cynthia Peters

> Change Agent Editor

> World Education

> 44 Farnsworth Street

> Boston, MA  02210

>

> tel: 617-482-9485 ext. 3649

> fax: 617-482-0617

> email: cpeters at worlded.org

>

> Check out The Change Agent online at:

> www.nelrc.org/changeagent

>

>

> >>> On 10/26/2009 at 3:20 PM, in message

> <d0ed1c87b10017dc676f2abfe92dc2ea at ciesc.k12.in.us>, Bhofmeyer

> <bhofmeyer at ciesc.k12.in.us> wrote:

> > Cynthia,

> > You are correct to encourage critical thinking and evaluation skills

> in our

> > instruction of adult learners and in PD for instructors. Such skills

> will

> > benefit our learners in life and work. However, I believe that a

> critical

> > part of that instruction includes teaching them to consider all

sides

> of an

> > issue and then to make up their own minds after having weighed the

> > information. To do so, we must be sure to offer - or provide

> resources for

> > them to discover -  solid information without prejudicing the

> information.

> > That may mean they reach conclusions contrary to our own. However,

if

> we do

> > not approach topics with a good measure of objectivity we risk

> sacrificing

> > the very lesson we strive to teach.

> >

> > Barbara Hofmeyer

> > Professional  Development Consultant

> > Indiana Adult Education

> > Professional Development Project

> > bhofmeyer at ciesc.k12.in.us

> > 260-572-6296

> > FAX: 260-927-8720

> >

> >

> >

> > -----Original message-----

> > From: "Cynthia Peters" cynthia_peters at worlded.org

> > Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:11:04 -0400

> > To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> > Subject: [PD 4065] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

> >

> >> Tom's article reminds me of some key aspects of literacy, including

> the

> >> importance of understanding the context of events, of examining who

> is

> >> saying what and why, and of being able to think clearly about

> events

> >> despite the way that certain kinds of "talk" can obscure reality.

> >>

> >> Professional Development for adult ed. teachers should include a

lot

> of

> >> support to teachers to figure out ways to help students not just

> learn

> >> to read but to penetrate people's words in context. Those of us who

> are

> >> teachers and who are already literate need to be supported to keep

> >> reminding ourselves about harsh realities because it's tempting to

> >> ignore them, especially since (as U.S. citizens) we have a large

> >> responsibility.

> >>

> >> For example, in reference to Tom's article below, if we are

> concerned

> >> about literacy in Iraq, perhaps one of the most important

> contributions

> >> U.S. citizens can make would be to examine our government's role

> there

> >> over the past several decades, which includes numerous illegal and

> >> immoral (not to mention useless and counterproductive) bombings,

> >> invasions, occupations, economic boycotts (which do not literally

> drop

> >> bombs on people but nonetheless cause 100s of thousands to die),

> etc.

> >>

> >> Another example: A close reading of the text reveals the Orwellian

> >> doublespeak of Army Spc. Tiffany Evans talking about how "...war

> and

> >> economic hardships have caused the education system to suffer

> >> significantly in the last two decades" -- as if the *source* of war

> and

> >> economic hardship were not directly linked to her, indeed, to all

of

> us,

> >> as citizens of the country which launched an illegal pre-emptive

> war,

> >> and which before that had driven the country into the ground

> through

> >> absolutely vicious economic sanctions.

> >>

> >> I know there are many great professional development people out

> there

> >> who are supporting teachers (and by extension, students) to look

> deeply

> >> into texts and to provide pathways for all of us to use what we

> >> understand to be happening in the world as a check on what we read.

> I

> >> think we cannot underestimate the importance of that work!

> >>

> >> Cynthia

> >>

> >> --

> >>

> >>

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

> > National Institute for Literacy

> > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> > professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

> >

> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

> > Email delivered to cynthia_peters at worlded.org

> >

> > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education

Wiki

>

> >

>

>

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Devel
opme

>

> > nt

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

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov

>

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

> Email delivered to steve at lingq.com

>

> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki

>

>

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Devel
opment

>




--
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514


--------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail is confidential and may contain legally privileged information.
If you are not the intended recipient, you should not copy, distribute,
disclose or use the information it contains, please e-mail the sender
immediately and delete this message from your system.



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20091028/bc50fb04/attachment-0001.html