Mr. Kaufmann

Your argument reminds me of the argument an infamous minister of economy (secretary of the treasury) of the military dictatorship in Argentina made in the late 1970's.  He said that it didn't matter what Argentina produced, whether it was heavy machinery or candy, as long as the country produced.  The outcome of his economic policy was the collapse of the national industry.  The country entered the worst economic decline (one from which it has not recovered in over 30 years given the interaction of additional crises over the years.)  I believe that applying your argument to the issue of illiteracy in this country will contribute to the collapse of our educational system.    

I would agree with you that it does not matter what a person reads if, and only if, selecting the Bible, Marx or the sports page was the free choice of a reader with access to those or other materials.  However, it does matter when the teacher or the program makes a decision for the student.  It does matter when the student is illiterate and has no access to reading materials other than what the teacher uses in the classroom at different stages of their development.  It does matter when the materials do not relate to anything the student knows or is affected by.

I have read all three (and continue to read the Bible a lot more often than I read/have read Marx) and would encourage anyone to read all three.  But reading any or all of them  is useless if students are not taught to challenge what they read; to ask critical questions; to figure out how those readings help them address the very real problems they have to deal with in their daily life.  Lets read the Bible critically instead of regurgitating passages that one believes "may" support their position against LGBT rights.  Lets read Marx critically to see if we can answer questions such as why his revolutionary ideas did not work in practice as well in poor countries as many had hoped. 

Yes, Mr. Kaufmann:  When the issue is Literacy, it_does_matter_ what the information is.  Otherwise we are accomplices to the perpetuation of the students' current condition.  When the issue is Literacy, it_does_matter_ that illiteracy is correlated to abuse, unemployment, poverty, crime, drug use, teen pregnancy, and a host of other social issues.  

Finally, I agree with you that it is not for the literacy teacher to worry about the ideological orientation.  Nobody has advocated that position in this discussion; but it is for the teacher to worry about the students' ability to understand what they are told, what they hear, what they read.  It is for the teacher to worry that the students should be able to assess the information that surrounds them in a critical and useful manner. 
 
Thank you for your time.


federico
 
Federico Salas-Isnardi
Adult Literacy Specialist, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning
Secretary, Executive Board,  Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers
Adult Education Consultant, Houston, Texas
 
"The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long but it Bends toward Justice."  Martin Luther King




________________________________
From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tue, October 27, 2009 11:23:14 AM
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
 


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