Kearney, I don't get the notion that there's anything condescending  
about approaching texts (newspapers, letters,  textbooks) or even  
beliefs and values with a spirit of inquiry and even a bit of  
skepticism. I've learned so much from students who've challenged some  
of  my orthodoxies---and I've never felt condescended to.

Karen Mundie
Associate Director
Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA  15206
412 661-7323 (ext 101)
kmundie at gplc.org

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On Oct 30, 2009, at 9:49 AM, Kearney Lykins wrote:


>

>

>

> Literacy practitioners:

>

> Can we all just get this out in the open once and for all and  

> acknowledge that terms (as they are most commonly used in this  

> listserve) such as critical thinking, critical analysis, social  

> change, social progress, social justice, and The Change Agent, are  

> all ideologically based vehicles that assume that there is something  

> inherently wrong with society as it exists in general (and with  

> America's in particular) and that the remedy is an inherenly left- 

> leaning, if not outright socialist or communist one.

>

> I am tired of reading posts that dance around this issue, as if no  

> one knows the names of the steps.

>

> Literacy teachers should teach people to read, write, and speak.  

> Learners should not have to be subjected to implicit or explicit  

> political agendas from teachers who think they know better than  

> others. In Steve's latest post (PD 4087) he very cogently unmasks  

> the condescending nature of teaching "critical thinking," that there  

> is an assumption that learners don't already think critically, or  

> that they don't do it as well as the teacher. Or that students are  

> in more dire need of "emancipatory change" than teachers are.  I  

> find it interesting that the Friere followers are so quick to  

> abandon his leaderless classroom when it comes to critical thinking  

> and pressing "social justice" issues.

>

> It is my understanding that the methods for teaching people literacy  

> skills went relatively unchanged over several millennia, and that  

> these methods actually worked long before anyone heard of "praxis."  

> I believe Marx, Lenin, and Darwin learned to read in this quaint,  

> disparaged way.

>

> I now await the barrage of comments from educators who will insist  

> that rote memorization drills and vocabulary lists have oppressed  

> me, and that I am but an oblivious political pawn.

>

>

> In good spirits,

>

> Kearney

>

>

>

>

> Kearney_Lykins at yahoo.com

>

>

>

>

> From: Federico Salas-Isnardi <fs_dos at yahoo.com>

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov 

> >

> Sent: Thu, October 29, 2009 8:23:06 AM

> Subject: [PD 4085] On the meaning of politics and why teaching is  

> political

>

>

> Thank you, Janet for your contribution about politics.  I would go  

> one step further in arguing for a political education or political  

> literacy:  the word politics comes from Greek πολιτικός  

> (politikόs) which simply means citizen, civil, of (or regarding) a  

> citizen, and of (or regarding) citizenship.  πολιτικός, in  

> turn, comes from Greek πόλις (pόlis) which means city or  

> inhabited territory or island.

>

> Thus, everytime we engage students/adults/citizens we are engaging  

> in a political activity.  We cannot ignore that when we deal with  

> the inhabitants (I don't want to use the word citizens in this  

> context) of any territory we are dealing with the nature of politics.

>

>

> Some people (and some politicians) give politics a bad name, but the  

> fact remains that politics is everything we do that involves us as  

> citizens of this nation.  As you said, nobody is advocating to  

> engage our students in a specific end of the political spectrum but  

> rather that we should accept our political role as teachers and  

> facilitators or learning which is to engage our students to the  

> extent possible in a critical analysis of what they learn or they  

> are confronted with.  Otherwise we are giving our students only data  

> to deposit in their "bank" which may never be useful to them.

>

>

>

> 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: Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu>

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov 

> >

> Sent: Wed, October 28, 2009 7:50:27 AM

> Subject: [PD 4080] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

>

> Re: comments about Art's post, education in Iraq and the whole  

> notion of political literacy.

>

> Just looked up the word politics, but the definition kept using the  

> word "political"

> so then I looked that up:

>

> po·liti·cal (pə lit′i kəl)

>

> adjective

>

> of or concerned with government, the state, or politics

> having a definite governmental organization

> engaged in or taking sides in politics political parties

> of or characteristic of political parties or politicians political  

> pressure

>

> http://www.yourdictionary.com/political

>

>

> so now, to reply, simply, to those who believe we shouldn't impose a  

> particular set of political beliefs:

> NO ONE here has said we should.  Art has spoken eloquently to  

> addressing the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to understand  

> how government works and to enable adults to make choices  (and/or  

> support them in making choices) that best suit their own interests  

> and beliefs.  NO ONE is advocating for any one system, or set of  

> beliefs.  No one is using the adult learning center as a soap box.   

> Good educators are listening to learners, living in shared  

> communities, discussing what goes on and using language and learning  

> skills, critical thinking, healthy debate, use of media and other  

> resources, to enable everyone to get on as well as they can in the  

> communities in which they live.

>

> Janet Isserlis

>

>

>

>

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