I think there is plenty for us to think about in Esther's insightful  
analysis from a whole different viewpoint.  Thank you, Esther.
 
Ellen Kovac
(hourly) ESL instructor 
 
 
In a message dated 9/27/2009 4:22:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
e.b.shupe at lycos.com writes:

Hi  Everyone, 

First, I’m not convinced that leadership qualities in adult  education are 
any different from leadership in any other area. For example,  I’ve been 
following and paying attention to the issue of gay rights in this  country – 
presently there is an important piece of legislation that if passed  will 
grant privileges to same sex married couples on the federal level. Barney  Frank 
who is a very well respected Senator and also openly gay has refused to  
sign on to this bill. His reasoning is that the bill will never pass. As a  
result of this presumption, he is in favor of redrafting the legislation to  
make it more palatable to the powers that be. There are many of his  
constiuents that disagree with his position. If you believe that groups are  more 
powerful when they are united, and you believe in Frank’s commitment to  this 
civil rights issue, then you will rally round this leader and support him  
in his effort to effect change long term. Because Frank has maintained ! a  
connection with his community, many support him although they are in  
disagreement. This is my point and is part of what continues to be the issue  in 
adult education. Very few leaders have been be able to effect change in  
policy regarding adult education because we are divided as an entity and have  
been struggling among ourselves for years. There lacks fluidity in dialogue  
among teachers and learners and administrators and government folks. Federal  
level people are focused on money matters and are far removed from the 
places  where learning takes place – they depend for the most part on 
information  coming from the state level and these folks are connected with 
administrators  only and not the teachers or learners. Grants are written annually and 
other  than tedious paper work, counting numbers and quantitative analysis, 
programs  are rarely (and never in my experience) evaluated qualitatively 
by a real  person. The teachers and learners in the programs on the local! 
levels are for  the most part invisible and are not part of the dialog ue in 
implementing  change or having a voice in saying what works and what doesn’t. 
A good example  of this disconnect is the newly touted best plus literacy 
test. Almost every  teacher I’ve spoken to knew that this test wouldn’t 
work. Our classes are too  large and the time involved in testing is too long 
and the test was simply  inadequate to properly place learners into leveled 
programs. Tons of money was  spent on testing and training and what do we have 
to show for it – an  ineffective test and in money terms, plenty of money 
spent on adult education.  Another problem is that many teachers are hourly 
workers and are teaching  adjunct to their paid full time positions or they 
are volunteer workers. These  issues around employment for teachers have been 
long standing and have  continued to deteriorate regardless of past or 
present leaders. So my  strongest belief is that there needs to be an ongoing 
open dialogue and  accountability throughout the levels of this movem! ent. 
Teachers and learners  cannot continue to be relegated only to the classrooms. 
We need leaders from  all levels meeting and dialoguing about the issues. 
We need leaders that can  demonstrate courage and carve a path for not only 
themselves but entire  movement. We need leaders that will help the adult 
learning movement grow  without the fear of lost popularity. We need leaders 
that understand and have  a vision for adult education (that is constructed by 
dialoguing with others)  while continuing to forge ahead with those issues 
front and center.  



Esther  Shupe

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