Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id LAA00129; Wed, 14 Jun 2000 11:20:55 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 11:20:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <s9474cdc.090@epcc.edu> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Andres Muro" <andresm@epcc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:748] I posted this on the NLA in response to a question from David X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.5.3 Status: O Content-Length: 3242 Lines: 62 I posted this on the NLA in response to a question from David Rosen. Daphnee requested that I posted my comments in this list-serve. As we all know, the majority of participants in literacy programs are women and are often not seeking employment. Yet, with the focus on wia-nrs, we want to send them all to work. To paraphrase Andree Catalfamo: -the prevailing conservative viewpoint is that women's roles are in the home, unless, they are poor and destitute. In this case we want them to go to work regardless of the employment conditions and the pay- Women are often the main if not the only literacy providers in the home, from facilitating, health care, to helping with homework, to teaching children computer skills, to taking children to the museum, the park and the ballet, to encourage children to seek higher learning, to shopping, to making environmentally responsible decisions, to making financial decisions. Literacy programs are spaces for facilitating access to knowledge that women often use to improve the quality of lives of their households. Literacy learners often have difficulty articulating reasons why they attend literacy programs. Yet, in our program, the above listed reasons emerge as very important. A while back we had a literacy program that was funded by DHS. As a result of welfare reform, many poor single mothers lost their benefits and had to find employment. Many of our students couldn't even find minimum wage employment and became maids earning below minimum wage. Often, the daughters in these households, became the surrogate mothers at a very young age. The situation forced them to take the role of the mother, and ignore their schooling. It is easy to see how situations like this result in dropping out of school and repeating the poverty cycle. This brings the important issue about first vs second and third generation poverty in the US. Generational poverty is much more difficult to erradicate. Recent immigrants are willing to make tremendous sacrifices to help their children succeed. We need to create the conditions for this. Andres In a message dated 6/13/00 3:58:45 AM Central Daylight Time, DJRosen@world.std.com writes: << NLA Colleagues, I would like to call your attention to an excerpt from this week's Thursday Notes, results of a recent OECD international study on literacy, and ask what you think the policy implications of this finding should be: "Especially in the United States, the divergence in literacy scores is strongly related to income differences among households." Much attention is being paid to the "Digital Divide" in the United States, that those with low-incomes, and/or relatively little education do not have access to computers or the Internet. But we do not seem to be paying the same kind of attention to the "Literacy Gap." Could the OECD study launch a national publicity campaign to focus attention on the unmet demand for these services among those who can least afford them? Will the findings from this study, for example, be used in the Summit campaign this fall? If so, what would we like to recommend in order to address the "Literacy Gap" ? David J. Rosen <DJRosen@world.std.com>
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