[LearningDisabilities 1599] New Year's Conga Line for Literacytsticht at znet.com tsticht at znet.comMon Dec 10 12:18:53 EST 2007
December 10, 2007 A New Year's Conga Line for Adult Literacy Education Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Many readers may recall the "conga line" dance that has been in and out of widespread popularity several times since the 1930s, and often shows up on New Year's Eve. It is probably less well known that there is a relationship of the conga to adult literacy education. One, Two, Three, la Conga! .One, Two, Three, la Conga! During World War II many entertainers used their special talents and fame to support the war effort through the selling of war bonds or in encouraging men to enlist in the military services. One such entertainer was the great Cuban musician and band leader, Xavier Cugat. According to one report, Cugat recorded a song in 1941 about the need for Americans to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the war effort. Entitled, "Viva Roosevelt!" Cugat, the primary popularizer of the conga line dance, wrote: "Viva Roosevelt! Viva Roosevelt! Oh what a señor! Ladies and Gents, get in the conga line of defense Come on and follow this leader, give him a vote of confidence." One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! One of those who got "in the conga line of defense" was another Cuban musician, Desi Arnaz, who was to go on and become internationally famous in movies and as the real life and TV husband, Ricky Ricardo, of Lucile Ball in the wildly successful TV series, I Love Lucy. While living in New York, Arnaz was drafted in May of 1943. But he suffered a torn knee cartilage, so he was assigned as a "limited service" soldier to a special camp where illiterate enlisted men were sent upon entry into the Army. In this camp, Desi Arnaz joined with thousands of other teachers in the camps for illiterates and worked as an adult educator teaching illiterate soldiers how to read and write. As a literacy teacher, he was part of a long "conga line of literacy educators" who worked to make soldiers literate in World War II. One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! Right across from New York, in New Jersey, another soldier, Private Arthur Neuman joined in the conga line of adult literacy teachers when he was also assigned to teach illiterate soldiers and non-English speaking soldiers to read and write in the Army's Special Training Unit in Atlantic City. In a 1998 MA thesis by Marston Mischlich, he tells about the work of Private Neumann and said, "Not only did this educational training add value to the soldiers for their units, it also built their self-esteem." He gives an example of how important the Special Training Units efforts were in a short letter one of the soldier student's mother which showed how important the schooling was to families of the soldiers: "Dear Son George: Mother was so proud to get your letter, to think you could write a letter yourself. I will always keep it as a remembrance. God bless the man that taught you. It means so much to me to hear directly from you."" One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! In Nebraska, the middle of the nation at the time, Otis Mattox, who had been a high school teacher, got into the conga line of Army literacy teachers during World War II. In a note on the internet he wrote about his work as an adult literacy teacher and said, "What had happened in early 1942, with all this rush to get men in a hurry and into training, along about June or July 1942, they realized all of a sudden, that they [the army] had about a quarter of a million people that they considered functionally illiterate. They couldn't read a Military order or they couldn't read at all, or they couldn't write. It looked like it would be a tremendous loss to throw a quarter of a million people out. . . They needed some instructors or teachers. So I was sent down along with some other people. We were trying to lift them up to about the third, fourth, or fifth grade level educationally, so that they could function with some simple math, [so that] they could understand orders if they were written fairly simply." Later, when it was discovered that Maddox and some others were not limited service soldiers, they were reassigned to the infantry and sent off to the European theatre. One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! Though statistics are difficult to come by, I estimate from reports that by April 1944 the "conga line of defense" made-up of adult literacy instructors included some 5, 291 personnel. Of these, around 641 were officers, 4,557 were enlisted men, and there were some 87 civilians. More than 1200 of these teachers in the conga line of adult literacy teachers were African-Americans. The efforts of all these teachers helped raise the literacy skills of over a quarter million soldiers and contributed to victory for freedom and democracy during World War II. Today, the conga line of literacy teachers includes hundreds of thousands of men and women working around the world to light the lamp of literacy for tens of millions of adult learners. The work goes on, and slowly but surely the lamp of literacy is being illuminated in all the nations of the world. And the beat of the conga drum goes on This New Year's Eve, put on your hat, toot your horn, form a line, put your hands on the hips of the person in front of you and do la conga for literacy! One, Two, Three for Literacy! One, Two, Three, for Literacy! Happy New Year 2008 to All!! [G'night, Ricky. G'night, Lucy. ] Thomas G. Sticht. International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net
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