I wasn’t going to blog on this story since the information seemed pretty obvious to me (i.e. “you mean L.A. with it’s high Mexican illegal alien population also has a high iliteracy rate? Say it ain’t so!”) But this line caught my attention;
A majority of adults who enrolled in literacy programs wanted to learn skills needed for their jobs or to find work. But only about 30 percent of the programs were tailored for workforce needs, the survey found.
But the article does not focus on this, and when I clicked on the Work for literacy website, I found their mission statement,
The L.A. Workforce Literacy Project is a regional partnership to link and expand adult literacy training in L.A., and promote the advancement of “workforce literacy”–the English, math, and computer skills needed to succeed in today’s economy.
and I began to suspect that their goals are too lofty, that they are going for full literacy and job training for a low level white collar job when most of their potential students merely want to: read a bus schedual, fill out a government services form, or read directions to their next day job.
Maybe I’m too cynical, but that’s how I see it.
Update I guess I should have been more specific. I agree with the commenters that the programs should be tailored to the individual and their needs. They should concentrate first on a minimal program in English writing and reading so they can get a steady job and hold it down. Then after they have that job and more time, teach them basic arithmetic to balance their checkbooks and double-check their paycheck. Finally, if they are up to it and need it, they should teach the “advanced” topics of Computer use and High School level English, though I doubt many would want to go that far.
Posted by scottm at 09:53 PM