[Reading-hall-of-fame] Message for the New Year

[tsticht at znet.com]

December 20, 2006

Peeling Potatoes for Freedom from Want:
A Message for the New Year of 2007

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

On February 13, 2003, the United Nations Literacy Decade was launched, with
the theme of Literacy as Freedom. To celebrate the U.N. Decade of
Literacy’s theme of Literacy as Freedom, I conducted a speaking tour in the
United Kingdom, Canada and the United States called Literacy Frees the World
(LFW).   Part  of the LFW presentation discussed the work of adult literacy
educators contributing to the achievement by adult learners  of each of the
Four Freedoms discussed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.

The presentation also discussed the importance of teaching literacy
following Functional Context Education (FCE) principles in which the
teaching of basic skills is  integrated with or embedded in the teaching of
knowledge within the contexts of the adult students' lives. One illustration
of this FCE approach occurred during World War II. During that war, over a
quarter million young men learned to read in Special Training Units in the
Army. One of the resources used to teach reading was a newspaper, Our War,
which was published monthly from June 1942 through September 1945. Each
issue of Our War included a cartoon strip about the fictional Private Pete
and his buddy, Daffy. The January 1944 issue discussed the New Year.  It
has a message pertinent to today’s times and circumstances, including the
United Nation's Decade of Literacy theme of Literacy as Freedom.  Following
is a synopsis of the strip.

Our War    January 1944			Private Pete Starts the New Year Right

The strip opens with a panel showing Private Pete and Daffy dancing at a
U.S.O. party. Then they walk back to their barracks and Private Pete says
to Daffy, "That was a swell party. Sure makes you want to start the New
Year Right.

The next strip shows Pete saying to Daffy, who is still in his bunk, "Time
to get up! Remember your New Year's resolutions. Let's go!" After making
his bunk up, Pete says, "Are these corners o.k., Daffy?" Daffy says, "They
sure are. And look at mine, too. Daffy then says, "Look at the shine on
these shoes, Pete." Pete says, "Good! But what about your laundry?"

The next panel is two weeks later on Jan. 15. Daffy says, "Gee, I've kept my
promises for two whole weeks." Next panel, Pete and Daffy walk into the
barracks day room. Daffy says, "What are you going to do, Pete?" Pete says,
"I'm going to find out more about the war. Remember, I promised to to that
all year long."  Looking at a magazine in the day room Pete says, "This
magazine shows what happened when the war started."

Several panels on, Pete says, "And there's another big job to do after the
war is over." Next panel, Pete says, "Remember the poster we say about the
Four Freedoms?" Daffy says excitedly, "I know them
FREEDOM FROM WANT,
FREEDOM FROM FEAR, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, FREEDOM OF SPEECH."

Next the cartoon shows Pete and Daffy walking from their barracks to the
mess hall. Pete says, "Everything we do helps to win the war." Daffy says,
"You mean K.P., too?"

In the final panel, Daffy and Pete are pealing potatoes while on K.P. and
Daffy says, with a smile on his face, "Guess this takes care of freedom
from want!"

Still, today, over sixty years from the fictional discussion of Private Pete
and Daffy, men and women around the world are still seeking literacy as one
of the key tools for securing the Four Freedoms for themselves and their
families. And hundreds of thousands of adult literacy teachers are working,
often under dangerous and oppressive conditions, to help these adults
achieve life sustaining and enhancing literacy skills.  With great resolve,
this work by literacy learners and their teachers will continue in the New
Year of 2007!

Literacy Frees the World!

Happy New Year!

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