[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Five Shades of Gray

[tsticht at znet.com]

Yetta: I have talked about the intergenerational transfer of cognitive
skills (two edited volumes published with this title in 1992)
intergenerational transfer of literacy, this year I did workshops on The
Intergenerational Effects of Adult Education,and so as you can see I've
gone to talking more broadly about a Multiple Life Cycles Education policy
because there are so many important studies from the UK, OECD, Canada, the
US and some European nations that render the conceptualizing much broader
than what I did earlier. I think that the Multiple Life Cycles Education
policy frames the notion of better understanding the consequences of what
we do with people in one generation is very consequential for future life
cycles in many arenas of activity, and that includes education. That's my
general thoughts, anyhow!

Tom Sticht

Quoting Yetta Goodman <ygoodman at u.arizona.edu>:

> Tom ---
> Didn't you used to call this intergenerational literacy.   Multiple Life
> Cycles educational policy has a interesting ring to it.  Yetta
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 2:50 PM, <tsticht at znet.com> wrote:
>
> > Colleagues: Here is a note I wrote some time ago that argues for a
> Multiple
> > Life Cycles education policy instead of our present policies that focus
> on
> > one generation at a time. Perhaps this type of coneptualizing may help
> > cross the boundaries being mentioned.
> >
> > Tom Sticht
> >
> >
> > Epigenetics and Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy
> >
> >
> > Tom Sticht
> >
> > International Consultant in Adult Education
> >
> >
> > The results of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
> > indicated that almost half of adults (47%) had only Basic or Below
> Basic
> > literacy skills. This lead the Secretary of Education, Margaret
> Spellings,
> > to declare that this supported President George W. Bush’s plan for a
> one
> > billion dollar project to improve the literacy skills of high school
> > students. This was at a time when the federal spending for adult
> literacy
> > training was just over $200 per enrollee, and still the administration
> did
> > not ask for more funding for adult literacy education in the light of
> the
> > devastating NAAL results.
> >
> >
> > I recognized this as another attempt to “stop illiteracy at the
> source.” In
> > this case, millions of high school students were becoming adults
> considered
> > functionally illiterate, so the plan was to stop the high schools from
> > producing such adults. But of course, the high schools blame the middle
> > schools for sending them functionally illiterate students; the middle
> > schools blame the primary schools, the primary schools blame the
> parents
> > and call for Head Start to do a better job, and now we have Early Head
> > Start to stop illiteracy starting at birth!
> >
> >
> > In all this, then, it looks like we are willing to put billions of
> dollars
> > into the education of babies, toddlers, children, adolescents, and
> young
> > adults as long as they are in some sort of school. But as soon as they
> > graduate or drop out of high school we seem to consider them as mostly
> lost
> > causes, we throw a pittance in adult literacy education to them, and
> then
> > go
> > back to trying to fix their kids in formal school settings.
> >
> >
> > Overall, the primary focus of education policy has been to focus on
> > intervening in the learning experiences of one generation, one life
> cycle,
> > at a time, rather than explicitly recognizing the intergenerational
> > consequences of education across multiple life cycles, that is, how the
> > education of parents may influence the educability of the parent’s
> > children.
> >
> >
> > In Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the
> > Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children
> > [http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/06dec/06dec.pdf]
> >
> >
> > I argued for education policy that recognizes that affect, cognition,
> > language, and literacy are transferred from parents to their children.
> I
> > did an extensive review of behavioral and social sciences research on
> early
> > childhood education, relationships of parent’s education to children’s
> > literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other issues to
> argue
> > that we should make larger investment in the education of youth and
> adults
> > who are parents or who will be parents.
> >
> >
> > Now there is emerging  evidence for the importance of thinking of
> education
> > in terms of a Multiple Life Cycles Education policy, this time from the
> > biological sciences. In particular, I am talking about the field of
> > epigenetics which, according to a definition on the Wikipedia web site,
> is:
> >
> > quote“the study of inherited changes in phenotype (appearance) or gene
> > expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying
> DNA
> > sequence, hence the name epi- (Greek: åðß- over, above) -genetics.” end
> > quote
> >
> >
> > The idea that aspects of one’s lifestyle may be transmitted across
> > generations via non-genetic, biological factors forms a large part of
> the
> > argument by David Shenk in his new book The Genius in All of Us: Why
> > Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong
> (New
> > York, Double Day, 2010). He notes that epigenetic science is beginning
> to
> > suggest that: quote”what an individual does in his/her life before
> having
> > children can change the biological inheritance of those children and
> their
> > descendants.” end quote (p. 130).
> >
> >
> > While the epigenetic science on the intergenerational transmission of
> > certain acquired characteristics due to one’s lifestyle is still in its
> > infancy, it may bolster the considerable behavioral and social science
> that
> > argues for changing our policies of education from those that focus on
> one
> > life cycle and lifelong learning. Instead, we need to focus on
> providing
> > educational opportunities based on Multiple Life Cycles Education
> policy.
> >
> >
> > One concrete policy shift called for by the Multiple Life Cycles
> Education
> > policy is a greater increase in the attention to education in parenting
> for
> > adolescents, young adults, and adults who are likely to become parents.
>  By
> > investing in the education of adults, we may increase the educability
> of
> > their children, and their children’s children, via behavioral, social,
> and,
> > possibly, epigenetic transfer.
> >
> > tsticht at aznet.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Alan Farstrup <afarstrup at me.com>:
> >
> > > I fully agree that the "Balkanization" of the profession has lead to
> poor
> > > communication and even rivalries between departments. Certainly
> schools,
> > > classrooms and teachers are not immune to such effects either. We
> need to
> > > look into this set of issues.
> > >
> > > Alan
> > >
> > > ______________________
> > > Sent from my iPad2
> > > Alan E. Farstrup
> > > afarstrup at me.com
> > >
> > > On Nov 28, 2012, at 2:08 PM, Yetta Goodman <ygoodman at u.arizona.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Thanks Vicki... I do think this is an important issue to raise. And
> I
> > > do
> > > > hope others take up your  mantel. There should be discussions in
> > > reading,
> > > > writing, literacy, early childhood and adult literacy departments
> about
> > > how
> > > > to bridge the kinds of gaps that specialization has imposed on our
> > > > understandings of literacy development and its uses.  Perhaps
> > > developing a
> > > > session or symposium before you retire, Vicki might bring folks
> > > together on
> > > > this.     Yetta
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 12:01 PM, <vpurcell.gates at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Hi all; My appointment as a Canada Research Chair is couched as an
> > > 'Early
> > > >> Childhood Literacy' Chair. As some of you may know,though, I
> approach
> > > early
> > > >> literacy through community literacy, adult literacy, and literacy
> as
> > > taught
> > > >> in schools lens. I have found over the years that this is hard for
> > > people
> > > >> to understand, especially policy people.
> > > >> Probably, this connection needs to be examined more closely
> through
> > > >> empirical research but it would take a sophisticated research
> design
> > > and
> > > >> lots of money. I'm about to retire (Yaaay!) so I feel ok about
> putting
> > > this
> > > >> out there for someone else to take up!
> > > >> Best, Vicki
> > > >> Sent from my iPhone
> > > >>
> > > >> On Nov 27, 2012, at 10:01 AM, Yetta Goodman
> <ygoodman at u.arizona.edu>
> > > >> wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >>> Tom has been saying for a long time that adult literacy programs
> and
> > > >> early
> > > >>> childhood literacy programs should be integrated.
> > > >>> Certainly as a field, we should be involved in acknowledging how
> > > related
> > > >>> the two fields are.
> > > >>> There is general agreement that literacy history of parents and
> > > >> involvement
> > > >>> of parents in reading and writing with their children is
> important to
> > > >>> literacy development
> > > >>> in young children.   Is there a way to make such an important
> issue
> > > more
> > > >>> relevant in the learning to read communities.
> > > >>> Yetta
> > > >>>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Yetta Goodman, Regents Professor Emerita
> 7914 S Galilleo Lane, Tucson Arizona 85747
> *
> *
> *May 2013 be a healthy and productive year for you and yours. *
> *May 2013 bring a little more peace to the world. *
> *
> *
> *No child needs to be motivated to learn. To learn is their trade.*
> *They can't stop learning because they can't stop growing.*
> *Emilia Ferreiro, 2003 *
>