[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Adult Literacy Education is NOT "Too Little, Too Late"

[Colin Harrison]

As always, Tom- an important and timely perspective, cogently argued.

Best regards

Colin

On 26/09/2013 00:40, "tsticht at znet.com" <tsticht at znet.com> wrote:

>9/25/2013
>
>Adult Literacy Education is NOT ³Too Little, Too Late²
>
>Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education
>
>The online New York Times for September 14, 2013 included an article by
>the
>Nobel prize winning economist James Heckman. The article argues for early
>childhood education as a means of tackling problems of poverty and
>education.
>
>Unfortunately, Heckman does little to help advance the field of adult
>literacy education. His article includes a brief paragraph about what he
>thinks does NOT help our poverty and education problems. He states:
>
>Quote: ²What doesn¹t work? Investing in smaller class sizes is not as
>effective as making sure each child has the foundational skills to do well
>inside the classroom, regardless of its size. Because skill begets skill,
>it¹s common sense that adult literacy programs and many job-training
>programs are too little, too late. It is much more effective and cost
>efficient to create instead of remediate.² End quote
>
>Heckman begins his article with the statement that ³What¹s missing in the
>current debate over economic inequality is enough serious discussion about
>investing in effective early childhood development from birth to age 5.²
>However, as I have repeatedly pointed out (e.g., Google search: Sticht,
>Getting It Right From the Start, American Educator, Fall 2011), Heckman
>makes the mistake of thinking that the child¹s educational possibilities
>start at birth, when in fact the ³creation² of a child¹s learning
>abilities
>and opportunities starts before birth during prenatal development, and
>indeed this ³creation² starts even before the child¹s conception in the
>form of the educational levels of the parents, especially the mother¹s
>educational level.
>
>Following the foregoing understanding, investments in adult literacy
>programs may be viewed simultaneously as programs of remediation for the
>parents and creation for the adult¹s children. Indeed, as I indicated in
>the article referenced above, the major early childhood education programs
>that Heckman and other advocates cite as cost-beneficial appear to owe a
>great deal of their effectiveness to the changes they make in the
>education
>of the children¹s parents.
>
>The error of thinking about education in a one lifespan perspective leads
>to
>the notion that we need to focus our efforts on early childhood. But
>educational effects are not restricted to one lifespan. Rather, they have
>what I call a Multiple Life Cycles Education effect in which the education
>of adults influences the educational achievements of the adults¹ children.
>For this reason, we need to move away from a lifelong policy of education
>to a Multiple Life Cycles Education policy.
>
>Adult literacy educators and, indeed, all educators,  need to get this
>message about Multiple Life Cycles Education policy to policymakers in the
>states, at the federal level, and in philanthropic organizations. As
>educators, we know that children and adults  clearly do not benefit from
>high level advisors to the President of the United States, such as James
>Heckman, telling the world that adult literacy programs are ³too little,
>too late.² It¹s never too late for education for anyone, and more
>education
>helps everyone!
>
>tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
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