[Reading-hall-of-fame] Even Futility May Have Utility in Adult Education

[Thomas Sticht]

6/28/2018



Even Futility May Have Utility in Adult Education



Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)



Definitions: Futility: uselessness; Utility: usefulness



"Jesus and History, and Thunder and Lightning"




---(Tuckett, 2015 after Sutcliffe, 1990)





On March 23, 2018, Alan Tuckett, a long time advocate for adult education
in the United Kingdom and the world, was Knighted by Prince Williams and
became Sir Alan Tuckett Years earlier, I had met Sir Alan when he was CEO
of the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education (NIACE) in
England. When I read the news about his knighthood, I thought of a paper he
had written in 2015 that had the most intriguing title of  "Jesus and
History, and Thunder and Lightning": The case for life-wide learning”



In his paper Tuckett made the point that whilst policymakers were often
convinced to provide funding for adult education that had utility, e.g.,
job training, academic credentialing, and the like, they were less likely
to be interested in funding adult education for avocational or simply
learning to satisfy some personal curiosity. Such learning was widely
considered an exercise in futility. Yet, he argued, many adults were
interested in learning simply for learning’s sake. To make his point,
Tuckett discussed some research his colleague Jeanne Sutcliffe (1990) had
done in which interviews were conducted with adults to talk about what they
might like to learn in adult education. Tuckett reported, “Sutcliffe
described an interview where the provider was seeking to match students’
interests with appropriate provision – expecting to be asked by the
student, a man with significant learning difficulties, for the chance to
study art, woodwork or keep fit, only to be told, ‘I want to study Jesus
and History, and Thunder and Lightning’ (Sutcliffe, 1990, 142).).” Tuckett
goes on to say, “The phrase has stayed with me, both because it highlighted
the breadth of curiosity adults of all kinds give voice to when given the
chance and because it offers a benchmark against which to measure the range
and depth of opportunities adults are afforded today ….” (Tuckett, 2015, p.
1).



Later in his paper, Tuckett  argues for the provision of educational
opportunities for adults and notes the  many benefits that both utilitarian
learning and learning for learning’s sake can have for not only the adult
learner but for the learner’s family, community, and society at large. In
this regard, he says, “Adults who learn have a positive impact on their
families, too: in what the American academic Tom Sticht called a double
duty dollar. Teach an adult, but especially a mother, and children will
learn better, too (Sticht, 2001).” (Tuckett, 2015, p. 2).



When I read Tuckett’s paper with its title taken from Sutcliffe’s research
I, too, found the phrase highly memorable and so I borrowed it for use in
this note. I then added the comment Tuckett made about “double duty
dollars” to indicate that even seemingly futilitarian learning by adults
may still have utilitarian consequences for others with whom the adult
interacts, e.g., their children.



As in the United Kingdom, in the United States the provision of adult
education outside of the formal k-12-college/university system, is
dominated by a strong utilitarian bent. The title of the law providing
adult education funds expresses this utilitarian point of view: The
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The focus on the consideration of
adult education within the utilitarian concept of workforce development
carries on in WIOA Title II: The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.
This Act defines adult education as: “academic instruction and education
services below the postsecondary level that increase an individual’s
ability to— (A) read, write, and speak in English and perform mathematics
or other activities necessary for the attainment of a secondary school
diploma or its recognized equivalent; (B) transition to postsecondary
education and training; and (C) obtain employment. Clearly this definition
focuses on adult education for utilitarian purposes in developing the U.S.
workforce.



The section on Family Literacy also exhibits a utilitarian focus. The Act
defines family literacy activities as: “The term ‘‘family literacy
activities’’ means activities that are of sufficient intensity and quality,
to make sustainable improvements in the economic prospects for a family and
that better enable parents or family members to support their children’s
learning needs, and that integrate all of the following activities:



(A) Parent or family adult education and literacy activities that lead to
readiness for postsecondary education or training, career advancement, and
economic self-sufficiency.



(B) Interactive literacy activities between parents or family members and
their children.



(C) Training for parents or family members regarding how to be the primary
teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their
children.



(D) An age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school
and life experiences.”



Setting aside the paucity of resources for personal growth and futilitarian
learning about such things as “Jesus and history, and thunder and
lightning”, in both the UK and US, Tuckett (2015) noted that even adult
education resources for utilitarian purposes such as basic skills (reading,
numeracy) for workforce development have declined in the UK. Unfortunately,
the same has occurred in the US which has witnessed declines in both the
real funding of and participation in adult education for basic skills and
workforce development in the programs funded in part by the Adult Education
and Family Literacy Act over the last decade and a half.



All this decline in adult education resources in both the UK and the US has
occurred despite the repeated finding that investments in adult education,
including basic skills education, can provide “double duty dollars”. Even
futilitarian adult’s learning about such personally interesting, and
perhaps esoteric subjects as “Jesus and history, and thunder and lightning”
can pay off in a utilitarian manner as adults transfer their knowledge to
their children and inculcate the joy of learning in their children too.
That is how the learning of  “Jesus and history, and thunder and lightning”
can also produce “double duty dollars.”



Time and again, we find that investing in the education of adults can
improve the educability of children.



References



Sutcliffe, J., (1990) Adults with learning difficulties, Milton Keynes,
Open University Press.



Tuckett, A. (2015, October 7).  "Jesus and History, and Thunder and
Lightning": The case for life-wide learning. Inaugural Professorial
Lecture, University of Wolverhampton. Online at:

https://www.google.com/search?q=tuckett+jesus+and+history+
and+thunder+and+lighting&oq=tuck&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j35i39j0l4.3609j0j8&
sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8





tgsticht at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/private/reading-hall-of-fame/attachments/20180628/6466777a/attachment-0001.html>