<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(51,51,51)">Colleagues: May 1st is International Workers Day, also known as May Day, a day for celebrating the working men and women of the world as they labor for personal, family, and community development. </span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(51,51,51)">Mayday is the international distress call for help. A look back 55 years  to 1968 reveals a Mayday call from the American Federation of Teachers for more funding for adult education:</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(4,27,60)"> “FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS</span></b></p><p style="margin:12pt 0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(14,22,52)">WHEREAS, the national figure on high school dropouts has reached alarming proportions; and</span></p><p style="margin:12pt 0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(14,22,52)">WHEREAS, the nation looks to public education to break the patterns of racial intolerance, unemployment, poverty and crime which afflict hundreds of thousands of Americans; and</span></p><p style="margin:12pt 0in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(14,22,52)">WHEREAS, increasing maturity and the difficulties encountered in securing a good job without a high school diploma gives many "dropouts" a more positive attitude toward school, making them conscientious and apt students:</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.05in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(14,22,52)">RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers propose and support federal grants adequate to provide comprehensive adult education programs in all school districts but particularly in urban centers, where the problems resulting from ignorance and poor education are the most acute.”</span></b><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(76,152,195)"> <a href="https://www.aft.org/resolution/federal-assistance-adult-education-programs" target="_blank" style="color:blue">https://www.aft.org/resolution/federal-assistance-adult-education-programs</a></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.05in;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(76,152,195)"> </span></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 30pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">See Sticht (2018) for </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">more on how numerous organizations , including the American Federation of Teachers, the Secretary of Labor’s Commission on Necessary Skills, </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">  </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">the Work in America Institute, Wider Opportunities for Women, and adult education in Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and UNESCO, </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">have called for and provided adult basic and workforce </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"> </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">skills for workers of the United States and the world.</span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">   </span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 30pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:16px;letter-spacing:-0.2px">Over the last half century since the Mayday call by the AFT in 1968 when times have been rough for America’s working people, as they are today, adult educators have developed methods for integrating basic skills and job skills education and training so that adults can move more rapidly into the world of work. They have demonstrated that it is no longer acceptable to cast-off people from the world of work and force them into the ranks of poverty-level jobs. Fortunately, the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States stands ready to serve the workers of the Nation whom we join with in solidarity and celebration on May Day.   </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 30pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt">Reference: Sticht, T. (2018). </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(17,17,17);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Mainstreaming Marginalized Adults: The Transformation of Adult Basic Education in the United States (online using a Google search)</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 30pt;line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(17,17,17);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Tom Sticht</span><font color="#888888"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black;letter-spacing:-0.15pt"></span></font></p></div><font color="#888888"><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></font></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br><table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de"><tr><td style="width:55px;padding-top:13px"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank"><img src="https://s-install.avcdn.net/ipm/preview/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;"></a></td><td style="width:470px;padding-top:12px;color:#41424e;font-size:13px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:18px">Virus-free.<a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank" style="color:#4453ea">www.avast.com</a></td></tr></table><a href="#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1"></a></div>