National Coalition for Literacy: On adult education's critical role in social justice

"It's also important to note that adult education serves an important social justice role in that it allows people to improve their lives despite a system that benefits from their remaining underprivileged." — Robert D. Skeels

Photo by Yoon Jung Lee

My latest essay entitled On adult education's critical role in social justice was published March 13, 2012 on the National Coalition for Literacy's site as part of their discussion series on "Cut the Excuses, Not Education! How SaveAdultEd.org Is Fighting the Proposal to Eliminate Adult Education in L.A."

The article series featured students, educators and activists engaged in the struggle to save Los Angeles Unified School District's Division of Adult and Career Education from the designs of neoliberalism. Speaking on behalf of my fellow activists, we genuinely appreciate the National Coalition for Literacy bringing our struggle to a national audience. What happens in Los Angeles is often a bellwether, and we can only hope that our struggles won't be in vain and inspires people to stand up to what Freire called "neoliberal fatalism."

National Coalition for Literacy's mission is to advance adult education, family literacy, and English language acquisition in the U.S. by increasing public awareness for the need to increase funding and programs; promoting effective public policy; and serving as an authoritative resource for the field on national adult education issues.

Published 2012-03-13 on National Coalition for Literacy, please read it there and share widely.