Oct
16
Did you know that in the 1800s, Sunday school was begun as a community ministry in England—not to teach the Bible initially, but to teach street children who worked during the week how to read and write? Lester Merriweather, Director of Literacy Connexus ministry, reminds us that an army of Christians were moved with compassion to change the world through teaching children what they already knew. In his recent opinion piece in the Baptist Standard, he went on to suggest that a new mission field for Texas could be that 23% of Texans who are college graduates act with Christian compassion by tutoring one of the 25% of Texans without a high school diploma, giving back the gift of literacy and achievement.
Following the direction of Abriendo Puertas! (Opening Doors!) (.pdf), the report of the Hispanic Education Advisory Council of the BGCT, the CLC is working in Austin to support access and improvement for dropout prevention & recovery and adult learning in Texas. Adult education is a two generation solution because when parents learn, their children do better in school, too.
For the past two years we have helped to host Literacy Day at the Capitol. We expected 30 – 40 adult basic education students to come to Austin to tell their stories of eager learning, second jobs, family sacrifice and increased work skills. But we were surprised. More than 300 working adults showed up to meet their legislators – 335 adults working on their English, their GED, their workplace skills. These are remarkably sacrificial Texans – they are doing double duty to provide for their families and seek a better future. They are turning the past around and building a future. But they need a system that works with them and with the dedicated teachers, counselors and mentors that guide these second chance Texans.
There is a message from Texas to those without a high school diploma. Put yourself in the shoes of one of those 335 students who came to the capitol. If you believe that you are a failure in high school, you believe that there is no place for you on a college campus…until you get a GED or more. If you think college is closed to you and you want to get more education where do you go? In your town – where would you go? Is adult learning an “invisible door” in your town?
Stick with this demographic exercise just a minute more. The state of Texas will put several things at your finger tips. You may lack a high school diploma, but you can see advertisements galore for pay day loans and pawn shops. You can buy a lottery ticket at every convenience store counter ( lottery advertising budget alone is 4 times the expenditure of adult education) …as a state we are sending real messages about debt and chance…but where do you go to go forward to improve your life through learning? How do you know what to do?
This week I testified at the Senate Education Committee of the Texas Legislature on the need and solutions for adult learners. We do not think the adult education system is broken; we think it is anemic. Given the meager resources and educational isolation, the current system does remarkable work consistently supported by ministries and community volunteers. The Christian Life Commission supports efforts to provide robust and meaningful adult education.
The recovery and support of former dropouts is a needed ministry in Texas, Our Texas.
However, if we want to do more than educate our adults to become members of the working poor, we must rethink the mission and delivery of adult education. Completion of adult literacy, ESL or GED must become the half-way point in a trajectory that leads to transition to and success in post secondary education or skilled and technical job training. This will require new partnerships between adult literacy programs and post secondary institutions at both the state policy level and the local operational level.
Texas, with more than 5 million adults in need of education, serves only 100,000. We spend so little on adult education that it would take Texas 80 years to equal what California invests in one year or 45 years to equal what Florida invests in one year.
But there are some very simple ways to dramatically fix this problem – It is important to note that the vast majority of persons who come to adult education programs in Texas are close to succeeding with just a little help. Many of these students are able to achieve their GED in a relatively short period of time (less than one year).
Texas adults need an affordable (to the student) system for transitioning GED students to college readiness to prevent the squandering of Pell Grants etc. on non credit courses, finding themselves without loan options when they need core college credit courses. Pilot programs of GED PLUS have been successful across the state: GED PLUS job skills, GED PLUS a college course, GED plus English, GED plus a mentor, GED PLUS a college advisor all make difference.
There are also ways to use technology and spread English learning throughout the community. Sed de Saber (“Thirst for Knowledge”) is a portable, electronic learning system developed by Retention Education, Inc. It uses storytelling, voice recording, games and review exercises to build and improve English language skills. Sed de Saber combines English as a second language (ESL) curriculum with the LeapFrog Quantum LeapPad Plus Microphone©, allowing the learner to record, play back, and compare his/her voice to the word or phrase being learned, which increases confidence in pronunciation skills. The Santa Ana, Ca. Chamber of Commerce is purchasing 1,000 Sed de Saber systems to help educate members of the community via their various educational and business partners. Retention Education will provide up to 5,000 Sed de Saber systems in conjunction with sponsored programs during Hispanic Heritage Month. Sed de Saber is currently teaching conversational English to roughly 55,000 Hispanic workers in the foodservice, hospitality, and construction industries, as well as 10,000 Hispanic parents of English language-learning children via our nation’s school systems.
Living the Christian life can be as simple as reading with your neighbor; showing the love of Christ letter by letter, word by word. I tutored a woman years ago while at Baylor. I saw her struggle with learning what seemed easy for me; our friendship grew, our faith grew and we both were changed by Christ’s love as she moved towards her GED. Reading and learning are talents, in the Biblical sense. We can use them for ourselves only or we can share what is abundant in our lives in an offering to Jesus that he will bless.
Comments
Leave a Reply