Education is for Everyone

NPR Expounds on Adult Education

    I don't know that I realized this blog would turn into an article review, but I have come to really enjoy reading a new education/technology article every week and expounding on something different each week.

     1) I love NPR and rarely disagree with much that is presented on it.

     2) This article makes a lot of practical and applicable sense.

    It is amazing that a country like the United States could have so many people who can't read or write proficiently. I simply don't understand it. I know that when people come from another country it is difficult for them work and support themselves and get an education at the same time. I commend the people that are able to do both; but with a family to support; how can we expect people to do this?

    This article makes an obvious point that I had never thought about until now; when education fails a student who drops out or is unjustifiably pushed through the system; we create more work for ourselves in the end. We great a society that is unable to find work and therefore puts a bigger strain on the economy. This article also discusses that education reduces the likelihood that a student will end up in prison. The number if prisoners also effects the economy and the amount of strain that we all feel for those who are unable to work or support themselves.

    The drop in funding to these programs (government spending on adult ed has dropped 17% since 2002 quotes the article) effects the technology that is readily available to these adults as well. I think about on a daily basis the technology I use as a literate person:

1) Cellphone

2) Multiple operating systems: PC and Macintosh

3)  Microsoft Applications; Publisher, Excel, Word, Power Point, etc.

4) A copy machine

5) A Smart Board

6) An iPad

Each of those technologies need someone to be able to have a hands on experience to understand. In cutting funding for adult ed, our students who need to be able to join the workforce the most are denied access to the things they need to be equipped to work and study as they should.

The literacy partners focus on the importance of educating parents in order to help students become more at ease with their literacy problems as well as stopping the cycle of illiteracy in their own family. I feel like we really need to focus on continuing adult education. We shouldn't have anyone in our country who can't read or dropped out of high school completely; we should have a goal of enabling the future of our country to help students of all ages.

I like NPR articles because their articles always end up with an uplifting story; a young man learns to read and then is able to have a more fulfilling life for himself and even make more money. Think of all of the opportunities we are closing off when we cut off funding for these programs and the technologies they need to produce adults who are literate, learned, and tech savvy!