Crisis Needs More Than Band-aid Treatment

Alison J. Cross, EdD, Executive Director - Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning

 

I read with great interest a two-part article in this paper by teacher/writer Natalie Bennett under the caption 'Confront the Anti-Literacy Culture'.

I unreservedly congratulate both Ms Bennett and The Sunday Gleaner for giving such prominence to this very important discussion.

While it is heart-warming to note the spirited national debate on literacy in recent months, there are a number of recurrent issues that causes one some concern.

I wish to use this opportunity to clarify some of these issues, and, in particular, those which relate to the agency for which I have oversight responsibility - the Jamaican Foun-dation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL).

Most critical to any discussion on literacy and, by extension, the role of the JFLL in national development is a more comprehensive understanding of the term.

In fact, this is my main bone of contention with Ms Bennett's article, which, while it is very logical and highly valuable, approaches literacy from a purely literary standpoint.

In the complex realities of today's knowledge-driven economy, we prefer to use a working definition that links the inherent value of 'total literacy' with the imperatives of national development.

In very much the same way that there are many indices of growth comprising true development, so too, there are many 'ways of knowing'/'understandings' required at the base of the competencies required for survival in today's world.

In this regard, I propose that we think of literacy and numeracy as traditionally defined, as merely two (albeit critical) dimensions of literacy.

There are, in fact, many 'literacies', including those life skills often referred to as 'street smarts'.

short-changing must stop

While I agree that we cannot afford to continue short-changing our people in delivering the rudiments of language and numeracy, that issue is merely scratching the surface.

At the JFLL, we have opted to embrace the 2003 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) definition of literacy, which sets the bar much higher than the traditional view.

The definition states, inter alia: "Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.

"Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society."

We are also firm in our view that this is not a basket beyond our reach.

It is a matter of understanding and embracing the concept and then shaping policies in support of this thrust.

We need not look further than the Eastern Caribbean to recognise that it is more a matter of attitude than aptitude.

Full literacy is well within our reach, but only if we are prepared to take a long, hard look below the surface and to implement the requisite policies without flinching.

Barbados, a nation smaller by land area than our smallest parish, graduates 98 per cent of its high school students, with 53 per cent going on to college.

With 99.7 per cent of its population literate, this tiny nation has the second-highest literacy rate in the world, falling behind a three-way tie for first (Cuba, Estonia and Poland) and several places ahead of the vaunted United States (ranked 17th).

As Ms Bennett correctly infers, our current situation is a matter of culture, but not just about obvious things such as access to reading materials.

In her November 2009 article in 'Excellence in Barbados Starts with Discipline', American journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, writing in the US newspaper The Oregonian opines, 'The key to Barbados' success is four-fold-high expectations for all students, strict discipline, substantial education spending, and a culture that embraces education as a form of nationalism.'

education as imperative

This imperative of education as part of the national psyche can only take root in Jamaica through deliberate effort at the policy level.

This is one reason for the name change from JAMAL. It has nothing to do with the often misguided stigma that the term literacy has attracted.

In fact, it represents an enhancement of the original mandate in recognition of the fact that the world has changed significantly since 1973 when JAMAL was established.

The enriched JAMAL programme remains our core business under the name Foundation Lessons in English, Numeracy and Survival (LENS).

This is now the cornerstone of the additional offerings to supplement complete, functional literacy geared to the times.

Far from being just nebulous 'double-speak', as implied by Ms Bennett, the concept of lifelong learning as an educational strategy emerged three decades ago, through the efforts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

It was a response to the anomaly that while individuals learn throughout life, the provision of education opportunities was limited largely to the early phase of life, dominated by formal education.

There was a perceived need to provide a 'second chance' to those who did not benefit from educational opportunities available during childhood and youth.

The truth is someone with a terminal degree who cannot manage time or manipulate computer programmes independently faces the risk of alienation from his/her full potential.

We subscribe to the notion that the stigma associated with the term 'literacy' will fade once a deeper understanding of its contemporary applications is grasped.

enriching curricula

We, therefore, are more focused on enrichment of our curricula rather than avoidance of any labels or stigma, as 'spin' has never successfully achieved that goal in the recorded history of marketing.

We have, therefore, opted to rename the organisation in keeping with our focus.

One clear example of what we are quietly achieving with this new thrust was reported in The Gleaner of Wednesday, October 13, under the caption 'JFLL, Jamalco push literacy in rural communities'.

As you will notice, there is no shirking from the term literacy, but a closer examination will reveal that the intervention goes much further than encouragement and facilitation of reading skills and computation.

It is part of a holistic master plan to prepare several communities in the largely impoverished mining communities of Clarendon and south Manchester to embrace the skills required to yield a better quality of life as they prepare for the post-bauxite era.

It facilitates access to further training, employment and/or entrepreneurship.

We need more than superficial platitudes. We need the kind of dialogue that yields practical solutions.

If we are to compete as a nation, even just on equal footing with our Caribbean trading partners, we must heed the call of the 6th UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Brazil Belem last December to move with dispatch 'from rhetoric to action'.

Let the dialogue continue.

Dr Alison J. Cross is executive director at the Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning .