November Bibliography
Amstutz, D. M. (1999). Adult learning: Moving toward more inclusive theories and practices. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 19-32.
Congress, U. S. (1948). The outlook for 1949. Congressional Digest,27 (12), 291-292.
Guy, T. C. (1999). Culturally relevant adult education: Key themes and common purposes. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 82, 93-98.
Peterson, E. A. (1999). Creating a culturally relevant dialogue for african american adult educators. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 82, 79-91.
In the article by Donna Amstutz, the author explores the issue of dealing with different adult learning theories along with the concept that these theories are often viewed as ahistorical and acontextual. She explains that there have been efforts to develop these theories to explain ways of knowing and developing truths through one particular cultural filter. It is also noted that while there are efforts to view these learning theories in a cultural and historical context however, bringing these concepts into adult education has been more difficult. The article continues to examine different ways of understanding knowledge. Knowledge can be known, according to the author as either prescriptive or emancipator. Prescriptive knowledge comes from traditional western tradition, while emancipatory cultural knowledge is considered to be the knowledge constructed by the oppressed groups which move them to action.
She concludes that knowledge must be dynamic and dialectical. This means that the knowledge itself is being developed and evolves, which is dialectical and results from the consideration of more than one position or interpretation. This means that knowledge is not absolute or static. Perhaps the most important comment is made when the author states that the adult educators also become learners. Additionally, perspective transformation is seen as a type of learning in which a person’s assumptions and beliefs are challenged and changed. This means that situated cognition is critical to identifying the different ways of making meaning. This includes the identification of the social context in which learning takes place. The author concludes that the educators will be teaching with love, which means that the educators will teach with concern and compassion for their students, with a healthy concern to help them to succeed.
In the Congressional Digest, the outlook for 1949 discussed the outlook for the agenda of the recently re-elected administration of Harry Truman. The digest reported the agenda, which included an aggressive civil rights legislative set of priorities. Among these priorities was the desire to pass a federal anti-lynching law. This law was in response to the occurrences of a number of murders in some southern states which were not aggressively investigated because minorities were involved. The desire to pass a federal anti-lynching law would allow federal authorities to investigate and prosecute these murders as violations of civil rights. In this article a long list of opponents to the agenda included Senator Lyndon Johnson, who would later sign the civil rights act of 1965.
The point of this article and inclusion in my CPE envisioning paper was to identify that even with civil rights laws, the most significant element in treating individuals from marginalized ethnic and racial backgrounds equally, requires more than new laws. It also requires a change in the individual. In other words, it was possible for Johnson, who opposed the anti-lynching legislation which would impact his home state of Texas, and later sign a civil rights act into legislation. It is important to recognize that a person can sign legislation, but still personally remain unchanged internally.
In the article by Talmadge Guy, the thesis which is proposed is that the American system contains a built in element of oppression for certain marginalized racial and ethnic groups. African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans continue to make up a disproportionate element of the population which is undereducated and unemployed. Guy identifies culturally relevant programs as those in which educators help those who face oppression take control of their lives through education. In order to accomplish this, it must be recognized that the learner self-image is of primary importance.
Learner transformation takes place when the adult educators are able to facilitate a transformation in the way the adult learners adjust their self-perception and their ability to change their lives. This self-perception is critical to understand the trap of marginalization. Learners who maintain and internalize negative self-images are marginalized by the dominant culture that has a vested interest in keeping learners from challenging the basis for their marginalization. As a result adult educators who serve marginalized learners must be willing to reexamine their assumptions about learners in order to avoid imposing their own biases on learners. It is important that adult educators are also aware of the political and socio cultural realities in which the learners must exist. It also means that as educators they must serve as advocates for the learners whom they represent. It also means that adult educators continue to explore and expand creative and culturally relevant methods to address the needs of a growing number of adults in these marginalized subcultures.
