Journelism

Many of the adults who come to the Literacy Council for help improving their literacy skills believe that they can’t learn. They often were not successful in school and have low self-esteem and a great deal of shame because of their negative school experiences and low literacy levels.

But the truth is that they have learned a great deal. They have often mastered a field involving manual labor or learned a skill as an apprentice. They usually work at something that does not require much reading or writing.

They have also developed all kinds of techniques for covering up their low literacy skills; I marvel at the ingenuity of some of their coping mechanisms.

As adults, we are all learning new things every day, whether it is from watching a TV show, reading a book or surfing the web. What we don’t do is take the time to mark our learning experiences, to say, “I have learned something today.” But I am sure that each of us can look back over the last week and name at least three things we have learned.

What we are learning on a day-to-day basis may not be life changing, but it is still learning. This kind of learning just sort of happens, in a non-structured way and without much effort on our parts.

Then there is the more formal learning—attending a workshop, taking a class or pursuing a degree. This kind of learning requires a commitment and usually some changes to our daily routines.

For the adults who come to us for help, their learning is the latter type. They have to commit to attending tutoring sessions at least twice a week for an hour and a half each time and doing homework. They have to carve out time from lives full of work and family responsibilities.

Last summer I went to Poland; upon returning I began to study Polish. I bought a computer-based language program and spent at last one-half hour a day learning Polish. I had to make some adjustments to my daily routine to fit in my lesson and did that willingly.

Two months later, I got a new puppy and had to make more adjustments to my daily schedule. I hadn’t anticipated the amount of time this puppy would take up, but quickly learned that something had to give.

My Polish lessons shifted from one-half hour every day to an hour on Saturday and Sunday; supplemented by listening to a Polish CD when driving. I am still intent on learning Polish; only my method and timetable have changed.

My experience with studying Polish has given me a new insight into how difficult it is to squeeze one more thing into my already-full days. No matter how strong my desire, I just cannot always give as much of my time or energy to Polish as I want.

For our students, the demands on their time may be new jobs or the opportunity to work extra hours. It may be new responsibilities with children or grandchildren or having to take care of a sick relative. They are in the same predicament as I am with my Polish—they want to improve their literacy skills, yet family and other obligations impinge on their time.

I am committed to learning Polish—and to being more compassionate toward our students who need to make adjustments to their timeline for improving literacy skills.