The nature of hope

Wendell the Canadian adult literacy blogger recently had me thinking about the nature of hope, and also hopelessness.

He wrote recently, in “Pedagogies for the Oppressed” about how the adult literacy learners in his classroom became interested in public affairs, during the Obama Hope campaign, and enthusiastically studied the stories of the US civil rights movement. However now that enthusiasm has faded and been replaced by a more familiar apathy or even cynicism.

In my experience, adult literacy learners often have a sense of helplessness in the face of public affairs (don’t we all!) This usually expresses itself in a lack of interest. It’s one of the ironies of modern democracy, that most people wind up feeling disempowered and apathetic.

What was amazing to me was the way Obama’s election stirred so much positive regard around the world, and yes the US civil rights movement became like a beacon of possibility.

It’s inspiring that Wendell’s learners were so interested at the time.

He’s right though, over time, unless people are actively involved in some local community action.. they’ll start to see that high-level politicking as out of their reach and irrelevant once again. Paulo Freire was very much about using literacy to get people actively involved in taking local action for change.

i’ve never found it easy to inspire learners into community action.

But back in the days when the “employability skills” were known as the General curriculum options (GCO) of the Certificate of General Education for Adults (CGEA).. learning activities based around community action could be matched to the certificates reasonably well. Community action could be relevant not only in people’s lives, but also to their accreditation and literacy learning processes.

i wonder if that’s still the case..

One thing i found inspiring about the ’08 US campaign was the way that Obama’s people trained about 11,000 local community activists in the ways of taking action. So that the election win would not be just about change in Washington, but also enabling local change in communities across the nation.

(Or am i imagining that? i can find no reference to it among the anti-socialist bile washing through the US internet airwaves.)

You’re so right Wendell, pinning your hopes on a distant leader won’t wash in the long run.

People need to get active in their community to feel really empowered.

So, how do we make that happen..?

Links:

• Wendell’s Qualities Literacies Communities blogspot
• His post on “Pedagogies and the Oppressed“
• photo credit: JSmith Photo
• photo credit: JSmith Photo

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