The January 26th Ed Week had an article about a Toyota-funded initiative (and the D.C. school using it) stressing family literacy was fascinating. Basically, the grants help schools that facilitate family literacy by providing programs which boost the literacy of their children's family members. What an incredible program!
This program benefits the parent and child at the same time while providing real skills that will be a huge stepping stone for both. There are programs out there for adults who cannot read and write, but the programs to boost skills seem less obvious. That leaves a lot of people with limited literacy, in turn creating a bad feeling about their education and skills.
In this program, the student benefits by learning the skills and by having his/her parent come to school and participate with them, but they also get increased help and exposure from home. The adult gets a boost in skills, more self-confidence and the ability to help their kid in and out of school...all in an atmosphere without pressure. For the ones in this article, who dropped out of high school, I get the impression that they feel helped and helpful all at the same time.
It is much easier to leave your mind open if you don't feel like someone is pointing out the things you can't do. I think a lot of people would learn so much just by sitting in on a class. Really, education is at its best when we understand it as a journey together.
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