Discourses about Violence

Over the course of this study I have begun to notice a wide range of awareness about the issue of violence. I have heard a variety of responses when I've asked literacy workers to look at how to take up issues of violence in literacy programs. Some literacy workers had not previously thought about the widespread nature of violence, others know of their own experiences or those of friends or family, and many repeatedly hear stories from students in their classes. Knowing about experiences of violence led some teachers to be sure violence impacted on learning and had to be addressed, even though it was not something spoken about in the field. For them my earlier research and book confirmed something they already knew, as Janice Armstrong from Farmington, Maine said:

Your book, for me, is just right on. I mean, it's what I've experienced in adult education all these years.

Asked if she discussed this with other teachers this educator replied: No, on my personal level in working with people, but not with other teachers. We never really looked at it, identified it, said we need training in this area, we need training in that area. I just felt that this was something I needed to deal with as a teacher. These were issues coming up and they were interfering with what I was trying to do as a teacher, so talking to the person about what they could do - to me was just an automatic kind of thing. But I don't ever recall thinking about bringing this up at a staff meeting and saying this is really something we need to be looking at.

When I asked whether she hadn't brought it up because she feared being told she should not take it on, she laughed and said: