Over to you....
I would like to hear about your approach to issues of violence
and their impact on learning:
- How did you come to recognize the prevalence of violence?
- If a workshop were offered in your area on violence and
learning would you attend? Why?
- Have you "always" known that violence impacted on
learning? Or is it new to you?
- Do you think we should NOT take up issues of violence in
literacy programs? If so, why not?
- Are you eager to find a way to address them?
Silence
Janice Armstrong, from New England said:
We don't talk about violence that much. We tend to ignore it
and deny that it's happening. (Interview, Farmington, Maine,
May 2001)
There has been a profound silence about the issues of violence in
society. There has been much writing about how the silencing of
violence in society preserves violence as an individual experience
outside the "normal," even when it is commonplace enough to be
a
normal experience or an everyday risk in women's lives. That
silence, along with the widespread nature of the experience, is
reflected in literacy programs. Many workers will have experienced
violence themselves, or amongst their friends and family, and most
will hear about the experiences of students they teach. As Kate
Nonesuch, an ABE instructor in British Columbia, said in an on-line
conversation:
In my experience, students will disclose no matter what the
content of the curriculum. You can be teaching the "coolest"
subject imaginable, fractions, for example, but if you treat them
with respect, if you show that you are willing to listen, if you
pay attention to what they need, many will respond by
disclosing their experiences to you, and perhaps asking for help
in other areas. (NIFL Women and Literacy List, 27.9.2000)
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