Flowering Plants and Bees

Remember your grade seven science? I get a warm little spark when I see symbiotic relationships, such as the flowering plants and bees, in nature. There is something very special created by the reciprocity and mutual benefits that they each obtain. I get that same little spark when thinking about the relationship between Adult Basic Education and Adult Special Education in the College and Career Preparation Department at the University College of the Fraser Valley.

ASE and ABE work very closely together. Faculty and staff encourage and support one another while working toward students success. Although in different classes, students from both programs are often found connecting in the computer lab or the cafeteria.

What I find so interesting is the different ways in which students are able to work through the system to attain their goals. The symbiotic relationship of ABE and ASE is one of the factors that contributes to student success.

I instruct in a pre-employment program, called Workplace TASK, for people with disabilities. We focus on employment skills as well as setting and attaining goals.

After graduating from the TASK program, many of our ASE students have been referred to ABE and have successfully upgraded their math, English, and computer skills before going on to further education or employment.

Similarly, some ABE students have attempted upgrading courses, but perhaps they haven't had a clear purpose or they needed some additional skills before they were able to be successful academically. In this situation, students with a history of a disability have been referred to the Workplace TASK program by ABE. There, students have worked on building communication skills, figuring out what they want, and setting some goals. On completion of the TASK program, some of these students have returned to ABE with renewed motivation and focus while others have headed out into the work force.

The reciprocity of student referrals, mutual respect, and the celebration of success make the ABE/ ASE relationship flourish. Most importantly, the relationship supports student success.

Both the flowering plants and the bees benefit in this wonderful symbiotic relationship.

Submitted by: Alyson Seale, instructor Workplace TASK program, College and Career Preparation, University College of the Fraser Valley

DEFINING THE ENEMY: Adult Education in Social Action

First published in 1994 by Stewart Victor Publishing, Sydney; now republished as a pdf file which can be downloaded for free:

http://www.michaelnewman.info/docs/defining_the_enemy.pdf

Award: This book won the 1995 Cyril Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in Adult Education from the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education.

Description from the back cover of the original edition: “Some of the most intense learning in our adult lives can occur when we are in the presence of enemies, whether those enemies are oppressive employers, bigots, racists, polluters or the powers behind an earth mover knocking down a rain forest.”

This original and challenging book looks at this kind of learning in Aboriginal adult education, trade union training, feminist adult education, peace education and environmental education. It critically reviews some currently fashionable adult education theories, concluding that a number are simply too nice, too unfocussed, too inwardlooking or too mechanical to help people who are engaged in social action. It canvases the ideas of a number of adult educators who have confronted— and helped their learners confront—exploitation, imposition and injustice. And it proposes some processes that adult educators might use to help people learn how to identify, define, and then deal with their enemies. …”