A Critical Alternative

Like earlier perspectives on illiteracy put forward by middle class educators, the liberal perspective on illiteracy has achieved and retained a dominant position with regard to thought and policy in large part. because of its ideological utility for capitalist elites. As well, like other earlier perspectives, the liberal one has been challenged by an alternative perspective on illiteracy, which directly addresses the needs and interests of the working class, particularly its most exploited stratum--the poor. As we have seen, adherents of the present critical perspective on illiteracy attack the core theme of the liberal perspective, the adaptation approach. For example, Belanger writes:

Underlying the ideas of continuing education are two entirely different concepts. The adaptive concept sees people as a captive audience, ready to sit on the school bench all their lives to learn what they must know to become better integrated. They will be caught up in an endless race to acquire skills that are constantly becoming obsolete .... It is clear that the democratically-minded, unable to accept this concept, will offer a different perspective, that of liberating communities and liberating the individual.

The current debate on literacy training policies is part of a broader issue: the basic orientation of a country's educational efforts. Literacy training will be either an ongoing adjustment of the less skilled sector of the labour force to the needs of the prevailing economic structure, or a complementary tool for the majority of the people, to improve their control over their environment and develop their production capacity, without losing control over the fruits of their labour.31

The critical perspective offers a clear and fundamental choice for adult basic educators --adapt at ion or liberation. Belauger says, "we must question the very values of our educational policies, which have hitherto been developed as if in a vacuum of neutrality".32

Summary and Conclusions

To this point we have identified three distinct historical periods in which different elite concerns have dominated viewpoints and programming with regard to adult illiteracy. In each of them, the concerns have been expressed in relatively coherent perspectives as developed by educators. The first period was the mid-1800's, when the crime, pauperism and social disruption which accompanied the drive to mould a landless agricultural workforce to the rhythm and demands of the emerging capitalist factory system in Upper Canada was of growing concern to middle class and upper class elements. Educators identified adult illiteracy as the source of the 'immorality', and this perspective was an important factor in the establishment of universal public schooling, providing literacy training for future members of the industrial proletariat.