Issue IX: Attitudes of learners and service-providers

The attitudes of adult basic education learners and potential learners about themselves and learning, and the attitudes of some service-providers about adult basic education learners and the services they require, are often mutually reinforcing and negative.

The disadvantaged constitute a minority group subjected to the exercise of prejudice directed toward them by a superordinate group which inhibits the participation of the disadvantaged in the on-going life of the community. Because of prejudice, they do not have ready access to educational and employment opportunities through which to alter their status. Thus, prejudice is a major societal barrier that must be overcome through the education of the larger society in order that it might understand its role in the creation and maintenance of the disadvantaged sub-culture ...

Of equal importance to the barrier of prejudice are those barriers erected by the educational system itself. Although they are not directed specifically the disadvantaged as is prejudice, they nevertheless create impediments. The educational barriers stem largely from concepts of education and training held by educators serving the super ordinate group in society. Frequently there is a lack of awareness or refusal on the part of educators to recognize the existence of barriers facing disadvantaged students. The educational system has been developed to preserve the values of the middle class, and it lacks sufficient flexibility to function effectively with the disadvantaged who cannot meet the expectations of a system tailored for mass rather than individual development ...

The progress of each student depended less upon what people did for him than upon the attitudes and relationships that informed their actions ... This quality of personal service is the most important element that our research revealed.