Mattering Is the Minimum: An Editorial From AEQ ’s Editors

The year 2020 has presented itself as a historical watershed in many ways, forcing us to reconsider the meaning of the current status quo, as well as our place and role in the evolving narrative of the field of adult education, literacy, and learning. As a team of editors, we felt it was necessary to write this Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) editorial to communicate with our readership our reflections on current events. We acknowledge and recognize our privileged positionality as White scholars in a White-dominated field within a wider academic landscape characterized by strong social, economic, and racial inequalities. We know editorializing runs many risks, and yet to remain silent would equally communicate values, overt and hidden, to the discipline. While we are hesitant to use this platform in a manner that could be misconstrued as an abuse of our role, we do feel we are living in unprecedented times and silence is not an option. Therefore,

We feel it is our responsibility and moral imperative to express our solidarity with all who have suffered injury and the unjust consequences of systemic oppression. White, Western, economically advantaged academics have actively participated in and benefited from these systems of oppression. We call our field to action in efforts toward restoring and upholding the inalienable rights of BIPOC, and all people in this country and beyond.

Our discipline maintains a long history of social justice advocacy. Adult education giants Myles Horton and Paolo Freire immediately come to mind as quintessential adult educators and social justice advocates. The Myles Horton Highlander Folks School has to its credit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Septima Clark who learned and led strategies and models for adult literacy and civic engagement to power the American Civil Rights movement (Ling, 1995; Longo, 2005; Wynn, 2009). Paolo Freire’s work was published in English in 1970, introducing the notion of conscientization, participatory learning, and community organizing as intentional social actions toward liberation for those who suffer the disproportionate burdens of systemic racial and class oppression (Holst, 2006). Many more have contributed to the emancipatory spirit and dynamic of adult education. Our field offers substantial philosophy, knowledge, reflection, praxis, and lived experience that can and must be brought to bear in this historical moment.

We cannot claim, however, to have any definitive answers. We must inhabit the contradictions and dissect the uncertainties and built-in inequities of our current systems, ever questioning past decisions, and intentionally mindful in our current thoughts and behaviors. As decisions of the past have led us to the current state of affairs, so too will today’s verdicts lay the foundation for forthcoming problems and solutions. We cannot know how we will be viewed or judged in the future.

We must also avoid the uncritical trap of holding reverence for past narratives that too stemmed out of these systems of oppression. We are called to interrogate the persisting inequities, the privileging of some forms of knowledge, methodologies, and experience over others, and the elevation of particular narratives that denigrate and marginalize others. We must remain skeptical of notions and past policies that may reflect and represent racist, sexist, homophobic, and colonialist attitudes. We shall continue to advocate for careful and unflinching study within our discipline, acknowledging the varying narratives within our shared history. As we apply a critical eye to our own research, we must also approach our present practice with a compassionate mind-set, building mutual respect, reciprocity, and democratic values. We shall pursue our scholarship with meticulous dedication, even when revealing the most troubling and traumatic experiences of past and present.

For example, in the United States it is estimated that around 43 million adults’ reading fluency is not adequate to fully participate in the 21st-century society and economy (Coalition on Adult Basic Education, 2019; ED, 2014). In Europe, 55 million adults between the ages of 15 and 65 years lack adequate literacy skills (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2016). The urgency surrounding troublingly low literacy levels and educational attainment are compounding in the face of advancing labor trends and directly affecting the livelihood of millions of individuals. The current economic paralysis has foregrounded the urgent need for dignified jobs and family sustaining employment. Carnevale et al. (2019) recently released data exposing significant and growing income gaps between White, Black, and Latinx populations in the United States. They also demonstrated how access to education and workforce training can play an important role in reducing income inequality. The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pivot also caught many educators off guard, revealing the acute need for improved infrastructure and internet services, increasing the demand for flexible instructional delivery, stressing the need to address digital equity, and inclusion as a fundamental basis for human thriving in the 21st century (Digital US Coalition, 2020). Disparate opportunities quietly undermine our collective freedoms and the vitality of our democracies, as well as the future well-being and success of all our children. We are called to remove barriers to learning and equitable participation in every community and society.

Our discipline has much valuable expertise to offer and is well situated to lead efforts to address these acute literacy and learning needs. Potential avenues to contribute might include the following:

Another area for advocacy and research that fits within our purview concerns how disparities and systemic injustices are perpetuated within and through educational and social services. Recent protests and events underline how ingrained racism has directly contributed to the higher levels of incarceration among BIPOC populations in the U.S. prison system (Blankenship et al., 2018). Elsewhere, statistics in the United Kingdom provide clear evidence that BIPOC are more subjected to the police’s “stop and search” actions (Ministry of Justice, 2018). While the relationships between social contexts, justice referrals, trends in incarceration, and racial and ethnic disparities are complex, empirical evidence supports the assertion that systemic discrimination directly contributes to the disproportionate disciplinary action against and incarceration of BIPOC (Marchbanks et al., 2018). Our field can contribute by working to improve correctional education (Davis et al., 2014). Adult education could also play a more central role in incarcerated individuals’ reentry into society, which also directly benefits their families and communities (Jesse et al., 2012). We have expertise we can leverage to enable evidence-informed recommendations for policy and practice.

We know that adult education can be a meaningful and multiplicative intervention that has numerous benefits for adults and their families. As advocates for adults across all stations of life, we occupy many positions and possess critical tools we can use to combat these inequalities. It will be important to do this with an open attitude, underpinned by efforts to recognize our own unconscious biases. Together, and as individuals, this will enable us to learn from experiences that differ from our own. An ongoing commitment to provide everyone with equitable chances for growth, personal fulfilment, and a dignified and respected existence can help lead to higher levels of well-being for all.

As a scholarly community, it is our responsibility to develop research agendas and disseminate scholarship that contribute to a clearer understanding of the multidimensional nature of adult learning and education. In order to promote an inclusive and restorative body of knowledge, as editors we encourage the following:

Most important, beyond sharing public lists of things we should be doing, we must also commit ourselves to upholding these values and carrying through with action. It is in this shared spirit of equity and mutuality that we submit and advance our vision of research conducted to bring knowledge and evidence in support of restorative justice and lifelong learning within our adult education communities. We believe we share the common aims of expanding human growth and thriving, as well as a mission of advocacy for democratic social change. And finally, until we can authentically and fully embrace within our hearts and minds that Black Lives Matter and all BIPOC matter in their own right—independent of White oppressive institutions, systems of discipline and reform, or patronizing “assistance”—we cannot honestly make the assertion that all lives matter.

Building the capabilities of our neighbors means creating opportunities for each individual as we would hope for ourselves, in terms of education, health, community, civic, and economic participation. Therefore, promoting literacy and lifelong learning needs to emphasize the broadening of choice and options for all and provide adequate learning and community conditions that generate the opportunity to live a meaningful and dignified life. These aims have only been realized for a few, and our reality is that much work remains to be done.