The Piece of Paper: The Magic Power of a Grade 12 Diploma

Over the time I have worked in literacy, the amazing power of that Piece of Paper continues to baffle me. I live in a small community where I often get to know people long before I see them as students. I see their busy lives and their accomplishments, their strengths and skills. Then that same person becomes a student and asks me to go stand in a quiet hallway with them and they whisper that they do not want anyone to know they do not have their Grade 12. In our small college campus there are folks working to get their Grade 12 diploma, but there are others simply working to get a higher English mark or meet the biology pre-requisite. I do not even pay attention to whether or not they hold a Grade 12. Yes it is in their file, but it is not what I consider when I am working with them. After all, they may have missed by one credit or several; it could be five or twenty-five years ago. But for the person without the piece of paper, it is now and always in their face, no matter how many years have passed.

 

There are a couple of truths around the Piece of Paper.

 

Truth #1: Many adults without a Grade 12 diploma believe they are alone, stupid, and lesser because they did not complete Grade 12 with their peers.

Truth #2: It is a piece of paper that opens doors to employment and further education.

Truth #3: It is used inappropriately as a gatekeeper for jobs and education programs. It has little correlation to skills or competencies or potential to learn things.

 
Truth #4: People who do not complete their Grade 12 as a teenager have a broad range of reasons from learning disabilities to extended health absences to boredom to lack of family support to simply not “fitting” the system.

For many of us, the Piece of Paper is/was a given. We got it years ago, assume almost everyone else did also, and seldom even think about who does or does not have it. And that is interesting in itself. We often do not see our own advantages or privilege. Privilege is not earned, rather it is something given to some people and not others. And power and privilege often combine forces.

 

My marks were nothing to brag about, but my 70 something percent average, at the time I graduated, was more than enough to earn university entrance. I knew for me, I had to stay in school. But then I had been raised to believe that school lasted a lot more than 12 years; my much older siblings were not yet completed their post-secondary adventures. My dad was a teacher, principal and curriculum writer. My dad would never consider teaching me, instead he trusted completely the paid professionals who had me on their class lists; he fully trusted the system. I had no idea at the time that so much of what I experienced in the school system was based in Educational Privilege.

Want to know where you stand? Take this quiz.

Educational Privilege Questionnaire

1. Did your family believe in what the school was trying to achieve?
2. Did the school culture fit with your family’s culture?
3. Did your family offer homework support and help with school problems?
4. Did you make it through school without failing a grade?
5. Did your family plan events around school and make school attendance a priority?
6. Did your family read at home? Were there books available? Did you visit the library with your family?
7. Was learning and education valued in your home? Would you describe your home life as having a “culture of learning”, not necessarily books but through other means – stories, demonstrations?
8. Were you expected to graduate?
9. Are the majority of your immediate and extended family high school graduates?
10. Did your parents graduate? Did your parents attend post-secondary school?
11. Were you expected to attend some form of post-secondary educational institution?
12. If you did attend post-secondary education, was your family able to offer financial support?
13. Compared with the other members of your family, what position do you hold in relation to formal education – most, least, same?

How many “yeses” do you have out of 12? Many people can answer all with yes. And yet, I have met several people, who would answer yes to three or fewer of these questions. Almost always they did not complete as a teenager and these questions help them realize what they were up against and why their families felt unable or unwilling to support their efforts. I have heard stories about girls who were expected to quit school in grade 10 to take care of the younger siblings and about grandfathers who disallowed their grandchild from returning to school after the grandfather disagreed with the interpretation of “historic facts” in a social studies textbook.

 

While we cannot change this privilege bias for the adults who are now finished with the K-12 system, we can make a difference for the current children and families. Many family literacy programs and schools are working to change some of those privilege answers to “yes”, to level the playing field and to reflect local community diversity in terms of parent’s education levels, culture, race, socioeconomic status and religion.

 

For the adults who do complete their Grade 12, whether they define that as the GED, or the adult graduation certificate, or a regular Grade 12, they are always blindingly thrilled, ecstatic, relieved and proud. For some it is confirmation that they can succeed in education and they begin their happy and sometimes meteoric flight on further educational journeys and successes. Some have not taken this step until they are senior citizens, but the excitement is always there. Sometimes it is a stepping stone to a new, previously unattainable future, other times it is the end. It is always “something I should have done sooner”.

 

And now, during our present educational reform, it appears that the Grade 12 Graduation Diploma will remain, in some form; the magical piece of paper will continue to give or take unworthy power over lives for decades to come.

How the “Busy Intersection Model” Functions in Boom and Bust

So far in this NW Literacy Lens blog, we have talked about different models for education and learning which are currently being explored across our region, and how the boom bust cycle is affecting folks with literacy challenges. Now I want to look at how the busy intersection model can work in northwest communities facing booms and busts.

Right now the northwest is a complex place in terms of economics: a rollercoaster through geography and time. If I do a word map across the northwest, it sounds like this: bust, bust ’n boom, bust, boom, boom, soon to boom, bust. For some of the communities, a word time line would sound the same: bust, boom, boom, bust, near boom, bust, boom. I think it would be fair to say that each community in the northwest has felt the full impact of the boom and bust cycle, at least once, over the past 30 years.

 

To look at the busy intersection model, let’s start with the Boomervilles. Adult education rolls with the economy. In times of boom, adult learners enter into the intersection to improve their skills to get a better job. We have seen cycles where, as soon as a student was enrolled to work on upgrading courses, they got the better job, without completing the course work. Right now, in some of our communities, a resume is all that is required to attain the first job that is then “flipped” as experience for their next resume and further employment quest. You can see how the “full service” busy intersection is able to work with this short-term learner and how they can re-enter in a year, or in a week, to meet each immediate goal, or to work on the longer term goals. The Navigator will know that there is a long-term goal, which may be sidelined while work is available, and that the goal will undoubtedly evolve as the learner moves through life. While many of us in the literacy field may bemoan the boom economy that disrupts our adult learners’ education, we all recognize work is a place where literacy skills will develop; people do learn on the job. Jobs do give people hope. For someone without credentials, first and second jobs are key, the work experience and work references are crucial.

And then there is the Bust Town. As we have already talked about in this blog, many of the “bust” workers look to the educational institution for guidance in their next life steps. They also require resumes, and for older workers, this is likely the first resume in their career. They require a Navigator to discuss their options for educational upgrading, credentials and services. This group of workers is diverse in the amount of time they will spend in the intersection. Some will only touch down for the resume, but others are going to find they have the time to commit to full on upgrading or retraining. One exciting occurrence during the mill closure (bust) is the number of workers without Grade 12 who are able to use prior learning assessment and course challenges to attain a BC Adult Graduation Diploma.

Prior learning assessment and challenges are no short cut and not for the faint of heart. The school districts and colleges that enter into prior learning assessment take on rigor and accountability demands such that often institutions charge large fees for this work. Navigators who understand learning outcomes, workplaces and life, can assist adults to challenge and credentialize their experiences. And that is where the excitement comes in.

Literacy level is a very messy and complex zone. Literacy skill level is not directly related to years of formal education. As we all know, you can attend formal education for years and finish with few skills. Or you can attend formal education for only a short time, and yet hold many high level skills. So much depends on what you do with the rest of your time: volunteering, playing music, building things, working on projects, learning stuff. What we have experienced with our current mill closure is that many of the workers, who got “boom” jobs before finishing Grade 12, 30 years ago, used that good job and good pay to support an active lifestyle of playing, helping, building, creating: in a nutshell learning.  

When they come to see the Navigator, if she recognizes the potential for a PLA challenge for the Adult Graduation Diploma, the workers are excited, overwhelmed and dead serious. A lack of Grade 12 has “haunted” some of these folks for over 30 years. That piece of paper takes on the persona of a personal holy grail. And when all the hard work of challenging exams and documenting experience pays off and the piece of paper arrives in the mail, they are ecstatic; now the world recognizes that they are not dummies. (A future blog topic: The Piece of Paper)

 

 

Remember, even in our busy intersection model, there is a parking lot still available for when learners need and want the more traditional aspect of formal learning. In small communities, booming or busting, we would not be meeting the needs of all learners, with the pure parking lot model. What the busy intersection style model offers is a faster, more individualized response to the large and small learning needs of more community members in both boom and bust economies. Using the Literacy Lens, it is easy to see the advantages: more folks learning what they need or want, when they want, how they want. Individualized. Responsive. Accessible learning for all members of the community.

 

 

Looking at the Boom Bust Cycle through the Literacy Lens

What does that mean? The literacy lens? I have been using that term for a few weeks, so perhaps we need to address it. If you use the smallest opening on your literacy lens, for a very narrow view, the literacy you will see will refer to reading and writing skills. Open up the lens a bit and you get numeracy and computer skills, then to the broadest opening, widest view and definition and you can bring in self-esteem, critical thinking, open-mindedness, “agency”: indeed almost everything can be thrown into that pot called literacy. Let’s consider literacy as the basic skills needed to live your life to your full potential. See how that can be everything?

 

So where does the NW stand in terms of folks being able to live their lives to their full potential? If you are living a good life in the NW, heading up to the ski hills, off to the pubs and music festivals and generally enjoying life, you may not realize that there are many marginalized folks on the fringes who are not able to enjoy a day of downhill skiing or even a shopping cart full of groceries. If we use the broadest definition for literacy, lots of people, conservatively 30%, in the NW are lacking the very basic skills they need to move forward and to take part in that “good life”. If we want to think about reaching potential versus managing, the number of folks under-skilled is well over 40%.

 

Now, with the NW on the cusp of a “boom” we are told that we need skilled workers. Yet we have a large unemployed and under-employed population, many of whom are under thirty, who are in need of the basic skills before they can even begin the journey toward a skilled workforce. There is no time to train the folks who live here, even though we have been hearing this loud and clear for three? five? years. We will have to bring in skilled workers from the rest of the province, the country, the world. They will fly, drive, sail in, do their work and, when the boom is over, zip back out with their earnings to the rest of the province, the country, the world. This, to me, is where the boom gets scary.

 

Little bits and pieces of the boom will feed some of the local unskilled workforce. There will be jobs in camps for housekeeping, janitorial, hotel workers and so forth. These are jobs. They are not careers. They are not helping the NW population grow and develop transferable skills. While every job can be a learning experience, we all know that most of these jobs are the harsh version of “take it or leave it”. And unskilled employees are “throw away workers”. (Did you know that employers spend far more money training the highest skilled workers versus the lowest skilled workers?)

 

The point is, when it is all over, when the boom has bust, the people of the NW will be no further ahead of where they are today. The people of the NW will actually be further behind where they are today if you consider the effects on the land and resources. We are all going to be 30 years older, and 30 years smarter, but that fancy new truck is now just a rusty 30 year old pickup, and there we will be waiting for the next boom. And what about the state of the land, rivers, forests and oceans after all this booming?  

 

So to all of you who think the boom will be good for the NW and jobs: think again. Use that literacy lens to consider what a boom might mean for the marginalized population, for the part of the population who really need the jobs and the work, but most importantly, the transferable literacy skills. If we can get governments to realize it is not all quick fix, but real, supported, hands on, individualized learning and work experience, we might have a chance to use this boom for good. We could get folks doing the critical thinking about what training they need in their lives to meet their potential. Might be good… but then again, they might decide they have better things to do and they don’t need this boom that is supposedly going to save us.

 

What about all those other predicted booms for the Northwest of the last 30 years? Hmmm, none have boomed as big as predicted, all have cost more than anticipated and only maybe one in twenty of the predicted projects have even come close to the anticipated magnitude. So really, tell me again, what is there to be excited about?

 

We have seen it all before; we are living it now. Every boom will bust.

How the Busy Intersection Model Works for Learners

In the Parking Lot or Busy Intersection? Models for Adult Education blog of December 3, I explored the concept of a learning institution and education as a busy intersection, rather than the more traditional parking lot model. I am going to take you further into that analogy to give you a better idea of how this can work.

The typical busy intersection appears chaotic at first glance. And it is. There are at least four or maybe six different exit points. Some of the exit points are permanent and others are temporary rest areas – an option to “check out” while you deal with other aspects of your life. You will be back in the flow soon though, as you remain committed to the education goal you set. There are other supports and services that you pass on your way through, that you may require now or later. It can be very hard to know where you want to go. And once you know where you want to go, you still need to know the best way to get there.

This is where the Navigator comes in. Think of a directional traffic cop. The traffic cop makes observations and clears the way for you to get to your goal, destination or exit from the intersection. Need services along the way? Just as our magical traffic cop has already noted that your tires are low and your headlight needs replacement, the Navigator has discussed with you various courses and pre-requisites, observed that you may gain from a course on organizational study skills, and connected you to people and services that you may need in order to meet your educational goals and sometimes personal goals.

Sounds perfect. A to B. Straight line? Remember this is adult education. There are very few straight lines in adult education. The PLAN is always a direct route, through that busy intersection, but you, like many others, may not make it the first time. Your life is far more complex as an adult than it was when you were first in school. The management it requires can sometimes become overwhelming. Life often gets in the way.

And that is a key concept in adult education. Life does get in the way, yet folks keep coming back to try again. And again, it is the Navigator who is working with you, to find a path or route that works for you. This is why we refer to Individual Learning Plans. Each person will have a different plan for how you will travel through the intersection (education system) to get to your exit (goal). And sometimes or maybe often, the barriers to that exit or learning goal are not the external factors, but rather the internal maze of barriers that can exist for adult learners.

 

You, like many adults, may have no idea where to go to get assistance, or who you can see or steps you can take to deal with your struggles: steps that will allow you to manage your life and your education at the same time. The Navigator is there to connect you to people and resources to assist you as you work through your specific barriers. And to welcome you back when you return for another attempt at the Grade 12, or Adult Dogwood, or the Pre-Apprenticeship Exam. Every time you return, you are welcomed and supported and encouraged as you get a little farther along your individual learning path that will lead you to your goal. And because the Navigator has worked with you, you do not have to start all over again, each and every time.

It is amazing to watch learners, who have struggled, get the rest of their lives in order, and suddenly, begin to see success and meet goals. Picture a blazing comet shooting through the busy intersection. Everyone who sees it is inspired and thrilled.   

I am convinced, after watching the busy intersection that is created at our community learning centre, that this works. Students return with their successes: their thrill of the GED Certificate, their story of a job that took them across the world, the excitement of their next educational goal. They return weeks after they “exit”. They return years after they exit. They return to their trusted Navigator with thanks, with referrals (friends, spouses, siblings, children) and their next learning goal or idea. Again and again, students report that the busy intersection model worked for them as they transformed their lives.

 

 

With huge acknowledgement to Sandi Lavallie, Navigator Extraordinaire