ADULT BASIC EDUCATION
Volume 8, Number 2, Summer 1998, 68-89

A Critical Pedagogy of the Mainstream

George Demetrion

The essay links adult literacy learning within 'mainstream' programs to a personal philosophy of self-actualization, a scaffolding pedagogy, and the quest for inclusion into the main fabric of American economic, cultural and social life. These, in turn, are interpreted as important components undergirding John Dewey's concept of growth in its application to adult literacy, the philosophical premise which frames this essay. They are viewed less as a limiting factor than as a doorway that meets important needs, interests, and aspirations of students. The essay builds on the developmental social theory of Myron C. Tuman which shares close affinities with John Dewey's concept of growth.

Not change itself but the spirit of renewal and reform, so important for literacy, guarantees the continuation of freedom of democratic institutions-the liberating power of literacy comes only in the recognition of the contingent nature of social institutions, not in their necessary abolition (Tuman, 1987, p. 164).

       I have previously discussed John Dewey's concept of growth as the enhancement of experience through the exercise of critical intelligence, which I have linked to a quest for inclusiveness, as the primary pedagogical space accessible to adult literacy learners in mainstream programs like Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA), Laubauch Literacy Action (LLA), and in state-mandated ABE programs (Demetrion, 1994, 1997, a, 1997, b). In this essay, I attempt to further flesh out this Deweyan space by identifying some of its undergirding as it applies to adult literacy in the centrality of a personal philosophy of self-actualization, a scaffolding pedagogy, and the quest for inclusion into the main fabric of American cultural and social life. The essay concludes by linking the case-study material with the developmental cultural and social theory of Myron C. Tuman who draws on a framework established by Jean Piaget to structure his view of social change. Although Tuman never cites him, his developmentalism shares close affinities with Dewey's concept of growth.