The following message is from Tom Sticht...Please read on ~ Jackie
Taylor

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December 20, 2006

Peeling Potatoes for Freedom from Want:
A Message for the New Year of 2007

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

On February 13, 2003, the United Nations Literacy Decade was launched,
with the theme of Literacy as Freedom. To celebrate the U.N. Decade of
Literacy's theme of Literacy as Freedom, I conducted a speaking tour in
the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States called Literacy Frees
the World
(LFW).   Part  of the LFW presentation discussed the work of adult
literacy
educators contributing to the achievement by adult learners  of each of
the Four Freedoms discussed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.

The presentation also discussed the importance of teaching literacy
following Functional Context Education (FCE) principles in which the
teaching of basic skills is  integrated with or embedded in the teaching
of knowledge within the contexts of the adult students' lives. One
illustration of this FCE approach occurred during World War II. During
that war, over a quarter million young men learned to read in Special
Training Units in the Army. One of the resources used to teach reading
was a newspaper, Our War, which was published monthly from June 1942
through September 1945. Each issue of Our War included a cartoon strip
about the fictional Private Pete and his buddy, Daffy. The January 1944
issue discussed the New Year.  It has a message pertinent to today's
times and circumstances, including the United Nation's Decade of
Literacy theme of Literacy as Freedom.  Following is a synopsis of the
strip.

Our War    January 1944			Private Pete Starts the New Year
Right

The strip opens with a panel showing Private Pete and Daffy dancing at a
U.S.O. party. Then they walk back to their barracks and Private Pete
says to Daffy, "That was a swell party. Sure makes you want to start the
New Year Right.

The next strip shows Pete saying to Daffy, who is still in his bunk,
"Time to get up! Remember your New Year's resolutions. Let's go!" After
making his bunk up, Pete says, "Are these corners o.k., Daffy?" Daffy
says, "They sure are. And look at mine, too. Daffy then says, "Look at
the shine on these shoes, Pete." Pete says, "Good! But what about your
laundry?"

The next panel is two weeks later on Jan. 15. Daffy says, "Gee, I've
kept my promises for two whole weeks." Next panel, Pete and Daffy walk
into the barracks day room. Daffy says, "What are you going to do,
Pete?" Pete says, "I'm going to find out more about the war. Remember, I
promised to to that all year long."  Looking at a magazine in the day
room Pete says, "This magazine shows what happened when the war
started."

Several panels on, Pete says, "And there's another big job to do after
the war is over." Next panel, Pete says, "Remember the poster we say
about the Four Freedoms?" Daffy says excitedly, "I know them...FREEDOM
FROM WANT, FREEDOM FROM FEAR, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, FREEDOM OF SPEECH."

Next the cartoon shows Pete and Daffy walking from their barracks to the
mess hall. Pete says, "Everything we do helps to win the war." Daffy
says, "You mean K.P., too?"

In the final panel, Daffy and Pete are pealing potatoes while on K.P.
and Daffy says, with a smile on his face, "Guess this takes care of
freedom from want!"

Still, today, over sixty years from the fictional discussion of Private
Pete and Daffy, men and women around the world are still seeking
literacy as one of the key tools for securing the Four Freedoms for
themselves and their families. And hundreds of thousands of adult
literacy teachers are working, often under dangerous and oppressive
conditions, to help these adults achieve life sustaining and enhancing
literacy skills.  With great resolve, this work by literacy learners and
their teachers will continue in the New Year of 2007!

Literacy Frees the World!

Happy New Year!

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net