http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/07/MNPL16TGVB.DTL

Effects of nutritional deprivation:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/07/MNPC16TJLQ.DTL

Some of this is irreparable according to the researchers.

What to do with all of these people? Certainly, Adult Education budgets shouldn’t have to be the total solution to repair these social problems.

Perhaps this is why Obama is pushing to recruit so many to the USA Service Programs…

http://www.usaservice.org/

While I think Adult Ed is very important, the local school districts of California are going to come to a crossroads where they will probably realize they don’t have enough money to educate K-12 students as it is. If that is the case they need to get their mission priorities straight. OUSD is here for the children and not for adults.

Adult Ed may have to find a place for itself in either State and Federal Employment or Welfare programs or State Jr Colleges.

By “Adult Ed” I mean basic math and literacy programs for people 18 and over who have failed and neglected to educate themselves in basic literacy and math when they were of age for primary and secondary education.

The typical reason for that failure is mental illness (conduct disorders, mental disorders, retardation), especially undiagnosed mental illness, parental neglect including failure to provide a stable home and failure to provide basic discipline and logistical support for schooling during minority, and to a lesser degree medical illnesses, injury and other problems.

University Of California has no business providing remedial math and English A classes. One can say that our school districts have no business providing Adult Ed. Adults need to take their education in adult systems, not systems designed for children and financed to children.

Especially if the money runs dry for the children’s schools.

Jim Mordecai