Leverage is the third Category of Action in {  We Speak America  }

The New Paradigm in Bytes

The most promising reforms hold the potential to move us away from the current monolithic education system to one centered on individual student needs. – Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School

One of the recommendations in a recent study on Adult Literacy and Immigrants is to increase the use of technology to reach adult learners across the United States. Of the 22 million LEPs, only a little over a million are in federally-funded adult education program. With such limited resources in the current state of adult education, { We Speak America } will create a career and learning pathways on the Internet to reach those left out by the system.

The Internet economy continues to provide many opportunities for Americans from all walks of life. In his book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns, Clayton Christensen (2008) of the Harvard Business School asserts that technology will eventually disrupt the more traditional, teacher-centered classroom with student-centered and technology-based approaches. In this spirit, { We Speak America } will create innovative solutions for adult learners outside traditional programs. Innovation, after all, is the lifeblood of growth.

The Dreamers and the Dream

Big Dreams, Small Steps is the aphorism by which { We Speak America } will make a difference. It will ride the wave of changes in the way we view and work in the world. It is a social enterprise that is inspired by individual efforts across the world to tackle the social issues of our time. There are new thinkers and doers who have grown frustrated with the timidity and failure by which institutions have dealt with social problems. They look at social issues and recognize that before, during, and after, the bottomline is people. There are no corner offices with a Manhattan view; the work is on the ground, and the shoes will get dirty.

One Community at a Time

{ We Speak America } bases its principles on best practices in internet-based education and adult learning. Finding white papers that highlight the problems in adult education, ESOL, LEPs is the easiest of tasks. There are many convenings, research, and think-tanks that produce them. Finding innovative solutions is difficult. Finding people who are willing to take risks and effect change is impossible. There is a lot of hesitation on employing distance learning in adult literacy programs. It is often hard enough to sustain current practices, entering another world, especially one that is highly unexplored, engender resistance and fear. On the other hand, without such risks, the world of adult learners will continue to fall behind innovation and change. As a social enterprise, { We Speak America } is willing to go far with internet-based technology and will fight at the frontlines.

Creative Destruction and Innovation

The replication of a successful model is every organization’s dream. Schumpeter’s creative destruction is its ultimate impact. That’s when the organizational giants whose existence is based on continuity and not change get ultimately overpowered by the little enterprising organizations with innovative solutions attached to market needs. So to speak, it’s the quintessential battle of the old and the new. Organizations get so big, their missions are blurred by their own bureaucracies. The failure to innovate and the tendency to follow the “buzz” become a recipe for collapse.

Innovation is at the driving force behind { We Speak America }.

Following the Broadband Revolution

An FCC survey finds that 78% of adults are internet users and 65% of adults have home broadband connections. (PEW Internet)

Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the F.C.C., is promoting faster and more pervasive broadband infrastructure as a tenet of economic growth and democracy. (New York Times)

It is not surprising that the unwired population in the U.S. is significantly also the underserved. The digital divide is simply a reflecting pool of the economic divide. The facilitation of social networking in political discussions and elections has been steadily increasing; it was made more obvious during the last presidential elections. Civic participation is becoming more and more driven online. Hence, those who are not wired are becoming second class citizens. { We Speak America } will engage in the broadband movement to wire marginalized populations. Digital inclusion is critical to its mission. While narrowing the digital divide is the ultimate goal, building partnerships with “wired” community organizations, local businesses, and institutions will mitigate the digital dilemma.

Shifting Perceptions on Immigration

That “America is a country of immigrants” is a matter of individual perspective. Hate crimes against immigrants increase during economic downturns. Immigrants get blamed for everything. Sometimes, Americans with immigrant roots also point fingers. Worse, policies are created around such misconceptions.  It is during these times of heightened tensions between established communities and new arrivals that America needs to dig deep into its historical roots.    

America has been and will always be, a country of immigrants. Not much has changed. With the right tools, immigrants will continue to build this country, as they have done in the past. { We Speak America } will provide one of the tools—education—where it matters most, the workforce.

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