Labor Union Literacy Program

"The educational program of a labor union in New York (Goldman & McDermott, 1987; Smith, Gilmore, Goldman & McDermott, 1993) illustrates a successful attempt to change [competitive] institutional norms. Most union members had had poor experiences in schools and were afraid of tests. Yet the members needed to pass an extremely difficult examination to become licensed. Instead of continuing to operate from competitive norms, the union was committed to teaching its members until all had passed the test. The teachers in the program worked with a reading specialist and an anthropologist to develop a 10-week instructional program based on success. They set up peer teaching with 10 students and two instructors taken from those who had already passed the test. A part of the weekly classes involved taking sample tests. The first tests contained easy questions. Items that everyone got right were put on the test the next week. Soon all the men were doing well on tests with many items. Then the instructors adopted test questions from the manual. During the last 4 weeks students themselves generated questions for the tests. The result was a strong sense of confidence among the students, and the 'union went to its next bargaining table with the claim that they were all licensed professionals' (Goldman & McDermott, 1987, p. 297)" (Jacob, 1995).

Relevant CIP Cultural Question

 

3.2.1 Competition