Extract from ABC News
Opinion
I come from Brewarrina and Nyngan in New South Wales. That's where my parents are from, that's where my spirit belongs and that's who my people are.
These days I live in the Sydney suburb of Pemulwuy, near Parramatta. It has become a special place to me, as I told Geraldine Doogue in our conversation for a Reconciliation Week episode of Compass, airing this Sunday.
As a Blackfella, living in Pemulwuy is like going to heaven before you die. Not only is the suburb named after an Aboriginal warrior, but the streets are all Aboriginal words.
Pemulwuy was a remarkable Aboriginal man famous for leading resistance against the European invasion in the 1790s. I taught about him for 25 years when I was working at Tranby Aboriginal College. Living here connects parts of my life, especially fighting for Aboriginal rights and improvements in education.
I've been involved in the struggle for many years and during Reconciliation Week people often ask me, "How can we make a difference?" The answer, I believe, is adult literacy.
It is critically important because adults who have low literacy in English are making decisions for young people. The best gift you can give an Aboriginal child is a literate mother.
When you can't read and write, challenges keep compounding
The Australian education system has failed Aboriginal people at every turn; more than half of all Aboriginal adults have low levels of English language literacy.
That means the majority of people in our communities are struggling to read dosage information on medicines. They can't get a driver's license. It can be difficult to get a job.
During COVID lockdowns I despaired when people were being asked to home-school their kids. How can you do that when you struggle to read yourself? More and more services are moving online and as a result people with low literacy are being left further behind.
When you can't read and write, challenges keep compounding. And they are intergenerational.
A parent's level of education is one of the most critical factors influencing how well a child does at school. The children of people with low literacy become the next generation of adults with low literacy. And on it goes. There are exceptions, of course, but the evidence is overwhelming.
The job of lifting literacy in Aboriginal communities is too big for schools and pre-schools to tackle alone. Teachers know that. Parents and the community play a vital role too.
So we need a circuit breaker. We need a way to help adults improve their literacy so they can help their kids do the same.
Meeting our people where they are
At the Aboriginal organisation I lead, the Literacy for Life Foundation, our community-led literacy campaigns have helped over 280 Aboriginal adults improve their English language literacy. We are getting results in an area that many consider the too-hard basket.
Our programs work because local people and their communities are the ones that make it happen — it is true community control and ownership. Unfortunately, that's also the reason we struggle to get funding.
There's very little funding available for adult literacy in the first place. The money that's on offer is largely directed towards formal accredited training, delivered through Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system.
But those pathways don't work for many Aboriginal adults with low literacy. For example, even the "entry-level" courses are too hard for people with very basic reading and writing skills. You can't start a staircase halfway up the building. You need to meet people where they are.
Crucially, leaders from the community need to drive learning. That way it is family teaching family and friends helping each other. This can be a game changer because it delivers the connection and support you need when you are finding your way back to education as an adult. I know because that was my path.
I was expelled from high school
I returned to education later in life. I was the dux of my primary school and at high school I chose commerce and history as my electives. The principal called me into the office and said, "Aboriginal kids don't do those subjects." I was directed to woodwork.
I ended up being expelled from school at 14. Around that time, I was taken to the police station and accused of crimes I didn't commit. The Sergeant hit me in the face 56 times. When they finished, a police car pulled up and they brought a bloke in and said: "This guy just admitted to committing all those crimes."
After that my family wanted me to leave town to keep safe. As my uncle put me on the bus to Sydney, he told me something that has stayed with me forever. He said, "There's nothing I can give you to take with you, but I'll just give you a bit of advice. I just want you always to remember that there's no-one on Earth that's any better a person than you are, and you're no better than anyone else, either."
I've tried to live my life that way.
Learning to read, reading to learn
When I got to Sydney I ended up living on the streets at one point. After some years I walked into Tranby Aboriginal College. I wanted to finish learning. My mum came to my graduation: she got to see her son — who had been expelled from school — get a degree. It was a big thing.
Learning is a fundamental human right. And everyone benefits when you lift adult literacy. That's because low literacy impacts everything, including the health, education and justice systems.
Consider this: we have just published research showing that after participating in a Literacy for Life Foundation adult literacy campaign, serious criminal offences by students dropped 65 per cent. Serious offences by women dropped by 89 per cent.
Imagine if we spent the same amount of money running community-driven adult literacy classes as we do on incarceration.
The beauty of helping people read and write is that it gives them tools for life. They say that once you learn to read, you can read to learn.
What puts a smile on my face is knowing all these mothers, fathers and grandparents can now read to little kids. That is a gift we can all celebrate.
Watch Sacred Space: Jack Beetson on Compass on ABC TV on Sunday June 5 at 6:30pm and on iView.
Professor Jack Beetson is a Ngemba man and the first Indigenous Australian to be inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. He is the Executive Director of the Literacy for Life Foundation.
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