“First We Must Dream. Nothing Is Harder”: Toward a Discourse on Literacy Across the Life Span

Jonathan Dale, a Quaker who has spent much of his life as a community worker, once wrote: “First we must dream. Nothing is harder… Dreaming has to break through the constantly reinforced assumption that ‘There Is No Alternative’” (1996, p. 1). This takes on special poignancy when we look at the world through the eyes of those with low literacy skills; particularly since one of the great tragedies of Western civilization is that the concept of “lifelong learning” has never been taken particularly seriously.