In recognition of International Literacy Day, I will post today about literacy. Anthony Westbury recently wrote about illiteracy in both the United States and the world. I include an excerpt:
“If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher,” was the message on a popular bumper sticker a few years back.
There are an awful lot of people, both in this country and abroad, who aren’t able to read such simple messages — 860 million of them to be exact, two-thirds of them women.
On Friday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrates International Literacy Day. UNESCO sponsors reading celebrations and appoints a jury to award international literacy prizes. These include awards for the encouragement of mother tongue languages in developing countries, prizes aimed at developing literacy for rural adults and out-of-school youth, especially women and girls.
So, what’s this got to do with you in rich, well-educated America?
Well, poor reading skills aren’t limited to the Third World. A shockingly high percentage of Americans either cannot read at all or function at a low level of literacy. In technical terms, this second group is described as functionally illiterate. Their numbers include both United States-born natives and immigrants, but around 20 percent of the population is functionally illiterate.
Common sense tells us of the connection of illiteracy to poverty. To escape poverty, poor people need an entire quality education that includes job skills and job training. Both education and job skills require literacy.
While we have to also address adult illiteracy, we can recognize that providing universal quality education to children would have eliminate the problem all-together.
We have to find a way to provide quality education to all children, and I doubt the government can do that due to its bureaucratic immobility and funding problems–taxpayers will always give government school system’s budget problems. I suggest using privately-funded student loans and private schools to provide quality education.