With a good deal more than just functional reading skills at my disposal I may not be wiser than I was yesterday but I am smarter. The article I was able to read advised me that I need to add a pinch of salt to the eight glasses of water that I drink a day in order to replace the electrolytes my body needs. Aside from that being an interesting fact, it could make a difference in my health too. What if I hadn't been able to read that article? What if the letters were just marks on the page that didn't make sense to me? That is what it is like for 19% of Canadians according to an IALS study. It also says that 47% in total can't read at a level for everyday living.
How scary would it be to hold a bottle of pills that could save your life and be unable to make sense of it? The basics of life should read food, shelter, clothing and literacy. Generally the better read you are the better you are able to do in life overall as you have a good idea of what people are talking about and making reference to. The love of reading brings you into so many worlds that you didn’t know existed and helps you to become more well rounded in the subjects of life. It is hard to just stand and nod hoping that those around you think you know what they are talking about. When I think about not being able to read, the way I wrap my head around it is to think about going to a foreign country and trying to read a book or menu in their language. If the language shared the basics of English I might be able to make out a few words but if it was in Arabic or Japanese I wouldn’t have a prayer. This is the frustration that far too many people worldwide struggle with everyday. Hiding their literary ignorance would take its toll on them day after day. It’s not unlike being thrown into a chorus line and being expected to “fake it till you make it". Imagine the stress they would carry! Your job possibilities would be greatly limited leaving you with little or no opportunity to advance. It would be hard to keep going like that day after day.
We take reading skills for granted when learning and literacy are promoted in our homes. Most of us loved having our moms reading us books at bedtime. While we didn’t appreciate the significance of literacy, we were enthralled with the idea of reading by ourselves. Those books took us to other worlds and exotic places. When we reached a new level of reading ability and understanding there was always another level to strive for. How can reading be something we take for granted while others cry out for the opportunity? It is unfair that they can’t partake of the wonder and excitement that changes those squiggle marks into thoughts and ideas and enlightenment. Projects like Partners in Adult Literacy take the opportunity to help adults learn to read long after they had given up on the idea. This is a fabulous way to give back to the community at large but wouldn’t it be so much better to reach children? How can we supply them with the basics that we ourselves took for granted? There are more questions than answers with this problem but we must keep searching. Let’s make sure that our children’s children have never heard of illiteracy.
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