As I am sure you are all aware, today, September 8th is International Literacy Day. Promoted by UNESCO to highlight the importance of literacy in defeating poverty and progressing our world, it is hard to get away from all the razzmatazz associated with this special day. You must have noticed the TV ads, the leaflets, the supplements in our newspapers. Literacy everywhere. Not.
Looking back, I realise that most of my working life was connected with literacy. I helped thousands of children to become more proficient in the English language. I taught English in Fiji, Hungary, Thailand, Scotland, South Africa and of course in three challenging secondary schools in South Yorkshire. Almost forty years in the service of literacy. Armed with my dictionary and thesaurus, I was a soldier at the front.
Especially in English speaking lands, literacy is very much connected with who we are as people. Even constructive criticism can be misinterpreted as an assault upon one's core being for it is through language - both written and spoken that we define ourselves.
However, there can be no doubt that better literacy makes one more "saleable" in the world of work. There is a direct correlation between levels of literacy and socio-economic well-being. It is for that reason that UNESCO embraced the idea of an "International Literacy Day" - definitely not because they wanted to encourage people to enjoy more crime fiction or to write poetry or even to host blogs. It was all about economics.
Worldwide, literacy is especially important in advancing the status of women and indeed in combating overpopulation. No wonder the British-Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai once wrote: “The extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women.”
"Literacy" is not a very nice-sounding word. It's kind of slithery like a lizard or some skin condition. Despite that, it is enormously important to the world. Literate people are more confident, better-informed, better able to invent, communicate with others, challenge and create. In contrast, illiterate people are effectively handicapped - normally through no fault of their own.
Across the world, it is estimated that 59 million children of primary age are currently not in school and will probably never receive any formal schooling. Many millions more never make it to secondary school. This is surely an indictment upon all of us.
I can't imagine a world without words. Occasionally I still get a patient who can't read or write and my heart breaks a little. It must be so isolating.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that there are many people in this world who are afraid of women and especially afraid of well educated, literate women.
"One of the benefits of being a mature well-educated woman is that you're not afraid of expletives. And you have no fear to put a fool in his place. That's the power of language and experience. You can learn a lot from Shakespeare."- Judi Dench
Judi Dench is a Yorkshire woman and she speaks real sense in that particular quotation.
DeleteWhy do they advertise adult literacy lessons in newspapers? Seriously 59 million children not in school is an incredible figure.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's just primary schools Northsider!
DeleteI can't argue with any of that! I wonder where those 59 million uneducated children are.
ReplyDeleteIndia, Pakistan, Bolivia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Burma, Malawi, Brazil and St John's Wood, London.
DeleteThere have been several articles about illiteracy in adults just recenlty in the papers I regularly read. It is astonishing how many adults have gone through an entire school career (usually not above the most basic compulsory level) without ever really learning to read and write. More often than not, their problem has gone unnoticed for a variety of reasons - disinterested teachers (not every teacher is like you, as you know of course) and parents, clever handling or avoiding of situations where the problem would have become apparent, and so on. Same goes for the causes; why someone gets through school without ever learning to read and write can originate in a traumatic experience, in an undiagnosed medical condition, and so on.
ReplyDeleteI can hardly remember a time when I was NOT able to read and write, but I can relate to the feeling of illiteracy whenever I see writing in a language that I don't speak, especially when the writing is very different from our letters and numbers. It drives me mad, and my mind instantly wants to find patterns and decipher the writing.
As you know, some people are word blind or "dyslexic" making reading and writing exceedingly difficult. Such people often have good oral skills which should be encouraged and advanced.
DeleteI have to confess I did not know (about 8th September being International Literacy Day). While trying to find out why I did not know this, I found that we don't seem to even have found a Swedish word for it. There is long Wikipedia article in Swedish (entitled 'Literacy', using the English word) about the lack of a Swedish word to cover all the aspects of the English word (which seems to have a wider meaning than just being able to read and write). I can only come to the conclusion that we got so caught up in discussions about what to call it, that we forgot to enter the special day into our calendars... Aside from that, I basically agree with Meike above. In later years I have been trying to learn several new languages through the online app Duolingo. If nothing else, it has made me more aware of what a struggle it must be for immigrants in my own country to learn Swedish!
ReplyDeleteI highlighted the day because it gets so little airtime DT. UNESCO do not bang the drum loud enough.
DeleteI didn't know today (8th September) is literacy day. What does that even mean?
ReplyDeleteWhat I do know that today is my brother's birthday. And, once upon a time, he defaced three of my books (Astrid Lindgren's Pippy Long Stocking). Let's call what he did "annotations". Two decades down the line one of my sisters took pity on me and bought a whole new set for me.
I sometimes wonder what siblings are for. Other than to test your patience. And make you grow the hide of a rhino.
Literacy. If I responded to every point you make in your post this comment box would bulge. Explode at its seams.
Let me say one thing: Just because someone can "read" doesn't mean they comprehend. Different ball game.
How do you teach comprehension?
U
You exemplify. You discuss. You test. You check. You encourage. You build. Reading is not reading without comprehension.
DeleteJust this week I saw an ad about aboriginal literacy so literacy day penetrated my brain to some extent.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your dedication to all those children, someone had to take on that mostly thankless work
I am afraid that you are right to apply the term "thankless" Kylie but mostly I was paid moderately well.
DeleteI wholeheartedly agree with all your points, my dear. You should take a great amount of pride in the number of children, many adults by now, that you taught to become more literate and, indeed, to become a better version of themselves by becoming more literate. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteNow I am blushing like a goddamn tomato!
DeleteI cannot imagine a world without books or the ability to read. My Mother was a great lover of books and she instilled that love in me at a very early age. I have been having some trouble with my eyes recently and sometimes in the evening my eyes are too tired to properly focus on words in order to read. This has been shocking to me because I have come to realize how totally lost I feel when I cannot read. I read something almost constantly and I have taken that ability for granted. It's made me feel so bad for those that cannot read. I have heard there are more adults out there with limited reading skills that we might realize. That is heart breaking to me and I wonder if some are not embarrassed to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that embarrassment and disguise are all part of illiteracy in the western world even though literacy should not be confused with intelligence. I like reading best in good light. Nowadays I hate reading in murky light. In the past it never seemed to matter.
DeleteIf it wasn't for Mr. Pudding, I wouldn't know this fact. I have tried to help students become more literate. I've watched people struggle who have a low literacy level. Astounding that 59 million kids are not in school.
ReplyDeleteThat's just primary education Red.
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