How is illiteracy linked to our everyday lives?
Lynne Morgan
The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” Huffington Post
Hello. My name is Lynne Morgan. I am a retired Spanish teacher from the town of Hopedale, Massachusetts. During my 30 year career, I wrote the curriculum for teaching Spanish to elementary aged children which included third graders.
I was surprised to learn that a third grade student, who could not read by the end of third grade, would become a high school drop out! The other side of the coin was a child, who read at grade level by the end of third grade, had a 99% certainty that he would never be incarcerated.(Reading Horizons.com) This was disturbing to me, so when I retired I decided to write a book about a dog named Crackers to entice children, especially third graders, to read. After all, everyone loves a puppy and this puppy helped my husband and I raise our family and was a special dude.
Anyway, the book (CRACKERS) was well received and I ended up writing two more.(CRACKERS,FBI and other adventures) and (CRACKERS and HIS FRIENDS) The third one, published in 2018, won top prize in the children’s category from Mill City Press. I continue to speak and read wherever I can. I am happy to inform your readers what I have learned about literacy and illiteracy.
It is difficult to know where to begin concerning the subject of illiteracy and our everyday lives. Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s start with children and their first day of school. Children arrive to their first day of school eager and smiling. Some of them will have come from backgrounds very different from those classmates sitting next to them. Some of these children will have come from parents, or parent, who cannot read. These children most likely will have not had the experience of being read to or being taught how to read. These children are already at a disadvantage because they are behind before they even begin.
As the teacher begins to be aware of the students’ abilities, they are divided into reading groups. Children are savvy and they soon learn that the red birds are the “smart kids” and the blue birds are the “dumb kids.” This is when the blue birds begin to lose their self esteem and the red birds begin to feel really good about themselves. Perhaps this is where bullying begins.
The importance of reading to children before they enter school cannot be over emphasized. The benefits go beyond reading. Every parent should be aware of the self esteem that will grow in the child who is read to. The child is aware of the love that is shown by the parent who takes time out of a busy day to read to his child.
The sound of the parent’s voice, the pronunciation of the written words, and the intimacy of the setting are strong indicators to the child of how important he is to his parent. It becomes a treasured time together. The psychological influence that comes from a parent reading to a child is profound.
The intellectual evidence shows that children who read at home or are read to at home have a higher success rate in school according to the National Center for Educational Success. These children will be further ahead and more relaxed. These are the children who will want to go to school. The child who is disadvantaged will rarely be able to catch up because of the economic background and illiterate heritage he comes from.
Billions of dollars have been spent on reading programs for these children but illiteracy continues to grow at a staggering rate. Entire cities with high illiteracy rates face a declining economic prospect. The Houston Chronicle reported that, due to illiteracy, America suffers “$225 billion lost annually because of unemployment, lack of workplace productivity and crime.”
To better understand this, let’s return to the high school dropout who couldn’t read in third grade. He looks for a job but can’t find one. He gets involved with people in his same situation. He commits crimes and is incarcerated. Did you know that 90% of high school dropouts are on welfare and 85% of delinquents who appear before a magistrate in court are illiterate? If he is a she, she often becomes pregnant and is alone.(US literacy statistics)
Literacy is essential for a successful economy. There can be no hospitals, pharmacies, grocery or clothing stores without literacy. There can be no doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers scientists or entrepreneurs without literacy. Literacy is essential to our economy, our well being, our relationships, our lifelong learning, our livelihood and much more.
It is frightening to note that technology may be producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis. Children are not reading for pleasure like they use to. They put down their books and pick up their smart phones, iPads, iPods, and connect with social media.
Certainly we cannot do without technology. But what are we to do about the stagnant state of literacy in our country today? Here are a few more statistics about illiteracy from www.literacyinc.com.
One child in four grows up not knowing how to read. 16 to 19 year old girls at poverty level and below with below average reading skills are 6 times more likely to have out of wedlock children who in turn will have below average reading skills or none at all.
I repeat, what are we to do about the stagnant state of literacy in our country today? I think it will take more than a series of books about a dog named Crackers, but I will continue to do my small part. I hope someone out there will find the answer to solve this epidemic.
Lynne Morgan www.crackerslmorgan.com
https://twitter.com/LynneAuthor
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss
I was surprised to learn that a third grade student, who could not read by the end of third grade, would become a high school drop out! The other side of the coin was a child, who read at grade level by the end of third grade, had a 99% certainty that he would never be incarcerated.(Reading Horizons.com) This was disturbing to me, so when I retired I decided to write a book about a dog named Crackers to entice children, especially third graders, to read. After all, everyone loves a puppy and this puppy helped my husband and I raise our family and was a special dude.
Anyway, the book (CRACKERS) was well received and I ended up writing two more.(CRACKERS,FBI and other adventures) and (CRACKERS and HIS FRIENDS) The third one, published in 2018, won top prize in the children’s category from Mill City Press. I continue to speak and read wherever I can. I am happy to inform your readers what I have learned about literacy and illiteracy.
It is difficult to know where to begin concerning the subject of illiteracy and our everyday lives. Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s start with children and their first day of school. Children arrive to their first day of school eager and smiling. Some of them will have come from backgrounds very different from those classmates sitting next to them. Some of these children will have come from parents, or parent, who cannot read. These children most likely will have not had the experience of being read to or being taught how to read. These children are already at a disadvantage because they are behind before they even begin.
As the teacher begins to be aware of the students’ abilities, they are divided into reading groups. Children are savvy and they soon learn that the red birds are the “smart kids” and the blue birds are the “dumb kids.” This is when the blue birds begin to lose their self esteem and the red birds begin to feel really good about themselves. Perhaps this is where bullying begins.
The importance of reading to children before they enter school cannot be over emphasized. The benefits go beyond reading. Every parent should be aware of the self esteem that will grow in the child who is read to. The child is aware of the love that is shown by the parent who takes time out of a busy day to read to his child.
The sound of the parent’s voice, the pronunciation of the written words, and the intimacy of the setting are strong indicators to the child of how important he is to his parent. It becomes a treasured time together. The psychological influence that comes from a parent reading to a child is profound.
The intellectual evidence shows that children who read at home or are read to at home have a higher success rate in school according to the National Center for Educational Success. These children will be further ahead and more relaxed. These are the children who will want to go to school. The child who is disadvantaged will rarely be able to catch up because of the economic background and illiterate heritage he comes from.
Billions of dollars have been spent on reading programs for these children but illiteracy continues to grow at a staggering rate. Entire cities with high illiteracy rates face a declining economic prospect. The Houston Chronicle reported that, due to illiteracy, America suffers “$225 billion lost annually because of unemployment, lack of workplace productivity and crime.”
To better understand this, let’s return to the high school dropout who couldn’t read in third grade. He looks for a job but can’t find one. He gets involved with people in his same situation. He commits crimes and is incarcerated. Did you know that 90% of high school dropouts are on welfare and 85% of delinquents who appear before a magistrate in court are illiterate? If he is a she, she often becomes pregnant and is alone.(US literacy statistics)
Literacy is essential for a successful economy. There can be no hospitals, pharmacies, grocery or clothing stores without literacy. There can be no doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers scientists or entrepreneurs without literacy. Literacy is essential to our economy, our well being, our relationships, our lifelong learning, our livelihood and much more.
It is frightening to note that technology may be producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis. Children are not reading for pleasure like they use to. They put down their books and pick up their smart phones, iPads, iPods, and connect with social media.
Certainly we cannot do without technology. But what are we to do about the stagnant state of literacy in our country today? Here are a few more statistics about illiteracy from www.literacyinc.com.
One child in four grows up not knowing how to read. 16 to 19 year old girls at poverty level and below with below average reading skills are 6 times more likely to have out of wedlock children who in turn will have below average reading skills or none at all.
- 46% of adults cannot understand their prescription labels.
- 50% of adults are unable to read an 8th grade level book.
- 33% of high school grads never read a book after high school.
- 19% of high school grads can’t read.
I repeat, what are we to do about the stagnant state of literacy in our country today? I think it will take more than a series of books about a dog named Crackers, but I will continue to do my small part. I hope someone out there will find the answer to solve this epidemic.
Lynne Morgan www.crackerslmorgan.com
https://twitter.com/LynneAuthor
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss