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What are we going to do
about 137,000 illiterate adults?
By J. Leland Gourley, Oklahoma City Friday
Out of every four Oklahoma City residents, one of them cannot read what you are reading right now.
Many of the 137,000 illiterate adults in our city are parents, raising more illiterates to feed into the apparently unstopped pipeline of ignorance.
So, if you consider this a problem, be aware that is a growing problem.
Most Oklahoma Cityans, like most Americans, are decent citizens, who feel compassion for these unfortunate people, some of whom are able to mask their dark secret and cope normally, in our culture.
A large percentage, however, cannot.
Nearly everybody, we believe, is concerned with the gravity of this problem. We dare to warn that we are more than concerned. Our very society is also endangered. This potential is far above and beyond just the misery and suffering of those afflicted by this social disease of
illiteracy, which alone is depressing.
But far more serious is that our apathy is causing the creation of a growing new under-class of citizenship. Its members have been selected by rejection. They are not to blame for their affliction, despite the fact some have been able to rise above it.
This new underclass is getting bigger and angrier. Crime is increasing. How much further will it go?
The question facing us as we enter a new year is:
What are we going to do about it?
Will we continue to play like nothing is happening?
What can we do about it?
We can do nothing and pay the price of neglect. Or, we all can be diligent enough to become involved in implementing some kind of solution.
The first thing we have to do is to stop thinking it’s somebody else’s problem. Actually there are two problems:
One is adult illiteracy. The other is the continuing failure of public education to stop the growth of illiteracy where it starts, in the early elementary years.
In the staggering problem of adult illiteracy, a number of worthwhile programs are operating. But, so far, they do not have the resources to make as much progress as is demanded by its magnitude.
Simplictically, our overall reliance on solutions must come from the all-American spirit of hope. It can be done if we’ll just do it! Never give up! We can’t afford to ignore it much longer.
ONE -- Those who have any school-hour time can volunteer to tutor hard-to-teach kids in early elemetary grades. Those who have done this can testify to the rewarding experience. You can save a life.
TWO -- Those who have off-work time can volunteer to work with one of our adult literacy programs. Others can donate funds to these budget-starved organizations.
THREE (And most important) -- Every one of us must keep our elected representatives in education and in government advised of the necessity of bold action to eliminate this growing societal tragedy and danger.
We must tell them to be willing to confront the labor unions who insist on paying everybody the same, regardless of performance results. It’s a hard job, requiring training and experience, to teach the hard-to-teach kids, from illiterate and dysfunctional homes, to learn to read and do basic math. And nearly always drop out of school to become another illiterate adult.
If we can reward our best teachers with substantial bonuses for success in this assignment, we can get our best teachers where they are needed most. It is pretty ridiculous to be paying tenured college professors $150,000 a year (and not requiring them to be in the classroom), while we pay lower elementary teachers less than a third of that to teach kids to read.
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