Why Adults Can’t Read
It is hard to fathom that in this day and age we can encounter adults who have not learned to read and write. With all the resources at one’s disposal in this country there are many Americans who cannot use them because they have not acquired the basic skills necessary to utilize them. Unfortunately, statistics state that “the number of functionally illiterate adults is increasing by approximately two and one quarter million persons each year” (Sweet) and this number takes into account those 17-18 year olds who are dropping out of high school before they even graduate. Why is it that a country as prosperous as the United States cannot ensure that all of its citizens are literate? In reading Victoria Purcell-Gates book Other People’s Words I discovered some of the reasons why adults can have low or even no literate skills in our current society. The reasons I will discuss include the lack of access to print before formal instruction, socio-economic factors, and social promotions.
Contrary to what some may have understood literacy does not begin in the classroom. I am sure I am not the only one outside of academia to have believed such a notion but after reading Purcell-Gates’ book, I discovered what we absorb before our formal education begins is just as important as what we learn once we are in school. Purcell-Gates asks the question “What do children learn about the language of reading and writing during their preinstruction years?” (46) and as of a few months ago my answer would have been something like they learn to imitate their parents and say two or three letter words that represent the items they want. Although my response is not entirely untrue, Purcell-Gates indicates there is much more to what a child can learn about reading and writing before setting foot in a classroom. Her study of Jenny and Donny’s family introduced me to the idea that parents are a significant factor as to how print is received and used in the child’s eyes.
I was privileged enough to have a mother who read the newspaper every morning and then would give me part of the paper to pretend to read. As a child I wanted to know what my mother was reacting to in the news. I wanted to read like her.
Regrettably life in the Appalachians is not the same. It is a tight knit community that provides its citizens with all the comforts they need to survive. Reading and writing is not high on the list of goals. Jenny and Donny do not read newspapers or magazines, they cannot read the bills that come to their home, nor can they read the notes that come home from school with their boys. Print material is not utilized in their home. Their sons, Donny, Jr. and Timmy, do not see mom and dad writing down instructions, taking notes or writing letters. They function without print almost as comfortably as you and I function with it. Because Donny Jr. and Timmy do not see their parents using print in their home it becomes just as easy for them not to notice it as well. Reading and writing is dismissed and almost seen as an annoyance by little Donny when it is introduced. The adults use physical markers, shapes and/or sizes of signs to get to any destination outside of their home base and with the assistance of their community, it is understandable how people in this particular society in America can grow up not learning to read and write. They have learned to work around it. With continued assistance from literate family and friends the number of illiterate Americans in the Appalachians will likely rise.
We see that none or even very limited access to print as a child has much to do with the why an adult in American can grow up not knowing how to read but so does the socio-economical factors. Socio-economic status is most often determined by a combination of income, occupation and education, and is thought to be a good indication of whether a child will achieve in a literate society. In author Richard Kahlenberg’s article, “Can Separate Be Equal?” he seems to agree.
“The landmark 1966 Coleman Report found that the most important predictor of academic achievement is the socioeconomic status of the family a child comes from, and the second most important predictor is the socioeconomic makeup of the school she attends” (13).
I found these points to be true as evidenced in two current readings in particular. In Other People’s Words I learned that because of the family’s poor background, no particular attention was paid to the needs of the parent or the child when it came to their education. Several attempts to address the school were made but Jenny’s parental cries were ignored simply because the family was known to be from the poor side of town. It was almost ingrained within the school system to expect these students to fail and many of the staff did nothing to help them achieve. By the end of the reading it was good to witness Jenny’s exuberance at discovering the ability to decode her world. On the other hand, it was just as disconcerting that Donny, Jr. did not keep up with is reading nor was he enthusiastic about continuing his progression as a reader simply because his saw his father did not read.
In the reading of Margaret Finders’ Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High, it is clear that the girls who live in the trailer park do not enjoy the same literate freedoms as the privileged girls. The socio-economic makeup of the school has not hindered the students she deems “the cookies” from reading and writing. They participate in class and are as adept at reading as their socially accepted counter parts. However, they cannot participate in the normal adolescent activities, such as year book signing, sleepovers or participation in extracurricular activities because they cannot afford to or they have obligations at home that keep them from being socially active. Clearly these girls have learned to read and write because of the socio-economic makeup of the school, however their personal economic status have not allowed them to be embraced into the larger society.
In addition, socio-economically disadvantage students usually live in areas where there are little to no resources available for them. School are supposed to be separate but equal, however students who live in areas where access to resources are plenty do not have to contend with dated or lack of text books, limited, or little access to technology and teachers who already have pre-conceived bias about their abilities. Unfortunately children from disadvantaged backgrounds often have parents who were raised in the same environment and therefore reading and writing may develop more slowly for these students without parental guidance. Couple this with the idea that both adults probably work to maintain the family, and we can comprehend why it is difficult for a child who does not grasp the basics can quickly fall behind.
Had Purcell-Gates not stepped in and advocate for Donny, Jr.’s retention on his mother’s behalf he would have been socially promoted just as his father and mother were. We still find this to be the case today. This semester as I observed Walton High School, in the Bronx, New York there were obvious instances where this practice has happened. Ms. Page informed me that a number of the students were “moved through” although they could not complete the basic requirements of the previous class. I witnessed the lack of attention that was given to the reading instruction in the classroom. A majority of the class did not participate in the class reading assignments because many of them were not comfortable reading out loud. Additionally, the students had come to know the requirements of the school system and many of them wanted nothing more than to receive the minimum passing grade in order to be promoted or in some cases, graduate.
Social promotion was initially developed for two reasons. One, public schools were growing rapidly in urban areas and the added costs for students that had to be held back were not conducive to budget restraints. Two, parents began to become concerned about placing older students with younger student so they were moved along to the next grade whether they had obtained the skills necessary to complete the grade or not (221 Carifio). Our colleges are filled with high school graduates who require remedial reading and writing before they can even begin their academic careers. Promoting students who have not grasped the fundamentals of their grade ensures that he or she will be behind in the following grade. This will continue until the student becomes or has an advocate to fight for him/her though instances are rare. More likely these students will drop out and learn to function well within their communities or they will become remedial students in many of the college classrooms.
As we become more technically advanced, print literature and children’s engagement with has and will continue to change. But if a child’s parent is not engaged with print, or perhaps lives in a socio-economically disadvantaged area and is the product of social promotion there will continue to be many Americans in this global community who cannot decode and make meaning of the language around them. We cannot make parents read to their children even more than we can change where they live and work, but we can begin new discussions on a better way to ensure that we do not shuffle children along to college who are not properly prepared. It is not fair to the children or the teachers who must try to right the wrongs.
Works Cited
American Psychological Association, Task Force on Socioeconomic Status. (2007). Report of the APA Task Force on Socioeconomic Status. Washington, DC.
Carifio, James, and Theodore Carey. "Do Minimum Grading Practices Lower Academic Standards And Produce Social Promotions?" Educational Horizons 88.4 (2010): 219-230.
Kahlenberg, Richard D. "Can Separate Be Equal?" American Prospect 20.7 (2009): A13-15.
Page, Verna. Personal interview. 1 December 2011.
Purcell-Gates, Victoria. Other People’s Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
Sarroub, Loukia K. "Living “Glocally” With Literacy Success In The Midwest." Theory Into Practice 47.1 (2008): 59-66.
Sweet, Robert W. Jr., K. "Living “Illiteracy: An Incurable Disease or Education Malpractice?” The National Right to Read Foundation. http://www.nrrf.org/essay_Illiteracy.html
No comments:
Post a Comment