Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1985)
WATCH A VIDEO MOVIE Illiteracy remains major problem (Coftrinuatf /r o m Page 3 / w ith few er than six y e a n in school is double that o f those w ith 9 -1 1 y e a n o f schooling. This tends to become cyclical fo r the odds that children o f illiterates w ill also be illiterate has been borne out in studies. It seems that illiteracy, then, is an unw anted b irth rig h t passed on by caring, b ut o fte n powerless parents. Deprivation in the hom e where there are none, or at best, too few reading m a terials. is often coupled w ith the lack o f support needed to indicate that reading is both enjoyable and essential. A ccording to H a k i R. M a d h u b iti, an auth or and publisher, ** .. nonreading people may be the most dangerous contributing factor in our misdevelopment over the last 23 years in this c o u n try." / i W h a t is the cure? Is there one? I t has been d eterm ined that S3 b illio n , or $100 per illiterate, is needed to effect a cure. W e are a long way fro m that sum. A t present, about $3 .30 is spent by the government for literacy programs, and the threat that even that paltry sum may be cut is very real Some say that the monies needed should come fro m the private sector; another group advocates more government involvem ent; still a third group demands that the schools do more in the reading program s and lecher training/selection. There is no easy answ er, yet the p ro b le m m ust be a ttacked s w iftly i f we are to keep it fro m PGE e le c tric ity i th e clock. W hen all i t worsening. Several programs have been started to address the crisis. In New Y o rk C ity, the L ite ra c y V o lu n te e rs O rg a n iz a tio n has in s titu te d a p ro g ram th a t brings 130,000 adu lt volunteer tutors in to the classroom . U n iversity o f M ia m i stu- O /ic o f the w orld's most fa m o u s teacher/philosophers was an illiterate Black slave in Greece named Aesop. Thurgood M arshall o f th a N A A C P Legal D afanaa Fund and Daisy Ba taa. Arkansas Stats NAACP President, on tha steps of tha Supreme Court w ith students that integrated Central High School of U ttia Rock. Arkansas, in 1967. dents tutor illiterate public school children fo r academic credit. C o rp oratio ns such as G M and D o w C h em ical have program s fo r their employees and are vide discounts fo r R IF books. T o d a y over 127,000 volunteers serve 4 700 R IF projects in this country, whose headquarters are located in the nation's capital. reaching out into their communities to aid public school students. These com A n other reading incentive program has recently been introduced by W o rld B ook-C hildcraft, and is called P A T H (Parents and teachers H elping). It is de signed to assist parents in stimulating their children to read at home. Co-spon panies are sware that because inadequate education results in an unprepared labor force, im proved education m ay decrease the costs that the corporations w ould have to assume in the future fo r extra training, accidents and injuries sored by 27 stale P T A 's , it supports basic reading programs in the school sys w ithin their plants. Since reading is the basis for literacy, in 1977 B. D alton Bookseller, the na tion's largest bookstore chain, decided to institute a program to im prove and tem and attempts to encourage children to read more and watch less T V . Guides are p ro v id e d w ith o u t cost to a n y in te re s te d P T A , p a re n t g ro u p s , a n d / As far reaching as the programs mentioned are, more businesses and individuak encourage reading among the country's poor readers. Il pledges five percent o f its annual taxable income to its literacy program . B. D a lto n is involved in 10 are needed to take an active role in turning the tide against illiteracy. T o the individ states and 40 communities at the present time with grants, management assist ance and volunteer tutors. T he com pany is attem pting to organize a network between the public and private sector on a national level to develop a n ation Therefore, care must he taken to educate, and consequently change, the defensive attitude that many adults have about this delicate problem. They can then determine wide literacy program . O ne o f the most am b itio us literacy projects was begun in 1966 out o f an idea born o f simple curiosity. T h e late M rs. Robert M c N a m a ra decided to see about thar future. W ith almost half o f our children afflicted with illiteracy, it is incumbent ukpon those o f us who can, to help these o f us who can't gain the necessary skills to enable what would happen if some students fro m low-incom e families in W ashington. D .C ., were allowed to choose and keep books that they liked. W hen she found that their response was that reading was fun, R IF or Reading is Fundam ental, them to join in the workforce and earn a decent w age As staled in a recent article in was born. A t her urging, in 1975 Congress created the Inexpensive Book D istri bution Program ( IB D P ) which provides matching funds based on amounts that R IF raises locally to buy books for children. R IF also persuaded the Smithsonian Institute in W ashington, D .C ., to adopt R IF and act as its Fiscal agent. W aldo n Books and Time Magazine prom ote the project through advertisements. Hundreds o f publishers and distributors pro- T h e Independent Scholar and Tha Bicentennial Obeenmnce^ A m o n g J. M. G ates' cre a tiv e celeb ratio n w e re : The Elements o f Change by G at«, © 1976 7 V Free and the finrve by G at«, © 1976 Commentary in The American Grain — Oregon Long Poems, © 1976 Notations fro m the Twentieth Century (manuscript with analytical commentary by G a t « on early post-war Japan including the Four teenth United S ta t« Japan Student Conference) Circle 37 (Bicentennial Commemorative Edition) edited by Gates. © 1977 W o rk in A n th o lo g ies: 200 Years to Here, © 1976 uals involved, illiteracy can be socially embarrassing and psychologically devastating that the interest shown in their children is not patronizing, but a genuine concern flfartk Enierpmr, " ........ in a capitalist society, however eke a person's worth is mea sured, issues o f wealth and income ukltimately enter into the equation that deter mines parity between the majority and the m inority.” W ith so many o f our people illiterate or poorly educated, the opportunity to achieve parity ls no nexistent Hie issue, then, ls vers clear Since help will not be asailable in any large amounts from die governmcnt(s), we must set up our own programs within our own com- niuniim W ith strong leadership and dcdxaicd volunteers, sve can close the literacy gap Anthology o f Bells, © 1978 C ited in: Contemporary Authors, © 1976 Drum Voices, © 1976 Dictionary o f International Biography, © 1976 Afro-American Poetry and Drama 1760-1976, © 1979 and other Bicentennial publications G ates' p o em s and prose relate th e d yn am ics o f th e w o rk e n v iro n m e n t. Support our •t,ver’iSWSqo'»S 5*1 tt» 1 PORTLAND OBSERVER Mary Futrell Winner of American Black Achievement Award Mary Hatwood Futrell, the president o f the National Educa tion Association, is the recipient o f the Business and the Profes sions A ward fo r her achievements as president o f the National Edu cation Association, A merica's largest teachers union with a membership o f 1.7 million, and fo r her commitment to the task o f improving the quality o f public school education. Albertsons' e c<e i <s»i <« m k* it im w c Page 12, Section II, Portland Observer, February 20, 1985 m . m m im . » im u
