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Thursday will be Read a Book Day followed immediately by Buy a Book Day on Friday, so you can do some more reading over the weekend. And Saturday will be Literacy Day.
I find it difficult to believe how many people, especially in the US, aren't literate.
From Concordia University in Portland:
The United States is facing a literacy crisis. Yes, crisis. It isn’t new, but its impact upon our kids, our economy, and our society are far-reaching and expanding. How bad is it?
Take a look at some numbers.Also,
- More than 30 million adults in the United States cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third grade level. — ProLiteracy
- Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves. These children are more likely to get poor grades, display behavioral problems, have high absentee rates, repeat school years, or drop out. — National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
- 75 percent of state prison inmates did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate. — Rand Report: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education
- Low literacy is said to be connected to over $230 billion a year in health care costs because almost half of Americans cannot read well enough to comprehend health information, incurring higher costs. — American Journal of Public Health
Comprehensive national literacy studies are not conducted annually, but the National Commission on Adult Literacy released its report in June 2008 naming several factors contributing to the nation’s literacy crisis. Minority and immigrant groups are growing in population, but remain low in educational achievement. The report claims that 1 in 3 people in the U.S. drop out of high school, and that 1 in 4 American families is low-income with parents who lack education and skills to improve their economic status. This maintains a cycle of poverty, affecting each new generation of children.I volunteered to teach literacy years ago at the library in Vacaville, although I never had anyone assigned to me. Maybe I'll look into it again.
Although, I think the only thing that is worse than not being able to read is choosing not to read.
Here is something I shared to Facebook last night:
Interesting days
Tomorrow - Wildlife Day, Newspaper Carrier Day, and Macadamia Nut Day
Next Monday - Swap Ideas Day, Boss/Employee Exchange Day, World Suicide Prevention Day and TV Dinner Day
October 3 - Boyfriend’s Day, Virus Appreciation Day, Techies Day and Random Acts of Poetry Day
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