That's what a member of the Lumpkin Literacy Coalition said to me at a meeting once. Unfortunately, she's right. According to U.S. Census reports and other literacy studies, one third of the adults in Lumpkin County are not able to read. (Latest estimates are the number of non-readers and low readers is around 3,300.)
Imagine shopping and not being able to read. You can't read the labels. You can't read the signs. You can't read your receipt.
Now imagine your child asks you to read a story. Or the teacher sends you a form to fill out. Or you have a job application to complete. Or a test to take to get a job. Not being able to read is a handicap to the non-reader, and, regretfully, a handicap also to our county. Companies want an educated, skilled workforce.
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| Ga.'s First Lady |
Senator Steve Gooch, who heads the county's Business Development Authority is presenting the Summit which will feature Sandra Deal, Georgia's First Lady and a former teacher, as keynote speaker.
The hope of the half day meeting is that the attendees - important business, civic and government leaders - will realize how critical the literacy issue is and vow to do more to support the efforts of the Lumpkin Literacy Coalition and local GED program. (By more, we mean MORE than just buying a ticket to a Literacy Coalition event or writing a check.)
*Note to readers: Walmart is the only major grocery store/shopping center in Lumpkin and is an oft-frequented store by Dahlonega and Beyond. In fact, D&B were there today.
That should read 1/3, not 2/3 on the non-literacy issue. Writing a check to LCLC support children's literacy. As co-founder of the ALP Program, I left after a year and a half because it failed; it did so from a total lack of support from religious leaders, political leaders, board members, and a population of non-readers who can not or will not travel to downtown Dahlonega. You can talk about it all you want, but until people are willing to actually encourage non-literates (the appropriate term) to come in and would be helpers will be hands on instead of writing a check and walking away, nothing will change. As is, the current program hasn't got a single person associated with it who has any knowledge of the complexities of teaching reading, especially on the adult level. In fact, the LCLC board hasn't got a single reading specialist/teacher on it. Less talk; more action. Get your hands dirty, folks.
ReplyDeleteWilliam A. Ellenberg, Ph.D. M.S.Ed/Reading Specialist
You are so right, Dr. Ellenberg. I did have my stats wrong. I will correct them on the blog so that they reflect what is more accurate. No matter what the numbers may be, we have way too many people who can't read in the county and we've got to something different in reaching out to the non-readers.
ReplyDeleteDiane: there are two problems. The first is that this is a primarily agrarian county. Folks outside of the Dahlonega area who might benefit the most are not interested or are
ReplyDeleteafraid--not to mention driving time. Second, folks inside the Dahlonega area are simply not interested because they can read. When I ran my programs in Cleveland and Philadelphia, we had a built in, neighborhood clientele.
This is a hard enough row to hoe, but it gets even harder if we fail to effectively communicate with our students, teach properly, and keep them interested. ALP has a very hard time keeping the few students it has because they work, they get frustrated, or they simply lose interest. They don't see an immediate or short range reward as GED students do. And the center is losing hours--and has no evening hours.
If ALP were ever to succeed, it would have to have the full, physical support of all concerned, from the board to the various contacts throughout the count. We work hard and tried every angle, but doors were constantly being shut in our faces.
When I started at LCLC four years ago, there were no adult reading materials. What there was were outdated sets of books that were missing volumes and were in a disarray. ( had to beg Lanier Tech to allow me to order the one set I use--and already volumes have gone missing.
I just don't see things coming together.
Bill Ellenberg