For the last several weeks we have been celebrating the news that four of our teen moms at Almost Home will be receiving their high school diplomas. I love seeing the sense of excitement and pride on their faces but I also am filled with mixed emotions. Although I’m proud of them for their resilience I also happen to know that two of our graduating young moms will be among the 20% of high school seniors who are functionally illiterate when they graduate. Graduation is an important milestone but my heart sinks as I think of them and the other 2.25 million Americans who are classified as functionally illiterate each year. Add to that the 42 million Americans who can’t read at all and the 50 million who read on a fourth grade level and it is obvious why illiteracy is one of America’s most troubling epidemics. What’s even more troubling is that it seems as if the problem is deliberately being perpetuated. Call me a conspiracy theorist but it is my contention that illiteracy and poor achievement will remain at epidemic proportions as long as there are those who profit from other people’s ignorance.
So how does someone profit from a person’s inability to read or obtain information? Consider this. According to the National Institute for Literacy 70% of prisoners in state and federal systems are classified as illiterate. Sixty-five percent of juvenile offenders are functionally illiterate. Now consider that the largest private prison operator, Corrections Corporation of America makes nearly 2 billion dollars per year from the prisons and detention centers it operates. The company reported that they expect the amount to grow by 20-25% in the next five years. In fact, the projections for the number of prison beds needed in the future are based on the number of third grade students who are not reading at grade level. The prison system is actually profiting from the failure of our public school system.
The prison system isn’t the only direct and indirect beneficiary of illiteracy. Some would argue the school systems themselves are also profiting. But this isn’t an indictment of our public school system (I’ll save that for another post). This is about how all of us are affected when millions of people don’t have basic reading skills. Imagine if your child was sick and you couldn’t read the instructions on the prescription bottle. Now imagine the millions who are not living up to their potential as productive members of society because they can’t read a voting ballot, take a written driver’s license exam, or fill out a job application. Many of the people who can’t perform these tasks will be walking across a stage receiving high school diplomas over the next several weeks.
At Almost Home we have to applaud and celebrate the tenacity it takes for our teen moms to get through high school. But, we also have an obligation to help prepare them for what it takes to live independently as productive members of our community. They can’t create a better life if they are living in a self-imposed prison of illiteracy from which others will profit. As Frederick Douglas said, “no people who are ignorant can ever be free.”
To Your Success,
Rhonda Gray, Executive Director
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