Oct. 4, 2009
Battling the Scourge of Illiteracy
30 Million Americans Cannot Read, But There Is Hope and Help
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Play CBS Video Video Stepping Out On Nothing CBS News' Byron Pitts spent many agonizing years overcoming his illiteracy and in this report he travels from Pittsburgh to Baltimore to meet those who are also faced with this disability.
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Video Overcoming Illiteracy Harry Smth spoke with author and CBS reporter Byron Pitts about overcoming his childhood illiteracy to become a network news reporter. To read an part of Pitts' book, go to an excerpt of "Step Out of Nothing".
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For years Walter Long hid his illiteracy from his children, even feigning busyness to avoid helping with their homework. But with their support he began taking adult literacy classes — and now reads to his grandchildren. (CBS)
Walter Long is 59 years old and lives in the town outside of Pittsburgh where he grew up. He's got a good job with the county water board, a nice house where he has raised four kids, and a wife who loves him.
And for years, Walter Long also had a secret: He could not read.
He faked it well, until one night when he was reading - or pretending to read - a story to his four-year-old daughter, Joanna.
"My daughter looked up at me and said, 'That's not the way mom read it to me,'" Long recalls with emotion. "It's still hard to say to a four-year-old, that you can't read.
Lavonne McKinstry drives a school bus for the greater Pittsburgh school system. Ten years ago she would not have had the job because she couldn't read well enough to pass the driving test. Like Long, she hid her lack of reading skills from everyone - even her daughters.
"I was embarrassed, I was ashamed," McKinstry says. "It hurt."
There are 30 million Americans who are functionally illiterate, which means they cannot read well enough to function effectively, according to a federal survey.
"There are 40 percent of our nation's fourth graders who are not reading at basic level," says Emily Kirkpatrick of the National Center for Family Literacy. "Many of those fourth graders are children of the 30 million who cannot read at the basic level."
Often, children just give up as they fall behind, according to Kirkpatrick.
"Early in a person's life, they're learning how to read or should be learning how to read, and then as life and education progress, you transition to need to read to learn, and it's often when that transition happens, often in the adolescent years, that an individual falls very far behind and is unable to catch up," says Kirkpatrick.
For some the problem stems from a learning disability, many of which were undiagnosed until recent years. Others come from families with parents who struggle with reading, or where English is not spoken.
And for some, like Walter Long, the reasons are not entirely clear, even now.
Long hid his problem for years, painstakingly copying over work orders at home at night, getting his wife to fill out paperwork and applications, and telling his kids he was busy when they needed help with homework.
"It's not something that you walk up to someone and say, you know, 'I have a reading problem, can you help me?'" Long says.
Hiding illiteracy is a common occurrence, according to Kirkpatrick.
"They're very intelligent people because they've figured out how to work around disclosing the fact they they can't read or can't read well," she says.
There are many causes of illiteracy, but the stigma and the shame are the same.
Long recalls hearing certain words like "dummy " attached to his name. Inside, he says, he still hears them today.
Literacy for me is more than just another assignment. I was a student at Saint Katherine's School in Baltimore when I was diagnosed as functionally illiterate. I could not read.
There weren't programs for kids like me back then, so I was placed in the basement with the slow learners. I became one of the "basement boys."
My journey from Saint Katherine's in Baltimore to CBS News is one I have spent time thinking about, and now, writing about.
It's a journey I could not have made without the unshakable help and support of my mother, Clarice Pitts. When a therapist suggested I might be mentally retarded, she refused to give up.
There were others along the way, teachers and mentors, who helped me retrace and re-learn what I somehow missed in my early years, and who believed in me even when I doubted myself.
Today, teachers are trained to diagnose reading problems early, before they become lifelong handicaps. Aniya Walker, for example, is in the second grade at Saint Katherine's, where her reading and speech problems are well on their way to not being problems at all.
She even says reading is fun - sometimes.
High school students at Neighborhood Academy, a public charter school in a tough section of Pittsburgh, have high hopes for the future. But for some it wasn't always that way.
Darius Sullivan, a senior at Neighborhood Academy, says he struggled with reading.
"I definitely struggled in reading and I took it as a joke," Sullivan says. "I knew I was bad and I didn't want to be made fun of."
Kirkpatrick says that children who have a hard time reading feel a lot of shame and often think they are the only ones who are struggling. But the research and statistics show that is not the reality.
The support of teachers and peers made all the difference for Sullivan, who is now considering going to MIT.
"Wow! I mean, I've definitely changed, you know?" Sullivan says. "I can definitely say I look up to myself, you know, look in the mirror."
Today, Walter Long is also proud of his decision to get tutoring and go to classes offered by the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. But it wasn't an easy decision for him to make.
"We sat down with the four children and I said that I was entering the program and I didn't know where this journey would take us, but we're gonna journey together," he says.
His children made sure he stayed on track.
"I'd come home from work, wanna sit down and watch TV, just relax and forget about the day, and they would look at me and say, 'Isn't it time to do your homework?'"
Kirkpatrick has seen this happen many times. She says often a parent will improve their skills to improve the lives of their children.
Lavonne McKinstry says she can do whatever she puts her mind to. The journey hasn't always been easy for her either, but it changed her life.
"It showed me that I can attain some things that I thought was not attainable," she says.
Walter Long's story has a very happy ending. Now he reads books to his grandchildren - the same books he couldn't read to his own kids.
For more info:
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (National Center for Education Statistics)
National Center for Family Literacy
Great Pittsburgh Literacy Council
Great Pittsburgh Literacy Council
“Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges” (St. Martin’s Press)
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 31 Comments
- What a timely subject. I am a librarian who has been discussing the fact that "Those Who Don't Read have no advantage over Those Who Can't Read". We can't stress enough the importance of reading.
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- I have been posting here since 06. I am 55 i am legally blind with other handicaps. I can't read,spell,write,do numbers that well. I was 10 when I was taught to print my name and a teacher had to show me by touch to print. All the books I could not see to use. I had to try member what was said. That did not always work. I was sitting in a waitting room and my sighted friend asked me why I was reading a children's book. I said the print is big. I could read it. Most of my books are simple. I never learnt to tell time till I was in my 20s. Noboby here where I live have no idea I can't read and write that well. They can't read my hand printing. They write notes that I can't read. If they knew the truth. I am not sure what they do.My roommate knows. That is the reason I have the cc on the TV as I can't hear that well and maybe It will help me. I can't read in front of others as they will know about the adults years ago failing me. I had teachers tell me to my face They had no desise to teach me. I was in school cos the law said I had to be there. Boys were first as they had to taught as he be the head of the home and earnt the money his family live on. They groomed girls to marry and have children. I knew I would never marry and never have children. I never have.
The only talking app I have on computer is Speaking Clock. I have Word set to show me my errs and I have Word type in large print when I hunt and peck. I can read some. I use MS Windows.
We all pay for the schools yet they are in the dark ages when it comes to sp needs pupils. I the adults in the home and the school when I was young. They failed to help me as they cared about the money them homes got as they were scared if I got schooled they lose money. So they never cared what happened to me as they never gave thot to my future. I use to leave class in tears. I read the most simple books I can understand. I HATE PITY. Girls and boys were taught differently years ago. I once had a large print reader and it was gone when a boy in class whined he wanted the same. The sp needs things were taken from my school desk and in there place the books the class used and useless to me. I could not do my lessons and so no homework got passed in.I was not lazy. I was the only one with the handicaps I have that was in school. Every day teacher told me she would not teach me. I made it possable totryed and this is the best I can do. I was 51 when given a computer. To most it is no big deal. To me it meant the the world I could visit and feel apart of the world. There are persons that have no idea I can't read and write that well. I trully am scraed if they knew. I was never allowed to be with others growing up. i was not allowed to asked things. I was told to not say a word,. I was a foster child.
I do belive that english is our nation touge and should be taught and spoken in school,the work place etc. In the home both.
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- Being an adult literacy organization we understand what these individuals are going through. These are the same stories we hear from Literacy Kansas City students every day. With hard work and support from friends, family, and dedicated tutors, adults around the country are overcoming their struggle with literacy! You can visit our website at www.literacykc.org.
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- This is incredable - 30 million Americans can't read???? Didn't they go to school? Why didn't their teachers notice??? Just shows you how good our school system is. AND it is NOT an immigrant problem, my parents learned english immediately when they came to this country. They wanted to. Why dosn't the government make it a criterium for citizenship? By the way, people from other countries can usually read their own languages, which, is not illiteracy.
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- A lot of ignorance just on this post alone. Schools are really hurting financially and are quite often without decent aids and classroom assistants that can make a difference in a teacher's life. I'd encourage everyone here who says it's the "immigrants fault","lazy teachers", "lazy kids", I encourage you to quit finger pointing and go to a school nearest you and volunteer since you seem to know what the problem is. Become part of the solution for once.
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- Battling the Scourge of Illiteracy
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What? Is the Federal Government givng the militia movement a subsidy or some special funding?? - Reply to this comment
- There are several causes of illiteracy - blaming schools, immigrants and parents is just finger-pointing. For answers, libraries and community colleges are the backbone of this nation's efforts to teach people to read and become more productive and happier citizens. Behind the libraries and community colleges are legions of volunteers who work one on one or in classrooms, often with limited resources. But they do make a difference in the lives of adult learners and in their communities. Be a volunteer - help solve problems!
Finally, too many of these commenters are smug, though I'd venture to say not all of them are very literate themselves. There are lots of undiagnosed learning disabilities out there - and many different approaches to help adults learn how to deconstruct and decode to unlock meanings. Many of these rae new approaches- there is no one way to learn how to read. That's another beauty of our human condition, not a symptom of what's wrong with society or with modern education. - Reply to this comment
- A nation that wishes to remain free must arm it's people with knowledge.
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- it's sad that the people who have who have issues with illiteracy are the ones targeted by the Becks and Hanity types.
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- Lawyers and so on. Great response. But I guess you have to do a search to find it, the story , not the head, as it does not appear on the CBS news main website. I admit that I'm a liitle paranoid about how the news is presented. But I don't trust any of them. They all have a way of reporting or not reporting the news based on the way they view the world. Thanks for the link.
Gotta go now , and all the best
Roland - Reply to this comment
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- by SHEETPAN October 4, 2009 7:59 PM EDT
Gotta go now , and all the best
Roland
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Great. Now EVERYBODY knows your first name.
I, however, prefer to be addressed by my middle name.
Sincerely,
Guns
- by SHEETPAN October 4, 2009 7:59 PM EDT
- Hey lawyers,guns and money. The point is, you won't find it anywhere on the CBS website. It seems like an important and newsworthy story. But you can't read what's not written. Do you get it now? Great name though, I was thinking about changing mine to; "The Thompson Gunner" or "The Envoy"
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- Where is the story about the Alabama judge set to go on trial on Oct. 5. Oh I forget. He's the wrong color with the wrong party affiliation.
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- Todays illiterate come from south of the border and refuse to learn English
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- ....and sadly, our government panders to them with all the bilingual trash, which handicaps, rather than helps them...illiterates are allowed to enter illegally, then continue breeding more illiterate offspring...
- There's absolutely no excuse whatsoever for anyone to be illiterate, given how much educational resources are available. Some causes include laziness, kids growing up speaking the language incorrectly, teachers who lack inadequate language skills, bilingual education, bilingual instructions, etc.
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- 'its all their fault.'
Couldn't you just put that on a computer somewhere and mass-mail it out, on every issue affecting ordinary Americans. It would save you time and money.
- 'its all their fault.'
- 30 million and all Republican.
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- While there are nay causes of illiteracy, I have noticed one overwhelming fact that may be the key. When parents do not take the time to read to the kids and get the kids to read to them, the kids are at a serious disadvantage. Parents need to take responsibility for the educaton of their kids and also in spotting any real learning obstacle which they can deal with early in the formative years.
It is fine for teachers to have special training and skills but the parents should be the first to teach and the first to know of difficulties. A small investment in time has big rewards. - Reply to this comment
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- Yes - family literacy is important as well as family commitment and support. Too often in the past, though, educators have written off poor readers as developmentally disabled with such lowered expectations. Many parents didn't know there were options. Much of this history was mis-informed, not necessarily malicious. But we have progressed and families should be able to rely on better diagnoses and alternatives.
- I'd sure love to read about how to battle the scourge of illiteracy.
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- That is one of the greatest crimes our school systems have perpetrated on children. 'Social passes' because they don't have the time to tutor children having difficulties, or the pressure from parents, colleagues and administration to run these children through like cattle has done many, people and society, a grave injustice.
I sure hope this is not happening today as it did in yesteryear. I honestly don't know how these people 'fake it until they make it'? To answer your question the screening has to take place very young and f/u is warranted and corrections made because these children get absorbed into self doubt and then give up on themselves and drop out. That is why I believe we have such a large drop out rate.
Education of our children is the key. NO ONE LEFT BEHIND, remember that term, how we coming on that?
- That is one of the greatest crimes our school systems have perpetrated on children. 'Social passes' because they don't have the time to tutor children having difficulties, or the pressure from parents, colleagues and administration to run these children through like cattle has done many, people and society, a grave injustice.
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