Literacy Council: The gift of literacy
December 10, 2014
What makes a perfect Christmas gift? Is it the latest iPad? The biggest TV? Maybe it’s a diamond ring for a special someone.
Most could agree that the perfect Christmas gift is something that makes another person happy; something they desire and could use to enhance their daily lives, whether that’s watching the game on a bigger TV or having a little extra bling on your finger. But what about a gift that doesn’t involve waiting in line for hours, doesn’t require hundreds of dollars, yet comes with a lifetime guarantee. How about a gift that will forever enhance someone’s life?
There is such a gift. It’s literacy.
The power of literacy lies not only in one’s ability to read and write, but in a person’s ability to understand the world around them. Functional literacy includes reading, technology skills and knowledge of health, math and money. There are about 30 million functionally illiterate American adults. That’s 30 million people whose lives are negatively impacted because they lack the basic skills to follow medical directions, order from menus, navigate city streets and complete online forms for things such as insurance, jobs or travel arrangements.
Functional literacy increases the chance for people to reach their full potential as parents, employees and community members. Without Functional literacy, people fail themselves, their children and their community.
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