Message for International Literacy Day

August 20, 2008

September 8, 2008, International Literacy Day, Theme: Literacy and Health

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

Each year the world celebrates UNESCO’s International Literacy Day on
September 8th.  The theme of International Literacy Day this year is
Literacy and Health.

Starting in 1979 and up through 2003, as a member of the International Jury
that selects the winners of UNESCO’s literacy prizes, I had the opportunity
to work with and learn from colleagues who were among the leading adult
educators in the world. One of these leaders was Malcolm Adiseshiah (1976) 
of India who was a former Deputy Director General of UNESCO. Adiseshiah was
an economist and he brought to the Jury his perspective on what he called
the "functionalities" of literacy. By this he meant that literacy does not
exist for its own sake, but for the functions it serves in people's lives.
He always looked at candidatures for prizes with a view to finding
"multiplier effects" that literacy made in the economic, social, civic,
health, and personal lives of the newly literate.

An examination of research reports and several hundred applications for
UNESCO literacy prizes over the years, including 2008, has revealed that,
consistent with Adiseshiah’s concept of the functionalities of literacy,
governments can expect multiple returns on investments in adult literacy
education in several domains, including health, the theme for this year’s
International Literacy Day.

An outcome of many adult literacy programs is an intergenerational effect of
improved health of the adult’s children due to their parent’s learning in
adult literacy education programs. Adult literacy education often leads to 
better prenatal and postnatal care of children, reductions in low birth rate
infants, and better home medical care, thereby contributing to lowered
medical costs for children and fewer learning problems in school.

One of the salient findings in literacy programs, in both developed and
developing nations, is improved self confidence and other psychological and
physiological aspects of the health of adults, including activities that
will help the brain grow throughout adulthood and contribute to reduced
medical costs for adults as they age. In this regard, John Bruer (1999)
states that, "Truly new results in neuroscience, rarely mentioned in the
brain and education literature, point to the brain’s lifelong capacity to
reshape itself in response to experience"16 ( p. 17).

In his book Bruer references work in adult literacy education to make the
point that, "Adult literacy programs provide additional evidence that
acquiring and improving literacy skills is not time-limited or subject to
critical period  limitations." (p. 112).  He says, "The limiting factor in
vocabulary growth, and presumably for some of the other things Verbal IQ
measures, is exposure to new words, facts, and experiences. The brain can
benefit from this exposure at almost any time-early childhood, childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, and senescence."(p. 177)

Importantly, for adult literacy educators, Bruer makes the important policy
argument that with a better understanding of the limitations of present day
neuroscience for understanding education, "We might question the prudence of
decreasing expenditures for adult education or special education on the
grounds that a person's intellectual and emotional course is firmly set
during the early years." (p. 26)

In keeping with Adiseshiah’s concept of the "functionalities" of literacy
and this year’s International Literacy Day theme of literacy and health,
adult literacy educators need to make sure that policymakers and funding
organizations receive information about "multiplier effects", including
health benefits, that  are frequently  outcomes of adult literacy
education.

References:

Adiseshiah, M. S. (1976). Functionalities of Literacy. In: Leon Bataille
(Ed.). A turning point for literacy: Adult education for development: The
spirit and declaration of Persepolis. Proceedings of the International
Symposium for Literacy, Persepolis, Iran 3 to 8 September 1975. New York:
Pergamon Press.

Bruer, J. (1999). The myth of the first three years. New York: The Free
Press.

For those who may be interested, following is an updated listing of dates,
venues,  and contacts for my speaking engagements through February 16, 2009
in which I include references to the "multiplier effects" of adult literacy
education:

1. September 9, 2008. Hartford, Connecticut. Contact: Andy Tyskiewicz,
Email: atyskiewicz at crec.org

2. September 11, 2008. Greensboro, North Carolina. North Carolina Literacy
Association. Contact: Jennifer Gore, Email: jgore at readingconnections.org

3. October 22, 2008. San Diego, California. San Diego Coalition for
Literacy. Contact: Jose Cruz, Email: jcruz at literacysandiego.org

4. December 5, 2008. Bloomingdale, Illinois. Adult Education Service Center
for Northern Illinois. Contact: Laurie Bercovitz,
bercovitz at thecenterweb.org

Presentations scheduled for 2009

5. January 5-6, 2009. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Academic Upgrading, George
Brown College. Contact: Matt Foran, mforan at georgebrown.ca

6. February 16, 2009. Crystal Lake, Illinois. McHenry County College.
Contact: Richard Clute, rclute at mchenry.edu


I charge no fee for any of these workshops or presentations, but sponsors
must pay travel expenses and make all arrangements for the events. Contact
me at tsticht at aznet.net if you want to arrange for a presentation in your
area.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
Email tsticht at aznet.net