Occasional Scribbles

I was doing some writing last night.  The TV was on in the background though I barely noticed it.  Every so often I glanced blankly at the screen until something eventually caught my attention.  The programme was called ‘Can’t read, Can’t write’ and was about the trials and tribulations faced by people who have little or no literacy skills at all.

I watched with fascination as this assorted group tried to get to grips with letters and sounds and found to my surprise, that their struggle was incredibly moving.  There were quite a lot of tears shed throughout the process and the frustrations were palpable.  One woman, Linda had more trouble than some of the others and Phil Beadle who was teaching them identified the fact that she had a significant problem in visually relating to the shapes of letters.  Her struggle was particularly sad as she especially wanted to read all the classics of literature, especially Shakespeare.  Phil hit on the idea that it may help her if he brought along letters that she could actually pick up and hold in her hands.  He made some shapes of d’s and b’s and gave her sticks that she could use to make letters such as T, L, A and so on.  Amazingly this small difference was all it took and the effect instantaneous.  It was a real Eureeka! moment.  Up to then, I found myself getting anxious that this brave woman would give up and as Phil noted, if she turned her back on his class she would be turning her back on reading and writing for ever.  It was a make or break time.

Another lady wanted to read to her grand children having been blighted for so many years, struggling to find items and prices, in the supermarket.  She took to the lessons like a duck to water and was among the first of the group to be able to read whole sentences – enough to read ‘The Hungry Catapillar’ at any rate.  A young lad of 21 was also featured.  Astonishingly, though he had been to school right up to GCSE level, he had managed to leave without reading or writing at all and was totally dependent on his mother in his life.  At school, he was actually forced to sit through his GCSE’s. He was under the impression that this was obligatory based on being told he would get no marks if he did not attend the exam, when as Phil pointed out, he wouldn’t get any in any case if he could not read the questions.  He spent hours sitting in exams with a word search that was given him.  Unbelievable. 

I tried to imagine myself in their position.  I thought of all the pleasure I have got from books and writing and felt for these people.  The figures for adult literacy are the source of arguments.  Whilst it is agreed that some 26 million people (roughly one in five) in this country have no more functional literacy and numeracy skills than that attained at school leaving age; only a very small number are completely without some skills. (Even the lad in the programme recognised the word egg, when he wanted to order breakfast in a cafe).  The Government say they wish to address this situation but how well it is actually doing is questionable if a 21 year old, not so long out of school can leave unable to read or write. 

I wonder at how much their lives are diminished.  Apart from the practical difficulties in every day life, they are also missing out on so much more.  Reading is knowledge, writing is communication.  If you wish to know something, you read about it, look it up in a book.  For the people in the programme, lack of reading and writing skills has blighted their lives and made them feel inadequate and ashamed.

So much for Blair’s “Edcation, Education, Education”!