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NATIONAL
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Fantasia and Illiteracy
by Clint Walker
NNPA Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As news spread recently that “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino is illiterate, fans expressed equal shock and surprise that in 2005 a 21-year-old American woman could lack the skills to read and write.
But experts say illiteracy in America is no surprise: Like Barrino, millions of Americans, who often fear disclosure of their literacy issues, continue to be plagued by their lack of skills to read and write.
“It has to do with the level of education attained,” Sandra Baxter, the director of the National Institute for Literacy said, referring to findings that show that people of color groups were less proficient in reading and writing. “It also has to with the issue of the quality of education. And undeniably, there is a family factor here,” Baxter continued. “There’s an intergenerational aspect.”
Approximately 44 million of the 191 million adults in the United States are functionally illiterate, meaning they have inadequate reading and writing skills to function in society, according to the findings of the National Adult Literacy Survey, the latest research on the state of literacy in America. In addition, the report said that people of color, including African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are more likely to perform poorly on literacy tests.
The Department of Education, attempting to bolster literacy efforts in recent years, has implemented policies aimed at changing the way children are taught to read.
Such efforts, including the department's Reading for Excellence and Leave No Child Behind initiatives, aim to teach every child to read by the end of the third grade, expand the number of high quality family literacy programs and provide early intervention to children who are at risk of being misidentified for special education.
The programs’ results show overall improvement in early reading education, with nine-year-olds having the best scores in reading since 1971, according to the latest national report from the Department of Education. The report also said African American nine-year-old posted all-time high scores up 14 points from 1999 and 30 points better than 1971.
But literacy experts have said the key to solving the literacy problem reaches far beyond schools, going as far as the department of education to
large and small businesses to families.
“It is…important that individuals themselves come to realize the value of literacy in their lives and to recognize the benefits associated with having better skills,'' the authors's of the survey wrote. ''Only then will more adults in this nation develop the literacy resources they need to function in society, to achieve their goals, and to develop their knowledge and potential.''
In Barrino's case, that realization did not come until she recently decided to employ tutors to learn to read and write.
Earlier, the singer, who dropped out of school in the 9th grade, explained that she was ''not into education'' because she believed she could make a living with her singing talent.
Still, the experience, which she has not shared until the release of her memoir ''Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, made her life difficult to manage.
“You're illiterate to just about everything,'' Barrino told ABC News' ''20/20.''
''You don't want to misspell, so that, for me, kept me … in a box
and I didn't, wouldn't come out. I was so ashamed and I was like, 'What will
people say about me?' I can't get a job.''
Former Washington Redskins All-Pro defensive lineman Dexter Manley, who was illiterate until he was 30, described a similarly maddening world where even simple things, such as placing an order for food or driving, can prove to be nearly impossible.
“It’s very frustrating,” Manley, now 46, said in an interview. “You can’t
read signs. You can’t read a menu.”
But with literacy Manley, who sought help to learn to read and write because he wanted to have a job after football, has worked as a legal assistant and held various public relations positions.
“It’s a miracle,” said Manley, who now reads two newspapers every weekend,
“truly a miracle.”
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