Read For Your Life by Tracy

Read For Your Life by Tracy - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

As a second-generation English scholar (and my daughter is the third generation), I have a lot to say about reform in the field of literacy. Literacy is the foundation of all education, innovation, and improvement in society. English-learning also fans out from this category; if a member of society cannot command the language, they are stuck in a world of isolation, and most often poverty and rejection.
There are many things that can be done. First, I would advocate for one-on-one tutors for readers until they master the building blocks of reading. Reading is a multilayered complex skill. If a student gets behind in the first stages of reading, the student may never recover. Many children are pushed too fast without acquiring the complex vowel combinations of English with its myriad of spellings for the same sound.
Second, involvement from the community is important in combatting illiteracy and helping ELs. Recruiting volunteers and support from seniors, businesses, churches, community centers, and student interns is crucial to creating an educated society that mentors and supports its most vulnerable members. Recruiting can be done through essay and poster contests, paid internships sponsored by grants and local businesses, and programs that generate tutors. Literacy International has such a program that recruits and trains volunteers in a low-cost program.
Third, after-school, community, and summer reading programs are extremely helpful to building literacy skills. In a low-pressure environment where fun activities are the main core, students will thrive. One of the main problems with language learning and literacy is that high anxiety creates an atmosphere in which students cannot learn. When there are no grades and no pressures, there is an environment conducive to learning for fun.
Funding for these programs can be raised by creating awareness of the need for literacy and English skills in many of the same ways volunteers are recruited-- through contests, speaking in churches, grants, and rallying businesses by creating internship programs. Essay and poster competitions are easy to start with sponsorship from local businesses who gain free advertising through their involvement. Many churches are looking for ways to help their community; Literacy International is available for a low cost to help create awareness of the need for literacy and ESL teaching by offering workshops for churches. There are also many grants for literacy programs from groups such as the United Way and the Federal government. Internships with local businesses are win-win situations; businesses get free or low-cost help from students trained in the programs, and students gain free experience and skills in exchange for being allowed in the programs.
There are so many ways that the current level of literacy can be raised; currently there are 32 million adults and 19 percent of high school graduates in the United States who are classified as illiterate. This is probably a low estimate; many non-readers hide their struggles through cleverly devised defenses they learned as a child. If we can create a system that keeps students from falling behind or allows them to catch up, we can help to eliminate illiteracy and create an educated and mentoring society that undergirds and bridges the gap for those who have been abandoned unintentionally and counted as at-risk, unintelligent (which is most often not the case), disabled, and a host of other stereotypical labels. I look forward to getting started!