Read The Signs

A few years ago on a cross-country trip I saw this road sign: Literacy Clinic 2 Miles. The sign was all in capital letters, perhaps in the hope that people who couldn’t read would somehow understand if the letters were big enough. We often miss those that need our help most but this sign reached a new level of futility. We don’t need to ban or burn books…most of our fellow citizens don’t read anyway. Various studies yield varying statistics but one research group places adult literacy in the United States at 56% and absolute illiteracy at 21%. Apparently the remaining 23% are struggling readers. We place 125th on a world literacy list. Excepting those with real learning disabilities, 54% of us read at a 6th grade level.

Reading increases our ability to communicate, self reflect, manufacture, transact business and empathize, it is a basic building block of a vibrant culture. In addition to our own lack of reading ability we now have those who would ban the books that give our children a fighting chance to excel at many endeavors and to have a broad, truth based view of their world. Teaching about Rosa Parks without reference to her status as a black woman in the American south is an affront to the woman herself, and to history in general. We are racing to a place where truth is dead and critical thinking is downright seditious.

When philosopher Rene Descartes posited his famous assertion – I think therefore I am – the reference is to the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking. We are killing this ability by removing the tools of such reflection… we can not assess the truth of the truth without agreement on the idea of truth itself. We need to read the signs we see and not fly past the literacy clinic of advanced reading skills.

We need to ask who benefits from an effort to stupefy our children by limiting their access to the lessons of history. We need to prioritize reading skills that lead to enhanced critical thinking. Literate populations have a fighting chance to create sustainable societies and enhance quality of life and we should all be horrified by our 125th position in reading ability. Instead of banning books and sanitizing history, we need a full court press to create literacy.

I always feel a bit uncomfortable in a home that has no books (even if there’s a Kindle under a bed somewhere) because I wonder what they know abut the nature of humans and their history. The cumulative result of reading the signs is the creation of culture and by culture I mean the sense that is created by common enquiry into the nature of being human.The beauty of reading everything you can is that it can create understanding of others, their wants, needs and desires as they pursue their individual happiness. Reading is the highway to culture and culture makes us kinder and more adaptable.

The Athenian dramatist Menander said it perfectly: “culture makes all men gentle.”

Who wouldn’t want that.