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912 Protesters

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:18:53 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Can't read, can't succeed

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:32:18 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: dailygleaner.canadaeast.com

There has been a lot of research done on the issue of literacy, to the point where professionals can pretty much plot your path through school with shocking and sad accuracy: frustration, self-esteem issues, low scores, anger, isolation, behaviour problems and finally, academic failure.

Then what? A job that does not require reading, which severely limits your chances of economic success, or no job at all.

If you can't read, you are at an extreme disadvantage in virtually every aspect of life: working, shopping, computer use, paying bills, signing important documents and so on. Many jobs now require a diploma of some sort.

Governments, don't cut literacy funding. That has to be the worst cost-cutting measure to ever consider. There is no good that can come from taking away the means to teach children to read or improve their reading.

Financially illiterate teens will grow up to be financially illiterate adults

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:47:52 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.baltimoresun.com

"Financially illiterate teens will grow up to be financially illiterate adults," said David Bruzzese, co-author with Josh Holmberg of "The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance." The duo, who also visit schools to talk about money issues, wrote the book after learning from the mistakes they made. "Part of the economic crisis that we're seeing today is a result of the fact that people like Josh and I grew up with no financial education," Bruzzese said.

Teens look first to their parents for financial lessons. But parents can often find it difficult to even broach the subject. "It's kind of like having the sex talk. Nobody likes to talk about their finances," said Jack Koskowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, which sponsors student financial literacy programs. If there's a silver lining to the economic cloud that has swept over the U.S., he said, it's that both adults and children are trying to learn more about handling money.

Education: Helping to Eradicate Illiteracy in Sierra Leone

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:29:35 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.news.sl

It is NOT always in the best interest of the nation to constantly level criticisms at the government of the day without offering tangible solutions to national problems. Education is one of the most important sectors relative to poverty-alleviation and, ultimately, to usher in viable national development.It is a known fact that 70% of the national population in Salone is functionally illiterate. The question then arises as to how we can eradicate, or, at the very least, minimize, illiteracy in our country.

No Pubic Option

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:47:20 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Youth in Asia will kill your grandma

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:46:04 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Diagramming the Obama Sentence

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:50:59 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.themillions.com

In honor of Presidents Day, I thought I'd return to the "lost art" of diagramming - last practiced (by me) in the Seventh Grade classroom of Mrs. Brenda Wooten - to see what I could learn about the mind of President Barack Obama. I selected a representative, and widely quoted, sentence from last week's primetime press conference. The topic was the malfeasance of Bush Administration officials. Obama told Huffington Post blogger Sam Stein this:

Nothing feels tacked on; the "ums" and "ahs" Obama sometimes inserts into his speeches are not meant to buy time to think about substance, or to long for a teleprompter (sorry, conservative bloggers), but to make sure his long sentences stay on solid grammatical terrain. At the same time, Obama's confidence in the basic architecture of his sentences allows him to throw in some syntactically varied riffs and qualifiers: an absolute phrase here, a correlative conjunction or comparative adjective there.

Tanzania: Rising Illiteracy a Shame

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:43:37 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: allafrica.com

Illiterate people are a burden on society because of their ignorance. This is because one has to be literate to be able to competently and creatively learn even skills such as carpentry and driving and become more productive.

The Grammar Vandal

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:29:51 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: thegrammarvandal.wordpress.com

This blog is a record of my campaign to eradicate grammar errors in public in Boston and elsewhere.

I carry a sheet of comma stickers and a Sharpie with me at all times, ready to fix each mistake. If an error glares at me, I'm there to destroy it.

I'm Kate McCulley, and I'm the Grammar Vandal.

There has to be a safe-guard against the Kill Switch

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:32:10 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: ireaderreview.com

What happens when a book comes out that threatens the very fabric of society? Or perhaps gets a particular demographic all riled up?

There are loud protests, followed by governments banning the book.
The author is threatened, chastised, told never to write anything similar again.
Measures are taken to prevent the spread of these ‘illegal and immoral ideas’.

If you’ve written something that goes against the ‘moral values’ of the time, or insults a particular religion, your book gets banned and only a few copies are circulated surreptitiously.

What would happen if a new book came out that upended some greatly treasured tenet of society or religion?

What would happen to Galileo’s and Darwin’s books in an ebook world?
What if 30% of the customer base of the company hosting ebooks in the cloud threatened a boycott?
What if the government dictated that the book should be banned?
What if a particular religion screamed bias?

Higher literacy levels required to cope in modern society

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:42:39 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.brantfordexpositor.ca

Every now and then it is good to be jolted out of our complacent assumptions about what we believe conditions to be in 21st century Canada. That kind of unsettling wakeup was my experience early this summer when I read an online report of the Canadian Learning Council entitled, Reading the Future: Planning to meet Canada's future literacy needs.

The study debunks the belief that Canada has no serious literacy problem. The disturbing fact, as the council reports, is that almost half of all Canadian adults, 48%, have low literacy skills (42% if seniors over 65 are excluded). Initially this seems hard to believe, but before we reject the findings as hyperbole, we need to recognize the distinction between low literacy skills and illiteracy. Few Canadians are illiterate.

Literacy grant funds to fund media centers

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:41:35 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.t-g.com

The Bedford County school system has received a federal literacy grant for $422,000, the largest out of three awarded schools in Tennessee, an official said Thursday.

"This is a grant that is going to help us to move our elementary libraries to media centers," said Joan Gray, who coordinates technology for the school system.

Arabs’ Language Oppression Squelches Intellectual Growth

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:37:14 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.familysecuritymatters.org

We Arabs not only suffer from lack of political and religious freedom, and economic backwardness, but we also suffer from a huge language and thinking problem, which hampers civilized change.

The Arab countries have two levels of language: local Arabic, i.e. national and regional, called language varieties (dialects) versus Standard Arabic. There is Egyptian spoken Arabic, Syrian Arabic, Saudi Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, etc. These dialects are our mother tongues. They are, however confined to daily spoken conversations. We are not allowed to use them in writing, especially in books, print media, school textbooks, and other official documents.

Sixty percent of Arabs are still illiterate or semi-literate and thus they are ostracized from reading and accessing education. The majority of Arabs sparsely read. They hate the pedantic structure of Standard Arabic. Their lack of command of this language forces them to do so. It is like Latin to Spaniards if they were forced to use it.

Indian bill urges free education

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:33:51 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A landmark bill is due to be introduced in the Indian parliament that seeks to guarantee universal, free and compulsory education for children.

The legislation applies to children between the ages of six and 14.

The government estimates that at present 70 million children do not go to school and more than a third of the country is illiterate.

Literacy Focus for Library Grants

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:49:44 GMT

clipped by: literacy911

Clip Source: www.schoollibraryjournal.com

Libraries with a focus on family literacy now have three $10,000 grants to help them keep their programs flourishing.

“Libraries and literacy have such a natural connection, and we designed the award to help tighten that,” says Emily Kirkpatrick, vice president of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), which co-launched the grant with online book site, Better World Books. “We wanted a way to reward libraries that often provide supplementary literacy services, especially to families.”