How literate are you? How literate should an educated person be in order to lead a full contemporary adult life? Literacy, the ability to read and write, is almost universal in the United States today. Although we quibble annually about the degree to which children are able to read and write, as indicated as proficiency on state tests, 89% of children in Wisconsin read and write well enough to graduate from high school. But, are they literate for a successful adult life?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
https://dpi.wi.gov/news/releases/2016/2015-graduation-rate-884-percent
The definition of literary expands, according to Merriam-Webster, from the ability to read and write to having a knowledge or competence about a subject. I prefer this definition because it adds context and consequence to the ability to read and write. Instead of a neutral measure of literacy, our working definition of literacy should be “the ability to read and write and create an understanding in a variety of media. The ability understand and create communicative language and to do something with that ability.” This is the “so what” measure of literacy. If you can read and write your native language, can you read and write other forms of communicating? Can you read and understand the the language of music? A non-native language? A computer language? Sign language? Does your ability to read and write provide you with an understanding of scientific topics? Societal issues? Economic and financial concerns? Can you read social and emotional communications? And, if you can do these things, can you do something with these abilities? Literacy, the ability to communicate effectively over 80+ years of post-high school adult life, requires more than the ability to read and write native language. Literacy, or multiple literacies, are required for prospering in our increasingly complex world.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate#h1
An educated, or literate person using my new definition, is not necessarily an expert in a subject. To use a common overstatement, “We need to know just enough to be dangerous!” Dangerous as in knowing enough to learn more, to ask relevant questions, and to use what we know to solve problems. Just as reading and writing a native language does not assure that a school graduate can read complex, subject-rich texts with understanding, like a medical journal, being literate in a subject does provide that graduate with the competence to engage in further study and discussion of the subject. Using music as an example, if every child in an elementary school were proficient in reading and interpreting a musical score, that is sing it, play it, hum it, or tap it out, they would have the ability to engage with music throughout their lifetime. The music they hear or read for years to come becomes more than sounds – it is its own language, just as a story written in English. Without this literacy, a sheet of music might as well be written in Martian. Music education in our schools is gifted and talented education, if we do not assure that every child can read and understand the notes of music. Yet, most high school graduates cannot read music. Why do we settle for less that musical literacy?
Apply the same reasoning to technical communications. How many adults can program their own television or manipulate settings on their computer or tablet? How many can read or write a sentence of code? Or, to a foreign language, especially Spanish is spoken by more than 45 million residents of the United States. Non-Spanish speakers are foreigners in many locales of their own country Or, to the language of personal finances. How much of the daily economic or tax or interest rate trend news passes over the understanding of our high school graduates? Too many lose money everyday due to their financial illiteracy. Or, the language of science? Ask a friend to explain why the outdoor temps are well below zero in Wisconsin when the world is undergoing global warming. Illiteracy too often leads to a refusal to accept scientific facts.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_United_States
The same storyline should be applied to a child’s ability to read and understand social and emotional communications. While we encourage children to actively engage as individuals in all aspects of their schooling, most are illiterate in navigating the social network of children and adults. We do little to nothing in teaching children to read the emotional clues of their classmates, to understand signs of agreement and disagreement or feelings of support or intimidation. In the absence of pro-active social-emotional education, faculty and staff are entangled constantly in responding to and assuaging social-emotional crises. Some of which have led to tragic events of violence in schools. Further, we need to educate all faculty and staff in the understanding of social-emotional language so that they can be educators of this literacy. Then, we need to educate all children in the effective use and understanding of social-emotional language. There is an entire sub-industry of therapists working with young adults and adults who harbor injuries derived from our universal illiteracy in social-emotional communications.
K-12 education is a powerful tool for preparing children to enter their adulthood. K-12 is only a preparation, however. Continuing education is no longer a matter for professional or vocational certification or graduate studies. Lifelong learning is a necessity in a world in which information and informational literacy is the new currency for prosperity. And, lifelong learning requires every person to be multiply literate.