General Discussion

In the 70s, my USMC spouse and our family was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. I was hired to teach reading and grammar to young Marines who all had high school diplomas. The Marines required recruits to be high school graduates, but once they were in, they couldn't finish their training because they couldn't read. My objective to get them to read at a 6th grade level. In the 90s, I was hired by the Florida State legislature to write a report from research they had conducted on illiteracy among seniors. Today, I volunteer at a local organization as an adult literacy tutor. It takes intelligence and resourcefulness to survive as an adult when you can't read, but I'm always shocked at how many people in any community left school without that basic skill. Each person has their own reason why, but our school systems are simply not getting the job done.