by Rosemary Redfern

Created on: December 18, 2008

To be literate is to be able to read and write. They are separate skills with different demands on the learner. Levels at which anyone can do either of these skills varies.

Being literate allows you to function in the modern world, reading newspapers and official forms. To be illiterate disenfranchises the individual because they become dependent on others. Not to be able to read is a serious disability to functioning well in life. You have to trust what others tell you. It is a missing skill which people keep hidden because they are ashamed they don't have it. It is a block to self development and growth.

Being literate goes far beyond these simple definitions. To be able to read allows you to enjoy novels, to find out information from books, libraries or on the internet, to read instructions on packets, to communicate with friends and family through letters and e-mails. You can decipher advertisements whether you want to or no. It lets you explore the way great writers use language and express ideas. You can delve into literature. It gives you the opportunity to broaden your vocabulary and how you can use those words. It is empowering.

Further, when you can read, you can find out for yourself what is being said by experts. You can explore a balanced picture of what is currently important and make up your own mind. If you feel strongly on any subject, you can find out what has been written about it. You are not left fuming and impotent.

Not being able to read limits all of these things. We all have the potential to grow and develop. Without reading skills this is more difficult. The amount of invention illiterates have to use to get round letting anyone else know, could be better put to work if they had a simple skill.

We all learn in different ways. Programs teaching reading need to take that into account. For some individuals reading is not a skill that comes easily. They need extra help. Added to that, children from homes where reading is not valued as a basic skill will have little opportunity to understand the pleasure a story can give or the emotional insights getting involved with the characters can bring. Those of us who are literate have invariably learnt from the behaviour of a character in a story.

Being able to read stories, allows us to develop our imagination and create an inner universe which sustains us when times are rough. Individuals who have been kidnapped in various parts of the world, have sustained themselves with remembered poetry and stories.

To be literate is a wonderful skill which opens up the world and sets us free.

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