The greatest irony
March 12, 2003 @ 9:11 a.m.
I cannot fathom illiteracy in this country today. I just cannot.
There was this boy that I had to help in the library the other day, several times. He couldn't find his ass from his elbow, and finally I had to direct him to the media center. The lady at the desk gave him a number for something, and he walked around for 10 minutes trying to find it.
I realized then that he had to be able to not read. I mean, there are signs everywhere. And not just read -- these were numbers. He couldn't recognize numbers either. And it's not like he was 3 years old or something. He was taller than me; my guess he was an eighth grader or so.
This fact is frightening to me. Why do we live in a country where people can actually get away with not being able to read? I can't imagine what it would be like. How would you know where you were going? What anything said? You'd be dependent on other people for everything.
I can assure you that he ended up checking out 3 DVDs and a couple of movies, however.
Why is it that his parents never taught him to read? Why is it that his teachers never picked up on it? Most importantly, why was he in a library and not picking out books to read?
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