Prisoners of Illiteracy
Chances for a new life given to adults
learning to read
Imagine looking at a page
in a book and not being
able to read it. Or not get
ting a job because you can’t fill out
the application.
Until four months ago, Ray
Bidler Sr. knew what it was like.
Bidler was functionally illiter
ate.
A victim of dyslexia, Bidler
also lacked phonics skills. He
graduated from Lincoln High
School in 1979 at a third-grade
reading level. Out of seven chil
dren in his family, Bidler was the
only one to graduate.
Dyslexia caused Bidler to see
letters backwards or out of order.
He says his lack of phonics skills
made it difficult for him to break
words down into syllables. He
eventually grew out of the dys
lexia, he says, and has worked to
overcome his deficiencies through
tutoring and classes.
Bidler says school was difficult
for him. His father, who dropped
out of school, was in the service,
forcing the family to move often.
Bidler says he attended about nine
schools.
Although his parents consid
ered hiring a tutor for him, they
decided against it because of the
cost. Instead, he was placed in
special-education classes.
“I skipped a lot,” Bidler says.
“The teachers didn’t care. They
didn’t really want to work with me.
They just wanted to pass me on and
get me out of their hair.
“Because of it all, I was more by
myself. Ididn’thave many friends,
and I wasn’t in sports.
“I was ashamed. I thought it was
something I did myself — that I
was too stupid to read. I was told
that a lot when I was young.
“The way the schools are,
there’s one teacher for45 students.
They didn’t care. They didn’t put
forth the effort. A lot had to do with
thinking I was too stupid.”
Bumey Bouslough, direc
tor of adult education at
the Nebraska Department
of Education, says illiteracy may
stem from influences within the
family: the priority put on educa
tion, whether parents encourage
reading and read in front of their
children, and whether they pass on
the importance of reading and get
ting an education.
Lois Poppe, manager of the
Lincoln Literacy Center, says
there are many different reasons,
including physical disabilities,
poverty, lack of motivation, be
havioral problems and mental re
tardation.
Poppe says in some situations
children are pulled from school so
they can help the family finan
cially. In other cases, the family is
too poor to buy aids such as
glasses, but the child goes to
school anyway and is too ashamed
to admit it.
44
It was hard to do
anything. I couldn’t
get a job. Anything
you do, you have to
know how to read. It
was very embarrass
ing. I have kids and I
can’t read to them.
—Bidler
*5
From the perspective of the Lin
coln Literacy Center, it doesn’t
matter what the fault is, she says.
“Our concern is what we can do
about it,” Poppe says. “The fault is
in the past. We concentrate on
what we can do to change it.”
And Bidler, a 27-ycar-old in
mate at the Community Correc
tions Center-Lincoln and a divor
cee with two boys, has put the past
behind him. He says he doesn’t
know if his illiteracy has had an
effect on his children.
“I hope it doesn’t affect them,”
he says. “I make sure to watch him.
The oldest is in first grade. I ask
him how his reading is going. I ask
his mother. I stress to her to ask the
teachers all the time. I don’t know
if dyslexia is hereditary.”
An illiterate parent may em
barrass the child. Poppe
says children often feel
different from their friends and are
uncomfortable.
Curt Sederburg, coordinator of
the Adult Academic Studies pro
gram at Southeast Community
College, agrees. He says the chil
dren may be sheltered from other
opportunities and usually lack the
opportunity to receive help from
their parents. Yet their parents
often encourage them to continue
their education, he says.
Poppc says many children get
excited when their parents make
the effort to learn how to read.
Dwight Grandgenett, reading
consultant for the Lincoln Public
Schools System, says a parent’s
illiteracy can have positive and
negative effects on a child. On the
positive side, he says parents tell
their children the difficulties
they 've had and stress that they be
attentive.
On the negative side,
Grandgenett says, the parents may
have been successful without an
education, passing the attitude on
to their children. However, he
says, many parents now want their
children to be literate.
Grandgenett says schools use
the same teaching techniques on
all cturfontc
“We make the assumption that
we’re going to teach them in
school,’’ he says. “We use the best
technology available for every
one.”
, Grandgenett says he assumes
the schools have graduated func
tionally illiterate students. He says
when the causes of reading diffi
culty are reviewed, there are many
reasons students can graduate. He
says students may hide their prob
lem or have so many negative
aspects in their life that they can’t
concentrate on school.
“Literacy doesn’t know eco
nomic boundaries,” he says. “For
various reasons, there are students
who have difficulty learning in any
socio-economic group.”
Grandgenett says lower-in
come students as a group
have more literacy prob
lems than higher-income ones.
Bidler says it was embarrassing
being illiterate.
“It was hard to do anything,” he
says. "I couldn’t get a pb. Any
thing you do you have to know
how to read. It was very embar
rassing. I have kids and can’t read
to them.
“There were jobs I wanted but
couldn’t take because I couldn’t
read.”
Bidler says he was in a literacy
program a few years ago but blew
it off. He says he’s dedicated now.
Part of that dedication comes
from when he accepted Christ two
years ago, prompting him to seek
help again, he says.
Literacy doesn't
know economic
boundaries. For
various reasons,
there are students
who have difficulty
learning in any so
cio-economic group.
—Grandgenett
9*
“It was my third time in jail,” he
says. “I felt I had to do something
to benefit myself, to benefit some
body else from my past.”
Poppe says it is difficult to say
how many illiterate people there
are in the United States because
many hide it. However, various
organizations have arrived at their
own figures. According to
Laubach Literacy Action, there arc
26 million illiterate people, and
each year the number increases by
1 million. Laubach Literacy Ac
tion, Poppe says, is an interna
tional group with more than 600
community-based programs
throughout the world whose pur
pose is to combat adult illiteracy.
She says the group targets low
level reading adults who aren’t
reached by other educational pro
grams.
Volunteers For Literacy, in
Syracuse, N. Y , estimates that one
of five Americans is illiterate,
Poppe says.
Bouslough says the illiter
acy rate for Nebraska is 9
percent and 13 percent for
the United States, according to the
Plus Effort. Bouslough says the
Plus Effort started a year ago and is
a joint project of PBS, ABC and
Project Literacy U.S. He says there
is no way of determining if the
statistics are increasing ordecrcas
ing.
There are 25 federally funded
programs at 150 sites throughout
Nebraska, Bouslough says. He
said the federal government pro
vides 90 percent and the state pro
vides 10 percent in funding. The
funds come from the Adult Educa
tion Act in the mid-1960s, he says.
The act provides help to people
who arc illiterate and who didn’t
get their high school diplomas.
Bouslough says 94,(XX) were
helped in the last fiscal year.
Nebraska Sen. Arlene Nelson of
Grand Island has also successfully
secured $200,(XX) for adult literacy
programs for the education section
of Gov. Kay Orr’s LB 1041.
There are as many reasons for
seeking help as there are illiterate
people: getting fired from a job
when the boss discovers the prob
lem, getting another job, having
children who have reached the age
to be read to, leaving home, the
death of a spouse, and needing to
read medicine bottles, Poppe says.
On the other hand, people avoid
getting help because thev’re
ashamed to let anyone know,
Poppe says. People often hide it
from friends and family because
they feel something is wrong with
them, she said.
Since Bidler staned the tu
toring sessions, he says
he’s improved 85 percent.
He has gone through six skill
books. Currently he is studying
from two books: “Megawords 2,”
which covers prefixes, suffixes
and how to break down words, and
an adult reading book that teaches
him how to break down words and
sound them out.
Every Sunday, Kathereene
Frenchy from the Lincoln Literacy
Center goes out to Community
Correction Centers-Lincoln to tu
tor Bidler. The sessions last two to
three hours.
“She really cares; she takes her
time,” Bidler says. “She acts like
I’m her kid. She takes that much
pride.”
Frenchy, supervisor of the mail
room at Nebraska Wesleyan Uni
versity, says she’s gained a lot
from tutoring Bidler.
“Hardly a time goes by when he
doesn’t learn something,” Frenchy
says. “Seeing him exclaim, ‘I
didn ’t know that. You mean I can
do that, is sunshine. When he gets
