“Reading provides hope,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wrote in the Detroit Free Press on March 5. In a state where one in three adults lack the basic skills to keep a job, Schuette’s remarks were targeted not only to middle schoolers but also their parents.
“The ability to read also increases the ability to attain a better paying job, and a more stable family life,” Schuette told the Collegian. “Our neighbors, mothers, fathers, friends, and relatives will never be able to achieve their goals if they don’t possess the essential skill of reading. ”
This concern for adult literacy inspired senior Andrew Montgomery to start a new GOAL program that would involve college students in adult literacy programs.
An administrative perspective
Although there are many reasons causing adult illiteracy, Executive Director of Community Action Agency Yvonne Rogers narrowed them down to two: CAA students either got frustrated and gave up on school, or they got in trouble with the law and never returned. She added that illiteracy is usually a family problem.
“Lack of interest in education is generational,” Rogers said. “I’ll have students whose parents and grandparents didn’t get a high school diploma. If we impact parents, then they can impact their own children — that’s huge. They will finally be able to help their own kids with their homework.”
Rogers sees students ages 17 to 56 come through the CAA doors with different motivations to continue their educations. Some need a GED diploma to advance to postsecondary education, a refresher on quantitative skills to keep their job, or who want to learn to read so they can read to their grandchildren.
South Central Michigan Works Executive Director Pamela Gosla said although this population lacks functional literacy, that is not a reflection of the people’s intelligence.
“I’ve had students who don’t know the alphabet, or who have never even written their own name,” Gosla said. “But they have tremendous coping skills. You would never know; they’re extremely bright.”
Nearly 100 students go through Gosla’s program every year,
“Our population of participants requiring some form of additional academic training continues to increase. There are multiple reasons for this, such as increased graduation requirements and growth in technology.”
Although the demand for these types of programs is increasing, state funding for CAA and South Central Michigan Works continues to decline. In 1997, the state gave $80 million to adult education programs like Gosla’s. Today, it receives closer to $20 million.
Helping students earn their GED or high school diplomas doesn’t solve all of the functionally illiterates’ problems, however. Gosla said that the support in programs like CAA and SCMW prepares students for the workforce as well.
“There are different kinds of academic attainment,” Gosla said. “A high school diploma or GED diploma is just a credential. Just because someone has a high school diploma, doesn’t mean they can function on a day-to-day basis.”
A student perspective
When Bryan Hixson moved out of his home at 18 to live with his sister, he knew he needed to finish his education. As a homeschooled student, Hixson left before he could receive his high school diploma. Although his reading levels met college standards, he had to improve his math and writing skills to receive his GED diploma from a Michigan Works program.
“Going to Michigan Works was always something I looked forward to,” Hixson said.
After he received his GED diploma, Hixson enrolled in classes at Jackson College. After impressing his statistics professor with high scores, Hixson was invited to apply for a Supplemental Instructor position for the statistics course he had completed. He quickly earned the position and now helps students with statistics homework twice a week.
Amy Moulton tells a different story. Her father passed away when she was 18, and her family moved to Kentucky. Because many of her credits earned in Indiana would not transfer to her new school in Kentucky, the school forced her to start over as a freshman.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’m not repeating all that again,’” Moulton said. “So I dropped out.”
Moulton got married soon after and began working jobs at gas stations, a pizza parlor, and cleaning hotel rooms. Five years later, Moulton took her son and moved away from an abusive marriage to live with her mother in Michigan. There, she remarried and worked at Jonesville Market. But she wasn’t content with her career track.
“I told my husband no, ‘I want to get my diploma,’” Moulton said. “I talked to Michigan Works who told me they had an adult program. The only thing I had to donate was my time. You can’t beat that.”
Moulton graduated with her diploma a few weeks ago and now works in management at the Jonesville McDonald’s.
“I got to show my son that Mommy goes to school too,” Moulton said. “And if I can do it, he can do it too.”
Both Moulton and Hixson return to the Michigan Works site to visit their friends. Hixson helps students with their math homework.
“I liked the environment so much,” Hixson said. “It helped me get more confident in myself, especially in helping others. I know the people there will always be there for me no matter what.”
A legal perspective
Hillsdale County Prosecuting Attorney Neal Brady notices the lack of functional literacy in the written statements of both suspects and victims.
“I would say 95 percent of the written statements I see are barely legible,” he said. “Often you have to interpret misspellings, grammatical mistakes — a form of communication that isn’t standard English. It’s also a good sign that people who are very literate generally are not writing written statements.”
Brad said written statements influence investigations and legal proceedings.
“To me, written statements can do two things: a very accurate account of what took place by using precise words is important, because it’s difficult to convict people beyond a reasonable doubt when you have a vague scenario of what happens,” he said. “Secondly, it tells me a lot about the person who is writing. Frankly, it’s subconscious perhaps, you give them more credibility when the statement is well written.”
According to the Literacy Company, 60 percent of all state and federal corrections inmates have low reading and writing skills and 45 percent of inmates in local jails did not graduate from high school.
Hillsdale College’s perspective
Montgomery said he was inspired to start the GOAL program after hearing a presentation at a reception hosted by Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honorary last month.
“We have programs for reading for kids, so why don’t we have reading programs for adults? That’s the idea David Woodson and I are working on together,” Montgomery said. “We want to push volunteers toward a program that already exists in the community like CAA.”
Although Montgomery will graduate in May, he is working on a formal proposal draft for the program with sophomore David Woodson to help civil servants like Rogers and Gosla.
“It’s never too late to start your education,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t define who you are, but it does enhance who you are.”