cancer heart disease diabetes these are
considered some of the most serious
issues facing our planet today and
justifiably schlub according to the
International Agency on cancer research
over eight million people are claimed
each year due to cancer the World Health
Organization reports that heart disease
the leading cause of death worldwide
annually touches 17.3 million people
each year the w-h-o also reports that an
estimated 422 million people worldwide
including myself live with diabetes do
you know what affliction affects an
estimated 1 billion people across the
globe approximately 1/7 of the world’s
entitled population illiteracy that is
not to undermine the importance of
funding and research for these other
afflictions on the contrary it’s to
highlight the seriousness importance of
illiteracy and that if it was a health
issue would be deemed an epidemic but
unlike these other issues that currently
do not have cures that literacy does the
literacy is not a social or societal or
cultural defect it’s the lack of ability
to read it’s a solvable problem but what
is a literacy how is it defined there
are many forms of literacy computer
literacy health literacy financial
literacy and others for the sake of
today’s conversation we’re going to talk
about what a bulk of the population
thinks that when they hear the word
illiteracy the basic inability to
understand or produce written
information those of us that make our
ways through life off of sight words
images just being able to sign our name
those folks are functionally illiterate
and as vaccines help to eliminate and
stop the spread of disease literacy can
help us eliminate the stop the spread of
hunger poverty and crime it is the tool
necessary to break those harsh social
cycles the data is telling
and troublesome students who exit
fourth-grade without being able to read
proficiency have a 78% chance of not
ever catching up 90% of welfare
recipients or either high school
dropouts or illiterate 85% of
individuals that interface with a
juvenile court system are either
functionally illiterate or don’t read
with proficiency no one factor can so
drastically shape a person’s chance of
success earning potential health and
well-being while helping to break the
cycle that leads to daily poverty and
struggle like literacy there are
countless examples of how literacy has
impacted a life or changed a community
but I’m going to share one of the ones
that I’m at least the most familiar with
my own but first a quick survey and for
some the questions can feel personal so
if you choose not participate there’s no
judgment here but how many of us when we
were growing up our were on some kind of
government assistance whether that was
food stamps or Section eight housing how
many of us came from a home of either
single parent or divorce how many of us
when we were in grade school were on
free or reduced lunch the data tells us
that about 82% of students that are
eligible for free and reduced lunch
don’t read at proficiency at grade level
three out of four food stamp recipients
perform at the lowest literacy levels I
had all of these factors in my childhood
in fact I’m the least likely person to
be standing before you today as an
authority on literacy and education
initiatives seeing as how I barely
graduated high school and you may be
like whoa t wait a minute I just heard
your intro you were the Texas librarian
of the year you have a master’s degree
you frequently speak on children’s
literacy in literature you’re your
articulate and and well dressed and
handsome
see how many will get in there my
journey begins not far from where you
sit today the booming metropolis of
Lubbock Texas that is neither handsome
nor well-dressed where we all that bed
in the 90s or why just so off-base and
what is with the suspenders and the belt
where were my pants going that I was so
concerned that I needed both that’s on a
fade thankfully my mother she grew up in
a small farming community southwest of
Lubbock called meadow she had a very
stable upbringing my my grandfather ran
the cotton gin there she had stability
three square meals a day a roof over her
head she graduated high school but
didn’t finish college ended up marrying
my father and having me I think trouble
was always brewing under the surface and
when I was seven my parents divorced and
my father left I didn’t see or hear from
my father from 1986 until his death in
2007 my mother god rest her soul she
passed in 2014 she did the best she
could but with no higher education it
was difficult to be the breadwinner so
she was gone a lot working trying to
keep a roof over our head and food on
the table but with no siblings I was
home alone a lot and that’s where my
struggles began my grades began to
suffer I was passable barely more I
acted out was the class clown which
after years of counseling I know was
just my way of trying to get attention I
spent a lot of time running with the
wrong kind of crowd doing things young
men ought not do I’ve got a lot of
detention and study hall but for me
staying after school for detention in
study hall was better than going home to
an empty house and attention and study
hall happened to be in the school
library now I was an adequate reader but
it doesn’t help your street cred to be
seen carrying the newest baby-sitters
club or goosebumps book but the library
was a safe comfortable environment and
that’s where my transformation began I
think we can all identify at least one
teacher or educator that had a great
impact on our lives for me one of those
was the librarian at Bowie elementary
school
Lubbock Texas miss ray now while all the
other teachers were sending me to the
office or putting me in a corner not
that I blame them because I was a pill
miss ray engaged me in a meaningful way
she told me about this award for books
where the children of Texas got to vote
on the winner it was called the texas
bluebonnet award and all you had to do
to be eligible was read five of this
list of twenty books and that was it
for me the idea that I could help decide
what the best children’s book in Texas
was just by reading was magical just
five of course I read all 20 I’m sitting
in tutorials anyway and while I’m sure
miss Rey would have preferred me to work
on my schoolwork and improve my grades I
was transfixed by the idea of belonging
to something being a part of something
see when I was reading it didn’t matter
that I was on food stamps or that my
father had abandoned me or that all my
friends knew I was on free lunch at
school that changed me and helped me to
believe that my life had all the
opportunity that I was willing to take
advantage of now I never did become a
good student and I did barely graduate
high school but because of Miss Ray had
the foundational skill of reading that
serves as a key to unlock upward
mobility for life I don’t know where
miss Rey is now I don’t know where she
is or what she’s doing and I’ve never
been able to appropriately thank her but
I hope that my life and literacy is
suitable thanks traditional education is
important but reading is the foundation
upon which all other essential skills
are built I am an example of the
transformative power that literacy can
have on your life and help to break the
harsh social cycles we sometimes find
ourselves in a third of all children
born into poverty will stay there
through adulthood but because of Miss
Rey and many others along the way that
took an interest I’m not a part of that
statistic all of this is why schools and
libraries should be cathedrals beacons
of light on the highest hill proclaiming
to all that here is where you change
your life here is where meaningful
impactful progress is made librarians
and teachers should be lauded
the work they’re doing educating our
children and trying to make the world a
better place through education the
investment in the intellectual
development of our children is not a
nice-to-have
it’s a must have the ability to read is
a fundamental human right like access to
clean drinking water or health care its
impact is every day a hundred and eighty
million children worldwide will never
darken the door of a school but if they
can read they stand a chance a chance to
make their lives better a chance to make
their family lives better a chance to
impact their communities or villages or
cities and when we’re talking about
impact the greatest impact is a child’s
access to books children that have books
at home is a greater indicator of future
success than their parents education
level middle class income households a
child to book ratios about 1 to 13 in
low-income areas that changes and the
age-appropriate book is one for every
300 children so my challenge for all of
us today is this we need to get books
into the hands of kids that will make a
difference what will have an impact the
next time you’re invited to a birthday
party instead of taking a toy that’s
going to break in a week take a book
stick a book in the stocking support
your local literacy initiatives support
your local public library I envision a
world where children have access at home
to the same number of books that it’s at
least their age if every eight-year-old
had access to at least eight books at
home and every 13-year old had 13 and 17
had 17 can you imagine the impact that
that would have on that generation and
thereby future generations the great
Laura Bush oh my that is a handsome my
lovely wife on the left and then the
the great mrs. Bush who is a librarian
by profession and a personal hero of
mine once said that children who read
learn two things first that reading is
worthwhile but second that they are
worthwhile literacy is important
literacy matters literacy can make a
difference whatever the question
literacy is the answer thank you [Applause]
considered some of the most serious
issues facing our planet today and
justifiably schlub according to the
International Agency on cancer research
over eight million people are claimed
each year due to cancer the World Health
Organization reports that heart disease
the leading cause of death worldwide
annually touches 17.3 million people
each year the w-h-o also reports that an
estimated 422 million people worldwide
including myself live with diabetes do
you know what affliction affects an
estimated 1 billion people across the
globe approximately 1/7 of the world’s
entitled population illiteracy that is
not to undermine the importance of
funding and research for these other
afflictions on the contrary it’s to
highlight the seriousness importance of
illiteracy and that if it was a health
issue would be deemed an epidemic but
unlike these other issues that currently
do not have cures that literacy does the
literacy is not a social or societal or
cultural defect it’s the lack of ability
to read it’s a solvable problem but what
is a literacy how is it defined there
are many forms of literacy computer
literacy health literacy financial
literacy and others for the sake of
today’s conversation we’re going to talk
about what a bulk of the population
thinks that when they hear the word
illiteracy the basic inability to
understand or produce written
information those of us that make our
ways through life off of sight words
images just being able to sign our name
those folks are functionally illiterate
and as vaccines help to eliminate and
stop the spread of disease literacy can
help us eliminate the stop the spread of
hunger poverty and crime it is the tool
necessary to break those harsh social
cycles the data is telling
and troublesome students who exit
fourth-grade without being able to read
proficiency have a 78% chance of not
ever catching up 90% of welfare
recipients or either high school
dropouts or illiterate 85% of
individuals that interface with a
juvenile court system are either
functionally illiterate or don’t read
with proficiency no one factor can so
drastically shape a person’s chance of
success earning potential health and
well-being while helping to break the
cycle that leads to daily poverty and
struggle like literacy there are
countless examples of how literacy has
impacted a life or changed a community
but I’m going to share one of the ones
that I’m at least the most familiar with
my own but first a quick survey and for
some the questions can feel personal so
if you choose not participate there’s no
judgment here but how many of us when we
were growing up our were on some kind of
government assistance whether that was
food stamps or Section eight housing how
many of us came from a home of either
single parent or divorce how many of us
when we were in grade school were on
free or reduced lunch the data tells us
that about 82% of students that are
eligible for free and reduced lunch
don’t read at proficiency at grade level
three out of four food stamp recipients
perform at the lowest literacy levels I
had all of these factors in my childhood
in fact I’m the least likely person to
be standing before you today as an
authority on literacy and education
initiatives seeing as how I barely
graduated high school and you may be
like whoa t wait a minute I just heard
your intro you were the Texas librarian
of the year you have a master’s degree
you frequently speak on children’s
literacy in literature you’re your
articulate and and well dressed and
handsome
see how many will get in there my
journey begins not far from where you
sit today the booming metropolis of
Lubbock Texas that is neither handsome
nor well-dressed where we all that bed
in the 90s or why just so off-base and
what is with the suspenders and the belt
where were my pants going that I was so
concerned that I needed both that’s on a
fade thankfully my mother she grew up in
a small farming community southwest of
Lubbock called meadow she had a very
stable upbringing my my grandfather ran
the cotton gin there she had stability
three square meals a day a roof over her
head she graduated high school but
didn’t finish college ended up marrying
my father and having me I think trouble
was always brewing under the surface and
when I was seven my parents divorced and
my father left I didn’t see or hear from
my father from 1986 until his death in
2007 my mother god rest her soul she
passed in 2014 she did the best she
could but with no higher education it
was difficult to be the breadwinner so
she was gone a lot working trying to
keep a roof over our head and food on
the table but with no siblings I was
home alone a lot and that’s where my
struggles began my grades began to
suffer I was passable barely more I
acted out was the class clown which
after years of counseling I know was
just my way of trying to get attention I
spent a lot of time running with the
wrong kind of crowd doing things young
men ought not do I’ve got a lot of
detention and study hall but for me
staying after school for detention in
study hall was better than going home to
an empty house and attention and study
hall happened to be in the school
library now I was an adequate reader but
it doesn’t help your street cred to be
seen carrying the newest baby-sitters
club or goosebumps book but the library
was a safe comfortable environment and
that’s where my transformation began I
think we can all identify at least one
teacher or educator that had a great
impact on our lives for me one of those
was the librarian at Bowie elementary
school
Lubbock Texas miss ray now while all the
other teachers were sending me to the
office or putting me in a corner not
that I blame them because I was a pill
miss ray engaged me in a meaningful way
she told me about this award for books
where the children of Texas got to vote
on the winner it was called the texas
bluebonnet award and all you had to do
to be eligible was read five of this
list of twenty books and that was it
for me the idea that I could help decide
what the best children’s book in Texas
was just by reading was magical just
five of course I read all 20 I’m sitting
in tutorials anyway and while I’m sure
miss Rey would have preferred me to work
on my schoolwork and improve my grades I
was transfixed by the idea of belonging
to something being a part of something
see when I was reading it didn’t matter
that I was on food stamps or that my
father had abandoned me or that all my
friends knew I was on free lunch at
school that changed me and helped me to
believe that my life had all the
opportunity that I was willing to take
advantage of now I never did become a
good student and I did barely graduate
high school but because of Miss Ray had
the foundational skill of reading that
serves as a key to unlock upward
mobility for life I don’t know where
miss Rey is now I don’t know where she
is or what she’s doing and I’ve never
been able to appropriately thank her but
I hope that my life and literacy is
suitable thanks traditional education is
important but reading is the foundation
upon which all other essential skills
are built I am an example of the
transformative power that literacy can
have on your life and help to break the
harsh social cycles we sometimes find
ourselves in a third of all children
born into poverty will stay there
through adulthood but because of Miss
Rey and many others along the way that
took an interest I’m not a part of that
statistic all of this is why schools and
libraries should be cathedrals beacons
of light on the highest hill proclaiming
to all that here is where you change
your life here is where meaningful
impactful progress is made librarians
and teachers should be lauded
the work they’re doing educating our
children and trying to make the world a
better place through education the
investment in the intellectual
development of our children is not a
nice-to-have
it’s a must have the ability to read is
a fundamental human right like access to
clean drinking water or health care its
impact is every day a hundred and eighty
million children worldwide will never
darken the door of a school but if they
can read they stand a chance a chance to
make their lives better a chance to make
their family lives better a chance to
impact their communities or villages or
cities and when we’re talking about
impact the greatest impact is a child’s
access to books children that have books
at home is a greater indicator of future
success than their parents education
level middle class income households a
child to book ratios about 1 to 13 in
low-income areas that changes and the
age-appropriate book is one for every
300 children so my challenge for all of
us today is this we need to get books
into the hands of kids that will make a
difference what will have an impact the
next time you’re invited to a birthday
party instead of taking a toy that’s
going to break in a week take a book
stick a book in the stocking support
your local literacy initiatives support
your local public library I envision a
world where children have access at home
to the same number of books that it’s at
least their age if every eight-year-old
had access to at least eight books at
home and every 13-year old had 13 and 17
had 17 can you imagine the impact that
that would have on that generation and
thereby future generations the great
Laura Bush oh my that is a handsome my
lovely wife on the left and then the
the great mrs. Bush who is a librarian
by profession and a personal hero of
mine once said that children who read
learn two things first that reading is
worthwhile but second that they are
worthwhile literacy is important
literacy matters literacy can make a
difference whatever the question
literacy is the answer thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: