榆树学院很荣幸在9月11日举办了一个社区市政厅. 14 in Veritas Auditorium on a subject that we at the college consider to be critically important: knowing how to read. That the event was attended by leaders from colleges and secondary school systems through greater Springfield and more than 100 members of the general public shows they feel the same about literacy.
阅读更多: 西方的质量. Literacy Collaborative: community solutions needed for a growing problem affecting our children
The town hall was a part of the 西马萨诸塞扫盲合作组织, a new partnership that emphasizes both the importance of reading in our society and that the best solutions to any problem are found when we all work together.
The literacy collaborative was founded this spring in response to a devastating national study by the 国家教育进步评估, 也被称为国家报告卡, 展示了全美的学龄儿童, 不论地理区域, 难道我们的阅读能力和几十年前的人不一样吗. 测试结果显示 阅读成绩下降 在城市、郊区和农村的学校，这种情况自上世纪90年代以来从未出现过.
There are times when a community approach to a shared problem is warranted, 由此产生了西马萨诸塞州扫盲合作组织. 从推出之日起, it was endorsed by the presidents of the Colleges and Universities of Greater Springfield, 斯普林菲尔德公立学校负责人丹尼尔·沃里克, 以及春田赋权区. It also received encouragement from the Western 麻萨诸塞州 Economic Development Council and generous support from the Nellie Mae Foundation and the Irene E. 和乔治A. 戴维斯的基础.
The 西马萨诸塞扫盲合作组织 springs from an idea from Elm College Trustee Emerita, 辛西娅·里昂. She is the former chair of the 校董会, the namesake of the Cynthia A. 里昂城市教育公平中心(CEUE), and a fierce advocate for education in general and literacy in particular.
在刚刚过去的这个夏天，合作组织推出了 学习和赚取扫盲团, where college students seeking degrees in education were trained as literacy interventionists by faculty with CEUE and then deployed to teach in 春田公立学校 during summer school. 榆树学院共有15名学生, 另类投资会议, Westfield状态, 和Bay Path今年夏天也参加了. Results have been glowing and we are encouraged to and looking forward to expanding efforts to Chicopee Public Schools and catholic schools in the Diocese of Springfield.
以下是我在会上讲话的节选:
Many of us can remember a book that had an important impact on our lives and how it shaped the way that we think. Some of us may even remember some of the best opening lines in American – or all of- literature. 比如“我也唱美国” 兰斯顿·休斯里程碑式的诗的第一句 作为一个美国黑人.
或者是托尔斯泰著名的小说开头 安娜卡列尼娜: “All happy families are a就像; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
I remember spending a lot of summer mornings at the school run by the Brothers of Christian Education in my hometown of Ouanaminthe, 阅读一本书又一本书，获得一扇通向更广阔世界的窗户.
从这些回忆开始似乎是合适的, 在这个我们庆祝阅读快乐的时刻, 协作的力量, 以及对大春田地区所有孩子的承诺. Most of us have spent much of our career and our life, in the company of people who love to read. College campuses are packed with people who see reading as an invaluable skill. It is necessary for our unique mission: the creation, acquisition, and transmission of knowledge. 阅读也可以是一种娱乐和放松的方式. 它可以打开我们的视野，看到远远超出我们眼睛所能看到的世界. 在这方面，人们很容易把基本的读写能力视为理所当然.
That is until we read reports 就像 the 国家教育进步评估, 直到我们与人交谈, 就像 约翰·戴维斯，他长期以来一直是阅读的倡导者, or until we come across the stories of lives changed and opportunities lost because of the inability to read and learn. 当我们深入研究统计数据时，我们发现根据 U.S. 教育部, 20% of American adults – one in five – lack basic English literacy skills. 结果是, 他们不能不能理解, 评估, 使用和参与书面文本参与社会.”
For a country as large as the United States, one in five translates into 43 million people. Forty-three million people are adrift and uninvolved in the affairs of their communities and have limited means of advancing their careers or standard of living. 这都是因为他们的阅读能力有限.
We can all agree that the best and most sustainable long-term strategy to increase literacy rates among adults is to reach out and make a lasting impact when they are children. We can also agree that while our efforts here may not so much as make a dent nationally, we can by working collectively and collaboratively have a great impact here – in the Greater Springfield Area and the Pioneer Valley. And that is where the 西马萨诸塞扫盲合作组织 comes into play.
这是我们所有人都能尽自己一份力的地方. It is important to celebrate the work of those who have made the 西马萨诸塞扫盲合作组织 and the Learn and Earn Reading Corp a success. 但同样重要的是，我们要与他们一道呼吁采取行动. We must move forward to sustain and expand this effort to guarantee that all children and young people around us have the same right to read that we adults enjoy.
整个大春田, 在斯普林菲尔德, 以及周边地区, 人们对本地人西奥多·盖泽尔很有好感, 一代又一代的读者更熟知他的名字是. 苏斯. It was he who years ago summed up perfectly an answer to the question of why is it important to know how to read:
“你读得越多，你知道的就越多。. 你学得越多，你去的地方就越多.”
要做的事情很多，但我们必须共同努力完成.