If you can read this, thank a teacher
In all subjects, regular reading and writing is key
If you think back on your own childhood, can you remember how you learned to read? We tend to take our literacy for granted when we’ve had it for most of our lives, that it can feel as natural as breathing.
It is anything but.
Let us take a moment to reflect on the complexity, value and significance of being literate - and appreciate those who make it happen.
Literacy is the ability to read and write fluently, to critically interpret textual information and to produce it, and to able to use any type of discursive medium or channel to our benefit, whether for leisure, for liberation, or for work. Literacy grants access and independence, ushering in an adulthood of hope and potential. It enables agency. It protects against propaganda and disinformation. Literacy advantages us in advocacy, expression, creation and analysis. It is our best tool in the direst of circumstances.
Literacy means we can participate fully, and on our own terms.
It means we can discern or make meaning across any platform, in any format, for any purpose. Whether a contract or a dating site, a recipe or a thesis, filling in a form, creating an app, reading a label on a tin, filing a complaint, or opening a book on a lonely Sunday afternoon, our need to understand and manipulate language for ease of living, is paramount.
The paradox of literacy, however, is that this profoundly unique human endeavour, essential to our species and our survival, doesn’t just “happen”. It has to be taught.
We underestimate and undermine teachers at our peril.
We need teachers to cultivate speaking, reading and writing, in rich and varied ways, for our advancement. But, we also cannot rely solely on them in this regard: literacy is far more than technical skill, it is social practice. Language deprivation distorts development. If society as a whole doesn’t value communication with children, we won’t reach the 2030 goal of literacy for all youth by age 10.
Let us all be more mindful of how we became literate. Let us be passionate in supporting teachers and learners achieve literacy goals. Let us guard our own literacy too. Literacy is lifelong learning - and to this end, we must model the value of reading and writing at every opportunity.
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