Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f6QFg0f11018; Thu, 26 Jul 2001 11:42:00 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 11:42:00 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <001401c115e9$1c50b8a0$ed93b2d1@oemcomputer> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Mary Ann Corley" <macorley1@earthlink.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:544] Tom Sticht's Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post re: the NALS X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.3018.1300 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2147 Lines: 51 Mary Ann: The following letter to the Editor of the Washington Post is in response to recent postings on the POVRACELIT list. Thanks for your help posting this. Tom Sticht ************** July 25, 2001 Letters to the Editor The Washington Post 1150 15th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20071 Dear Sir/Madam: The letters from Mr. Andrew Hartman, Director of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and Mr. T. Scott Murray, Director General, Institutions and Social Statistics, Statistics Canada, to the Washington Post regarding Jay Mathews' article on Adult Illiteracy, Rewritten, both object to the use of the term "illiteracy" in the article. Both deny that the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) had anything to say about illiteracy and suggested that it was misunderstandings by the press that lead to the erroneous impressions that 20 percent of Americans were illiterate. To check this out I went back to the News Release by the U. S. Department of Education that announced the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) findings. Following is a quote from the Press Release. "This report is a wake-up call to the sheer magnitude of illiteracy in this country and underscores literacy's strong connection to economic status, " U. S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said. "It paints a picture of a society in which the vast majority of Americans do not know that they do not have the skills they need to earn a living in our increasingly technological society and international marketplace." >From the Secretary of Education's News Release, it seems to me that if the Washington Post and many other newspapers and individuals thought the NALS was about "illiteracy" it was due to the U.S. Department of Education that sponsored the research. If anyone should be chastised for telling the wrong story, it should be the U. S. Department of Education, not the press or the public who read the Press Release and took the Secretary of Education's words at their face value. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019 Tel/fax (619) 444-9133 Email tsticht@aznet.net
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