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May 29, 1986 W
Page A5 II
: H v . \
Coping with i
The author is the president of
First Union Corp.
Henry carries a newspaper with
* him to the factory so his fellow
workers will think he can read.
Susan wants to be able to read
aloud to her 3-year-old daughter.
George makes excuses to avoid
?
aetivering packages to a part of
town fte is not familiar with
"because he cannot read street
signs./.""
A third of North Carolina's
adults share a tragic secret - they
cannot read a road sign, a warning
label or an election ballot. In
bur state's information society
they are outcasts - marginally
Employable, burdened with feeling*
of inadequacy and unable to
contribute fully despite high
Native intelligence. < \
' More than: 1.5 million of our
approximately six million citizens
hever completed high school, and
AnA i ?
nave less tnan an eighthgrade
education. Most of these
fcedple are functionally illiterate,
v
"^?Winston-Sale
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, " An independent, local
? 'K ' .
' NEWSROOM: Robin Barksd
~ editor; Karen Hannon, ty
H. Bichsel Truhon, copy edi
' SPORTS: David Bulla, sports
' PHOTOGRAPHYi James Par
Blue, Joe Daniels.
ADVERTISING: Julie Perry; .
Art Blue, Wenna Yvette Jarr
; OFFICE STAFF: Barbara Milt
Stephanie Walls, Fernice W
PRODUCTION: Vinson Dewl
manager; Tim Butner, Keith
' ' Bichsel Truhon.
CIRCULATION: Veronica Gi
Blandelia McMoore, Angela
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HE FOWUM
lliteracy in ou
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By BEN T. CRAIG
and their numbers increase by
20,000 every year.
It is not, of course, a problem
limited to North Carolina. One
out of every nine adults in the
United States cannot read at alL
In addition, there are another 47
million u/hn arm KnrH?r1in? si
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literates - who can function, but
not well.
Tragically, however. North
Carolina has the third-highest
percentage of illiterate adults. It
is an economic and a social problem
that costs our state hundreds
of millions of dollars and
untold human misery. It affects
all of us.
Although businesses in this
state employ more than 600,000
functionally illiterate people,
more than 200,000 are
unemployed. The drain of illiterates
on the economy and our
tax dollars can be measured in
m Chronicle?r
Yv owned newsoaoer
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ale, community news
pist; John Hinton; Yvonne
tor; Cheryl Williams.
* editor.
ker, photo editor; Art
advertising manager;
les.
s, Brenda Sykes, ?? ardlaw,
Verisia West.
berry, production
Holland, Yvonne H.
lions, Harry McCants,
Ross, James^)fxon.
Vacuo
'YOUR
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i More opinions, ,w~
columns and features.
ir state
their numbers in social welfare
programs, in our prisons, in our
juvenile-delinquency programs
and in our unemployment lines.
The problem can also have a
dangerous impact on our daily
routines, when you consider that
illiterates are all around us - as
drivers who cannot read road
signs, employees who are unable
to read instructions dealing wtih
chemicals and parents who cannot
decipher warning labels on
their children's medicine bottles.
Major efforts have been under
way in this state for several years
to combat the problem, and these
efforts have been supported by
leaders in the business, government,
civic and education sectors.
But there is much more to
One of the most exciting
developments is a pioneer program
at Charlotte's Central Piedmont
Comunity College called
ABLE, (Adult Basic Literacy
Education). It uses computers
and instructors to teach adult
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Robinson >
has been particularly interested in
training black folks to win elections,
though there are opportunities
to learn how to run campaigns
more effectively. But4'we
already know about politics.*'
"We can't afford to learn campaign
management." Wrong. We
-cannot afford not to dramatically
increase the number of trained
political operatives. If you want
to play major-league ball* then
you have to invest major-league
resources.
Campaign managment training
is available from several sources.
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students to read. The computer
program reduces the amount of
time it takes to teach the basic
skills.
This project is an example of
.
cooperation between government,
business and community,
which joined to fund the na?
tionally recognized program.
The ABLE project has been
implemented in five other countries,
and as a result of its success,
the state Legislature approved
funds last year to put the com=rom
Page A4
These sources include the national
parties, the state parties,
party auxiliaries such as the
Young Democrats or the
Republican Women's Club and
political action committees such
as the North Carolina Association
of Educators' PACE or the
21st Century PAC. :
However, availability is not the
problem. Our political leadership
iiiusi commit 10 investing the
resources to train political
operatives and then use these
operatives and the sound campaign
techniques they have learniuv*.*:.'
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puter program in all of the 58
community colleges across the
state.
In addition to the ABLE program,
the community colleges
after Adult Basic Education
classes, and there are literacy
councils throughout the stale uffering
tutoring to those trying to
imorove their rMHin# cHllc ah
a ? -??? vwwiiq aniu J rUl
of these programs are free.
Compare a lifetime spent
isolated from the literate world,
where reading the local
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ed to win elections. ''
However, waging more effective
campaigns addresses only
part of the political empowerment
challenge. I say this because
the most promising way for
blacks to increase political power
ic thrmioh /?Kon??l1!???
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efforts into the Republican Party?
and a number of its candidates to
a much greater extent than has
been the case in the past.
I found this paper's endorsement
of several Republicans facing
primary races very interesting.
Interesting from the
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newspaper and handling your
own financial affairs is impossible
to the relatively short time it
takes to obtain basic reading
skills. You can see that literacy
programs are - incredibly costeffective.
Business leaders should
appreciate this better than-anyone.
Yet, while teaching an adult to
read is not difficult, the process is
complicated by the stigma I
associated with illiteracy. As a
Please see page A14
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standpoint that not a single
.employee of the paper could
.make any impact in these races at
the polls, because none of them !
are registered Republicans in Forsyth
County. But the Chronicle's
staff should not be singled out j \
for special attention. Almost the t
entire black community is very M
comfortable letting other folks , ;
pick the candidates for the GOP
in the fall.
Can we afford to be the only f !
ethnic group in the country that '
plays one-party ball in a twoPlease
see page A13 N
A ' ?>' . teni.rJ, i
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OVE,
I
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It could be new equip- j '
ment, a building
expansion or a need I
for working capital. I
Anytime your business
is faced with a major
expenditure, you're
faced with a lot of
financial decisions.
Including a loan.
Wachovia can help
you with that decision.
We offer a variety of j
ways to borrow. And
we welcome the opportunity
to tailor a loan to
your particular situation.
When you're ready I
to make your move, it's I
good business to talk to t
Wachovia first.
WacRovia. I
Where
the money's
coming \
from. !
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