National Literacy Day

July 2 is National Literacy Day in the United States. Although more than 92 percent of Americans ran read and write, more than 27 million adults cannot. Lacking this skill that most of us take for granted makes it difficult to impossible to fill in a job application, order from a menu, read instructions on prescription medicine, and follow road signs. In addition, many illiterate Americans are embarassed to ask for help, so they continue struggling to absorb society’s basic information.

The cycle of illiteracy continues into the next generation, also. A US Government study shows that children of literate parents have reading skills that are approximately seven percent higher than children whose parents cannot read.

National Literary Day was created in 1993 by President Clinton to draw awareness to those Americans who cannot read and to create programs to help them. To find out how you can help, visit the National Insitute for Literary Web site.

^{(photo © stock.xchng)}