[Reading-hall-of-fame] A Message for Veterans' Day

[Thomas Sticht]

Research Note						October 30, 2004

Literacy Teachers Fight Illiteracy During War Time:
A Message for Veteran=92s Day 2004

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

Whenever I visit Washington, DC I try to find time to honor those who die=
d
during the Vietnam War whose names are carved into the black stone of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This is a very personal experience for me
because I came into contact with thousands of the young men who fought in
Vietnam. And not just any of the young men, but a very special group,
those who were the undereducated youth typically cast-off by society as
losers. My job was to find out what kinds of jobs poorly literate men
might best be suited for, and to develop literacy programs that would hel=
p
thousands of these barely literate young adults improve their literacy
skills so they could do the jobs they had volunteered for or had been
drafted to do in the Army of the United States.

Improving the reading skills of undereducated Army recruits took on a
special meaning for both the adult literacy teachers and the new soldiers
themselves. It was entirely possible that their lives and the lives of
their comrades would depend upon their ability to read directions for
administering first aid treatments to themselves and their buddies. I
recall the enthusiasm with which small groups of men would work on a
reading passage dealing with the four life saving first aid steps:

First Aid
In combat or in the field, doctors and medics can not be every place to
treat injuries as they happen. You may have to give fast emergency care t=
o
yourself or to someone else. Such emergency medical care before a doctor
or medic can see the patient is called first aid. The most immediate firs=
t
aid steps are the four basic lifesaver steps. Follow these steps in order=
:
(1) clear the airway and restore breathing and heartbeat (2) stop the
bleeding (3) control shock (4) put on dressing and bandages.

The first aid passage went on to discuss each of the four life saving
steps. Men would read the passage and then draw pictures illustrating wha=
t
the passage said. Or they would produce flow charts showing how to perfor=
m
the four steps.  Enthusiasm for reading and learning the four life saving
steps had a great deal of functional meaning for these new recruit
soldiers because they knew that in a war like that of Vietnam, they might
really need to be able to read, comprehend, and use directions for
administering first aid to stay alive.

The job-related, functional context literacy program that our team of
teachers and researchers developed was implemented at all Army recruit
training centers across the nation, including  Fort Dix, New Jersey; Fort
Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Leonard Wood,
Missouri; Fort Knox, Kentucky; and Fort Ord, California. In evaluation
studies, some 3400 students taught by 30 teachers in these six states
improved their reading ability by studying authentic job-related material=
s
having real meaning and relevance to them.

In the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea=
n
War, Vietnam War and up to the present, adult literacy teachers have been
there with the troops helping them reach a new level of dignity and
self-sufficiency. How many lives these teachers have saved is not known t=
o
me.

Nor do I know which, if any,  of the soldiers named on the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial may have improved their reading skills in the Army=92s
literacy programs. But looking at the wall, I remember not just the falle=
n
soldiers, but also the thousands of undereducated soldiers who came
through these literacy programs, fought for their nation, and survived. I
also recall that studies of hundreds of thousands of undereducated
soldiers of the Vietnam war showed that some 85 percent of these young
men, all of  whom society had labeled as failures, actually fought with
courage and completed their service honorably.

So when I celebrate Veteran=92s Day I have a special place in my thoughts
for the hundreds of thousands of undereducated, less literate veterans wh=
o
have served our nation honorably. I also think of the thousands of vetera=
n
adult literacy educators who, through their dedication to fighting
illiteracy, have helped thousands of these military personnel succeed. I
have found no stone monuments to these veterans of literacy education. Bu=
t
I know that their names are recorded in the book that records our nation=92=
s
struggle for freedom.

We are now in the 4th year of the United Nation=92s International Decade =
of
Peace.

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