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WFUWO NEWS W O R LD FED ER ATIO N OF U K R A IN IA N W O M EN ’S O RG A N IZA TIO N S December 1966 No. 6 Literacy a Social Experience This was the title of one of the seminars at the XVIII Tri ennial Council of the Interna tional Council of Women held in Teheran in May, 1966. It would seem obvious then that illiteracy and its social consequences is one of the major problems fac ing modern society. While one may understand the difficulties the economically poorer coun tries are faced with, one would hardly expect that in highly in dustrialized countries like the USA illiteracy is rampant and is one of the components of the so cial dynamite ready to explode at the slightest provocation. A million boys and girls leave school each year before gradua tion and the greatest contribut ing factor to this dropout prob lem is reading retardation, says Daniel Schreiber, Director of the National Education Associa tion’s School Dropout Project (USA). While the average high school dropout is two or more years retarded in reading, people who deal with them in vocation al rehabilitation programs and on the job know quite well that the reading skills of these young people are on the 5th grade level at best and often are even low er. A large percentage of the drop-outs have good learning po tential and with proper help would have shown marked im provement in reading, resulting in improved scholastic progress, increased confidence in them selves, higher self-esteem and a sense of belonging to a better and more promising world. Inability to read may be caused by physical conditions such as brain damage, poor eye sight, or poor hearing. On the other hand a child may not have been exposed to reading, and communication with parents may have been limited to a few basic topics. Perhaps some emo tional problem prevented the child from concentrating on reading. All these reasons may result in failure to read which intensifies feelings of inferior ity, frustration, lack of commu nication with the world, dis turb behavior and a warped per sonality development. Illiteracy and a low reading level have a direct relationship to poverty, delinquency, unemployment and emotional handicaps. A vicious cycle indeed! Many of the above observations are also applicable to children of immigrant parents here in the USA and elsewhere. These chil dren, too, grow up practically il literate as far as their native tongue is concerned. Lack of teachers, reading materials, and parental indifference deter such children from learning their par ents’ native tongue. Neglect of immigrant parents to learn the language of their adopted coun try often results in embarrass ment for the children that their parents cannot adjust to a new er way of life, in lack of respect for the parents’ old country ways and ideas, and worst of all in a lack of communication be tween parents and children. In many instances lack of parental assistance, poor speech patterns, and bad pronounciation create problems for local schools. This, too, adds to the child’s inferior ity feeling and stigmatizes him as a “foreigner.” Books, one of the most impor tant media facilitating self-dis covery and identification, are inaccessible to a poor reader and he is deprived of a good deal of insight and experience that could be gained through reading. Being unaware of his back ground with its rich cultural, sci entific and ideological heritage, the child of the immigrant par ent feels that he has nothing to identify with or be proud of. He is torn between two forces: a na tural desire to belong, to be like others, and to identify with suc cessful people, and on the other hand — a sense of duty to the parents’ homeland hammered in to him, a duty which he doesn’t understand. Yet, this need not be. In their own quest for knowledge, parents can inspire their children to make a better future for themselves and to love and cherish the country of their ancestors. The great Ukrainian poet Shevchenko summed this up in a few words when he admon ished his countrymen to study foreign ways but to love and re member their own! Ukrainian communities all over the world and especially here in the U.S. are fully aware of all these problems. They also realize the importance of the cul tural contribution they are ex pected to make to their adopted countries. They have established many educational institutions where Ukrainian language and culture are taught. These range from elementary schools and high schools to universities. However, comparatively little has been done for educationg our little ones with the exception of the sporadic efforts of Ukrain ian women’s organizations in various countries to create child care centers. Women — mothers and educators — have under stood the importance of giving their children of pre-school age a proper “headstart.” These cen ters have proved very successful НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ГРУДЕНЬ, 1966 17
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