SEPTEMBER 2022 GOVERNORS MESSAGE

September 8 is Education and Literacy Month

I can’t believe that school is back in session. Where did the summer go? I want to thank many of our clubs for their service to the students and schools in our districts. Clubs have been organizing and promoting programs like "Stuff the Bus" (Stow-Munroe Falls), in which a school bus is used to collect donated school supplies.  Many of our clubs have a tradition of distributing dictionaries to students in the elementary school and distribution age appropriate books in Kindergarten.

I was one of the fortunate children who had parents that took the time to sit and read to me and my siblings as we were growing up and grandparents that gave us books throughout our life. I love to read and on a daily basis. I don’t remember the first book I ever read but I do remember the book that had an impact on me. I read a book in middle school written by Mary Lois Dunn titled “Man in The Box”, Copyright 1968. It was a book that I read multiple times and I still own a copy that I purchased back in 1978.

DO YOU REMEMBER: When did you receive your first book? When you were a child, who read to you, who sat with you and taught you to read? Did you have your own book(s)? Do you remember your first book? What book had the greatest impact on you?

We have witnessed the turmoil around the world and seen the educational impact that COVID has had on our youth and especially the kids from low-income families. Education is a human right and access is essential to an equitable world, yet most of the world’s people living in extreme poverty lack basic education. Quality education has been proven to reduce inequality, fuel economic growth, and help people live longer, healthier lives.

We don’t discuss it because many Americans believe that literacy is not a problem.

DID YOU KNOW:
 

• The average American (half of the US population) reads at or below the 7th-grade level.
  
   
• There are 36 million adults in the United States who can’t read above a third-grade level. That means that 1 in 7 people have literacy issues.
  
   
• If all students in low-income countries had just basic reading skills, an estimated 171 million people could escape extreme poverty.

If you would like to see the data on your county visit the U.S. Skills Map: State and County Indicators of Adult Literacy and Numeracy

Share your Literacy Project

Many Clubs in District 6630, have been significantly involved in the battle against illiteracy over the past few years.  If your Club has a literacy project underway, please share it to social media this month and tag the post with the following: use @district6630 for Instagram and use #district6630rotary for Facebook.