“Water, Water Everywhere but not A Drop to Drink:” The Burden of Being Illiterate in a World of Books and Technology:

The typical American student encounters an average of 30 teachers from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Thus, it is inconceivable to me, barring any neurological deficits, that a child could spend a minimum of 1 hour a day, 5 days a week, with 30 teachers over a period of 13 years and leave school unable to read. Yet, illiteracy is a sobering reality in our country. When children do not learn to read, the consequences can be lifelong and profound. Never has the gravity of this reality been particularly poignant for me, until a recent encounter with a woman who confessed to me her inability to read. I teach in the School of Education at a four-year university. One day, a member of the custodial staff unexpectedly appeared at my door. Looking directly at me, she asked in a hurried breath, "I was wondering if you can teach me to read?" The blunt, single-minded urgency in her tone suggested the need for an equally clear and focused response. Putting away an article I was reading about the then presidential candidate, Barack Obama and his unlikely victory over John McCain in North Carolina, I said yes, and invited her to sit and talk with me. Sitting sheepishly, Marlene (a pseudonym) began to tell me about her life as an illiterate woman. Marlene said that she worked as a cleaning woman on the campus grounds where she cleans "Greek houses." She explained to me that in order to clean the houses and/or use cleaning products, she had to rely on a color-coded system devised by a trusted friend. From the details of Marlene's story, I gathered that there have been circumstances in her life that have been daunting and demoralizing. The nature of her day-to-day existence was made palpable with every offering of how her day unfolds. For example, Marlene explained that she found going to the supermarket was especially tedious and expensive because she often brought home the wrong products and was never sure that she received the correct change from the stores' cashiers. Until recently, Marlene could not tell time. She was finally able to learn how to tell time because of her sister, to whom she is especially grateful. After a few minutes of sharing her life story as an illiterate woman in America, I could only think "What an albatross for her to carry!" The imagery of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge's (1919) albatross was even more appropriate to Marlene because she works at a university. She is surrounded by the effervescent waters from which flows knowledge, technology, teaching, and learning; yet, she cannot take the slightest sip. Her reality gives new meaning to Coleridge's line from his classic Rime of the Ancient Mariner, "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink" (lines 122, 123). As I continued to listen to Marlene's story, I began to realize that she was perhaps one of the most courageous and motivated women I had ever met. At age 50, and as a mother and grandmother, Marlene had come to a point in her life where she had made a crucial decision and was now determined to act on it. She was simply tired of waiting for, and/or depending on, other people to assist her with even the smallest of activities. Her goal in life was to read the newspaper and to drive a car. Currently, she simply looks at the pictures in the paper and tries to imagine what the story might be about. Additionally, because she could not read the drivers' manual, she confessed that she saw no point in learning how to drive. Nonetheless, I was amazed at her courage to move beyond thinking about reading to learning to read. It seems clear that Marlene had come to a point of "andragogy." She had developed a firm understanding of who she was and driven by her own self-direction, she had made a decision about what she needed to do to help herself (Knowles, 1984). Having made the decision to act, Marlene opened herself and lay bare the heavy burden she has carried all her life. She cannot read. …