Illiteracy in America Essay

ILLITERACY IN AMERICA
Understanding and Resolving a Grave National Problem

by Harry Hattyar

Copyright © 2005 by Harry Hattyar 2430 Kirkham Street, San Francisco, CA 94122 Phone: (415) 566-2988;  e-mail: hhattyar@pacbell.net

NOTICE: “Iliteracy in America” is a copyrighted work. The author gives permission to download “Illiteracy in America” free of charge; however, this permission can be withdrawn at any time at author’s option. The present permission to download “Illiteracy in America” free does not constitute placing it in the public domain.

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Table of Content
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Introduction ………………………………………………………………. 3 Communication to Writing ………………………………………………. .15 Language, Learning, Comprehension …………………………………….. 25 Writing in the English Language …………………………………………..39 Reading and Learning to Read …………………………………………….48 Teaching to Read in Other Languages……………………………………..65 Teaching to Read in the U.S.  A Retrospect…………………………….75 Teaching to Read in the U.S.  Critical Review……………………….…90 The Teaching-To-Read Industry.………………………………………....117 Solving the Unsolvable Problem…………………………………………149

ILLITERACY IN AMERICA: Understanding and Resolving a Grave National Problem

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Chapter 1 Introduction
In August 1984 a momentous event occurred in my life. My daughter-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Shannon, my first and only grandchild. This event, strangely, started me on a path that eventually lead to the writing of this book. A surprising discovery A little more than a year after this, to me, historical occasion, I read an editorial review in the November, 1985 Reader’s Digest, titled, “Why Our Children Aren’t Reading,” about the alarming condition of literacy in the United States. It stated that some 27 million American adults are functionally illiterate, and 45 million more are only marginally literate. The article then dealt with the Phonics-First...