For illiterate adults, daily life is an uphill battle.
Although the country is mired in what many describe as a crisis in education, the national spotlight has remained on the plight of current students. Virtually forgotten are the countless adults who are still suffering decades after the educational system failed them.
“Everyone thinks I’m teaching foreign people, people learning English as a second language,” volunteer Marlene Schultz says. “But, no, they grew up here, they went through American schools. It’s hard for people to understand that you can get all the way through school, even graduate from school, and not know how to read.”
“They say we were 2 percent better than the national average, but still 38 percent couldn’t read at functional levels,” Anne Murr, coordinator for Drake’s Adult Literacy Center, says of Iowa. “That’s appalling.”