How Literacy Affects Us

Just an average morning…

It’s Thursday morning, 6:30 a.m., and Karen begins her day. On the fridge door, she finds a note from her husband reminding her he'll be late tonight and that she'll need to take their son to hockey practice and sign his travel form for the tournament. Digging out her family's favourite pancake recipe, Karen gathers the ingredients and starts breakfast. Her youngest child has an ear infection and, between pancakes, she administers antibiotics to him, following the instructions on the bottle. While the children eat, she takes the opportunity to browse the web, pay her bills online and write an email to a friend confirming weekend plans. She then looks at flyers announcing weekly specials, adds items to her grocery list and takes a moment to open the mail. When Karen drops her children at daycare, she finds a memo in their locker about an outing the next day and to dress the children accordingly. Finally she arrives at work where a sign posted on the door advises the elevator is being repaired. It is barely 8:30 a.m. and, already, Karen has used her literacy skills more than a dozen times.

Imagine if Karen could not read?

The necessity of solid literacy skills reveal their true importance when you think about how many times a day we need to understand written language. Although literacy is often taken for granted, among Canadian adults aged 16 to 65, approximately nine million, or 42%, obtained a score below the level considered as a minimum for coping with the demands of modern life and work.

Simple everyday items we may take for granted...

• Read a note from your child’s teacher
• Administer a prescription
• Follow a recipe
• Fill in a job application
• Check or send email
• Look up a phone number in a phone book
• Check a bus/train schedule
• Look for good deals in the weekly flyers

Our future depends on changing those numbers. We need to start with our children - possibly your future employees! KSN Literacy Network Inc. together with Kid Scoop News has a goal to be in your area’s Elementary Schools reaching the students and helping them learn to read and write in a fun and positive way.

Would you like to help?