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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Can you read this?
Do you remember not being able to read? I’ve thought about this and tried in vain to remember a time in my life when I didn’t understand words or before I was able to melt away hours in some imaginary world created by an author. I just can’t remember that time in my life. What I do know is that my world wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without the ability to pick up a good book. If we couldn’t read, HPFF wouldn’t even exist.
Seems no matter which side of the pond you happen to be on, the statistics are the same. A quick study reveals that in both the UK and USA 20% of the population have 'low literacy' levels. Well, that seems pretty good, doesn’t it? Only 20%. It seems we are doing something right. But before we pat ourselves on the back…what does that number really mean?
One in five people you meet have trouble reading and writing. One in five…that’s what 20% means. If you are in school, you probably have 20+ people in your class. Did you realize that on average at least one of them may be functionally illiterate? Maybe it still seems like a vague concept so let’s bring it down to HPFF level.
You know how we often hear about "reads vs reviews". Times, of course, when we have a great number of “reads” but no reviews. Have you ever considered how many people could be wanting to read your story but just don’t have the ability to do so? I hadn’t. It never occurred to me but someone could be sitting there at a school computer, see a flashy banner and think oh, that looks great! They open the chapter and look on, wishing desperately they could decipher the words on the screen and enter the world you’ve created.
Have you even pondered that some children don`t have the ready access to books and literature that you have and need a little more help than an average child with their reading and writing?
If you`re like me, you may realize how tragically sad this is and you may want to do something to help but have no idea how to start. If that’s you and you are willing to help but unsure of what to do, stay tuned…HPFF has something planned to not only unite the UK and US but to give all our members a chance to do whatever little bit we can to help turn the tables on illiteracy.
Seems no matter which side of the pond you happen to be on, the statistics are the same. A quick study reveals that in both the UK and USA 20% of the population have 'low literacy' levels. Well, that seems pretty good, doesn’t it? Only 20%. It seems we are doing something right. But before we pat ourselves on the back…what does that number really mean?
One in five people you meet have trouble reading and writing. One in five…that’s what 20% means. If you are in school, you probably have 20+ people in your class. Did you realize that on average at least one of them may be functionally illiterate? Maybe it still seems like a vague concept so let’s bring it down to HPFF level.
You know how we often hear about "reads vs reviews". Times, of course, when we have a great number of “reads” but no reviews. Have you ever considered how many people could be wanting to read your story but just don’t have the ability to do so? I hadn’t. It never occurred to me but someone could be sitting there at a school computer, see a flashy banner and think oh, that looks great! They open the chapter and look on, wishing desperately they could decipher the words on the screen and enter the world you’ve created.
Have you even pondered that some children don`t have the ready access to books and literature that you have and need a little more help than an average child with their reading and writing?
If you`re like me, you may realize how tragically sad this is and you may want to do something to help but have no idea how to start. If that’s you and you are willing to help but unsure of what to do, stay tuned…HPFF has something planned to not only unite the UK and US but to give all our members a chance to do whatever little bit we can to help turn the tables on illiteracy.
