Functional illiteracy: First-hand insights through ignorance

Introduction

The immediate question might be, “why is an author talking about wisdom, in terms of illiteracy?” What could they have learned through the ramifications of an ignorance of the written word, and shouldn’t they be promoting the reading of it?

I began to write in 1997. It was very tentative initially. Ultimately, a long-distance relationship with the poetry tutor, Alison Chisholm (who is now a part of the Poetry Society), taught me how to write English, and the craft of poetry, and in a very iterative manner over some years.

I left school in 1986 with science and mathematics a-levels. After four attempts at o-level English language (or its equivalent), I got the certificate I needed, without which, I was not studying chemistry at York University.

I’m 56 now and have read predominately the following non-technical or unscientific books in my life.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

Kes – Barry Hines

The Gamekeeper – Barry Hines

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis

The Pigeon – Patrick Suskind

Post Office – Charles Bukcowski

I’ve tended to read during bursts of energy, and was ultimately diagnosed ‘bipolar’ in 1998, at 30. It followed earlier psychiatric labels.

What is functional illiteracy

Functional illiteracy is a term. In keeping with this book, I am not going to give you a stock, academic definition, because I have not even researched it, or tried to read a single book about it; but rather, I will speak from my experiences, and what I think it means, and more to the point, what I assert that it means. So as far as this book will continue, it is what you might call an individual has, who finds difficulties with basic reading and writing, to a degree that occupationally, and personally, in terms of their emotional and intellectual growth, they are or have been, at a notable disadvantage in their life.

It doesn’t just affect their ability to read; so, for example, a daily newspaper is an unlikely part of their lives, but comprehension in its broader sense is affected, including being able to engage fully in conversations, to understand what is being said, especially in groups. (And as I found, following the thread of university lecturers!)

I remember doing comprehension tests when I was at school. The first couple of questions tended to be straightforward factfinding ones, with no deduction required. For example, “how old was Bill when he started working?” You could scan the first paragraph of the passage and win such “low hanging fruits” quite easily, but then not get any further into the meaning of the words.

What is wisdom? 

We ought to know what wisdom is, but fools don’t. Hermann Hesse famously and usefully said the following in his book, Siddhartha: “Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”

I ask that I might disagree to a point, because if that is accurate, then this book will fail. However, I believe there is a path to wisdom via faith and commonsense, by which people who fail to read second-hand knowledge from books, i.e., the functionally illiterate, can play a big part in both building up and learning from.

Comprehension

The functionally illiterate can learn to write more effectively by practicing, yet remain poor readers. I did exactly that, and whilst not knowing the rules of writing, such that I could share them, the standard of my writing became communicative. However, admittedly I still have that block regarding comprehension. When I read, I don’t scan lines. I sound out each individual word in my head, and often need to read sentences again. Yet I offer you a book, no doubt for a similar fate! I know!

I manage to read now and then. That’s my wager to you then. I’m trying to be direct and not verbose, whilst frankly, trying to offer adult words. Hermann Hesse suggested that things we read and hear constitute knowledge, and that knowledge is wonderful, but different to wisdom. Wisdom is the stuff life teaches us. They say, “in school, the lesson comes before the test, but in life, the test comes before the lesson.” Comprehension, therefore, gets you through school. And my personal explanation of wisdom, is this example: if you must make a serious or vital life decision, you wouldn’t want to make it with the aid of just books and google. You might ask for the advice of close friends and family, but greater than either of those, are the dictates stemming from what happened to you in the last related times of own lived experiences, i.e., your wisdom.

The corollary here, is that people who are functionally illiterate, are less likely to have knowledge, whilst fluent academics cross-reference and draw from centuries of great thinkers to some advantage, sometimes perhaps, with blind optimism, allowing them to get by without an initial need for wisdom. But ultimately, “once bitten, twice shy”, and lived experiences become much more valuable.

Even if we must rely on wisdom for the bigger decisions, which will often come later rather than sooner in life, help early on is desperately important as we embark on life, and the functionally illiterate are likely to have to reinvent the wheel as a necessity, and repeatedly. But at the same time, they are strengthening its spokes and making it an easier ride for anyone else to sit on. That’s where the common-sense aspect builds. That’s the point of this book.

Writing and the role of memory

My memory is poor, but I’ve found since 1997, that threads emerged from my writing, and I have been able to hone and tighten my ideas by continuing to write.

Making sense of my thoughts helped me to make sense of me, and have greater self-confidence, meaning better everyday understanding and general choice making. But writing is valuable even if you have a good memory, because it is easier to share your ideas by writing them down, so people can try to take them in at their own speed, rather than listening to the spoken word, at a set rate.

Personal and societal benefits from “reinventing the wheel”

If people discover wisdoms for themselves, even ones that are already very well documented, but had not been available to them as a functionally illiterate person, with precious little reading experience, it is a highly relevant and important event.

By reading knowledge from books, the reader adds nothing to the strength of what is being conveyed. If they needed to make vital life decisions based upon it, (assuming the words were neither scientific nor medical facts, for example), there would be no scope to strengthen that wisdom. It is not a hardcoded memory of their own making, such as when someone discovers a life lesson painfully, by actions and/or consequences. And in that case, they should share it however they can, for this reason, alongside the strength of emotion that the page misses.

The more reinventions of a “wheel” that occur in isolated fashions, the greater the faith in the idea there can be. And the greater the faith in an idea, then even the written word is strengthened.

Ultimately, when a thought is widely spread and increasingly accepted, it becomes an adage, like the one I used earlier, “once bitten, twice shy”, which is readily accepted. And an adage of common and trustworthy utility becomes part of our culture’s communal common-sense.

The functionally illiterate in society, are in a unique position to help us. By sharing their hard-earned wisdoms, life lessons, and/or emotions; they; we, can help to build common-sense, and not just personally borrow what they discover in books.

There’s a fine line between the ways that this can grow, or not. I’m very aware that you’re reading a book now, and that words need communicating, and some of us are functionally illiterate!

I think we do our bit to share and add our experiences, and ultimately a “critical mass” can be reached, at which point the spread of ideas will multiply quickly. But to begin with, it will be so slow it might even seem stagnant. I think the point is that you don’t know who else is adding the same thoughts as you, potentially building a strength at the same time as you, thus edging you all towards that explosion of popularity or acceptance, of that idea you painfully found out in isolation and shared.