Global Literacy: Vital But Not a Panacea

IRA’s Global Perspectives Forum 2007 explored the role of critical literacy in countering extremism

Though there seems to be widespread agreement that literacy is key to unlocking the potential of the human intellect to enrich lives and build better societies, a panel of researchers, educators, and a diplomat convened in April in Washington, DC, considered the notion that literacy may not be the panacea for all the world’s problems.

“Literacy: A Path Out of Extremism?” was the topic of the International Reading Association’s Global Perspectives Forum April 9 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Panel members were Arab League Ambassador Hussein Hassouna; Samdani Fakir, a visiting professor at the School for International Training in Vermont; Frank Dall, a senior researcher at George Washington University; and Timothy Shanahan, then president of IRA and the director of the Center for Literacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

About 50 people participated in the dialogue. After the panel discussion there were three roundtable discussions via telephone conferencing with literacy experts Hellen Inyega in Kenya, Aslam Adeeb in Pakistan, and Bardhyl Musai in Albania. The guest panelists and those participating in the roundtables connected on a variety of levels.

During the main panel discussion, Hassouna spoke of the need for quality education for all—something he said was needed now more than at any other time in history because of the global challenges posed by poverty, disease, health and environmental issues, and extremist beliefs that may lead to terrorism. Representing the League of Arab States, an umbrella organization made up of 22 Arab nations, Hassouna said diplomacy can no longer rely on protocol, but must be informed by specific skills to be relevant today. He said the member nations of the League are aware of the huge knowledge and equality gap among Arab states and of high rates of illiteracy. The League is taking steps to address the problem, he said, with upcoming conferences on literacy planned, ongoing human development reports, and a special committee being formed to study cultural heritage.

Hassouna and Fakir both agreed it was difficult to generalize about issues in the developing vs. the developed world, and that a comprehensive approach is needed. Fakir offered a definition of extremism that included imposing ideological beliefs by violence. Speaking from his experience in Afghanistan, where he led a four-member team to develop a five-year strategic plan for the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Development, he said that to effect change there, warlords, religious leaders, and ordinary citizens must become critically “conscious” and that quality teachers can play a great role in the ongoing process.

Demobilizing and re-integrating the various militias in Afghanistan is an important first step, but literacy/education efforts must be sustained to make young people aware of extreme ideologies and how to think critically about their world and its future.

Dall also spoke of the need for any literacy effort to be self-sustaining in order for it to be useful; he said there is no such thing as a “quick literacy program.” He also agreed that basic primary education must be of higher quality than is currently the case in many nations in order to achieve higher rates of return—socialization and motivation to go beyond functional literacy. He said it is conceivable that marginal literacy could add to extremism by becoming another tool of exploitation—to create a functionally literate, hence more economically productive workforce that could be manipulated for purposes of ideological control.

Shanahan noted that many extremists are literate and cited Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden as examples. He also agreed with Dall about the importance of sustainable literacy to economic development. Literacy by itself cannot create wealth, but is a necessary underpinning, he said, citing Ireland and Sweden as examples of success. How teachers teach literacy is also enormously important. Functional literacy is merely the base of a pyramid, the pinnacle of which is critical literacy. The ability to think critically opens up the possibilities of the human imagination, Shanahan said. Critical literacy is an enemy of fatalism and promotes informed citizen participation, human development, and a sense of personal responsibility. The “content” of literacy does matter, he said.

For more information about the Global Perspectives series, contact globalperspectives@reading.org.

Global literacy: Vital but not a panacea. (June 2007). Reading Today, 24(6), 9.