[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2427-E2429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMARKS OF DR. RUTH MERCEDES-SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 1999

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to take this opportunity to 
commend this speech given by Dr. Ruth Mercedes-Smith, President of 
Highland Community College on Freeport, Illinois, to my colleagues and 
other readers of the Record.

                        Learning Begins at Home

       My topic today is ``Learning begins at home.'' But let me 
     be up-front about this topic. While learning does begin at 
     home, we live, unfortunately, in a time when homes are not 
     prepared to meet this challenge. Therefore, people like you 
     and institutions like Highland Community College must join 
     hands and help parents and families prepare themselves to 
     make it happen.
       Did you know that 50% of intellectual development takes 
     place between birth and four years of age? That means that 
     parents are important teachers. They provide the foundation 
     for a child's learning skills at home. But, as I said 
     earlier, many parents are not prepared to develop a learning 
     environment. Consider the following statistics: According to 
     a 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey, approximately 22% of 
     America's adults have difficulty using certain reading, 
     writing, and computational skills considered necessary for 
     functioning in daily life. These adults, in general, are 
     operating below the 5th grade level. Of the over 40 million 
     adults with literacy needs, only 10% are enrolled in programs 
     to assist them in improving their skills. Forty-three percent 
     of adults at the lowest literacy level live in poverty. This 
     contrasts with only 6% of those at the two highest literacy 
     levels. Individuals with low literacy skills are at risk of 
     not being able to understand materials distributed by health 
     care providers. Adults with strong basic skills are more 
     likely to ensure good health for themselves and their 
     children. Teen pregnancy rates are higher among those with 
     lower literacy skills.
       Seventy-five percent of food stamp recipients performed in 
     the two lowest literacy levels. In addition, 70% of prisoners 
     performed in the two lowest levels. In a 1995 comparison of 
     literacy among seven countries, the United States ranked next 
     to last,

[[Page E2428]]

     when measured against Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, 
     Sweden, and Switzerland. Clearly a large percentage of our 
     parents are adults at-risk. The question is, ``What will our 
     communities do to help them?'' As a result of the lack of 
     learning that takes place in the home due to parents who do 
     not have the necessary educational skills we also find that 
     we have large numbers of children who face major barriers as 
     they grow toward adulthood.
       Let me tell you about these children: Children who don't 
     have the basic readiness skills when they enter school are 3 
     or 4 times more likely to drop out in later years. Children's 
     chances for success in school are greatly affected by the 
     educational attainment of their parents. A parent's education 
     level is the single best indicator of a child's success in 
     school. Parents who have books in the home and read to their 
     children have children who are better readers and better 
     students. When parents are involved in helping their school-
     age children with their schoolwork, social class drops out as 
     a factor in poor performance.
       Yes, large numbers of our children are at-risk. Again, I 
     ask the question, ``What will our communities do to help 
     them?'' An ancient saying from Africa sums it up well: ``It 
     takes an entire village to raise a child.'' I know Hillary 
     Clinton used this as a book title, but I had used these words 
     long before she made them famous. Think about that for a 
     moment. It takes an entire village to raise a child. It seems 
     to me that Freeport is a village in one sense of that word 
     and that Freeport is of a size that could manage this type of 
     challenge. The same applies to Lena, Stockton, Mt. Carroll, 
     Forreston, and other towns in our region. You see, I have a 
     vision. You are among the first to hear it. My vision is that 
     every town in our community college district will become 
     engaged in this educational challenge and that every town 
     will decide that by the year 2010 every person in that town 
     will have the skills they need to become self-sufficient--
     whatever the age. Does that sound plausible to You? Do you 
     think it would be too difficult to accomplish? Well, I know 
     we can do it. And I'll tell you why.
       First of all, we have several programs from the college 
     that lay the groundwork for such an initiative. One set of 
     services is run by our Adult Education program. Their classes 
     meet across Highland's district. This includes basic skills. 
     GED prep, JobSmart, English-as-a-Second-Language or ESL, and 
     short-term training. Last year these programs served 898 
     adults. Classrooms are aided by volunteer tutors who meet 
     with students at these sites or at the homes of the tutors or 
     the students. As you can see, this is a very flexible program 
     designed for easy access for students. So here is the first 
     challenge to you. How about becoming a tutor and helping an 
     adult improve reading, writing or math skills? That adult, in 
     turn, will help his or her children and thus we will break 
     the cycle of unpreparedness. Tutors must take 12 hours of 
     training, which is provided at all of our sites on selected 
     evenings or Saturdays. During the last year, the Adult 
     Education program taught 200 students in GED prep and 148 
     students obtained their GED diploma. I wish you could attend 
     one of those graduations because you would be impressed. 
     Families, including children, attend and celebrate with the 
     graduates. Each year several of them are selected to speak to 
     the group. Once one of the speakers told how her husband had 
     lost his job and could not find another. They both decided to 
     earn their diplomas and not only did they graduate together 
     but he found two jobs. Now that is success! The year before 
     that tears were shed when an 80 year old grandmother, who had 
     conquered cancer, spoke about her desire to have a diploma to 
     show her grandchildren that education was important.
       A second program at HCC was developed several years ago 
     when two Highland Foundation members became concerned about 
     the cycle they were seeing in their little community of Mt. 
     Morris. Parents who had not succeeded in school were raising 
     children who seemed to be starting the cycle again. They came 
     to the college to try to determine what types of services 
     might help. They decided to begin a Parents as Teachers 
     program. We worked with them and managed to find some seed 
     money to start them on their way. This program served both 
     parents and children. In the parent segment they created an 
     activity in class that reinforced or taught school readiness; 
     for example, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet. They learned 
     how to work with their children in doing these activities at 
     home. There was also a ``parenting`` component of the class 
     where they shared concerns about family life and discussed 
     solutions. The children attended separate classes, at the 
     same time, with professional childcare workers. Their program 
     goals were primarily physical, social and emotional rather 
     than academic. Ages ranged from 3 to 5. Free transportation 
     was provided for parents and children. This was a key 
     ingredient. In addition, childcare reimbursement was 
     available for children under 2. Recruitment was done through 
     agency referrals such as the Department for Human Services 
     and Head Start.
       As the needs of the community have evolved, so has the 
     program. The next iteration was the JobSmart program, which 
     prepared parents for employment while simultaneously working 
     on their parenting skills. Next, an ESL family literacy 
     program was added to address the language needs of a growing 
     Hispanic population in Mt. Morris. Currently, the community 
     is working with us to establish a short-term training 
     program. It has become clear to employees and employers alike 
     that basic computer skills and an introduction to a range of 
     employment possibilities are important for Mt. Morris. Those 
     classes will begin next week.
       Here's my point. The citizens of Mt. Morris have worked 
     hard to stay in touch with the needs of their changing 
     community. As they discovered issues, they worked with our 
     staff to create services to address them. So, here comes my 
     second challenge. Think about the Mt. Morris approach to 
     literacy and self-sufficiency. When you identify a need in 
     your community, think of us as a potential partner. We can 
     sit down and talk about a plan, and by sharing our resources, 
     we can make some things happen. A third program initiated by 
     the college is workplace literacy. This service is provided 
     to college district companies. It includes both assessment of 
     worker math and reading skills as well as classroom 
     instruction. Courses are taught at the business or nearby. To 
     date the major sites have been Galena, Warren and Freeport. I 
     have talked with some of these workers and am impressed by 
     their dedication to learning. It is not easy, when one is an 
     adult, to find out that your reading and/or math skills do 
     not meet current workforce needs. Fortunately, all 
     assessments are confidential and employers are only given 
     group data. That allows the workers to feel safe and 
     encourages them to take up the challenge of learning that may 
     have been neglected when they were children. Well, you 
     guessed it. Here comes challenge number three. Why not 
     encourage more local employers to prepare for global 
     competition by upgrading the skills of their workforce?
       Yes, learning does begin at home. Unfortunately some homes 
     today are not ready to encourage their children to learn. So 
     people like you, community colleges like HCC, and villages 
     like ours must join in the task. Together we can make it 
     happen. And, if we do it right, the job will be done by the 
     year 2010 and learning will truly begin in the home again--at 
     least in northwestern Illinois. In addition to volunteers, 
     community college programs and community leader dedication, I 
     must tell you that these initiatives also need extra funding. 
     While everyone talks about the literacy problem including 
     governors, senators and the president, the funding is very 
     limited. We are indeed fortunate to have a computer lab for 
     Adult Ed. students at all of our locations. The equipment is 
     there due to grants and the generosity of our HCC Foundation 
     and area businesses. Earlier I mentioned workforce literacy 
     and I'm sure you can see the connection to my theme, 
     ``Learning Begins at Home''. Let me tell you more about our 
     workforce:
       We know that 80% of the jobs in the new millennium will 
     require a 2-year college education. In looking to the future, 
     it will take three workers to support each retiree. Where 
     will they come from if 1/3 of the nation is undereducated? In 
     a 1990 national school enrollment study, it was reported that 
     between the 9th and 12th grades, 24% of the students had 
     dropped out. An additional 5%, who started 12th grade did not 
     finish, which means 29% of this cohort did not complete a 
     high school education. Today's dropouts are tomorrow's 
     parents: 1 in 6 babies in the U.S. has a teenage mother; and 
     1 in 4 is born out of wedlock. As you can see, not only are 
     our villages in trouble, but also our nation. We must work 
     together for the following reasons:
       1st: Each generation has a relationship to future 
     generations. Justiz calls it ``reciprocal dependency'' 
     because what one generation does affects what other 
     generations can and will do.
       2nd: We are, right now, in the midst of a short window of 
     opportunity. A third world is developing within our nation. 
     The gulf between the haves and the have nots is growing 
     larger.
       3rd: Our country is at risk. Our once unchallenged, 
     preeminence in commerce, industry, science and technological 
     innovation is being overtaken by competitors from across the 
     world.
       4th: Children who feel failure are beginning to decide that 
     if they can't have total success their next best bet is to 
     have total failure. they see incompetence as an advantage 
     because it reduces expectations.
       5th, and most importantly our children have no one to read 
     to them. Remember your parents reading to you? Remember the 
     times you climbed in bed and mom or dad picked up your 
     favorite book? Can you recall the magic of those moments? And 
     now imagine what your life would have been like without those 
     moments. Not a pleasant thought, is it? So I share with you 
     my final challenge--read to a child today!
       I close with a quote from the report, A Nation at Risk;
       ``It is . . . the America of all of us that is at risk . . 
     . It is by our willingness to take up the challenge, and our 
     resolve to see it through, that America's place in the world 
     will be either secured or fortified.''
       Please read to a child today--it will bring joy to the 
     child and to you. That one small act can begin to change the 
     future of our country, which lies in the hands of all of our 
     children. Yes, learning begins at home, but all of us must 
     help. Here are my challenges to you--once again:
       1. Become a tutor and help an adult improve reading, 
     writing or math skills.
       2. Identify your community's literacy and self-sufficiency 
     needs and partner with HCC to find resources to address.
       3. Encourage more local employers to prepare for global 
     competition by upgrading the skills of their workforce.

[[Page E2429]]

       4. Read to a child today.
       Yes, learning begins at home and this place is home to all 
     of us. Let us join hands and bring the joy of learning to 
     everyone in our communities . . . then learning will truly 
     begin at home once more.

     

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