1
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,937
Cancer, heart disease, diabetes -

2
00:00:20,137 --> 00:00:23,708
these are considered some of the most
serious issues facing our planet today

3
00:00:23,708 --> 00:00:25,507
and justifiably so.

4
00:00:25,507 --> 00:00:28,456
According to the International Agency
[for Research on Cancer],

5
00:00:28,456 --> 00:00:32,053
over eight million people
are claimed each year due to cancer.

6
00:00:32,343 --> 00:00:35,259
The World Health Organization
reports that heart disease -

7
00:00:35,259 --> 00:00:38,097
the leading cause of death
worldwide annually -

8
00:00:38,097 --> 00:00:41,710
touches 17.3 million people each year.

9
00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,164
The WHO also reports

10
00:00:44,164 --> 00:00:49,292
that an estimated 422 million people
worldwide, including myself,

11
00:00:49,292 --> 00:00:51,228
live with diabetes.

12
00:00:51,228 --> 00:00:52,706
Do you know what affliction

13
00:00:52,706 --> 00:00:56,478
affects an estimated
one billion people across the globe,

14
00:00:56,478 --> 00:01:00,784
approximately 1/7
of the world's entire population?

15
00:01:01,064 --> 00:01:02,677
Illiteracy.

16
00:01:03,267 --> 00:01:04,598
That is not to undermine

17
00:01:04,598 --> 00:01:07,748
the importance of funding and research
for these other afflictions.

18
00:01:07,748 --> 00:01:08,748
On the contrary,

19
00:01:08,748 --> 00:01:11,740
it's to highlight the seriousness
and importance of illiteracy,

20
00:01:11,740 --> 00:01:15,372
and that if it was a health issue
would be deemed an epidemic,

21
00:01:15,562 --> 00:01:18,977
but unlike these other issues
that currently do not have cures,

22
00:01:18,977 --> 00:01:20,785
illiteracy does.

23
00:01:21,015 --> 00:01:24,734
Illiteracy is not a social
or societal or cultural defect;

24
00:01:24,734 --> 00:01:26,952
it's the lack of ability to read.

25
00:01:26,952 --> 00:01:29,325
It's a solvable problem.

26
00:01:29,745 --> 00:01:32,549
But what is illiteracy? How is it defined?

27
00:01:32,549 --> 00:01:34,759
There are many forms of literacy:

28
00:01:34,759 --> 00:01:38,777
computer literacy, health literacy,
financial literacy, and others.

29
00:01:38,787 --> 00:01:40,545
For the sake of today's conversation,

30
00:01:40,545 --> 00:01:43,655
we're going to talk about
what a bulk of the population thinks of

31
00:01:43,655 --> 00:01:45,468
when they hear the word "illiteracy" -

32
00:01:45,468 --> 00:01:48,987
the basic inability to understand
or produce written information.

33
00:01:48,987 --> 00:01:51,307
Those of us that make
our ways through life

34
00:01:51,307 --> 00:01:55,383
off of sight words, images,
just being able to sign our name,

35
00:01:55,383 --> 00:01:57,607
those folks are functionally illiterate.

36
00:01:57,607 --> 00:02:01,684
And as vaccines help to eliminate and stop
the spread of disease,

37
00:02:01,684 --> 00:02:03,857
literacy can help us eliminate,

38
00:02:03,857 --> 00:02:07,878
to stop the spread
of hunger, poverty, and crime.

39
00:02:07,878 --> 00:02:11,709
It is the tool necessary
to break those harsh social cycles.

40
00:02:12,329 --> 00:02:15,443
The data is telling and troublesome.

41
00:02:15,743 --> 00:02:19,599
Students who exit fourth grade
without being able to read proficiently

42
00:02:19,599 --> 00:02:22,898
have a 78% chance of not ever catching up.

43
00:02:23,448 --> 00:02:29,828
90% of welfare recipients are
either high school dropouts or illiterate.

44
00:02:30,178 --> 00:02:34,328
85% of individuals that interface
with a juvenile court system

45
00:02:34,328 --> 00:02:38,697
are either functionally illiterate
or don't read with proficiency.

46
00:02:39,057 --> 00:02:42,147
No one factor can so drastically shape

47
00:02:42,147 --> 00:02:46,619
a person's chance of success,
earning potential, health, and well-being

48
00:02:46,619 --> 00:02:48,600
while helping to break the cycle

49
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,986
that leads to daily poverty
and struggle like literacy.

50
00:02:53,586 --> 00:02:55,269
There are countless examples

51
00:02:55,269 --> 00:02:59,243
of how literacy has impacted a life
or changed a community,

52
00:02:59,243 --> 00:03:03,053
but I'm going to share one of the ones
that I'm at least the most familiar with -

53
00:03:03,053 --> 00:03:04,406
my own.

54
00:03:04,406 --> 00:03:05,849
But first a quick survey.

55
00:03:05,849 --> 00:03:08,769
And for some, the questions
can feel personal,

56
00:03:08,769 --> 00:03:11,677
so if you choose not to participate,
there's no judgment here.

57
00:03:11,677 --> 00:03:13,675
But how many of us when we were growing up

58
00:03:13,675 --> 00:03:15,674
were on some kind
of government assistance,

59
00:03:15,674 --> 00:03:18,673
whether that was food stamps
or Section 8 housing?

60
00:03:18,913 --> 00:03:23,145
How many of us came from a home
of either single parent or divorce?

61
00:03:24,403 --> 00:03:26,408
How many of us
when we were in grade school

62
00:03:26,408 --> 00:03:28,808
were on free or reduced lunch?

63
00:03:29,794 --> 00:03:30,786
The data tells us

64
00:03:30,786 --> 00:03:32,619
that about 82% of students

65
00:03:32,619 --> 00:03:35,154
that are eligible
for free and reduced lunch

66
00:03:35,154 --> 00:03:37,969
don't read at proficiency, at grade level.

67
00:03:37,969 --> 00:03:42,680
Three out of four food stamp recipients
perform at the lowest literacy levels.

68
00:03:43,830 --> 00:03:46,207
I had all of these factors
in my childhood;

69
00:03:46,207 --> 00:03:49,770
in fact, I'm the least likely person
to be standing before you today

70
00:03:49,770 --> 00:03:52,388
as an authority on literacy
and education initiatives,

71
00:03:52,388 --> 00:03:55,009
seeing as how I barely
graduated high school.

72
00:03:55,009 --> 00:03:57,679
And you're may be like "Whoa, T!
I just heard your intro.

73
00:03:57,679 --> 00:03:59,634
You were the Texas librarian of the year.

74
00:03:59,634 --> 00:04:00,924
You have a master's degree.

75
00:04:00,924 --> 00:04:03,683
You frequently speak
on children's literacy and literature.

76
00:04:03,683 --> 00:04:08,480
You're articulate
and well-dressed and handsome."

77
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,000
(Laughter)

78
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,815
See how many will get in there.

79
00:04:11,815 --> 00:04:14,483
My journey begins not far
from where you sit today -

80
00:04:14,773 --> 00:04:17,237
the booming metropolis of Lubbock Texas.

81
00:04:17,237 --> 00:04:20,195
That is neither handsome nor well-dressed.

82
00:04:20,195 --> 00:04:21,775
(Laughter)

83
00:04:21,775 --> 00:04:25,917
Were we all that bad in the '90s
or was I just so off-base?

84
00:04:25,917 --> 00:04:28,581
And what is with
the suspenders and the belt?

85
00:04:28,581 --> 00:04:33,635
Where were my pants going that I was
so concerned that I needed both?

86
00:04:33,635 --> 00:04:35,025
(Laughter)

87
00:04:36,296 --> 00:04:38,607
That's on a fade, thankfully.

88
00:04:39,527 --> 00:04:43,206
My mother, she grew up
in a small farming community

89
00:04:43,206 --> 00:04:45,750
southwest of Lubbock, called Meadow.

90
00:04:45,750 --> 00:04:49,805
She had a very stable upbringing,
my grandfather ran the cotton gin there.

91
00:04:49,805 --> 00:04:53,655
She had stability - three square meals
a day, a roof over her head.

92
00:04:54,485 --> 00:04:57,485
She graduated high school
but didn't finish college,

93
00:04:57,485 --> 00:04:59,952
ended up marrying my father
and having me.

94
00:05:00,592 --> 00:05:03,063
I think trouble was always brewing
under the surface,

95
00:05:03,063 --> 00:05:06,103
and when I was seven,
my parents divorced and my father left.

96
00:05:06,103 --> 00:05:11,280
I didn't see or hear from my father
from 1986 until his death, in 2007.

97
00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,435
My mother - God rest her soul,
she passed in 2014 -

98
00:05:14,435 --> 00:05:15,729
she did the best she could,

99
00:05:15,729 --> 00:05:19,196
but with no higher education,
it was difficult to be the breadwinner.

100
00:05:19,196 --> 00:05:20,338
So she was gone a lot,

101
00:05:20,338 --> 00:05:24,039
working, trying to keep a roof
over our head and food on the table.

102
00:05:24,319 --> 00:05:27,855
But with no siblings,
I was home alone a lot,

103
00:05:27,855 --> 00:05:29,816
and that's where my struggles began.

104
00:05:30,246 --> 00:05:32,105
My grades began to suffer.

105
00:05:32,105 --> 00:05:34,107
I was passable, barely more.

106
00:05:34,107 --> 00:05:36,431
I acted out, was the class clown,

107
00:05:36,431 --> 00:05:38,007
which, after years of counseling,

108
00:05:38,007 --> 00:05:40,497
I know was just my way
of trying to get attention.

109
00:05:41,167 --> 00:05:44,333
I spent a lot of time
running with the wrong kind of crowd,

110
00:05:44,333 --> 00:05:46,585
doing things young men ought not do.

111
00:05:46,865 --> 00:05:49,438
I've got a lot of detention in study hall,

112
00:05:49,438 --> 00:05:52,266
but for me, staying after school
for detention in study hall

113
00:05:52,266 --> 00:05:54,372
was better than going home
to an empty house.

114
00:05:54,372 --> 00:05:57,530
And detention in study hall
happened to be in the school library.

115
00:05:57,530 --> 00:05:59,336
Now, I was an adequate reader,

116
00:05:59,336 --> 00:06:01,345
but it doesn't help your street cred

117
00:06:01,345 --> 00:06:04,537
to be seen carrying the newest
Baby-Sitters Club or Goosebumps book.

118
00:06:04,537 --> 00:06:05,659
(Laughter)

119
00:06:05,771 --> 00:06:08,418
But the library was a safe,
comfortable environment,

120
00:06:08,418 --> 00:06:10,818
and that's where my transformation began.

121
00:06:11,590 --> 00:06:15,392
I think we can all identify
at least one teacher or educator

122
00:06:15,392 --> 00:06:17,768
that had a great impact on our lives.

123
00:06:17,768 --> 00:06:19,647
For me, one of those

124
00:06:19,647 --> 00:06:22,643
was the librarian at Bowie
Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas -

125
00:06:22,643 --> 00:06:24,406
Miss Ray.

126
00:06:24,626 --> 00:06:26,304
Now while all of the other teachers

127
00:06:26,304 --> 00:06:28,966
were sending me to the office
or putting me in a corner -

128
00:06:28,966 --> 00:06:31,057
not that I blame them,
because I was a pill -

129
00:06:31,057 --> 00:06:34,451
Miss Ray engaged me in a meaningful way.

130
00:06:34,451 --> 00:06:37,152
She told me about this award for books

131
00:06:37,152 --> 00:06:40,325
where the children of Texas
got to vote on the winner.

132
00:06:40,325 --> 00:06:42,295
It was called the Texas Bluebonnet Award,

133
00:06:42,295 --> 00:06:44,117
and all you had to do to be eligible

134
00:06:44,117 --> 00:06:48,025
was read five of this list
of 20 books, and that was it.

135
00:06:49,005 --> 00:06:51,918
For me, the idea that I could help decide

136
00:06:51,918 --> 00:06:55,038
what the best children's book
in Texas was just by reading

137
00:06:55,317 --> 00:06:56,836
was magical.

138
00:06:56,836 --> 00:06:58,617
Just five - of course I read all 20.

139
00:06:58,617 --> 00:07:00,347
I'm sitting in tutorials anyway.

140
00:07:00,347 --> 00:07:01,797
And while I'm sure Miss Ray

141
00:07:01,797 --> 00:07:05,131
would have preferred me to work
on my schoolwork and improve my grades,

142
00:07:05,131 --> 00:07:08,816
I was transfixed by the idea
of belonging to something,

143
00:07:08,816 --> 00:07:10,781
being a part of something.

144
00:07:11,081 --> 00:07:12,586
See, when I was reading,

145
00:07:12,586 --> 00:07:17,064
it didn't matter that I was on food stamps
or that my father had abandoned me

146
00:07:17,064 --> 00:07:20,026
or that all my friends knew
I was on free lunch at school.

147
00:07:20,026 --> 00:07:22,891
It changed me and helped me to believe

148
00:07:22,891 --> 00:07:27,536
that my life had all the opportunity
that I was willing to take advantage of.

149
00:07:27,816 --> 00:07:31,439
Now I never did become a good student,
and I did barely graduate high school,

150
00:07:31,439 --> 00:07:34,783
but because of Miss Ray,
I had the foundational skill of reading

151
00:07:34,783 --> 00:07:38,838
that serves as a key
to unlock upward mobility for life.

152
00:07:39,558 --> 00:07:41,222
I don't know where Miss Ray is now.

153
00:07:41,222 --> 00:07:43,369
I don't know where she is
or what she's doing,

154
00:07:43,369 --> 00:07:45,828
and I've never been able
to appropriately thank her,

155
00:07:45,828 --> 00:07:50,309
but I hope that my life in literacy
is suitable thanks.

156
00:07:51,369 --> 00:07:53,761
Traditional education is important,

157
00:07:53,761 --> 00:07:58,710
but reading is the foundation upon which
all other essential skills are built.

158
00:07:59,230 --> 00:08:00,233
I am an example

159
00:08:00,233 --> 00:08:03,190
of the transformative power
that literacy can have on your life

160
00:08:03,190 --> 00:08:06,902
and help to break the harsh social cycles
we sometimes find ourselves in.

161
00:08:06,902 --> 00:08:11,228
A third of all children born into poverty
will stay there through adulthood,

162
00:08:11,228 --> 00:08:15,924
but because of Miss Ray and many others
along the way that took an interest,

163
00:08:16,144 --> 00:08:18,297
I'm not a part of that statistic.

164
00:08:19,117 --> 00:08:22,526
All of this is why schools and libraries

165
00:08:22,526 --> 00:08:26,097
should be cathedrals,
beacons of light on the highest hill,

166
00:08:26,097 --> 00:08:29,594
proclaiming to all that here
is where you change your life,

167
00:08:29,594 --> 00:08:33,731
here is where meaningful,
impactful progress is made.

168
00:08:33,731 --> 00:08:36,964
Librarians and teachers should be lauded
for the work they're doing -

169
00:08:36,964 --> 00:08:40,288
educating our children and trying
to make the world a better place

170
00:08:40,288 --> 00:08:42,109
through education.

171
00:08:42,739 --> 00:08:46,145
The investment in the intellectual
development of our children

172
00:08:46,145 --> 00:08:47,810
is not a nice-to-have,

173
00:08:47,810 --> 00:08:49,550
it's a must have.

174
00:08:50,838 --> 00:08:54,056
The ability to read
is a fundamental human right.

175
00:08:54,056 --> 00:08:58,061
It's like access to clean
drinking water or health care.

176
00:08:58,061 --> 00:09:00,729
Its impact is every day.

177
00:09:01,369 --> 00:09:06,224
180 million children worldwide
will never darken the door of a school,

178
00:09:06,224 --> 00:09:09,831
but if they can read,
they stand a chance -

179
00:09:09,831 --> 00:09:12,042
a chance to make their lives better,

180
00:09:12,042 --> 00:09:14,046
a chance to make
their family lives better,

181
00:09:14,046 --> 00:09:17,794
a chance to impact their communities
or villages or cities.

182
00:09:18,444 --> 00:09:20,166
And when we're talking about impact,

183
00:09:20,166 --> 00:09:23,624
the greatest impact
is a child's access to books.

184
00:09:23,944 --> 00:09:26,309
Children that have books at home

185
00:09:26,309 --> 00:09:30,444
is a greater indicator of future success
than their parents' education level.

186
00:09:30,814 --> 00:09:36,882
Middle-class-income households,
a child to book ratio's about 1 to 13.

187
00:09:37,162 --> 00:09:40,031
In low-income areas, that changes,

188
00:09:40,031 --> 00:09:44,379
and the age-appropriate book
is one for every 300 children.

189
00:09:44,999 --> 00:09:48,248
So my challenge
for all of us today is this:

190
00:09:48,598 --> 00:09:50,817
We need to get books
into the hands of kids

191
00:09:50,817 --> 00:09:54,934
that will make a difference,
where it will have an impact.

192
00:09:55,674 --> 00:09:58,138
The next time you're invited
to a birthday party,

193
00:09:58,138 --> 00:10:00,928
instead of taking a toy
that's going to break in a week,

194
00:10:00,928 --> 00:10:02,388
take a book.

195
00:10:02,758 --> 00:10:04,794
Stick a book in the stocking.

196
00:10:05,510 --> 00:10:07,641
Support your local literacy initiatives.

197
00:10:07,641 --> 00:10:09,905
Support your local public library.

198
00:10:10,205 --> 00:10:11,587
I envision a world

199
00:10:11,587 --> 00:10:14,746
where children have access at home
to the same number of books

200
00:10:14,746 --> 00:10:16,545
that is at least their age.

201
00:10:16,545 --> 00:10:20,385
If every eight-year-old had access
to at least eight books at home,

202
00:10:20,385 --> 00:10:23,819
and every 13-year-old
had 13, and 17 had 17,

203
00:10:23,819 --> 00:10:27,004
can you imagine the impact
that that would have on their generation?

204
00:10:27,004 --> 00:10:29,645
And thereby future generations?

205
00:10:30,545 --> 00:10:32,196
The great Laura Bush -

206
00:10:32,196 --> 00:10:35,608
oh my, that is a handsome,

207
00:10:35,608 --> 00:10:39,174
my lovely wife on the left
and then the legend,

208
00:10:39,174 --> 00:10:41,133
and Mrs. Bush is there as well.

209
00:10:41,133 --> 00:10:43,829
(Laughter)

210
00:10:45,689 --> 00:10:47,159
The great Mrs. Bush,

211
00:10:47,159 --> 00:10:52,027
who is a librarian by profession
and a personal hero of mine,

212
00:10:52,027 --> 00:10:55,341
once said that children who read
learn two things:

213
00:10:55,671 --> 00:10:59,118
First, that reading is worthwhile,

214
00:10:59,118 --> 00:11:02,698
but second, that they are worthwhile.

215
00:11:03,308 --> 00:11:05,135
Literacy is important.

216
00:11:05,445 --> 00:11:07,450
Literacy matters.

217
00:11:07,650 --> 00:11:10,311
Literacy can make a difference.

218
00:11:10,311 --> 00:11:14,031
Whatever the question,
literacy is the answer.

219
00:11:14,431 --> 00:11:15,777
Thank you.

220
00:11:15,777 --> 00:11:18,832
(Applause)