Cancer, heart disease, diabetes -
these are considered some of the most serious issues facing our planet today
and justifiably so.
According to the International Agency [for Research on Cancer],
over eight million people are claimed each year due to cancer.
The World Health Organization reports that heart disease -
the leading cause of death worldwide annually -
touches 17.3 million people each year.
The WHO also reports
that an estimated 422 million people worldwide, including myself,
live with diabetes.
Do you know what affliction
affects an estimated one billion people across the globe,
approximately 1/7 of the world's entire population?
Illiteracy.
That is not to undermine
the importance of funding and research for these other afflictions.
On the contrary,
it's to highlight the seriousness and importance of illiteracy,
and that if it was a health issue would be deemed an epidemic,
but unlike these other issues that currently do not have cures,
illiteracy does.
Illiteracy is not a social or societal or cultural defect;
it's the lack of ability to read.
It's a solvable problem.
But what is illiteracy? How is it defined?
There are many forms of literacy:
computer literacy, health literacy, financial literacy, and others.
For the sake of today's conversation,
we're going to talk about what a bulk of the population thinks of
when they hear the word "illiteracy" -
the basic inability to understand or produce written information.
Those of us that make our ways through life
off of sight words, images, just being able to sign our name,
those folks are functionally illiterate.
And as vaccines help to eliminate and stop the spread of disease,
literacy can help us eliminate,
to stop the spread of hunger, poverty, and crime.
It is the tool necessary to break those harsh social cycles.
The data is telling and troublesome.
Students who exit fourth grade without being able to read proficiently
have a 78% chance of not ever catching up.
90% of welfare recipients are either high school dropouts or illiterate.
85% of individuals that interface with a juvenile court system
are either functionally illiterate or don't read with proficiency.
No one factor can so drastically shape
a person's chance of success, earning potential, health, and well-being
while helping to break the cycle
that leads to daily poverty and struggle like literacy.
There are countless examples
of how literacy has impacted a life or changed a community,
but I'm going to share one of the ones that I'm at least the most familiar with -
my own.
But first a quick survey.
And for some, the questions can feel personal,
so if you choose not to participate, there's no judgment here.
But how many of us when we were growing up
were on some kind of government assistance,
whether that was food stamps or Section 8 housing?
How many of us came from a home of either single parent or divorce?
How many of us when we were in grade school
were on free or reduced lunch?
The data tells us
that about 82% of students
that are eligible for free and reduced lunch
don't read at proficiency, at grade level.
Three out of four food stamp recipients perform at the lowest literacy levels.
I had all of these factors in my childhood;
in fact, I'm the least likely person to be standing before you today
as an authority on literacy and education initiatives,
seeing as how I barely graduated high school.
And you're may be like "Whoa, T! I just heard your intro.
You were the Texas librarian of the year.
You have a master's degree.
You frequently speak on children's literacy and literature.
You're articulate and well-dressed and handsome."
(Laughter)
See how many will get in there.
My journey begins not far from where you sit today -
the booming metropolis of Lubbock Texas.
That is neither handsome nor well-dressed.
(Laughter)
Were we all that bad in the '90s or was I just so off-base?
And what is with the suspenders and the belt?
Where were my pants going that I was so concerned that I needed both?
(Laughter)
That's on a fade, thankfully.
My mother, she grew up in a small farming community
southwest of Lubbock, called Meadow.
She had a very stable upbringing, my grandfather ran the cotton gin there.
She had stability - three square meals a day, a roof over her head.
She graduated high school but didn't finish college,
ended up marrying my father and having me.
I think trouble was always brewing under the surface,
and when I was seven, my parents divorced and my father left.
I didn't see or hear from my father from 1986 until his death, in 2007.
My mother - God rest her soul, she passed in 2014 -
she did the best she could,
but with no higher education, it was difficult to be the breadwinner.
So she was gone a lot,
working, trying to keep a roof over our head and food on the table.
But with no siblings, I was home alone a lot,
and that's where my struggles began.
My grades began to suffer.
I was passable, barely more.
I acted out, was the class clown,
which, after years of counseling,
I know was just my way of trying to get attention.
I spent a lot of time running with the wrong kind of crowd,
doing things young men ought not do.
I've got a lot of detention in study hall,
but for me, staying after school for detention in study hall
was better than going home to an empty house.
And detention in study hall happened to be in the school library.
Now, I was an adequate reader,
but it doesn't help your street cred
to be seen carrying the newest Baby-Sitters Club or Goosebumps book.
(Laughter)
But the library was a safe, comfortable environment,
and that's where my transformation began.
I think we can all identify at least one teacher or educator
that had a great impact on our lives.
For me, one of those
was the librarian at Bowie Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas -
Miss Ray.
Now while all of the other teachers
were sending me to the office or putting me in a corner -
not that I blame them, because I was a pill -
Miss Ray engaged me in a meaningful way.
She told me about this award for books
where the children of Texas got to vote on the winner.
It was called the Texas Bluebonnet Award,
and all you had to do to be eligible
was read five of this list of 20 books, and that was it.
For me, the idea that I could help decide
what the best children's book in Texas was just by reading
was magical.
Just five - of course I read all 20.
I'm sitting in tutorials anyway.
And while I'm sure Miss Ray
would have preferred me to work on my schoolwork and improve my grades,
I was transfixed by the idea of belonging to something,
being a part of something.
See, when I was reading,
it didn't matter that I was on food stamps or that my father had abandoned me
or that all my friends knew I was on free lunch at school.
It changed me and helped me to believe
that my life had all the opportunity that I was willing to take advantage of.
Now I never did become a good student, and I did barely graduate high school,
but because of Miss Ray, I had the foundational skill of reading
that serves as a key to unlock upward mobility for life.
I don't know where Miss Ray is now.
I don't know where she is or what she's doing,
and I've never been able to appropriately thank her,
but I hope that my life in literacy is suitable thanks.
Traditional education is important,
but reading is the foundation upon which all other essential skills are built.
I am an example
of the transformative power that literacy can have on your life
and help to break the harsh social cycles we sometimes find ourselves in.
A third of all children born into poverty will stay there through adulthood,
but because of Miss Ray and many others along the way that took an interest,
I'm not a part of that statistic.
All of this is why schools and libraries
should be cathedrals, beacons of light on the highest hill,
proclaiming to all that here is where you change your life,
here is where meaningful, impactful progress is made.
Librarians and teachers should be lauded for the work they're doing -
educating our children and trying to make the world a better place
through education.
The investment in the intellectual development of our children
is not a nice-to-have,
it's a must have.
The ability to read is a fundamental human right.
It's like access to clean drinking water or health care.
Its impact is every day.
180 million children worldwide will never darken the door of a school,
but if they can read, they stand a chance -
a chance to make their lives better,
a chance to make their family lives better,
a chance to impact their communities or villages or cities.
And when we're talking about impact,
the greatest impact is a child's access to books.
Children that have books at home
is a greater indicator of future success than their parents' education level.
Middle-class-income households, a child to book ratio's about 1 to 13.
In low-income areas, that changes,
and the age-appropriate book is one for every 300 children.
So my challenge for all of us today is this:
We need to get books into the hands of kids
that will make a difference, where it will have an impact.
The next time you're invited to a birthday party,
instead of taking a toy that's going to break in a week,
take a book.
Stick a book in the stocking.
Support your local literacy initiatives.
Support your local public library.
I envision a world
where children have access at home to the same number of books
that is at least their age.
If every eight-year-old had access to at least eight books at home,
and every 13-year-old had 13, and 17 had 17,
can you imagine the impact that that would have on their generation?
And thereby future generations?
The great Laura Bush -
oh my, that is a handsome,
my lovely wife on the left and then the legend,
and Mrs. Bush is there as well.
(Laughter)
The great Mrs. Bush,
who is a librarian by profession and a personal hero of mine,
once said that children who read learn two things:
First, that reading is worthwhile,
but second, that they are worthwhile.
Literacy is important.
Literacy matters.
Literacy can make a difference.
Whatever the question, literacy is the answer.
Thank you.
(Applause)