Adult Illiteracy and the Role of the Community College

Adult illiteracy continues to be a major social and economic problem in our society. The inability to function in a society which demands, at least, a competency in basic skills is devastating personal lives and stagnating the economy. Numerous adults who wouldn't or couldn't achieve mastery of the basic educational skills while enrolled in elementary and secondary schools lead lives of social, personal and economic despair. Those same adults account for high social and economic costs borne by literate adults who directly and indirectly pay the price for this strange phenomenon in the midst of an affluent society. Frequently, the social and economic costs are reflected in increased crime, incarceration and recidivism within the criminal justice system, institutionalized welfare with families receiving public assistance payments from one generation to the next, high employment and low productivity, and alcohol and drug abuse. All of these social and economic ills are closely related to adult illiteracy. While the problem of adult illiteracy is not a new one, the political pressure is mounting nationally for universities, colleges, and community colleges to do more in combating adult illiteracy. Joining political leaders in this call are the chief executive officers of the nation's largest and most successful businesses and industries. "Literacy-real literacy-is the essential raw material of the information age," said David T. Kearns, Chief Executive Officer of Xerox, in a forward to the report, "Learning to be Literate in America" (Kearns, 1987). Just recently in California, Assembly Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Maxine Waters of Los Angeles introduced legislation to establish programs on university and community college campuses for adults who cannot read. The Waters measure, AB 1505, would require the governing boards of the University of California, California State University, and the Board of Governors of the Community Colleges to establish a "Campaign Against Illiteracy" program. Recently, the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC) joined with the American Association of School Administrators, the Association of