Never Too Late to Learn

Life is a learning process…even when you turn 70! Alferd Williams was illiterate all of his life, but after watching Alesia Hamilton’s class through the door after taking his grandchildren to school, Williams eventually got up the nerve to ask her to teach him to read.

It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you come from. Literacy is something that benefits mankind in itself.

Williams said that as the son of a sharecropper, he was obligated to work in the fields with his father at the time most kids were learning the three “R’s”. He says he always knew the importance of education because he saw how his father was always mistreated due to his illiteracy.

Williams began learning to read at the age of 68, and now he says that his life is much easier. He is able to do the grocery shopping and save money. Instead of wandering around aimlessly or squandering money on things he did not need, he can efficiently get the job done.

Williams plans to take his new learning skills all the way to college. He serves as an inspirational figure for all his fellow first graders telling them that they can accomplish anything if they set their mind to it.

Like Alferd Williams says…
“It’s a whole new world.”

Watch his video, click here
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According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, roughly 30 million adults in the US are unable to read basic texts, such as directions or medical instructions. One of the most common causes of illiteracy is parents who are unable to read, says David C. Harvey, president of ProLiteracy Worldwide, a nonprofit advocacy group.
The consequences of illiteracy are devestating; they carry on through the generations. Low literacy is a cause of unemployment and poverty.
Harvey says, “People can change their lives completely by improving their literacy.”

The Libraries Change Lives Campaign of Stockton 2020 couldn’t agree more.