It has been said that literacy is the jump-off point from which all of life’s successes take flight.
From our vantage point, we see literacy as the lifeblood of any community, the key that opens doors to a brighter future and the road to knowledge — knowledge, we might add, that makes individuals more productive and informed citizens.
Kofi Annan, who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006, put it like this: “literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.”
That’s why we laud those across our county who have promoted literacy so intently over the last few days and weeks through Read Across America programs that saw sororities, individuals and business leaders taking time from their own busy schedule to spend time with youngsters across Sampson — reading.
It was a hopeful sign Friday, for example, to see members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, books in hand, reading animatedly to youngsters who were attentively listening, absorbing every word. Just as hopeful was word that similar exercises in community reading programs were being undertaken in other schools throughout the city and the county.
The Deltas were at Salemburg Elementary Friday as part of Read Across America. They understand, as we do, the importance of not just reading to youngsters but drawing them into the world of books and infusing them with a desire to read for themselves.
What happened at Salemburg Elementary went on at schools throughout both our public school systems and our Christian academies, and could be the catalyst for more young people to seek out something to read, absorb it and learn from it.
Anything that can spark the love of reading in a child is worth doing … repeatedly.
Any opportunity teens and adults have to join our younger citizens in reading a book, a magazine or a newspaper is vitally important to all our futures. Teaching children to be enthusiastic and lifetime readers is one of the most valuable lessons we can have a hand in providing.
We can, as a community, ill afford anything less than constant work to encourage children to become avid readers.
And we aren’t talking about reading texts on one’s cell phone or scrolling social media. We are talking about reading books, newspapers, magazines, all while broadening one’s mind and growing their awareness of what goes on around them.
In Sampson, where, in 2024, only 44 percent of elementary students — and 46 percent of middle schoolers and 59 percent of high school students — tested at or above the proficiency level for reading, there is no question we have a ways to go.
Look around and it becomes clear that most people aren’t armed with a book, a newspaper or a magazine most days. Instead they are attached to only their phone, searching for the latest social media chatter, video or post.
While we truly aren’t against all aspects of social media — we use it, too — we are opposed to it being the only source of information for people, especially children.
That single vision approach simply doesn’t work and it does very little to encourage literacy.
So pick up a book, read to a child, enjoy a magazine or thumb through a local newspaper — take flight into a world of knowledge and creativity that, sadly, is a road that hasn’t been journeyed as it once was.