Articles by Bob C. Cleckler on ArticleSnatch.com

Functional Illiteracy: Its Shocking Extent and Seriousness, Its Proven Solution

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:02:47 -0500

A recent, careful study of the most thorough and statistically accurate report on U.S. adult literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government (a free 200 page report available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93275 ) proves that the extent and seriousness of English illiteracy is a much worse than previously believed. The good news is that the solution to English illiteracy is much easier than almost anyone would ever dare to dream. Do We Really Have a Literacy Crisis? As a result of being able to read, we are-to a large extent-separated from those who are very poor readers. As a result of the coping methods illiterates have developed, many of our associates may be illiterate without our knowledge. We therefore may find it hard to believe that we have a literacy crisis, but a recent study of the most thorough and statistically accurate study of U.S. adult illiteracy ever commissioned by the U.S. government conclusively proves we do have a crisis. This study was a five-year, $14 million study involving lengthy interviews of 26,049 U.S. adults statistically balanced for age, gender, ethnicity, and location (urban, suburban, and rural from twelve states across the U.S. **End Summary** Topics: teaching reading]]> functional illiteracy]]> world illiteracy]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Bob Cleckler is a retired Chemical Engineer who began researching a solution to the serious problem of English functional illiteracy in 1985. He is CEO of Literacy Research Assoc., Inc., a nonprofit educational corporation and Vice Pres. of R & D of NuEnglish, Inc., a nonprofit educational corporation and a 509(a)(2) private charity. Gary Sprunk, M.A. English Linguistics, is president of NuEnglish, Inc. Cleckler and Sprunk have discovered and perfected a proven solution to English illiteracy.

Do You REALLY Want to Help END Poverty in the U.S. and English-speaking Nations?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:54:55 -0500

We often see articles in newspapers or magazines about the shocking extent of poverty in America or some other English-speaking nation. But how often do the articles examine the cause of the poverty? I cannot remember ever seeing such an article. Many persons of influence -- celebrities, educators, and politicians -- bemoan the extent of poverty. Many of them want to help. Some of them actually do help, but the help is almost always something involving providing money or physical items to temporarily relieve the symptoms -- the pain and suffering brought on by poverty. It is almost never something which will enable those in poverty to permanently escape their poverty. It is like the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Using this analogy, in order to teach a man to fish (i.e. escape poverty through his own actions), you have to understand what is causing him to be in poverty. Otherwise, any help you provide will merely fight the symptoms of the problem rather than solving the problem. **End Summary** Topics: teaching reading fluency]]> causes of illiteracy]]> poverty]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Bob C. Cleckler, CEO of Literacy Research Assoc., Inc., Author of four published books on illitercy. Let's End Our Literacy Crisis was one of six finalist of one award competition and one of eight in another award competition (both in the Education category), each with well over 1000 entrants. Dr. Michael Shaughnessy of Eastern New Mexico Univ. emailed the author, "I agree with you 100%." See NuEnglsh.org , and NuEnglish.com .

Widespread English Illiteracy Hurts Everyone: How Can We End It?

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:34:18 -0400

At long last, Tom and Amy moved into their own apartment. They previously lived in a homeless shelter which consisted of cots in a large open room. Their three-year-old son could find no place to play and was considered a nuisance by the others at the shelter. Their new apartment was the only low-rent apartment in the area and was barely within their ability to pay because of Tom's low-wage job. One very cold January day, only one year after moving in, the apartment owner gave them an eviction notice. He said the crying of their new baby disturbed the others in the apartment house, a forbidden act in their rental contract. The rental contract did not really mentioned this. The apartment owner planned to improve the apartment and charge an amount he knew that Tom and Amy could not afford. Neither Tom nor Amy could read, and they did not dare challenge the apartment owner fearing exposure of their illiteracy to several of the friends they had made at the apartment house. Instead, they meekly gathered up their meager belongings and moved back into the homeless shelter. **End Summary** Topics: teaching reading fluency]]> causes of illiteracy]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Bob C. Cleckler, CEO of Literacy Research Assoc., Inc., VP of R & D, NuEnglish, Inc., Author of four published books on illiteracy. By using PROVEN-EFFECTIVE proposals in the book, Let's End Our Literacy Crisis, English illiteracy will definitely and permanently end. Unlike any other known spelling, in NuEnglish there's a perfect one-sound-to-one-spelling ratio. For more info: http://nuenglish.org with a program quickly converting 25 pages of English into NuEnglish, and http://nuenglish.com.