Literacy

The United States must be the country where the most committees are formed to study problems, the most polls are conducted, the most tests are given to ascertain levels of competence, literacy, knowledge - whatever - and there must be no country where so little useful information is gathered. In the case of committees and research groups, answers are usually so obvious as to make the whole exercise futile. In the case of literacy tests, there seems to be no intention of ascertaining the true level of literacy.

If the Education Department's finding that half of the adults in our country lack adequate reading and math skills is not bad enough, here's a forecast that will surely alarm: It will get worse. Despite numerous studies, no one really knows how many adults cannot read well enough to understand a daily newspaper, fill out an employment application or add up a lunch check. Literacy defies counting, because people who are not literate usually hide their pain - they pretend they can read.

Esther West readily admits that 30 years ago her life had little direction. She had dropped out of junior college in her hometown of Port Huron, Mich., and traveled to Philadelphia to join a sister living here. Eventually, she found her niche, after dabbling for years. She enrolled at Antioch University and subsequently received a bachelor's degree in human services. It helped give focus to her life. Now, her passion is to help others find their niches. Yesterday, West, a social worker with the Lutheran Settlement House Women's Program, received the first Ruth Yudof Award for her work in opening doors to those who need basic writing and mathematics skills.

Comic-book artists and writers hope their super creative powers will attract families to the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention here this weekend. Focused on literacy, the convention will bring award-winning comic-book creators to the Free Library tonight and to the Crowne Plaza Hotel all day Saturday. The convention was conceived by a small group of visual storytellers, artists, and their fans, who began meeting 20 years ago in relative secret in Philadelphia. They had recognized one another's talents from a distance by admiring comic books.

Esther West readily admits that 30 years ago her life had little direction. She had dropped out of junior college in her hometown of Port Huron, Mich., and traveled to Philadelphia to join a sister living here. Eventually she found her niche, after dabbling for years. She enrolled at Antioch University and subsequently received a bachelor's degree in human services. It helped give focus to her life. Now her passion is to help others find their niches, to share her 51 years of learning.

Adults who are unable to read a job application form or the label on a medicine bottle are the least likely to worry about the source of funds that may open the world of reading to them. Estimates are that as many as 400,000 illiterate people in Philadelphia are unable to read the health warning on a pack of Marlboros. For that simple reason alone, it's necessary to commend the unholy (or at least unlikely) alliance that has been formed between the Philip Morris Cos., the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the region's best known philanthropic organization, to combat illiteracy in the city.

First lady Barbara Bush spent her first official visit outside of Washington in Philadelphia yesterday, reading a book about a kid named Alexander who had a bummer of a day. She appeared to enjoy every word. And though Alexander's storied day was a loser from beginning to end, Bush's day was a winner. Her 11th grandchild was born yesterday morning. The 63-year-old Bush, a longtime battler for literacy and education, got the news before taking her place at a mobbed storytelling session on Logan Square that kicked off the city's third annual "Love Is Reading Together Week.

Joanna DiPaolo did it the hard way - high school dropout at 17, then years of catch-as-catch-can studying to win a graduate equivalency diploma and bachelor's and master's degrees. But now, at age 48, she has become so distinguished a teacher of writing and literature, so accomplished at "opening the doors in her student's minds," as an official of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy put it, that she has been named winner of the Ruth Yudof Award sponsored by the commission. DiPaolo teaches writing and literature to adults at the Community Women's Education Project at Frankford Avenue and Somerset Street.

As the balding, middle-age man scribbled the letters QZYST, Fret, ystqz, Yst! on the chalkboard yesterday, the new teachers furrowed their brows and wrinkled their noses as if something smelling foul had crept into the hallways of Hawthorne Elementary School. "Who can read this?" asked Michael Wagner, director of Focus on Literacy Inc., pointing to the baffling sequence. Muta Morton, a freckle-faced sixth grader, gave it a shot. "K-zee-ist, freh-t, yuuu-st-qua-zee and yuu-st," he said, smiling and proud.

Philadelphia has joined a national effort to mobilize members of Jewish organizations to help impoverished children in city schools learn to read. Members of more than a dozen Jewish-based organizations met at City Hall yesterday to announce the formation of the Philadelphia Jewish Coalition for Literacy. The coalition groups will provide tutors, organize book drives, seek computer donations and come up with other ideas to boost literacy in the Philadelphia School District.