Exploring Literacy: Other Voices

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"There's so much to learn, I just want to freeze time and read about every little thing." -- High school senior, San Antonio, TX

Over the course of dozens of interviews conducted for the series, NPR reporters held conversations with a range of educators, writers, scholars and policymakers and asked each of these thinkers to define the word "literacy." We also asked them the following: What skills should a high school graduate in the United States master in order to be literate in the 21st century? Are there essential books, poems or other materials that young people in America should read or understand in order to be "literate"?

Their lively responses -- too numerous to incorporate into the on-air series -- offer some interesting insights. You need the free RealAudio player to listen to audio files.

 Hugh B. Price, President and CEO, National Urban League, New York, NY, and Catherine E. Snow, Henry Lee Shattuck professor of education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, discuss the heightened demands for literacy skills in various civic, economic, social and professional contexts.

"As I travel around the country, I talk to quite young people who are very passionate about poetry."

 Robert Pinsky, United States Poet Laureate 1997-2000 and Professor of English and Creative Writing, Boston University, Boston, MA identifies some of the must-read American poets, and offers his impressions about young readers of poetry.


 Sharon J. Larson, Senior Development Manager, Test Publishing Department, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Monterey, CA, talks about how standardized tests incorporate literature.

 Diane Ravitch, NYU Research Professor and Brookings Institute Non-Resident Senior Fellow, New York, NY, suggests that in today's educational climate, standardized tests cannot measure a student's knowledge of "the classics."

 Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451, a futuristic novel about book burning, and other widely savored works of fiction, talks about the abilities of high school graduates today, and about the curiosity of American readers in a "device-oriented culture."

 Elaine Fantham, Langford Family Eminent Visiting Scholar and Classics Professor, Florida State University at Tallahassee, Tallahassee, FL, praises the revolutionary qualities of the World Wide Web, and illustrates its potential pitfalls for the unwary reader.

 Maideh Radpour, Director of Corporate Philanthropy, Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA, notes that literacy shapes a person's social interactions and world view.

"The act of reading requires time -- one of the rarest things we have today."

 Richard Sterling, Executive Director, National Writing Project and Adjunct Professor, University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Education, Berkeley, CA, draws attention to one of the scarcest resources in the teaching of literacy.

 Steve Simpson, Partner and Creative Director, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners Advertising Agency, San Francisco, CA, suggests that this is the age of the English major and recommends reading "one really great book" three times this summer.

 Ken Stansberry, English Teacher, Farragut High School, Knoxville, TN, explains the challenge of helping students understand the value of eloquence in both writing and speaking.