VO-TECH LEADS THE WAY

About 365,000 Missourians are considered "functionally illiterate," including an estimated 3,400 in Cape Girardeau alone, according to U.S. census data.

Many illiterate adults remain shackled by their deficiency because of embarrassment and shame. But that doesn't deter Teri Hirsch, the coordinator of the adult literacy program at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School.

In her fourth year as coordinator, Hirsch has seen the number of students in the program increase each year. Last year, in the five-county area the Cape Girardeau program serves, a total of 40 adults were enrolled in the program, Hirsch said.

"When you're talking about 3,400 illiterate, that's not even 1 percent," she said. "But it is up from the year before. And this year we started two weeks ago and we've had three people in already."

Hirsch said all three students are employed and seeking to improve their skills for the workplace. She said that's a trend that is likely to continue as fewer low-skill jobs will be available.

"By the year 2000 there won't be many low-skill jobs around," she said. "Right now 40 percent of all jobs require limited skills, but only 20 percent of the new jobs are low-skill-type jobs.

"The work force is demanding higher skills and literacy."

Hirsch said state education officials say that a good adult literacy program will reach 1-3 percent of an area's illiterate. "That doesn't seem like much, but with adults, they've really got to want to do it," she said. "They have to be motivated or it's a waste of time."

The average age of students in the literacy program is between 35 and 45, Hirsch said. Many of them dropped out of high school to take what at the time appeared to be attractive jobs.

"They were able to drop out of high school and get a low-wage job, which was enough to buy a car and support themselves," she said. "But a lot of them now are married with a couple of children and they want to improve their opportunities for employment."

Often the students' reasons for enrolling are much more basic and profound.

"I've had several who wanted to be able to read books to their kids or help them with their homework," Hirsch said. "A lot of people want to be able to read the Bible.

"There is no typical person who comes in here. All their goals are different, and they have different ideas about why they want to learn to read."

Hirsch said it's difficult to reach many illiterate adults because they are embarrassed. Also, as adults they have other responsibilities and concerns that overshadow their desire to learn to read.

She said it's becoming increasingly difficult to hide illiteracy and continue to function in society.

"I think a lot of these people have ways of getting around not being able to read," Hirsch said. "But a lot of them now are figuring they can't continue to bluff their way through life."

The literacy program is free and conducted through one-on-one tutoring that no one need fear, Hirsch said.

"The adult basic education program at the Vo-Tech School deals with all different kinds of students, and I try to tell the adult literacy students that no one's going to know why you're here," she said. "It's not something they should be threatened by in the sense that people will see them and know they're illiterate."

The other difficulty is making those who need the service aware that it exists.

"It's really tough to get the message of the program to the people who need it," Hirsch said. "These people don't read the newspaper, so publicity that way doesn't really work.

"Word of mouth is important, and hopefully someone who reads the paper or hears about the program would pass it on to someone they know who could benefit from it."

Hirsch said when potential adult basic education students inquire about the program, it's usually easy to tell who needs the literacy program by having them submit to a simple written enrollment application.

"It's usually a dead giveaway if they say: `Oh, I forgot my glasses. Let me take this home and I'll fill it out and bring it back.' "Or: `My sister's in the car and I'm taking her to the hospital. Let me take this with me and I'll bring it back later,'" Hirsch said.

"The thing is, these people aren't `low-class' people. They're intelligent, generally skilled people who are out in the community working. They need to know we support them and the community supports them."

Hirsch said several area churches and Christian organizations are very supportive of the program. The Baptist Women, for example, donates school supplies and other church members volunteer as tutors.

Hirsch said there now are about 50 tutors in the program. Generally they're the type of people who love to read and can't imagine others unable to share in their enthusiasm.

"One of the questions I ask when interviewing potential tutors is why they want to do it," she said. "The answer I get most is `I love to read so much, I can't imagine what it's like to not be able to do that and I want to help somebody learn to read.'

"I had one lady who said, `God has given me so many gifts, I had to give it back some way.'"