Confronting Illiteracy: Germany’s Efforts to Help Millions
By Aryana Kamelian
At the age of 18, Gerd Prange had been out of school for two years. Like many students in Germany, Prange had only attended the required nine years of schooling before leaving to begin his job in a dry-cleaning shop.
One evening in the midst of a game of Monopoly with his close friends, he looked down at the card he had drawn and was unable to make sense of the symbols in front of him. Unlike in school, he couldn’t hide his illiteracy here. His friends helped him through the card and continued the game. “That was really embarrassing and unpleasant,” he said.
Gerd is just one of millions of illiterate German adults, yet he is also just one of a fraction of that number who have been helped. In 2011, the University of Hamburg released a study which classified nearly 7.5 million adults as functionally illiterate.
Today, those in the field estimate only 2 percent have been reached and connected to resources. Despite the country’s role as an economic leader in Europe, Germany has been forced to confront illiteracy and its consequences.
The study shocked the country and sparked controversy and criticism as the government and public questioned how nearly 10% of the population could be unable to meet Germany’s literacy standards while so many other aspects of the country had thrived. “I thought almost everyone here could read and write,” said Merle Moormann a student from Vechta, a small town in North-Western Germany. “7.5 million people? We’d have to know someone who was illiterate.” For those unaffected by illiteracy, the statistic is unimaginable.
“When the study came out it was all the same to me,” said Gerd. “I knew there were many more like me, but people learn to hide it so well even I couldn’t tell who they were.” Those functionally illiterate adults can often read or write single words or phrases, but are unable to read, write, or comprehend more than a few sentences. Additionally, most of these people have jobs though they are unable to meet Germany’s literacy norms.
In falling behind Germany’s literacy norms, many find comfort in routine, afraid to stray from what they already know. “I stay at home most of the time. I can’t read the street signs and am afraid of getting lost,” said another student. “In the supermarket I always buy the same things. I also only go to one supermarket.”
While some rely on close friends or family to assist them throughout the day, others have developed strategies such as extensive memorization tactics to allow them to manage at work.
For Friederike Risse, a researcher at The Federal Association for Literacy and Basic Education, the tactics many developed to mask their illiteracy consequently isolate them from resources as well. “My mother is a teacher,” Risse said. “I see how schools are constantly blamed in the pubic discourse, but it is not easy to identify someone who doesn’t want to be recognized as illiterate.”
While there are many factors that contribute to illiteracy, Risse says stigma has played a significant role. “Year after year shame is accumulated. It’s as if shame becomes your partner for your whole youth,” she said. “Sometimes it becomes so much a part of your identity that you become isolated.”
Since the announcement of the Decade for Literacy, a governmental program to combat illiteracy in response to the 2011 study, Risse and her team have been working on a project called the ALFA Mobile to address this isolation. Project staff. travel from region to region informing communities about illiteracy within Germany while offering short term counseling to those who attend the presentations. Additionally, the group provides tips for families and business owners on how to address the issue, and on the proper resources.
Risse has observed both barriers to and opportunities for improvement. “People are embarrassed to speak to anyone about struggling with reading and writing,” she explained. Personal conversations the ALFA Mobile team is able to have with affected families and individuals are particularly effective. “Sometimes people will come years later to us and tell us they heard us speak in their community and are ready to get help,” she said.
Along-side the ALFA Mobile project is another group working to raise awareness within Berlin. “There are more than 300,000 functionally illiterate individuals in Berlin alone and we are the only ones in our positions,” said Anja Müller, a representative of Grund-Bildungs-Zentrum Berlin an organization for information, counseling and networking for literacy and basic education of adults. “There is not enough time and there is not enough money.”
Since the announcement of the Decade for Literacy in 2016 the federal government has invested nearly $203 million to address illiteracy, focusing most of its energy on raising awareness and teaching workplace-based literacy and basic education within the context of life-long learning. But those on the ground say that’s not nearly enough to finance efforts to reduce illiteracy.
Each year Müller and her team host classes free of charge for business owners to teach them how to recognize and support individuals who are functionally illiterate. “We support the process of networks,” said Müller.
With a small staff of seven, networking plays a large role in helping individuals to recognize, encourage, and connect those in need with the available resources. “Though the resources are limited, they are here. We were still only able to reach 2% of the 7.5 million individuals reported in the 2011 study,” said Müller.
Team member, Björn Holbig, works closely individuals who were previously functionally illiterate in order to spread the message within Berlin.
“We try to encourage learners and engage with the topic,” said Holbig. These team members called “learner experts” work in the community to seek out and encourage individuals like themselves to take steps towards literacy and connect with resources.
The organization also certifies businesses to help functionally illiterate individuals in their midst. Over the course of six months, businesses can earn a “AlphaNetz seal” which means they grant jobs to individuals ‘learners’ undergoing literacy training, who may not otherwise have been able to find work in that organization.
The team at Grund-Bildungs-Zentrum Berlin says many aspects of illiteracy in Germany must still be addressed, but using the limited amount of funding toward raising awareness is a step in the right direction.
Dörte Hasselberg, a freelance adult educator, has worked relentlessly to help those who have taken the first step towards learning to read and write in Berlin. She has come to learn about the many ways in which her students came to be illiterate — from illiterate households, to early illness, to upbringings marked by poverty or alcoholism.
While some of her students had parents who were unable to read, others faced hardships that put them behind. Many students were in classrooms with too many students and not enough time. “The schools must be changed,” Hasselberg said. She, and many others in the field, emphasize that teachers should not be blamed. But that does not mean changes should not be made to prevent students from falling through the cracks.
Often when one or two students are not doing well in a class, they are overlooked and passed on to the next grade. “We were sorted into dumb and smart,” said another student. “From 2nd grade, everything got away from me… with 36–40 pupils the classes were far too big.”
Though Germany has publicly declared its struggle against adult illiteracy, the phenomenon, and the related shortcomings of school systems, are not unique to Germany. Classrooms everywhere across the United States are facing the effects of limited resources including textbooks, learning spaces, and teachers. Similar to Germany these factors have led to illiteracy in America, unrelated to immigration.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 19 percent of adults in the United States cannot read a newspaper and nearly 32 million adults are unable to read. While adult literacy and basic life skills programs exist in America, the conversation about adult illiteracy has yet to begin, and the issue remains in the dark despite the millions who continue to struggle.
“Du Kannst Nix! Dafür.” A flyer that hangs prominently in the window of the adult learning center challenges the stigma of illiteracy — “You can’t do anything! For it.” Through no fault of their own, many students all over the world are struggling to learn to read and write. “I don’t often out myself officially,” said another student. “Society is still not ready for that.” For some functionally illiterate individuals, refuge has come by finding a sense of community, now that the issue is out of the closet.
Today at 62, Prange works with Anja Müller and Björn Holbrig to share his story, raise awareness, and connect others with resources. “Once I decided to do something about it and tell more people, others like me began to open up,” he said. “For me, I could always tell my daughter I loved her, but I could never write it to her.” Whatever the reason, Prange hopes to encourage others to take the first step towards literacy.
While he knows illiteracy will continue long after the Decade for Literacy expires, he is hopeful that more and more people will come forward for themselves and for the millions of others who are faced with illiteracy as well.
Aryana Kamelian is a senior studying psychology and political science. She hopes to pursue a career in education reform.
