The Week of September 19th was Family Literacy and Adult Education week, highlighting this important but often-overlooked facet of education. While educating children is critical, providing education to adults can also have powerful effects on families.
The National Institutes of Health found that educating parents, as well as children, has a stronger effect than only working with children. In fact, a mother’s literacy is the best indicator of her child’s future academic success. Education also helps adults secure jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.
This is why Vita’s Family Literacy program, which is beginning a new year of classes, is so important. People come to Bucks County from all over the world, and our teachers are working with parents from Afghanistan, China, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Turkey, El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Tatarstan.
This semester’s parents have 69 children, whose lives will be touched by the program. They speak languages including Cantonese, Farsi, Turkish, and Ukrainian, but want to learn English in order to build new lives here.