When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of society toward those with low literacy skills, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over them. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. If you fail to address my low literacy skills…

1. As a 2 nd, 3 rd, or 4 th grade student reading below grade level, my state may consider building a prison cell for me. 2. I am likely to be one of your citizens who drops out of high school every 26 seconds I am likely to be one of your citizens who drops out of high school every 26 seconds If I drop out of high school, I will be responsible for 78% of all juvenile crime If I drop out of high school, I will make, on average, ¼ of a million dollars less than my graduating peers over my lifetime If I drop out of high school, society will have to pay, on average, $127,000 to support me. 6

6. With low literacy skills, 85% of American companies with skills tests won’t consider hiring me In 2004, only 30% of those without a high school diploma voted (half as often as other Americans) A one percent (1%) increase in the graduation rate for men aged would save the U.S. an estimated $1.4 Billion in crime costs. The average cost to incarcerate one person for one year is about $21,000 – comparable to the cost of college tuition A one percent (1%) increase in the graduation rate for men aged would save the U.S. an estimated $1.4 Billion in crime costs. The average cost to incarcerate one person for one year is about $21,000 – comparable to the cost of college tuition Low health literacy costs the U.S. between $106 to $238 Billion annually. Roughly equal to the cost of insuring the 47 million people who lack coverage in

10. I will be significantly less likely to understand health care services such as: mammography; cervical cancer screening; childhood health maintenance, diagnosis, and medication procedures as a parent; emergency and hospital discharge instructions; heart health; and informed consent I will be significantly less likely to understand the positive or negative outcomes associated with smoking, contraception, HIV, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, breast-feeding or postoperative care As a youth, I will be more likely to misuse alcohol, carry a weapon including a gun, miss school for safety reasons, be a behavior problem in school, or be in a fight requiring medical attention. 2

13. When I enter kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills, I am very likely to do well in school despite having other social and emotional problems At the time of incarceration, 57% of inmates did not have their high school diploma or equivalent Among adults at the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty. Among adults with strong literacy skills, only 4% live in poverty In a January 2008 report, 39% of U.S. children live in low-income families Fewer than 3% of adults with basic or below basic literacy skills receive formal support services If all U.S. citizens, 25-64, were to obtain at least an associate degree, U.S. personal income would increase by $848 Billion. 11

Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of approximately 90 million 14, 37%, the people of this country, their social and intellectual degradation--in view of the unjust circumstances above mentioned, and because those with low literacy skills do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.

References 1. The Forum for Youth Investment with the Ready by 21™ Partners. Getting the Most Out of Your Dropout Prevention Summit: Planning Guide. May Forum for Youth Investment and America’s Promise Alliance. 1. The Forum for Youth Investment with the Ready by 21™ Partners. Getting the Most Out of Your Dropout Prevention Summit: Planning Guide. May Forum for Youth Investment and America’s Promise Alliance. 2. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. RTI International. (January 2004). Literacy and health outcomes. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, AHRQ Publication No. 04-E Northwestern University. (November 2007). Early Academic Skills, Not Behavior, Best Predict School Success. Science Daily, National Children’s Reading Foundation. Literacy Research Rouse, C.E. (2005 October). The labor market consequences of an inadequate education. In H.M. Levin (Chair). The social costs of inadequate education. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Campaign for Educational Equity at the Teachers College, Columbia University. 6. Levin, H., Belfield, C., Muennig, P., & Rouse, C. (2007 January). The costs and benefits of an excellent education for all of America’s children. Retrieved June 2, 2007, from Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Web site: 7. Source: American Management Association, American Management Association Research Survey: Corporate Concerns. American Management Association, New York, 2001 as cited in the National Institute for Literacy Workforce Education Fact Sheet retrieved June 2, Web site:

References (cont.) 8. a 9. Reder, Stephen, ed. (1998). The State of Literacy in America. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, p Knitzer, Jane, ed. (January 2008). Annual Report. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, National Center For Children in Poverty National Commission on Adult Literacy. (June 2008). Reach Higher, America: Overcoming crisis in the U.S. Workforce. 12. Greenberg, E., Dunleavy, E., and Kutner, M. (2007). Literacy behind bars: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy prison survey. National Center for Education Statistics, NCES