Re: Teenage Aliteracy

[Beverly Kay Maddox <bmaddox@MAILER.FSU.EDU>]

Rayna, and others:
        Thanks for the opportunity to discuss the two terms, "illiteracy"
and "aliteracy." I was prompted to share the terms with my 7th grade
language arts classes and discuss the contrast in meaning with them. The
prefix "a-," we decided, means "without" or not desiring. Thus, an
aliterate person can read but chooses not to; and illiterate person can't
read but might like to know how....Since

They got the point, and seemed to understand that to be a non-reader is
more tragic than to be illiterate....