Liberated Mindsets, Literate Minds: Reflections on Christianity and Development in Africa
Stephen Walter, J. Brady Anderson Monday, 29 November 2010
In the middle of the last century, literacy was widely hailed as a/the key to development. This assumption was not without logic—most developed countries had high rates of literacy and most lesser-developed countries had very low levels of literacy. Accordingly, the 1960s and 1970s saw massive investment in literacy programs and campaigns designed to dramatically improve literacy levels in the developing world.
But improving literacy turned out to be harder than expected, and the anticipated gains in economic development did not materialize. Both skeptics and theorists took up the challenge of finding an explanation. What has been learned to date? The list is long: poorly designed programs, inadequately trained teachers, poorly motivated learners, lack of time to learn or to read, inadequate funding, linguistic barriers, poor program delivery, lack of infrastructure, poor materials, lack of program supervision, official corruption, logistical problems, poor instructional methodologies, and lack of official support.
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