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Man who learned to read later in life discusses importance of literacy

By: Julie Dunmire

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — September is National Literacy Month. FOX 17 is focusing on literacy with our "If You Give A Child A Book" campaign.

Statewide test scores show that fewer students are proficient in reading than they were compared to previous years. For example, third graders scored 39.6% proficiency in reading in the 2023–2024 school year. In the 2014–2015 school year, 50% of third graders were proficient in reading, according to state test results.

Tuesday, FOX 17 met with an adult who is still striving to read.

Edward Taylor reads now, but he hasn't always.

“Fourth grade, I couldn’t pick up as fast as the other kids,” Taylor said.

Taylor came to the Literacy Center of West Michigan for help.

“I decided to come down and help myself,” Taylor said.

He made it through high school, even graduating, despite struggling with reading.

“School was so hard. But you find different ways to maneuver through it,” Taylor said. “A lot of memory, you memorize a lot of things. Sometimes, you skip over the word if you don’t know what it is."

Now, Taylor has newfound confidence.

“It helps you out a lot. Just mentally, physically," he said.

He says reading is a life skill, not just a subject in school.

“There’s a lot of time that you’re dealing with paperwork that you don’t understand. When you go through it and read a majority of it and get better at reading, you feel more confident and sign and stuff, filling stuff out instead of just ignoring it,” Taylor said.

“Research also indicates parents' literacy level really determines a child’s reading level at school. In other words, if parents read at a high level, more likely their children will be able to achieve academic success at school,” says Yilin Wendeland-Liu, director of the adult tutoring program at the Literacy Center of West Michigan.

Taylor says he's no longer struggling through each page but, instead, turning a new one.

“Just keep on living. You want to get better, so you try to get better,” Taylor said.

The Literacy Center of West Michigan helps roughly 1,200 adults learn to read each year.