Speech by H.R.H. Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands at Reed-Elsevier Amsterdam, 4 November 2004
"Should we care about literacy?"
Ladies and gentlemen, dames en heren,
The first thing that came to mind when thinking about the theme of my speech today - Should we care about literacy? - was the famous Dutch expression "een open deur intrappen"&."kicking in an open door", or, in proper English: stating the obvious. Because literacy your business&of course you care about it. It is central to all you do here at Reed Elsevier - in this new building bringing together your four divisions and in your business around the world. You would not exist without literacy. But have you thought about illiteracy, a handicap faced by almost 900 million people around the world? One out of every five adults who cannot, at least not sufficiently, read or write& A staggering and worrisome number.
I could talk endlessly about the problems and ways to find solutions. But today, with the opening of Reed Elsevier's new building here in Amsterdam, should be a festive day. So I would like to address the question of whether we should care about literacy talking about four fundamental values that are closely intertwined with literacy. I actually took inspiration from my work in this area. The values are: self-esteem, well-being, democracy and competence.
Actually, the content of each of these values perfectly match with the essence of your four business divisions. The idea is of course to make the match yourselves between the values and your respective divisions - "Education", "Science & Medical", "Legal" and "Business".
First, self-esteem. Self-esteem goes to the heart of education. For education to be most effective, one needs to have, consciously or sub-consciously, a sense of self-worth. Imagine you are a woman or a man of 50 years old. You did go to school, but had problems keeping up with your peers. When you got married, you knew you had trouble reading and writing, but you managed to hide it, even from your spouse. Then you had children. When they were young, you read books to them by making up the story to match the drawings. This all worked fine until the children got older and told you that you are not actually reading what's in the book... Imagine how you'd feel. What this would do to your self-esteem&
This is not a fabricated story - it's essence is reality for 1.5 million people in the Netherlands who cannot read and write enough to function fully independently in society. It takes enormous courage for them to go back to school.
On the up-side, education helps contribute to a feeling of self-respect and confidence. So many people have told me about how the light went on at the end of the tunnel, once they had learned how to read and write. About how they felt free, facing a new world with self-confidence.
We need to break the vicious circle for those needing education most but not seeking it because they lack the self-confidence to do so. Education boosts self-esteem.
So I would say literacy does matter.
Secondly, well-being. Well-being relates to the quality of life experienced by people. It typically depends on a range of factors such as basic health, the quality of relationships, intellectual fulfillment and emotional satisfaction.
If you really want to understand the issue of illiteracy, listen to the impressive life stories of people who are or have been illiterate, to whatever degree. That might be about their intense feelings of shame, about feeling socially isolated and about the excuses and lies they came up with to hide their handicap. Imagine the stress this brings about&.
They may also tell you about the long, difficult road towards admitting to their problem, about taking the step to go back to school to learn how to read and write, and their amazing perseverance. Learning how to read and write is intricately linked with communication - and thus with a sense of well-being and being able to fully develop oneself, develop relations with your surroundings and gain additional skills.
Thirdly, democracy. Apart from being a form of government originating in ancient Greece, democracy describes a philosophy that insists on the right and the capacity of a people, acting either directly or through representatives, to control their institutions. Such a philosophy places a high value on the quality and equality of individuals.
Being able to read, write and compute are building blocks to enable you to absorb, grasp and actively use information independently. It enables you to know the law, to understand your rights and obligations as citizens. In knowledge and information-driven societies such as the one we live in, literacy is a precondition for fully and truly participating in democracy and making full use of its benefits. Literacy is a basic human right. We should not, and unfortunately cannot, take democracy for granted. So equally, we cannot take literacy for granted.
And finally, competence. In the debate about the knowledge-based economy, we tend to focus topics such as university education, innovation, technology and research. But in our understandable drive towards growth and progress, we often forget that the knowledge-based economy also includes those who lack the necessary reading and writing skills. Their situation is aggravated by the fact that our society now requires additional skills to function effectively, such as e-skills. As society leaps ahead, there is a distinct danger that they are left behind, with serious implications for the individuals themselves and for our social cohesion and economic development.
The knowledge-based economy that Europe intends to become will be built on very shaky foundations if only the upper echelons of society are able to participate. Equally, businesses should invest in all employees from top to bottom, not only for altruistic motives, but out of enlightened self-interest.
I hope that these values - self-esteem, well-being, democracy and competence - strike a cord with each of these divisions: Harcourt, Elsevier Scientific & Medical Publishing, LexisNexis and Reed Business Information. These values certainly seem to be in line with the Care reading programme you are engaged in.
You've made literacy your business. In my mind it should be everyone's business. That's my personal answer to the question of whether we should care about literacy. And no doubt, you have much to add to that.
Dank u wel.