My History with Literacy
- John Corcoran
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
Celebrating the John Corcoran Foundation's 29th Birthday
As I reflect on my nearly nine decades of life, many details fade into the background. But my memory does not fade when it comes to literacy.
The first six years of my life were spent as a non-reader in the safety of a loving home. The next 42 years of illiteracy—and the 40 years of literacy that followed—left an effect on me that never faded.
My parents read the newspaper every evening before going to bed—before we had a television and after we got one. They never went to sleep without reading the paper.
My father loved books. Raised on a farm in the Dakotas, he was a college graduate and a teacher, a USO Director during World War II. He was a well-read, book-smart, farm-raised man who valued education and learning. The best man I ever knew.
My mother was a model in Chicago before she married my father. She continued reading well into her nineties. She could read, write, and spell, although she sometimes had difficulty pronouncing certain words and relied on the dictionary more than my father did.
Both of my parents were Irish. My five sisters and I grew up in an Irish-Catholic family in a half a dozen different states and a dozen different towns and cities in the U.S. Nomads, you might say, constantly moving west in search of a healthy climate for the baby of the family.
My little sister, Maureen, was diagnosed with severe asthma. She was very, very sick. At the time, doctors didn’t know very much about treating severe chronic asthma and suggested we find a better climate for her to live in. Our family’s sojourn lasted ten years, before we finally found the place Maureen could enjoy a good life—breathe, walk, and even run a bit. Mission accomplished. With faith and family, a powerful combination of forces, we ended up living in wonderful weather in Southern California, about 200 yards from Moonlight Beach.
When I was a young child, my parents told me I was a winner. Before I turned six, I could count money, make change and tell time.
I was told that one day I would go to school, just like my sisters, and learn to read and write. I was eager to learn and curious about the world around me. I loved the idea of school. To me, it was supposed to be a place of opportunity and learning.
Instead, for five of my first six years in elementary school, I was placed in what was known as the "dumb row." Today, I would likely be labeled learning disabled. I hated the dumb row.
I attended school for 35 years (18 years as a student, 17 years as a teacher), yet I never learned to read there. What I did learn was how to navigate a hostile environment for a non-reader. I can not forget the frustration, anger, lack of self-esteem, rage, humiliation—on and on—that I experienced.
In my youth, we did not have the knowledge or research that we do now, which shows us how to properly teach reading. We did not know what dyslexia was or what an auditory discrimination problem was.
I didn't begin learning to read and write until after I left the school system, when I was 48 years old.
Just like my sister, Maureen, it wasn’t until I found the right “climate” that I was able to thrive. At age 48, when I met Pat Lindamood and finally received proper reading instruction, everything changed. The world transformed from one of confusion and shame to one I could navigate and express myself in through the written word.
Today’s science tells us that humans who can speak can learn how to read. We know how to teach people to read—some teachers are already doing it. What we have not yet mastered is how to implement and scale effective instruction. That is why we are still on this long journey, looking for the road to reading.
Today marks 29 years since I founded the John Corcoran Foundation on July 11, 1997. We have advocated alongside thousands of other like-minded grassroots groups and individuals from coast to coast: from the White House to Congress, state houses to court houses, colleges and universities to elementary schools. We are a team that is growing every day.
JCF is built on the belief that teaching a child, teen, or adult how to read and write is, first and foremost, an act of love. Love is wanting a good thing for someone else.
Our mission of preventing and eradicating illiteracy is a righteous and noble cause that we will only accomplish together.
P.S. Exciting news!
We are ready to launch Phase 1 of production of our new documentary, Healing After The Truth! Just like with our first film, The Truth About Reading, this was only made possible by immense grassroot support from people like you.
Now, we need your help to raise the funds for Phase 2. Today, in celebration of 29 years at the John Corcoran Foundation, would you consider a gift of $29 or more to support this project?
Visit johncorcoranfoundation.org/documentary or click the banner below to learn more about ways to support and perks for different contribution amounts!
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