Jerry Smith

skills that promote lifelong learning and education. It is in the area of “lifelong learning” that this writer is most thankful. All along in my educational pursuits the schools and teachers at every level promoted the development of skills that instilled in this old man the desire to learn each day of life. A boast is timely here: Many nights of each week one person has to hear me brag as I state “I am a lot smarter tonight than I was this time yesterday.” Often added is the statement “I hope everyone learned today as much as I did.” These are not statements expressing a degree of smartness greater than others; it is simply saying we all can be lifelong learners.

Incidentally, there has long been a deep admiration for the local efforts to reach out and develop a greater literacy in the population of Calhoun and Gordon County. It was with great interest I would read over the years about the efforts of Coleen Brooks, the late Wayne Minshew and others to motivate and enroll people in literacy programs whose gradeschool years were behind them. It isn’t difficult to comprehend the blessings of life those people gained by climbing higher in their area of literacy.

Where does acquiring the skills begin?

I do not hesitate to declare the skills of literacy begin in the home. Sadly deficient are the youngsters