One-Teach -One, the Laubach System

To Overcome Illiteracy

By the Rev. Ralph Sutton, in Newcastle Herald

rrwo small dark men strode hurriedly X up the hill to the missionary’s cot tage.

They insisted that they must learn to [read. They had only one hour and wanted to learn all they could.

I The missionary had been all the morn ing in the hot sun teaching in the market place, his chart on a tree, the excited crowd following each lesson and cheering every pupil as he learnt the letters on the chart. He was tired and hungry. But the two visitors insisted. They could not come any other time owing to work. The missionary relented. He decided to con centrate on the elder of the two and let the other fellow be taught later by his friend.

An hour later that man went joyfully out having learnt to read, having read all the lessons and several pages of the mis sionary’s little newspaper and everything else he put before him.

“This is magic,” he said. “This is magic,” and the magic for him lay not in the brevity of the time taken, but in the new wonder of reading.

Away in Africa, years afterwards, a mis sionary was teaching a man by the side of the road. A labourer stopped out of curiosity and said, in another tongue: “This is magic, let me learn, too!”

In Indonesia, a weary missionary saw native men and women learning in 15 minutes what it had taken months to teach children in school, what they had almost despaired of adults ever learning.

In an hour she saw them reading all that was put before them and, with tears in her eyes, said; “This is a miracle, this is a gift from Heaven.”

These experiences had been repeated thousands of times in many lands. A new wonder was in the world.

IT all began when Dr. Frank Laubach, a young Congregational missionary from the United States, went to the Philippines as a missionary in 1915. He desired to work among the ferocious Moros of the island of Mindanao, but was for bidden for 15 years. These were the most troublesome people under the American flag; a permanent garrison was main tained to quell their rebellions: it was here that General Pershing first made his name. They hated anything Christian 9 r “Western,” and were bitterly pre judiced Mohammedans.

When Laubach at last went to live among them in 1930, he found the work frustrating in the extreme. But by sym pathy and understanding he gradually won their confidence and a deputation of chiefs requested him to become their re ligious leader—“ For you have told us more beautiful things from our own sacred books than we know ourselves.”

That opened the door to service and to the Christian message. Slowly and patiently Laubach developed an alpha bet, each letter having one oronunciation.

By experiment he developed a rapid method of teaching. He found three key words such as “mother,” “hand,” “work,” known well to everyone and which, bet ween them, contained all the consonants in the language. They also contained several vowels and he soon taught the others. When the pupil learnt these three key words he knew almost all the alpha bet. The shorter syllables themselves made other words also. His first lesson could be mastered in from 10 to 15 min utes. That gave immediate confidence

and lifted the illiterate out of his in feriority.

SOON Laubach was running a “lightning literacy” campaign throughout the Philippines, backed by Press and Government. He devised lesson charts in more than 20 languages, and met with the same success everywhere. A servant girl learnt to read in 15 minutes. She taught another before an audience of more than 30, tears of joy running down their cheeks.

One of the island’s villains was so grate ful that he came to Laubach and said; “You taught me to read. You are my best friend. I want to do something for

you. Tell me, is there anyone around here you’d like put out of the way?”

The missionary assured him that he would get great joy if the grateful man merely taught someone else to read. “One teach-one” is the motto of the Laubach literacy movement.

Dr. Laubach went to India, only to be rebuffed by Gandhi, who did not think literacy was important. The Governments were sceptical or indifferent. His claims sounded too good to be true. After a year of working through the churches’ mis

fcionary organisations, Gandhi was con vinced, and declared that literacy should be a condition of the franchise. People of more than 80 years were learning with

lease.

THE Laubach literacy team travels the world by air to-day from the US to India, thence to Siam, Burma, In donesia, New Guinea—“the ripest mission field in the world”—and Korea.

When the big plane landed on the air strip in the New Guinea Highlands last year, 4,000 painted jungle people lined the runway. For four days they worked and taught, hundreds chanting the an swers together from huge wall charts, groups teaching groups everywhere.

When the time came for the team to go, the natives pleaded with them to stay or send many more missionaries. For a whole day more than 10,000 natives in gorgeous bird of paradise plumes gave a festival of joy on the airstrip as a farewell.

Laubach said in all his experience noth ing had moved him so deeply as those four days.

But the work has only begun. Ninety two per cent, of the people of India can not read or write. They are learning at the rate of 5 million a year, but the popu lation is increasing six times as fast.

Ninety per cent, of all China is illiterate, 95 per cent, of Indonesia.

Christianity is tearing the blindfold from their eyes, but what will they read?

Who will supply the literary food—Chris tian or Communist printing presses?

Editorial Note: It would be interesting to know if the Laubach literacy campaign in the NG Highlands has had any per manent result. Presumably the natives are taught in their native tongue, in which event the lasting value of the work would hinge on how much printed literature was available in that particular language.