Amongst the hype of Halloween, the American election and the approaching (but distant) Christmas season, it is easy to forget that this week is Veterans’ Week.  As each year passes, we move further from the two wars that changed the world.  As veterans age and pass away, we lose our physical connection to the circumstances around, and reasons for, those world changing conflicts.  These simply strengthen the importance of Remembrance Day education. How will you remember?

As I have discussed in previous blog posts, “literacy” is made up of the foundational skills we need to acquire new knowledge and aptitudes.  To understand history, we need to be able to assimilate a large amount of information, and that requires a fairly sophisticated literacy level.  A knowledge of history is important as we participate in the democratic process: it helps us make informed decisions about the future.   Literacy and education really are at the heart of responsible citizenship.

There are wonderful Remembrance Day resources available through the Veterans Affairs website, as well as through Decoda Literacy Solutions.  There are also many services and events taking place around the country, we can talk out, participate in and share. 

We hope you have the opportunity to take some time this Veterans’ Week to reflect up on the reasons we remember, and to acknowledge the sacrifice of generations past.

Veterans Affairs (events)

Decoda Literacy Solutions

By Leah Wilkie