Claims that the preferred method for literacy education today is a technique of self-instruction by small groups of people voluntarily assembled, assisted by representatives of intermediary organizations as necessary, to further the ends of self-reliance and improved living conditions. (JK)

Explains how the Cuban literacy campaign that began 25 years ago has given reading and writing skills and new social and economic opportunities to women. (SRT)

Describes Cuba's successful adult literacy campaign and suggests the necessity for a similar undertaking in the United States. Advocates (1) the use of college and secondary students as literacy workers, and (2) the adoption of the concept of "the generative word" (Paulo Freire) as tools for carrying out such a campaign. (GC)

After the Castro revolution of 1959, the new Cuban revolutionary government began a massive literacy campaign that taught 700,000 persons to read in about a year. Twenty years later, Nicaragua, facing an even more serious literacy problem, conducted a similar literacy campaign. In approximately six months, Nicaragua had reduced illiteracy by 37…