Tutor Urges Students to ‘Pass It On’

When the problem of illiteracy became clear to Violet Hutchens, she set out to make a difference.

Since 1968, more than 2,000 volunteer tutors and their students have been spurred on by that decision. Hutchens, now 75, has trained people to teach others how to read and to pass their knowledge along.

“There are so many people that are willing to help,” said Hutchens, a Valley Glen resident, “but they need to know how.”

When Hutchens began her “pass it on” approach to illiteracy in the San Fernando Valley and its environs by training tutors, she had no background in teaching.

After the Watts riots in 1965, she was motivated by a challenge from an African American minister when she asked him what she could do to make a difference. “Teach us to read,” he said.

Her resolve to help others learn to read became even stronger as she saw illiteracy firsthand as manager of various Woolworth stores in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

While hiring employees for the department store chain, she said, she became troubled by applicants who could not complete an aptitude test for employment because they could not read.

Since retiring in 1986, Hutchens has been able to devote more time to helping churches, hospitals and drug rehabilitation centers set up their own literacy programs.

“Each volunteer tutor teaches one,” said Hutchens. “All we ask is that students pass it on.”

One recent day, Hutchens stood before a handful of tutors-to-be gathered at the First Methodist Church of Van Nuys.

After three daylong sessions with Hutchens, the students would become certified tutors with the Laubach Literacy project--an international nonprofit educational program founded in 1955. The San Fernando Valley Literacy Council will match the new tutors with students.

Hutchens’ goal is to help the tutors empathize with their students.

For this particular session, Hutchens asked the tutors in training to read an entire story written phonetically--a slow-going and surprisingly difficult chore for the class of five.

Later, she had the same students write their names backward on a piece of paper using their non-writing hand. She does this to help them understand dyslexia.

“I want you to see what a struggle it is,” she said.

But what leaves most in the group shaking their heads is a review of just how complicated the English language is: The diphthong “ou,” for example, can be pronounced nine different ways, and the 26 letters of the English alphabet make 43 different sounds.

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One of Hutchens’ latest students, Joan Spangler, 54, of Porter Ranch, said she was moved to become a tutor after reading a recent story in a magazine about the handicaps of the illiterate, such as mothers who can’t read notes from their children’s teachers or the devoutly religious who can’t read the Bible.

“A lightbulb just went off in my head,” said Spangler, who has never tutored before. She found information about Hutchens’ class on the Internet. Spangler has started tutoring two brothers, ages 8 and 13, from North Hills.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to fill in the gaps,” she said. “I think I’m prepared. I just need to take it one step at a time.”

This is the second go-round for another of Hutchens’ students, 60-year-old Carol Goldberg of Encino. She tried tutoring a young Spanish-speaking mother a decade ago, but felt unprepared. She will soon be matched by the San Fernando Valley Literacy Council with a student.

“Knowing Vi is there for help is kind of like having a security blanket,” Goldberg said.

During the classes, Hutchens will give tutors pointers on how to communicate with their students, a refresher on phonics and advice on how tutors can help students apply their new reading skills to their daily lives.

“These are things [the tutors] already know,” said Hutchens, “but don’t know how to explain to someone else.”

Some graduates of the classes have--like Hutchens--gone on to become tutor trainers.

Others have taught countless people to read at literacy programs throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as at libraries and students’ homes.

But it’s not enough for Hutchens. She estimates that tutors are meeting only 10% of the need in Los Angeles, including immigrants and high-school-age students with learning disabilities who have dropped out of school from frustration.

“The answer to all of that,” she said, “is one-on-one tutoring.”

For information on tutoring training classes offered by the San Fernando Literacy Council, call (818) 893-5216.

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