TV Reviews : ‘To Be Free’ Records Bush’s Literacy Awards

If President Bush needed further inspiration to fulfill his campaign promise to become the nation’s “education President,” maybe he found it recently in the East Room of the White House.

That’s where he hosted “To Be Free: The National Literacy Honors From the White House,” honoring eight Americans for “leadership” in literacy. A videotape of the event will be presented on ABC Sunday at 7 p.m. (Channels 7,3, 10 and 42).

It’s an evening of celebrity entertainment, film clips and medal bestowing, with the President sharing award-giving duty with First Lady Barbara Bush, for whom the literacy movement is a major concern.

The surprise is that the program rises above its unabashed sentimentality and obvious public relations intent. The format is simple and well-paced; the presentation of each honoree is straightforward: After a brief introduction, a film clip of each award recipient is shown and his or her own eloquent voice is heard.

The honorees are Harold W. McGraw Jr., chairman emeritus of McGraw-Hill Publishers, and Wally “Famous” Amos, both of whom have created literacy programs, and three teachers: a former high school drop-out, a Florida retiree and an immigrant mother of five.

The remaining three were once part of this country’s estimated 23 million functionally illiterate. Among them is Ed Castor of Indiana, whose emotion when describing his shame at not being able to read and his pride at receiving his high school diploma brings the importance of education home most vividly.