Dr. White and Mr. Li have not met before.

White: Come in, please.
Li: Good morning, Dr. White.
White: Good morning, Mr. Lt. Nice to see you again. Sit down...be at home. When were you here last time?
Li: I think it was more than two months ago when you had just come back after a conference in Thailand.
White: Oh, yes. I remember now. How about your research on women education in the developing countries in these two months?
Li: Well, I’ve made some progress, I’d say. Some of my findings are really interesting.
White: Oh that’s nice. Literacy among women is always acknowledged as a major factor in development, developed countries or developing countries.
Li: That’s true. Overall, with the development of economy, in many developing countries, illiteracy has decreased remarkably. But in some developing countries, women, especially older women, literacy programs are largely ignored.
White: Well...
Li: According to what I have in hand, in recent years, access to education for girls and younger women has improved, and illiteracy in these groups has declined from 46.5 percent in 1970 to 33.6 percent in 1990!
White: That is certainly a great progress.
Li: However, there remain vast differences in the literacy rates for older men and women, especially in poorer countries.
White: Unfortunately it is well expected. Any figures to show the fact?
Li: Yes. In 1990, for example, only 11 percent of Chinese women aged 60 or more could read and write, compared with half of the men in that age group. The pattern is repeated elsewhere: a study of five countries in Western Europe revealed that far fewer women than men over 65 had progressed beyond primary education.
White: Your finding is certainly very valuable. Better schooling is important in the longer term, but literacy programs among adult, aging and older women should remain a priority.
Li: Exactly so. Older women are no different from their younger sisters in experiencing frustration and shame at their lack of education. They are also victims of the prejudice which assumes that older people can no longer learn. It is a view often accepted by the old people themselves. I wonder if this is a phenomenon that only happens in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
White: Not exactly. A couple of weeks ago I read an article which says that in a literacy group in Croatia, the leaders’ first challenge was to overcome the participants’ lack of faith in their own abilities and potential due to their old age. Of course, they were also ashamed of their illiteracy and afraid of being laughed at.
Li: It is really a pity. As a matter of fact, old age is no handicap to learning.
White: No. Research is demonstrating that if people keep using their memory, their learning abilities do not decline while aging.
Li: So the governments should encourage the people to change their old way of thinking so that they can get rid of illiteracy.
White: Quite so. Having access to official information, and being able to supply documents required by government authorities, is often a major problem of older people. As a result, they can be denied benefits to which they are entitled.
Li: Obviously yes.
White: For instance, the Republic of South Africa has a universal pension: this is often the only source of cash for a family. But news about changes in the amounts paid does not always reach the beneficiaries and older women in particular rarely have the new birth certificate needed to prove their entitlement.
Li: This is really a big problem among developing countries.
White: Quite so. The governments of those countries should pay special attention to this issue, otherwise, the gap between the North and the South will become even wider.
Li: No doubt.
White: By the way, when do you think you can finish your MA thesis?
Li: Well, I’m working madly on it. The main problem is that I need more data to support my idea. I hope I could finish it in two months.
White: That’s fine.
Li: It’s very helpful to talk to you, Professor White.
White: Nice to talk to you.
Li: Before I finish my thesis, I might need to see you once more.
White: Just give me a notice.
Li: Thank you. Good-bye.
White: Good-bye.