Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society
September 19, 2007 6:45 am– Illiteracy is causing irreparable damage to our society. If you think that sounds like an exaggeration, you’re wrong. For proof, check out these illiteracy statistics.
Illiteracy Statistics
In a study of 20 ‘high income’ countries, the US ranked 12th on literacy tests. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their child. A few other shocking facts:
- 50 percent of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level.
- 20 percent of Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
- Nearly half of all Americans read so poorly that they cannot find a single piece of information when reading a short publication.
How Illiteracy Affects Job Prospects
- 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read.
- 20 percent of Americans read below the level needed to earn a living wage.
- 50 percent of the unemployed people who fall between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.
- Between 46 and 51 percent of American adults have an income well below the individual threshold poverty level because of their inability to read.
How Illiteracy Affects Society
- 3 out of 5 people in an American prison can’t read.
- 85 percent of juvenile offenders have problems reading.
- Approximately 50 percent of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as balancing a checkbook and reading prescription drug labels.
- To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests.
How Illiteracy Costs Taxpayers
- Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.
- Illiteracy has been proven to cause children to drop out of school. Dropouts cost our nation $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues.
The Fight Against Illiteracy
The fight against illiteracy is a constant battle. Activists are working to strengthen education amongst young people and amongst adults. If you want to join the fight, there are numerous organizations that accept volunteers and donations.
You can also help to prevent illiteracy by encouraging a young person in your life to read. Enroll them in a book of the month club or buy them a book you know they will enjoy reading.
In short, do your part. The fight against illiteracy is important. If we continue to ignore what is becoming a growing epidemic, we set our entire country up for failure.
Statistics for this article were obtained from the following sources: National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, U.S. Census Bureau
7 Responses to “Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society”
Simple answer - Cull the stupid.
Solve population and welfare problems, increase average literacy. Win win.
Writing ability is extremely poor as well. You just need to sample Internet postings to determine just how bad the situation has become.
Most of these stats are ridiculous, especially if you have any literacy (ahem) in statistics. Like saying 50% of Americans can’t balance their checkbooks. That is unlikely–not to mention that balancing a checkbook requires more math skill than literacy skill. Three out of four on welfare can’t read? The only way you can come up with that number from the statistics I’ve seen is by including children on welfare as well–and how many one and two year olds can read? Doesn’t matter–they’re part of the illiteracy problem. I guess they should know how to read right out of the womb!
And it’s interesting to note comments like, “Between 46 and 51 percent of American adults have an income well below the individual threshold poverty level because of their inability to read.” I take it back. There are illiterates here in the US–like the person who wrote this comment. Are you really saying that half of Americans are below the poverty line? Or that half of those below the poverty line can’t read? If the later is the case, the statistic conflicts with those given above. If the former, the statistic is ludicrous.
Education is important, and deserves our attention. But coming up with ridiculous and questionable statistics doesn’t help. Obviously we need to teach math and statistics better, not to mention reading.
Shocking! I don’t know how much it differs from the situation in other “first world” countries, though (UK or Spain, for example). It would be interesting to compare trustworthy statistics. I’m posting a comment and a link to your site in my blog: http://aprendeinglesconfacetoface.blogspot.com
Doesn’t surprise me at all, every person I have ever met that is uninformed knows everything they know about life, politics,medicine etc. from watching television. Ask the girl at wal-mart where the sufferage pills are or the kid at burger king where they keep all the e-coli and see what they say.
Re: Cull the stupid -
Unfortunately that would be most of the people in america lol. Illiteracy is only one of the things you idiots suffer from.
Sure, illiteracy is a problem. But while it is hurting us all, please note that it is state-funded schools that are at fault. Note how the the article states that illiteracy “causes” students to drop out of school. Would that be the school that was not able to teach them how to read? The solution: the state needs to get out of education, and parents need to account for their responsibility to educate their children, whether that be personally or by paying someone else to do it. If people had a good chunk of their property taxes back, they would be much more able to pay for private education (not bloody likely, I know).
Care to comment?