EDITORIAL: The U.S. still has work to do when it comes to literacy
More than 700 million adults around the world can’t read this sentence.
That’s not counting the folks who are not fluent in English. An estimated 781 million adults around the world are illiterate. More than two-thirds of these adults are women, dampening their earning power and curtailing the prospects of their children.
As you would expect, literacy rates in the developed world are relatively high. Literacy is almost universal in places like Australia, Japan, Canada and Germany, and not so much in places like strife-torn South Sudan, where the literacy rate for adults is a meager 26 percent, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Iraq, where it’s 43 percent.
The need to expand literacy is one of the issues that is illuminated on UNESCO’s International Literacy Day, which was marked Saturday. While the necessity of expanding literacy in less industrialized nations is clear, we should not forget that there are adults in this country who are not proficient in reading.
According to the nonprofit advocacy organization ProLiteracy, more than 30 million adults in America can’t write, read or do basic math beyond a third-grade level. Moreover, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported a few years ago that half of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
And the cycle can repeat itself over generations, with the children of parents who have low literacy levels very likely to develop behavioral problems, repeat school years and get low grades. Lagging behind in literacy can lead to poverty and, in some cases, crime – a full 75 percent of inmates in state prisons across the country have low rates of literacy.
Health problems can also be rooted in not being able to read or write at a proficient level. Over $230 billion in health care costs stem from Americans not being able to read well enough to understand basic health information, according to the American Journal of Public Health.
What can be done? Dogged efforts to improve our educational system need to continue. Of course there is intrinsic value in exposing people to the pleasures of reading, whether it’s a comic book or “The Brothers Karamazov.” But it also matters to our long-term economic prospects. The jobs of the 21st century, as we have seen, require more brains than brawn, and the thinking skills that come with reading are critical. The need to invest in basic education and adult literacy programs remains and cannot be neglected. Also, digital technology now allows adults to improve their literacy skills in a way that fits into their schedules thanks to various mobile programs that are readily available.
Of course, the best initial steps to foster literacy and a love of learning can happen in the home. Reading to children not only gets them in the habit of reading, but it also boosts language skills, helps develop creativity and imagination and helps parents and children bond.
And how much does it cost? If you check the books out the library, not a cent. And the rewards are priceless.