ILLITERACY
IT'S NO WONDER: The U.S. population grew to around 250
million in 1991. But over 10%- 25+ million- cannot read or write at all.
Another 45 million are functionally illiterate. That's around 28% that are out
to lunch. 44% of the American adults do not read a book in a year. A publishing
industry study showed that from April 1990 to March 1991, 6 out of 10 households
did not buy a single book. It's no wonder the country is falling further and
further behind in skills and competency. The Japanese statement that many of the
U.S. workers are lazy and illiterate may be reasonably accurate. While the
aspect of being lazy is subjective, a illiterate person working hard probably
isn't worth that much anyway.
MADE IN THE U.S: More than 10 million workers in small
businesses (about 40%) have trouble doing their jobs because their basic skills
in reading, writing and math skills are so low. 23% of manufacturing workers and
11% of management are functionally illiterate. Other estimates put the
illiteracy rate at 20% of working adults overall.
LITERACY: Bob Green's great article on literacy in Sundays
2/2 /92 SF Chronicle provides some interesting comments about former President
Nixon and "serious reading". `Like Nixon or not, he has written his ninth major
book. He accepted as an article of faith, as did the contemporaries of his time,
that reading- heavy, at times difficult reading- is the best way to learn about
the world. It never occurred to them that they could be leaders and not be
diligent readers. Nixon's belief is that the way Americans (should) absorb
information and learn important things is by reading thoughtful books.'
In my field, the only way to keep abreast of the everchanging financial field is through intensive research- reading. But most people don't read. That is borne out in a 1992 study by the American Booksellers Association. Not only did they find that "60% of households did not buy a book last year, but that the largest group that did buy were over 65 years of age. It appears that it is only that generation who still believe that reading is a lifelong way to learn. "
"Unfortunately, reading may therefore someday be engaged in by a small minority of people who are regarded as eccentrics by their fellow citizens." Lastly, Green's book stated, "think of him as you will. But add to the poignant things about Nixon's life the fact that he's a man who clings to the belief of reaching his countrymen through considered words on the printed page- in a land where the majority of citizens apparently feel it is a waste of time."
DOWNHILL: Want to see some statistics on why the U.S. is going downhill? From the Wall Street Journal:
Daily TV Viewing SAT scores
1960 5.06 hours 975
1965 5.29 969
1970 5.56 948
1975 6.07 910
1980 6.36 890
1985 7.07 906
1990 6.55 900
1992 7.04 899
Notice a trend in TV versus brains of our children??
ILLITERATE: 1993 A recent study by the Department of Education stated that 90 million Americans possess only rudimentary literacy skills. 47 percent of America adult population perform only the simplest reading skills. As many as 40 million of the nation's 191 million adults have only the lowest level of skills- meaning they can add the total on a bank slip or identify a piece of specific information in a brief news article.
Another 50 million can calculate a total purchase, determine the difference in price between two items and locate a specific point on a map. 61 million can decipher info from long or dense texts of documents and the remaining 34 to 40 million can complete the most challenging tasks. But what was not identified in this article- which I have expressed previously- is that the people that can read DON'T. And that's worse. Outside of good health, the ability AND willingness to read is the most precious commodity that any individual possesses. Knowledge makes you a viable human being. Otherwise you just exist- and sometimes not that well. "The vast majority of Americans do not know they do not have the skills to earn a living in our increasingly technological society," says U.S. Secretary of Education, (1994)
(USNews, June 1989) There are 25 million Americans who cannot read or write
at all. An additional 45 million are functionally illiterate- without the
reading or writing skills to find work. Illiteracy is compounded by the attack
on English as the national language, yet civilizations rise and fall by literacy
and common language. When common knowledge becomes accessible to all, common
values can be defined and pursued. In our post industrial era where most
Americans make a living with their minds, not their hands, it is education- more
than steel, coal or even capital- that is the key to our economic future.
July 1990: Consumers have accepted levels of mediocrity by doing less and less of what can actually help them. Between 1970 and 1988, adult population grew by 36% but the number of daily newspapers subscriptions increased by only 1%. Are these same people watching the news? No! ABC, NBC and CBS have lost millions of viewers to their evening news broadcasts- and these viewers are NOT going to PBS, CNN, etc. They are NOT doing anything- except watching more and more fluff. Shows like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Cosby, Roseanne outdraw news shows by over 2:1.
ILLITERACY: (Marcia Kaplan, SF Chronicle, 5/95) "Each year over 700,000 graduate from high school unable to read their high school diploma. The US. Department of Education says that 20% of American adults are functionally illiterate. Functional illiterates can read words but they cannot comprehend their meanings, synthesize information or make decision based on what they read. And marginally illiterate people feel most comfortable receiving information in a visual format, relying more on television than print for information.
At the same time that American's skills are declining, entertainment, computer and telecommunications companies are creating new, technologically advanced methods to amuse and educate us. (However) in the excitement about the information superhighway, businesses are ignoring a troubling fact- a substantial number of Americans are not intellectually capable of using their technologies.
.....Any business that sells a products or services that require a user's ability to exercise cognitive skills will face a shrinking market.
There's more to this well written article. Too bad hardly anyone will read it.
TV: By the time a child enter the first grade in the U.S., he or she
has already spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a TV. Per
Dear Abby, "no other country in the world has permitted such unmitigated trash
to be aired during the hours children are accustomed to watching". Children that
have computers spend less time in front of a TV. By the seventh grade, according
to one study of 1,200 families, those children that had computers spent "only"
11.9 hours watching TV while the computerless children spent 12.8 hours per
week. In the forth through sixth grades, girls spent 8.9 hours with a computer;
boys 7.2 hours. In the seventh and eighth grades boys spent 12.4 hours at a
terminal; girls, 11. In high school, it was 12.3 hours for boys; 10 hours for
girls. While this is nice to see, the study does not state what they were
actually doing on the computer. Was it video games? Trashing on the Internet?
Spending just slightly less time in front of a TV, but hours upon hours in front
of a terminal viewing even worse trash only promotes further concern.
ILLITERACY KILLS: A study in late 95 showed that at least 30% of 2,659 patients had inadequate functional health illiteracy- meaning that they could not comprehend the written instructions on the prescription bottles. A doctor noted that "adults with limited literacy face formidable problems using the health care system. They are less likely to use screening procedures, follow medical regimens, keep appointments or seek help early in the course of a disease". The study parallels a 1993 Education Department literacy survey that found that 47% of American adults- 90 million- have only rudimentary literacy skills.
ILLITERACY: (1997) 85% of kids appearing in juvenile court are
illiterate. 85% of prisoners are illiterate. Either read and teach your kids to
read or they and society will suffer the consequences.
READING: (1997) 25% of all Californians are functionally illiterate.
Further, a study of students in 41 countries showed that American eighth graders
ranked in the middle of the international group- between Romania and Bulgaria-
in math and science. Businesses are spending millions on remedial education.
Schools can do better, but the parents are to ultimately blame. The only way to
live in this world is through the written word. Once you can read, you can
think. Once you can think, you can speak on many issues intelligently. Once you
can read, think and speak intelligently, you can live. Until that point you
merely exist. It all starts with reading.
LITERACY: (1998) The
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that 50% of the work
force in the United States is not literate enough to work in a modern economy.
They also noted that between one-third and one-half of the work force in the
world's main industrialized states cannot read well enough to work in a modern
economy and the 29 members of the group should consider boosting education and
career training efforts because of this "worrying degree of under-performance."
EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION: (Fed Board of St. Louis) About 17% of the noninstitutional population over the age of 25 has NOT finished high school; 34% finished high school but did not attend college; 25% started college but did not graduate or have an associate degree and 25% have a college degree
As of early 1998, AN AVERAGE OF ONLY 39.6% OF THOSE WHO DID NOT FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL WERE AT WORK WHILE 78.7% OF COLLEGE GRADUATES HELD JOBS. Those who held a high school diploma and those with some college were in between at about 62.9% and 72.3% respectively. Unemployment was about 7.1% for those who did not finish high school versus only 1.9% with a college degree.
Literacy: (Education Department 1999) Only one in four of the nation's schoolchildren has the knowledge and skills needed to write stories and reports proficiently. Proficiency, in the testers' terms, meant that they could deliver a solid academic performance and competently write about challenging subject matter.
| Nation | Average Score | % of Students below basic | % of Students at basic | % of students at proficient | % of Students at advanced |
| 148 | 17 | 58 | 23 | 1 |
ILLITERACY AT ITS WORST: (1999) About 30% of first time college students take remedial courses because they cannot read, write or do math adequately.
ALITERACY (NY Times 1999) It means that people who can read- DON'T. "The NPD's research through the 1990s detects a continuing falloff in younger readers who said they spend at least 30 minutes of the day reading anything. The percentage is relatively stable for people 55 and older, with an increasing percentage for people over 65. At the start of the study in 1992, almost 51 percent of the people in the study said they were reading that amount of time. But by 1999, the percentage had dropped to 45 percent. The steepest reduction came among young men between the ages of 18 and 34: -- about 22 percent who reported reading that amount, down from 36 percent in 1992. (The reading could have been comprised of a book, magazine, newspapers or a computer screen. )
The amount of time people actually spend reading has decreased only slightly in the last eight years, according to the NPD study -- down to 44 minutes a day from 46. The steepest drop in reading time was detected among men between 18 and 34 who are reading about 13 minutes less a day since 1992, down from 29 minutes.
Gallup, which has been querying people about their reading habits since 1949, detected a downward trend -- the proportion of Americans who had not completed a book in the last year had doubled to 16 percent in 1990 from 8 percent in 1978.
An educator noted (and are my words as well)- "But on the other hand, as an educator, I'm devoted to analytical thinking and it makes me nervous if people are reading less, because reading in print is traditionally the way we help people to sharpen their thoughts."
My difficulty with such studies is that they do not necessarily define what is read. Obviously it is better to read something than nothing at all, but if it consists of miscellaneous articles on sports, beauty secrets and other similar "fluff", I find little solace in that. (I may read books about fishing but it does nothing to improve the "hard" parts of my life.) It has been my opinion that there are only about 6% of the populace that do studious research on areas directly impacting their lives- health, investments, marriage, raising kids, etc. Don't agree?? Then you should also read the study, The 1992 Adult Literacy Survey, which shows the lack of competency by the vast U.S. populace in both quantitative and qualitative skills.
One of our ex presidents noted- "He accepted as an article of faith, as did the contemporaries of his time, that reading- heavy, at times difficult reading- is the best way to learn about the world. It never occurred to them that they could be leaders and not be diligent readers. The way Americans (should) absorb information and learn important things is by reading thoughtful books.'
Additionally, "The vast majority of Americans do not know they do not have the skills to earn a living in our increasingly technological society," says U.S. Secretary of Education, (1994).
And a 1992 study by the American Booksellers Association noted "Unfortunately, reading may therefore someday be engaged in by a small minority of people who are regarded as eccentrics by their fellow citizens." Well, I am certainly regarded as an eccentric then because of the intensive reading I have done for the last 30 years. Too bad it is not been financially rewarding. How's that? Simple- people rarely seek out and utilize those with advanced knowledge in the field of planning. They think anyone can do it- their neighbor, themselves, small furry animals, whatever. Then they find out they were lacking in the fundamentals- but they may then be 75 years of age and its too late to get the money back or purchase the insurance policy they should have bought initially.
Reading: (2000) The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows virtually no improvement in students' reading scores for 30 years.
TV- (2001) • The average U.S. household has at least one TV set turned on for about seven hours a day.
• The average school-aged child spends 27 hours per week watching TV (some preschoolers watch much more).
• Over the course of a year, children spend more time watching TV than they spend in school or participating in any other activity except sleep.
• Children’s TV shows contain about 20 violent acts per hour.
• A high percentage of a child’s viewing time is spent watching shows intended for adults: 40 percent of a 6-year-old’s viewing time, and about 80 percent of a 12-year-old’s viewing time.
• The average American child will have watched 100,000 acts of televised violence, including 8,000 murders, by the time he or she finishes the sixth grade.
Education (2001) - Greenspan noted that improving financial literacy among children and adults is crucial given the ever-expanding financial choices facing consumers. "In many respects, improving basic financial education at the elementary and secondary school level can provide a foundation for financial literacy, helping younger people avoid poor financial decisions that can take years to overcome."
Will never happen. Certainly some info will be taught. But not the real life application. Why? The brokerage firms will never allow the knowledge (diversification) be taught to students since it would slow trading and sales. Think that is not true? That's the reason I was given as to why the NASD would not allow the fundamentals of investing be taught to arbitrators. Does money make a difference? You decide.
Illiteracy: (2003) The National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges said most fourth-graders spend less than three hours a week on writing, about 15% of the time they spend watching television. 44 million Americans are functionally illiterate.
One hour ain't gonna cut it: Most U.S. students in elementary through high school spend less than an hour studying most nights, a report released Wednesday says. That's contrary to the popular wisdom that says kids today get too much homework.
Waaaaaaaaaahhhhh: The American Academy of Pediatrics 2004 recommends no TV for children younger than 2 and no more than two hours of high-quality programming for older kids. Frequent TV viewers in early childhood were most likely to score in the highest 10% for concentration problems, impulsiveness and restlessness.
Every added hour of watching TV increased a child's odds of having attention problems by about 10%. Kids watching about three hours a day were 30% more likely to have attention trouble than those viewing no TV. The researchers accounted for many factors beside television that might predict problems concentrating, but the TV-attention link remained.
Most literate cities
1. Minneapolis
2. Seattle
3. Pittsburgh
4. Madison, Wis.
5. Cincinnati
6. Washington
7. Denver
8. Boston
9. Portland, Ore.
10. San Francisco
Least literate cities
70. Garland, Texas
71. Fresno
72. Arlington, Texas
73. Long Beach
74. Anaheim, Calif.
75. San Antonio
76. Santa Ana, Calif.
77. Corpus Christi, Texas
78. Hialeah, Fla.
79. El Paso
•The nation's largest cities appear well into the bottom half, with New York at 49, Chicago at 58 and Los Angeles at 68. Those cities, also home to large immigrant populations, exhibit what Miller calls "bimodal" activity, in which "a subset of people are very engaged in (literate) behaviors and a big group is not."
• Suburbs fared better than neighboring cities, at least in terms of education levels. Dallas placed 54th in education and 60th overall, while Plano, its suburban neighbor, ranked first in education and 59th overall. Phoenix, meanwhile, was 49th in education and 60th overall, while suburban Scottsdale was second in education and 19th overall. Both 'burbs placed in the bottom 10 in the newspaper category.
• Old industrial cities support their libraries. Pittsburgh ranked fourth in the library category and third overall, while several Ohio cities also fared well: Akron ranked first (26th overall); Toledo, sixth (40th overall); Columbus, fifth (11th overall); and Cleveland eighth (14th overall). On the other hand, Detroit ranked 48th in library resources, 69th overall.
The decline in reading: (National Endowment for the Arts 2004) Based on Census information collected two years ago, the report found that in a sample size of 17,135 adults, only 46.7 percent of adult American readers -- an estimated 96 million -- are reading what the NEA describes as "literature," which is fiction, poetry and plays. Compared to a similar study in 1982, we have lost 10 percent of our fiction readers.
more women than men are reading fiction -- 55 percent of women, 37 percent of men -- but even reading among women has declined nearly 8 percent since 1982. The report also shows that divided by race, 51 percent of white people are reading fiction compared with 37 percent of African Americans and 26 percent of Hispanics. during the last two decades, young adults (ages 18 to 34) have gone from being the group most likely to read literature to the group least likely.
My point is not the reading of fiction but the reading of facts- such as contained here and in my book. I figure that of all the people who do read, maybe only 6% actually read material constructive to their lives- having a baby, health care, investments and so on. I think that is now down to 4%- maybe less.
READ!!!! A 2004 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association of people 65 and older found 26% performed better on memory tests after 10 training sessions. Likewise, 87% could process information more quickly and 74% had better problem-solving skills after undergoing training in each of those areas.
Another study of 800 Catholic clergy members age 65 and older found that a variety of intellectually stimulating activities, including reading, playing games and going to museums, were associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. Likewise, research involving people over 75, published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that those who frequently read, played board games, played musical instruments or danced had a reduced risk of dementia. While these studies don't prove cause and effect, they suggest that any intellectually stimulating activity is probably beneficial for the brain.
Literacy?: (National Center for Education Statistics 2005) Only 45 percent of parents read to their children. Children who read with their parents have higher intelligence and reading ability and are better able to comprehend language, improve communication skills, speech recognition and verbal ability.
Illiterate: (2006) Eleven million U.S. adults — about one in 20 — have such poor English skills that they can't read a newspaper, understand the directions on a bottle of pills or, in many cases, carry on a basic conversation. Recent immigrants with limited or no English skills account for most of the group, adult education advocates say, but the survey suggests that even the average adult has low skills. Only 13%, for instance, are able to compare viewpoints in two editorials; interpret a table on blood pressure, age and physical activity, or compare the per-ounce costs of two cans of soup.
Only 52% could look at a heating bill and figure out that a five-cent-per gallon deduction on a purchase of 140 gallons of oil would yield $7.
the National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that an estimated 30 million adults, or 14%, have "below basic" skills. While blacks' abilities improved across the board, there were few improvements overall.
Interviewers surveyed 19,000 adults ages 16 and up living in the USA in 2003 and found that the basic skills of whites, Asians and Pacific Islanders rose modestly if at all across all education levels. Hispanics were the only group that fared worse than in 1992, in two of three areas: the ability to read "continuous texts" such as books and magazines, as well as forms, tables and TV listings. They were unchanged in "quantitative literacy," the ability to add a bank deposit slip
The survey concluded that an estimated 11 million adults are "non-literate" in English, including 4 million who probably can't speak English and 7 million who can't answer basic written questions.
I have said again and again- people don't read. (Washington Post, National Center for Education Statistics 2006) Well, these new statistics beg the case that proficiency in financial affairs (and most anything else) is suspect at best. "While more Americans are graduating from college, and more than ever are applying for admission, far fewer are leaving higher education with the skills needed to comprehend routine data, such as reading a table about the relationship between blood pressure and physical activity.
"The declining impact of education on our adult population was the biggest surprise for us, and we just don't have a good explanation,. "It may be that institutions have not yet figured out how to teach a whole generation of students who learned to read on the computer and who watch more TV. It's a different kind of literacy."
Only 41 percent of graduate students tested in 2003 could be classified as "proficient" in prose -- reading and understanding information in short texts -- down 10 percentage points since 1992. Of college graduates, only 31 percent were classified as proficient -- compared with 40 percent in 1992.
On average, adult literacy is virtually unchanged since 1992, with 30 million people struggling with basic reading tasks. While adults made some progress in quantitative literacy, such as the ability to calculate taxes, the study showed that from 1992 to 2003 adults made no improvement in their ability read newspapers or books, or comprehend basic forms.
Reading: (2006) One major factor separates high school graduates who are ready for college from those who aren't, a new study shows: how well students handle complex reading. An ACT report released Tuesday found that 51% of the nearly 1.2 million high school graduates last year who took the ACT college entrance exam demonstrated the reading skills needed to succeed either in college or in job training programs. That's the lowest in a decade, down from a high of 55% in 1999. About 27% were from the East, 40% from the Midwest, 14% from the Southwest and 19% from the West.
Readiness was defined as having a 75% chance of earning a grade of C or better and a 50% chance of earning a B or better in certain first-year social-science college courses.
The literacy of today's high school graduates has become an enormous concern for colleges and employers.
What differentiates students who are ready for college from the rest is an ability to comprehend sophisticated texts that may have several layers of meaning. Reading is largely treated as an elementary school subject, with diminishing focus in later grades. But with each alarming report on college readiness, adolescent literacy is gaining attention.
On a federal test considered a report card for the country, the reading performance of 17-year-olds has essentially been stagnant for 20 years. Another recent study found that more than half of students at four-year colleges lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks.
TV or not TV, that is the question: (2006) Data from cities where preschoolers were exposed to the new technology, and data from cities where they were not, was correlated with test scores from about 300,000 students nationwide in 1965. The study also looked at test scores from pre- and post-TV age groups within cities.
The result showed "very little difference and if anything, a slight positive advantage" in test scores for children who grew up watching TV early on, compared to those who did not. In nonwhite households and those where English was a second language or the mother had less than a high school education, TV's positive effect was more marked.
Average TV viewing among 2- to 5-year-olds — the youngest viewers tracked by Nielsen Media Research — crept up to 3 hours and 40 minutes a day in the 2004-5 TV season. A host of cable channels have are dedicated to the tiniest viewers.