In The News

STAGGERING ILLITERACY STATISTICS

by Brother Carlton 
04/29/16
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Our generation is clearly an image worshipping generation.  From MTV or Music Television with it's choreographic invasion of the senses, both sight and sound, to the inundating mantra of facebook and other social media to modern television programs and contemporary films Americans and the world at large are not readers.  We've sold the written word for a mess of carnal images which titillate the vain imagination.

Ask yourself this question: Where are the readers today?  Consider the following and sob with sadness.

STAGGERING ILLITERACY STATISTICS

California

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  According to the 2007 California Academic Performance Index, research show that 57% of students failed the California Standards Test in English.



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  There are six million students in the California school system and 25% of those students are unable to perform basic reading skills



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  There is a correlation between illiteracy and income at least in individual economic terms, in that literacy has payoffs and is a worthwhile investment. As the literacy rate doubles, so doubles the per capita income.

The Nation

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  In a study of literacy among 20 ‘high income’ countries; US ranked 12th



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  Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children



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  50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level



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  45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level



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  44% of the American adults do not read a book in a year



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  6 out of 10 households do not buy a single book in a year

The Economy

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  3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read



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  20% of Americans read below the level needed to earn a living wage



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  50% of the unemployed between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate



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  Between 46 and 51% of American adults have an income well below the poverty level because of their inability to read



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  Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year



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  School dropouts cost our nation $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues

  Impact on Society:

  
  
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    3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read

  
  
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    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

  
  
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    85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading

  
  
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    Approximately 50% of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels

  
  
  
  

  Source: National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, U.S. Census Bureau  

This certainly is cause for serious alarm but where is the outcry?  Why have we reached such an appalling situation?