Shocking Facts About Literacy in the US

The level at which someone reads and writes has a significant impact on if someone stays in or out of prison, receives decent employment, is impoverished or depends on social support systems to survive.  Sadly, our schools allow too many students to never attain a reading level that allows them to be competitive in the job market.  If you are reading this article, you are not one of them millions who are crippled by illiteracy, functional or pure.  You are also probably in the position to educate and help.  By simply improving our educational system to the point where students who reach a certain grade are proficient in reading and writing we can dramatically reduce crime and save this country billions of dollars in social services, prison expenses, and lost tax revenue from people who aren't qualified to work. 

It is important to define the different types of illiteracy.  Purely illiterate persons cannot read or write in any capacity, for all practical purposes. In contrast, functionally illiterate persons can read and possibly write simple sentences with a limited vocabulary, but cannot read or write well enough to deal with the everyday requirements of life in their own society.

For example, an illiterate person may not understand the written words cat or dog, may not recognize the letters of the alphabet, and may be unable to write their own name. In contrast, a functionally illiterate person may well understand these words and more, but cannot read well enough to understand the things they must read in order to get by in their daily life. A functionally illiterate person might be incapable of reading and comprehending job advertisements, past-due notices, newspaper articles, banking paperwork, complex signs and posters, and so on.

With this in mind, here are some statistics about the US that hopefully raise concern....

• 65 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.

• Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help.

• When the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade.

• Only 3 out of 10 8th graders read at or above grade level

• Over one million children drop out of school each year, costing the nation over $240 billion in lost earnings, forgone tax revenues, and expenditures for social services.

• In the U.S., 63 million adults — 29 percent of the country’s adult population —over age 16 don’t read well enough to understand a newspaper story written at the eighth grade level.

• Nearly half of America's adults are poor readers, or "functionally illiterate." They can't carry out simply tasks like balancing check books, reading drug labels or writing essays for a job. (National Adult Literacy Survey)

• 62% of parents with high socioeconomic status read to their children every day. 36% of parents with low socioeconomic status read to their children every day

• 44% of U.S. adults in the lowest level on the literacy scale are living in poverty 

• About 70% of adult welfare recipients have lower level literacy skill on the National Assessment of the Adult Literacy (NAAL).

So what does this tell you?  First, it demonstrates the gross failure of our educational system.  As the richest and most innovative country in the world, it is a tragedy that we cannot put forth the resources, effort, and creativity needed to simply teach our entire population to read and write  We also see that if we do not ensure that all of our kids and adults can read they are more likely to end up in prison or dependent of a social programs because they do not have the skills or confidence to take care of themselves.  Literacy is a simple solution to many problems. 

How can you help?  Contact one of the organizations below and become a tutor.  Also, share this article so others can become aware of the effect literacy has on our society.

Literacy Assistance NYC

Literacy Partners

Reading, Literacy, and Education Statistics