Try Being Illiterate for Even an Hour
Dear Leading Ladies,
The working definition of “literacy” is the ability to read and write. We decided to do a short experiment. Just for an hour or two, we imagined that we couldn’t read. Initially, we were not prepared for how reading is a part of almost every minute of our lives. What would be the big deal, we thought, to not read for a couple of hours? So we wouldn’t read the newspaper or the directions on some gizmo that just arrived from Amazon.
It’s difficult to admit that we were so naive and that our privilege made us so unaware.
But soon, reality hit. First, when our cell phone rang, we couldn’t read who was calling. Then, when we got in the car, we couldn’t put the address of the place we needed to go into the GPS. Then, we couldn’t read the street names as we navigated an unfamiliar neighborhood. At the grocery store, we couldn’t read the different labels on the spice jars that all looked the same, as did many of their contents. When our phone “pinged” and we suspected it was to alert us that the results of the medical test we had the day before were available online, we realized that we couldn’t read them. We wanted to check our computer for emails about work, but we couldn’t use a computer or decipher emails.
What we faced were reasonably minor obstacles, yet after just a couple of hours, we felt frustrated and alienated, cut off from the world around us, and certainly not able to function fully in the fast-paced life of 2022. And we hadn’t even tried to fill out a job application or a lease agreement, to read our children’s school report cards or complete the health forms to receive treatment for a chronic disease or gone for an eye exam to deal with failing sight without being able to read the eye chart.
Adult illiteracy in the US
Adult illiteracy rates in the United States are staggering, and they haven’t improved in the last several years. According to the 2020 National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 21% of adults in the United States (about 43 million) fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category. According to the US Department of Education, reporting in April 2021, 54% of US adults 16-74 years old – about 130 million people – read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.
To put this in perspective, the US mean literacy score is below the international average – ranking 13th out of 24 countries; and only 13% of adults in the US performed at the highest proficiency level on the literacy scale of the 2012-2017 PIAAC (The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).
Who are these people?
According to the World Population review in 2022, of the 43 million adults in the US who have low English literacy skills, 35% are white, 2% of whom are born outside of the US; 23% are Black, 3% of whom are born outside of the US; 34% are Hispanic, 24% of whom are born outside of the US; and 8% are of other races/ethnicities. Non US-born adults comprise 34% of the US population with low literacy skills. In other words, most of the illiterate people in our country were born here (66%) and are white (35%), just to dispel any conscious or unconscious biases.
In addition, an important statistic to note is that 75% of state incarcerated individuals are low literate, yet “incarcerated individuals who participate in correctional education programs are 43% less likely to recidivate than individuals who do not,” according to ProLiteracy.org, an organization that addresses adult literacy.
What effect does illiteracy have on people’s lives?
Literacy is correlated with personal income, employment levels, health, and overall economic growth.
For example, low literacy levels often go hand-in-hand with higher rates of hospitalization and more frequent outpatient visits. Low-literacy adults are less likely to have preventative health care screenings or to follow prescribed medication intake, leading to poorer outcomes. Because reading ability and an individual’s health status are so closely correlated, the medical community has begun to treat reading as a public health issue. “Between $106–$238 billion in health care costs a year are linked to low adult literacy skills,” according to ProLiteracy.org. “Adults with limited health literacy are hospitalized and use emergency services at significantly higher rates than those with higher skills.”
Low-literate adults are over ten times more likely to receive public financial aid. Gallup research inof 2020 indicated that “the average annual income of adults who are at the minimum proficiency level for literacy (Level 3) is nearly $63,000, significantly higher than the average of roughly $48,000 earned by adults who are just below proficiency (Level 2) and much higher than those at the lowest levels of literacy (Levels 0 and 1), who earn just over $34,000 on average.”
An additional $2.2 trillion in annual income for the country would be generated, the study concluded, if all US adults could achieve just minimum literacy proficiency. That’s equal to 10 % of the gross domestic product. That could do a lot towards attacking income inequality.
The effect of adult illiteracy on children
If parents are illiterate, they cannot read to their children; there are no books in the home; the vocabulary heard by children is limited. Those children enter school already behind their peers. The frightening reality is that by age 5, half of children living in poverty are not academically prepared for school, many of them in families where the problems are compounded by illiteracy in English. They have not been read to in English as much, or been exposed to as many language-rich experiences as children who grow up with parents who can read.
To be clear, research by the US Department of Education found that “children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member are almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who are read to less than three times a week.”
Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (2010) also found that “children growing up in homes with many books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation, and class.”
Of course, the problem of childhood illiteracy also lies in our schools. While increasing adult literacy will filter down to have a positive impact on child literacy, our schools also have a significant role to play. Literacy among children will improve when currently underserved schools have more and better pre-school programs; equal resources and materials; lower student-faculty ratios; well supported and fairly paid teachers; up-to-date facilities; adequate programs for their students with disabilities, learning differences, and English learning needs. This all comes under the umbrella of equal access to quality education.
What can be done?
“When individuals learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers, they have the power to lift themselves out of poverty, lower health care costs, find and keep sustainable employment, and ultimately change their lives,” according to ProLiteracy.
Unfortunately, only a fraction of the adults in need of literacy programs are being served. There are long waiting lists and limited funding for services. Some estimates say only 10% of adults are receiving the literacy training they need.
Yet we know that the problem of adult (and child) illiteracy has solutions. Adult literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are work. Here in Massachusetts, the Department of Education oversees the Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS). Its mission is “to provide each and every adult with opportunities to develop literacy skills needed to qualify for further education, job training, and better employment, and to reach his/her full potential as a family member, productive worker, and citizen.” Their Massachusetts Adult Literacy Hotline provides referrals to hundreds of adult education programs that offer English language training, high school equivalency test preparation, and other services. To learn more, call 800-447-8844 or visit www.mass.gov/edu/literacyhotline.
Of course, we are very lucky to have The REAL Literacy Program in Lynn, serving children and adults near our North Shore headquarters, as well as the Adult Learning Center at North Shore Community College.
For programs in other areas, to volunteer or find an adult literacy program, consult proliteracy.org. https://www.proliteracy.org/Resources-Publications/Find-a-Program
As always, let your representatives and senators, at the state and federal levels, know that improving the rates of adult literacy is a priority for you.
One more idea
But we have one more idea to stop the cycle of illiteracy. Since mothers have a large potential impact on the language acquisition of their children, why not offer literacy training to pregnant women who can’t read, as part of their prenatal care? If these women learned to read while they went through their months of pregnancy, they would be prepared to read to their babies from the very beginning, providing their children with the same head start that babies of literate mothers receive.
While our research shows that there are programs to teach pregnant women about “health literacy” in order to make them more aware of how to navigate the health system and care for their children, we did not find any general literacy programs offered to pregnant women.
We hope to pursue this concept and see how it might be put into practice. We welcome your thoughts and ideas.
The great social reformer, abolitionist, statesman, and author Frederick Douglass wasn’t far off when he said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
Therese
Judy
Mary
Beth
Leading Ladies Executive Team
Leadingladiesvote.org
ladies@leadingladiesvote.org