1. Seeking Remedy: America’s English Literacy Decline – Part One.
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Seeking Remedy: America’s English Literacy Decline – Part One.
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2. Seeking Remedy: America’s English Literacy Decline
Part One: What the Numbers Tell Us.
This presentation is one of six multi-media presentations designed to increase awareness of the shift in America from a nation of 90% English literacy to a nation of 30% literacy - and still falling each year.
This presentation will show that historically we were a literate culture. At one time writing was the dominant medium for enabling public debate and for sustaining a democratic form of government. Newspapers had very few pictures – wood cuts were too costly and paper was scarce.
It will show that more than half the population can now be classified as illiterate. For them, the thought-boosting services of print are out of reach. Poverty and desperation usually accompany illiteracy.
Despite massive government programs and volunteer agencies, the literacy problem grows worse by about 2.4 million persons each year. (Hunter and Harman, “Adult Illiteracy in the US.”)
Five alleged causes of increasing illiteracy in the US will be examined, illustrated, and evaluated.
The ALC Internet site is at where robust resources, writings, and materials are collected - made available in support of improving English literacy.
Government sources of statistics and literacy testing will be referenced throughout all six parts of this presentation. Last updated in 2007.
Staff authors hold doctoral degrees in research from Columbia University and New York University.
Produced by American Literacy Council Staff:
Free for public use in support of English Literacy
In Six Parts. This is Part One.

3. 1992 Arby’s Restaurant Place Mat
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
1992 Arby’s Restaurant Place Mat
In 1992 this paper mat was on every Arby’s food tray for about one year. The facts appeared to be exaggerated. Could it actually be this bad? Where did they get the numbers?
The illiteracy count has worsened vastly since The US now ranks 51th in literacy among all United Nations member countries, down 20 places since 1950.
Illiteracy costs us heavily, both personally and as a society. There’s a direct link between illiteracy and crime, for example. Sixty-percent of the inmates in prison cannot write a letter to their lawyer. Eighty-five percent of all juvenile offenders have serious reading deficiencies.
At the personal level, illiteracy intensifies unemployment and personal insecurity. Seventy-five percent of the unemployed cannot read or qualify for today’s high tech industries. It’s hard enough to read a computer manual, but for the illiterate, even a price tag is meaningless.
In 1996 twenty-seven million Americans could not read but each year the number increased by about 2,410,000 people. Reason: Each year we add one million high school dropouts or pushouts. Another 1.2 million are documented and undocumented aliens (each year). Another 100,000 refugees come to the US each year. Many cannot read their native language such as Spanish.
The paper mat above promoted Literacy Volunteers of America, encouraging volunteers to assist in teaching someone to read.
These statistics are summarized from “Adult Illiteracy in the United States” by Hunter and Harman, McGraw-Hill, NY.
Whereas we thought there were six million non-reading aliens in the US in 2005, upon review of the unchecked border traffic, we find in 2007 that there are actually 36 million non-reading aliens, enabling us to say that less than one person in three on average can read the English language in the United States.
1 in 10=10% illiterate 1 in 8 =12% illiterate 1 in 5 = 20% illiterate 1 in 2 = 50%

4. Definition of “Functionally Illiterate”
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Definition of “Functionally Illiterate”
Short: one who is unable to read a Help Wanted ad,
get to the place where the job is offered,
and fill out the job application form.
Long: the inability to write, read, and comprehend texts
on familiar subjects, and to understand whatever
signs, labels, instructions, and directions are
necessary to get along within one’s environment.
See also books and white papers regarding illiteracy. Each author creates a definition.
In the case of tests performed by Education Testing Services Company in Princeton, they identified five levels of illiteracy and therefore test results were grouped into their five definitions.
Federal government-sponsored testing programs vary in definitions and levels.
See the government book “The State of Literacy in America” compiled by the National Institute for Literacy. Call their hotline to order it (free) at (800)
Hunter and Harmon, Adult Illiteracy in the US., 1979

5. “Campaigning for Literacy”
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Viewed Globally,
the Illiterate Are:
Desperate
Poor
Hungry
Often jobless
Abused
Exploited
Powerless
Ashamed
Self doubting
Migrant
Notes Here
“Campaigning for Literacy”
Bhola, Unesco, 1984
“Speech makes us human, writing makes us civilized.”

7. Showing: Video Clip: 1’ 10” “Bluffing It” The personal tragedies
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Video Clip: 1’ 10”
“Bluffing It”
Showing:
The personal tragedies
that result from illiteracy.
Literacy can be a life
or death issue.
The film “Bluffing It” was created for television by The Nabisco Company.
Excerpts from the film were edited into a promotional tape that was provided to the American Literacy Council for use in creating awareness of the personal effects resulting from illiteracy. 3

8. The 1993 National Adult Literacy Survey
Thursday, September 9, 1993
The 1993 National Adult Literacy Survey
Largest Study of Functional Literacy in the US
26,000 People Interviewed in Depth
Formal Government Study: 1993
In 1993 this Times front page article described a formal study conducted by the Educational Testing Service in Princeton N.J.
Reasons for the increase in illiteracy were cited as:
- This study went deeper than previous studies, requiring people to demonstrate their ability to read directions, or choose a lowest price.
- Insufficient education, dropouts, and failures in teaching.
- Growing number of adults whose first language is not English.
- The demands of the workplace vastly increased at the same time.
QUOTES: “The results are very sobering and they indicate the need for a much greater effort than has been expended until now.”
“Literacy programs are fragmented, reaching only a small fraction of adults who have trouble reading.”
“Businesses lose between $25 billion and $30 billion each year in lost productivity, errors, and accidents attributable to poor literacy.”
“Corporate programs, schools, and volunteer programs pale, given the enormity of the problem. This is clearly disappointing in terms of where we are and where we want to be as a society.”
(Quotations are from the article) 4

9. The Test: can you Released Sept. 1993
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Released
Sept. 1993
Adolescents under age 15 were not interviewed.
The Test: can you
write a letter to clear up a billing error?
calculate the length of a bus trip from a bus schedule?
The report was released by Madeline M. Kunin, Deputy Secretary of Education.
She stated that “the overall education level of Americans has increased in terms of schooling and in fundamental literacy. But the demands of the workplace simultaneously have vastly increased. We are not keeping pace with the kinds of skills required in today’s economy.”
At a minimum, she felt, the findings are certain to prompt renewed efforts in bolstering adult education and literacy programs across the country, which typically are run by community colleges, churches, or service organizations, but reaching only a small fraction of adults who have trouble reading.
The test included questions revolving around practical matters that people face every day, like gleaning information from a newspaper, reading a bus schedule, making out a bank deposit slip, and understanding instructions for prospective jurors.
Between 1993 and 1996 approximately 9 million tax dollars were allocated to support adult education and library literacy programs.
But, the problem worsens as unchecked border crossings have produced a total of 36 million people who often cannot read their own native language – and rarely can read English. Last updated June 2007.
The four year study was conducted by ETS,
the Educational Testing Service, under
contract to the Department of Education.
The report was released
by Madeline Kunin,
Deputy Sec. of Education 5

10. Total Population: 185 Million when Test was given In 1996.
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
20m
highly
literate
44m
lowest
Cannot: Calculate total of a purchase.
Find a street on a map.
Understand which price is lowest.
20m
adequate
61m
moderate
skills
50m
2nd
lowest
Cannot: describe a newspaper article.
Write a summarizing paragraph.
Distinguish antibiotic from vitamin.
Notes Here
Video Clip: 2 Minutes
McNeil-Lehrer Report: Sept. 1993

11. With no high school diploma, 3/4 earn less than $7,000/year
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
States With More Than 1 to 3 million Adults With No High School Diploma
More than 3 million
2 to 3 million
1 to 2 million
Less than 1 million
With no high school diploma, 3/4 earn less than $7,000/year
“Adult Illiteracy in the United States”, p 37

12. Until 1920, printed matter was virtually all that was
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Print’s Competition
Electricity
Telegraph
Phonograph
Radio
Automobiles
Movies
Auto Factories
Airplanes
Radar
Antibiotics
Television
Computers
Robots
Satellites
Workforce
Complexity
90%
Literacy
Literacy
Prior to 1920, virtually all public discourse was debated in the framework of printed material. Without electronic media, print had no competition. Even lecturers spoke as though they were reading with long flowing sentences, usually because they had written and often memorized them.
Jonathan Edwards, the most brilliant writer and thinker in early America lectured and preached widely before founding Princeton University. He read all his speeches and sermons. His writings are prized evidence of the literate culture which bred him.
There is more print available today than ever before. But it has enormous competition from other media. Until about 1920, print and literary lectures were once the channel and measure of all public discourse. Alex de Tocqueville wrote that “Americans speak to you as though they were addressing a meeting, and if they warm to their discussion, they will say Gentlemen to the person with whom they are speaking as though addressing a crowd.”
In 1854 in Peoria, Illinois, Douglas delivered a three-hour address, to which Lincoln by agreement was to respond. When his turn came, he stated that he would need at least as much time as Douglas had, and proposed that everyone go home, have dinner, and return for four more hours of lecture on political issues. They came back to hear it all. Lincoln and Douglas were not presidential candidates at that time.
Early American newspapers had no pictures because of the scarcity of paper and the cost of artists to create block-cut pictures. Advertisements were written with text only using long literary sentences. With the invention of photographs, ads began to include pictures, then slogans. With the advent of radio and TV, economy of time introduced slogans, clipped sentences, and telegraph styles in advertising and subsequently into most popular literature and political debate.
People who cannot read rely on radio and TV to provide pictures and icons as a new and radically different means of obtaining information.
Until 1920, printed matter was virtually all that was
available. Print had very little competition. 13

13. Simply Stated Today: Eighty Years Ago:
America’s English Literacy Decline- Part One
Eighty Years Ago:
90% of the population
could write and read
complex material.
Today:
1/3 to 1/2 of the
population cannot fill in
job applications or read
medicine bottle labels.
Simply Stated
Technophobia:
VCR’s
Answering Machines
Car radio
Digital Clock
Microwave
Fax Machines
Cellular Phones
The work place requires the
use of computers with
complex instruction manuals.
The free-fall continues. At a time when the workforce requires higher levels of literacy to understand the meaning of words in computer manuals, and when technology in the kitchen or home requires the ability to read - a prelude to using microwave ovens and VCRs, we have up to 2/3 of the population unable to write and read adequately to function and find fulfillment in this complex world.
The Dell Computer Corporation conducted a nation wide survey (July 1993) about our general reluctance to use electronic equipment and why so few people actually use the programmable features of VCRs, thermostats, etc.
The survey spanned ten years, tracking 1000 adults and 500 teens across the country.
Technophobia was defined as “fear of using VCRs, answering machines, computer keyboards, modems, faxes, digital alarm clocks, microwave ovens, and cellular phones. Results:
- One fourth of all US adults have not programmed favorite stations on a car radio or VCR.
- One fourth still mourn the demise of mechanical typewriters.
One fourth cannot set a digital clock.
But, to a non-reading person, even a street sign is useless.
Does your VCR or Microwave oven blink 12:00 all the time?
Literacy continues to decline despite
massive campaigns and massive dollars. 14

14. Five Factors are Alleged to Cause
the Literacy Dilemma.
I. History: “We were Always a Nation of Illiterate
Immigrants and Farmers”
II. Schools: Experimental New Teaching Methods
III. Society: Breakdown of the American Family
IV. Government: Lack of Uniform Standards
V. English: Our Erratic System of Spelling
In Part two we will examine five factors that are said to be the causes of relentless decline in our culture.
Neither money nor educational innovations, nor campaigns, nor government programs, nor grants, nor community literacy centers, nor Churches, nor libraries, nor immigration policies, nor Presidential mandates have slowed the relentless decline of our once-literate population.
All agencies and initiatives above are helpful and they each achieve tangible results, but they do not keep up or gain in the battle for literacy.
How many countries spend more than the U.S. per pupil for education? None.
How many people did AT&T interview before finding 1,200 applicants who had adequate writing skills? Answer- 6,000. From “Adult Illiteracy in the United States” Hunter and Harma, 1985.
Are these the causes?
Who or what is to blame for non-stop decline?
What solutions are offered to increase literacy?
How can we deal with non-reading populations?
What failed programs could we avoid?

15. “We Were Once A Literate Nation.”
Continue to Part Two:
“We Were Once A Literate Nation.”