literacy is dying, but what's killing it?

The United States is an extremely developed country, yet 21% of the adult population is functionally illiterate. For context: Finland, Venezuela, Ukraine, Cuba, Australia, and many other countries have litteracy rates above 95%. Although access to education and information continues to improve, literacy rates have been consistently dropping due to policy changes and the deprioritization of broader knowledge and skills across all demographics. Literacy has a major impact on individual and nationwide well-being, making these changes - and their numerous effects - extremely concerning. The decline in US literacy and comprehension rates, which is detrimental to nationwide knowledge and critical thinking skills, is due to government policies and is therefore a form of censorship.

Literacy is the ability to take in new information, process it with critical thinking, and apply it to different situations to cultivate knowledge, skills, and opinions. The United States currently has the lowest literacy rate since 1992, with only 79% of US adults being literate, which marks a steady yet dramatic decline. Literacy is extremely important for society as a whole. It has effects on education, economic health, individual empowerment, and the overall well-being of individuals. Studies have shown that nations with high literacy rates also have high rates of workforce readiness, increased individual income, improved media literacy, and higher levels of critical thinking. There is a clear correlation between literacy and a country’s overall socio-economic health.

When looking at literacy rates, it is important to take the national policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) into account. This was a 2001 federal law that aimed to improve public education by increasing accountability through standardized testing. There were many goals for this initiative, including the desire to close achievement gaps, meet the needs of all or most students, and make the US education system more globally competitive. This plan had lasting effects, many of which are still affecting students today. In some ways, NCLB was successful. It narrowed achievement gaps, raised graduation rates, and had higher standards for teachers, as well as a system to ensure accountability. However, there were many negative effects of this plan as well. NCLB encouraged “teaching to the test,” which narrows the curriculum focus to only subjects that were tested. This led to less broad and well-rounded knowledge and skills in students. It also negatively impacted gifted programs and students, as funds that were previously allocated to enrichment and advancements were instead used to narrow the achievement gap and help lower-achieving students. NCLB also resulted in classes such as social studies and science getting less time and attention, which resulted in lower proficiency levels in these subjects. Yearly state testing only tests math and English, so teachers focus on these subjects more. This leads to knowledge gaps in these areas, as well as a lack of skills that would normally be learned through these subjects. NCLB was a nationwide law that has had lasting negative effects on students, education, and literacy.

Dropping phonics was also impactful on students’ reading and writing abilities. School shifted to the whole language method, which teaches reading through immersion into reading sentences, passages, and texts as opposed to individual words and phonics. This resulted in declining reading scores, proficiency, and poor word recognition. Experts think that this change directly correlates to the rise in functional illiteracy. This educational change, which happened on a national level, has been shown to have decreased students’ literacy and reading skills.

Additionally, English classes have started reading fewer whole books in class and more passages and texts. Classes that used to read at least ten books a year are now reading three to four. This shift primarily happened due to standardized testing for reading only using passages, texts, and excerpts, as a result of NCLB. This resulted in students having less reading endurance, lacking the ability to connect different portions of one story, and having more difficulty understanding a complete and complex storyline.

There is also a lack of nationwide funding for public education. Funding is being cut from the Department of Education and allocated to other government branches. Officials have stated that this is because education should be entirely handled at the state and local levels with no federal input, standards, or funding. This is a reason why all of the states have a variety of test scores; they have different standards, demographics, and amounts of funding.

Low literacy results in students’ lack of knowledge because reading expands people’s amount of knowledge by presenting them with new facts, ideas, and information. This is especially true for someone reading a variety of topics and genres. There is also a lack of critical thinking skills. Reading exposes people to a multitude of diverse ideas and requires readers to be able to analyze complicated plots, characters, and arguments. Writer Cassandra Neace says, “Literature – all forms, genres, and levels – teaches lessons. It doesn’t matter what the author’s intention was – whether they wanted to teach us something or not. When we read, we learn. We take it in, and we make it our own.” Reading builds the ability to infer information, form supported opinions, and interact with complicated information and ideas. Students are also having a harder time understanding and applying different opinions and ideas: reading exposes people to a variety of different ideas and opinions. It teaches readers to interact with ideas that they may not agree with in a way that still builds further understanding and comprehension.

This matters because everything about reading is innately political, which has been shown throughout history by the use of censorship. This has always been used as not only a way to control what information, ideas, and opinions were in books, but also who had the ability to read them. In general, books are banned if they aren’t in support of the ideas held by a majority or someone in charge, present the experiences and voices of the oppressed, go against major beliefs, or expose people to content that has been deemed inappropriate. Naomi Garcia Alarcon states, “In fact, even the ability to read is deeply political. Throughout history, literacy has been a tool of both oppression and liberation. Nearly one billion people today cannot read, and for centuries, literacy was deliberately withheld from marginalized communities to maintain power structures.” Books and reading, as well as accessibility and content, have always been extremely political and impactful. In short, censorship is the control of literacy, and it is always used as a way for people in power as a means of oppression.

There have always been restrictions on access to education and books as a way to control literacy. The people who were unable to access these were those who were minorities or oppressed. Books, and the ability to read them, have always been a luxury that is most widely enjoyed by people with money, time, and access. Additionally, there have also always been restrictions on who writes the books and what content and ideas are in them. This controls what voices are being heard, experiences and opinions being shared, and can provide exposure to their situation. By controlling who was literate, through access to education and books, as well as what content was in them, governments can control the people themselves.

There has always been censorship, both in the past and present, and it is extremely impactful on societies. Censorship is particularly harmful for students, children, minorities, and anyone who isn’t in a position of power. It suppresses free expression, inhibiting critical thinking and analysis skills. Being highly literate means being highly empowered. Censorship has always been used to keep the people at the bottom down. In contrast, censorship is beneficial to people in power as it gives them the ability to control information, maintains social order and hierarchy, and weakens those who are struggling.

Historically, literacy was controlled by restricted access to education and books. Now, literacy is controlled by what information and skills (or lack thereof) are included in education and books. While development and technology continue to speedily advance, evidence shows that literacy, and the skills that come with it, is steadily dropping. This is a statistic that is not only extremely important but also inherently political. This begs the question: Is the systematic decline of literacy - which is clearly not happening by accident - just a more subtle and refined form of nationwide censorship? Although the long-term societal impacts of this are unclear, one thing is certain: the United States is heading towards a post-literate society, where literacy is the newest luxury good, and fewer and fewer people will be able to afford it.