The Lifelong Impact of Illiteracy via Room 241 Concordia

The Lifelong Impact of Illiteracy

Room 241 Concordia University-Portland: 9.18.2018 by Jennifer Gunn

Literacy deeply and persistently impacts access to education, economic development, and life outcomes. Even in our modern world, the numbers are startling. Millions — around the world and in our own country — remain functionally illiterate, reading below the basic level.

The International Literacy Association views “literacy as the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, compute, and communicate using visual, audible, and digital materials across disciplines and in any context,” says Dr. Bernadette Dwyer, President of the International Literacy Association. “The right to literacy is a basic fundamental human right. However, 750 million people around the world cannot read and write. Two-thirds of these are female. Despite some progress, gender disparity remains.”

The perpetuation of illiteracy leads to “heavy and often tragic consequences, via lower earnings, poorer health and higher rates of incarceration,” according to McKinsey & Company’s The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools.

Just how much is tied to our nation’s literacy level? You may be surprised.

The social impact

When a person struggles with reading, the social impacts are profound. A person who is unable to read may have low self-esteem or feel emotions such as shame, fear, and powerlessness. Students who struggle with literacy feel ostracized from academia, avoid situations where they may be discovered or find themselves unable to fully participate in society or government.

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The multigenerational impact

Illiteracy often passes from generation to generation, regardless of whether children attend school. “Many children around the world attend school but do not learn to read, write, or calculate… Many of these adults experienced such frustration as children that they deliberately avoid literacy-related activities in later life.

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The economic impact

It’s said that “people struggling with literacy are more likely to be poor, lack education, and miss out on opportunities to participate fully in society and the workforce,” according to Project Literacy. The statistics agree. The Brookings Institute has found that less than half of children living in poverty are ready for school at age five, compared to 75% of kids from families with middle to high incomes. Another study found that people with low literacy skills “had poorer health outcomes, including knowledge, intermediate disease markers, measures of morbidity, general health status, and use of health resources.”

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The educational debt

Knowing just how deeply etched the impacts of illiteracy are, and with an understanding of the systemic inequities that have led us here, we largely continue to press on in the pursuit of ever-increasing rigor and testing. The term “achievement gap” places blame on students for the inequalities mentioned in this article.  READ MORE >>

Education & School Reports & Statistics

2017

Get the Facts on the Achievement Gap, Walton Family Foundation

State of Learning Disabilities, NCLD
2016

Full-Day Kindergarten in the States, Education Comm of the States
2014

Learning Curve, Pearson
2013
Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020,  Georgetown Univ: Center on Education and the Workforce
2011
Double Jeopardy: How 3rd Gr Reading Skills/Poverty Influence HS Graduation, AE Casey Fnd
Education Gap Between Rich & Poor:
   Whither Opportunity?, Russell Sage Foundation
    Gains and Gaps, NBER
2009
Consequences of Dropping Out of High School, Northeastern Univ.
The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools (Hunt Inst.), McKinsey & Company, Social Sector Office

Left Behind in America: The Nation’s Dropout Crisis, Northeastern Univ.
Ready Willing & Unable to Serve: 75% Young Adults Cannot Join Military, Mission Readiness