Education, Literacy And The 2020 Campaign via The Hill

Education, Literacy And The 2020 Campaign

The Hill: 7.27.2019 by Casey Mindlin, Director of Partnerships-Scholastic

As the 2020 Democratic Primary heats up, it’s increasingly evident that healthcare will, yet again, be at the top of the campaign issue list. Likewise, climate change is sure to remain atop the list. Candidates are right to speak with the urgency each crisis demands because, almost daily, we’re confronted with the dire consequences of our inaction on both fronts.

But, as I gird to hear “healthcare should be a right, not a privilege” repeated 47 times in the first five minutes of the next debate, I sincerely doubt any of us will hear the candidates frame the issue of education in the same light as they do healthcare or climate change. That is a problem — and it is not a new problem.

For decades, American children have been marginalized by the cruelty of congressional lip service because, while 76 percent of voters believe all children should have an equal opportunity to get a good education, no matter their economic circumstances, we clearly don’t see the problem as urgent enough to hold our elected representatives accountable. So it continues.

Thomas Jefferson said that “if a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be." And Abraham Lincoln called education “the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.” If we are to preserve the American experiment, it won’t be done in the halls of Congress, it will be done in our classrooms.

First, we must understand that an educated citizenry cannot exist without a literate citizenry — and the data on literacy should shock Americans as much or more than the next news update telling us that July beat June as the hottest month ever recorded:

➤ More than 30 million adults in the U.S. can’t read or write above a 3rd grade level;

➤ 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an 8th grade level. 

The long-term consequences of these numbers are clear:

➤ 43 percent of adults who read below the 5th grade level live in poverty;

➤ 70 percent of adult welfare recipients have low literacy skills;

➤ 75 percent of state prison inmates can be classified as low literate;

➤ Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72 percent chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves.

This represents a crisis because it’s now evident that inadequacies in American education have greatly exacerbated almost every other problem we face. The less educated we are, the harder it is to improve health outcomes, combat climate change, reduce poverty, fight bigotry, and galvanize civic participation.

Let’s start with healthcare. Illiteracy is said to be connected to over $230 billion a year in health care costs because almost half of Americans cannot read well enough to understand basic health information. While the hefty cost of “Medicare for All” is debated, perhaps we should consider whether “Literacy for All” could help foot the bill?  READ MORE >>

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult

2019: Adult Literacy in the United States, NCES 2019-179

2013: OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD

2009: Literacy of America's Least Literate Adults, NAAL 2003

2006: Literacy of America's College Students, AIR

2007: Literacy in Everyday Life, NAAL 2003

2003: National Assessment of Adult Literacy, NAAL

2000: Programs for Adults in Public Library Outlets, USDE, NCES

1992: National Adult Literacy Survey, NALS