The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as the Nation’s Report Card, came out in January, and student reading scores slipped once again. About 40% of fourth-graders and 33% of eighth-graders scored below the test’s basic level. Although states like Alabama provided bright spots in this grim picture with improvement in reading and math, the continued overall decline in test scores is bad news for our country and its future.
Being unable to read without a certain level of comprehension affects students in all their academic courses: social studies, science and literature. Without improvement, these slower readers will find themselves far down the academic totem pole by the time they reach high school. Many will be passed along from grade to grade, graduating high school as functional illiterates, able to read at a very basic level, but unable to decipher a medical prescription or understand the implications of an online article. Immigrants and the poor, especially those from families with a history of illiteracy, make up the great majority of this group.
There’s lots of blame to go around for this disaster. Many still point to the COVID school shutdowns as the cause, though test scores were falling before 2019. The flood of illegal immigrants into our schools, particularly in the last four years, has eaten up local resources. In some states and localities, “woke” government programs shifted the focus of learning from academics to social causes. Finally, parents themselves must accept some responsibility in this blame game, for they are both the natural protectors of their children and their primary educators.
Statistics for adults collected by the National Literacy Institute are equally grim. Just over 20% of American adults are illiterate, and 54% read below a sixth-grade level. The U.S. ranks 36th in the world in literacy. This inability to read and comprehend anything more than the most basic directives and information is costing our country over $2 trillion per year.
This problem won’t just magically fade. Given present circumstances, it is far more likely that it will only grow worse with the passage of time, with ramifications far beyond any economic considerations.
Our founding fathers firmly believed that an educated citizenry made for a strong republic. In 1779, Samuel Adams wrote: “If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great Security.” Benjamin Franklin essentially said the same thing, noting, “A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district--all studied and appreciated as they merit--are the principal supports of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.”
A few years later, Noah Webster made this important argument for reading:
Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country.
As a nation, we can’t go on just annually wringing our hands over this evidence of failure to teach reading. Sooner or later – I’m guessing sooner – this time bomb of illiteracy will explode, spelling the end of our republic and the liberties we enjoy.
Turning this trend around will require a massive effort. Our state and local governments, and our school boards, should make reading, writing and math the center point of education, especially in grades K-8. Those subjects are the key to success in every academic endeavor. Those in charge of our education should launch a campaign stressing these core subjects.
That effort is already in place in grassroots programs and volunteer organizations like Everybody Wins! and the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. The Ben Carson Reading Project seeks to establish reading lounges in our schools “to combat illiteracy and to promote leisure reading as a key to unlocking a child’s full potential.” Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library” program has operated for 30 years and has given away more than 250 million books to children. She and her group serve as a reminder of the value of enlisting other philanthropists in this fight against illiteracy.
This same effort should also involve parents, grandparents and other mentors willing to help children learn to read, and to read well. Teachers in both private and public schools, for instance, could send home directions to parents explaining how to review reading lessons from the classroom, an effort which would take no more than 15 minutes of parental time each day. Parents can also find online books and programs teaching kids how to read with some of the latter available free of charge.
This is how defusing that time bomb of illiteracy is done, one new reader at a time.
Jeff Minick is a father of four and grandfather to many. A former history, literature, and Latin teacher, Jeff now writes prolifically for The Epoch Times, American Essence Magazine, and several other publications.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email culture@1819news.com. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
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