Illiteracy has been an issue that Americans have had to face for generations. There have been many unsuccessful policies put in place by the government in an attempt to combat this issue, one of which was the No Child Left Behind Act, first implemented in 2001 by George W. Bush. Meant to give students of all backgrounds a high-quality education and improve literacy skills, this act put an emphasis on the importance of basic foundational literacy skills in the early years of education. However, due to the focus on promoting those basic skills in students, more advanced skills such as critical reading and writing were overlooked by schools. The policy was eventually replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 because of its ineffectiveness. However, the effect it had on peopleā€™s education could not be undone, and even under the new policy students are still unable to develop the literacy skills needed in order to succeed both academically and in life, with only 40 percent of public school students being able to read at or above their grade level.
It is a commonly held belief that literacy only relates to reading and writing skills; however, literacy skills are directly linked to peopleā€™s critical thinking, a necessary skill that is needed in order to be able to function as an adult in society. Studies show that peopleā€™s lack of literacy skills directly impacts how they are able to comprehend, evaluate and utilize information. Yet, some people continue to believe that the need to focus on building literacy skills in students is unnecessary under the misconception that they wonā€™t utilize them once they finish school. Because of that assumption, people are unable to see the effects this fault in the education system has on them and those around them.
There are many reasons why low literacy rates continue to be an issue in America. One of the main reasons is that the people who are tasked with the job of combating this issue with students often do not try to understand why students have a hard time reading. Reasons are often circumstantial, such as students having undiagnosed learning disabilities like dyslexia or ADHD, living in environments where reading is not encouraged and having language barriers that teachers are not properly trained to handle. The failure to build literacy skills in schools continues to affect Americans well into adulthood, with almost 54 percent of adults reading below a sixth-grade level and 1 in 5 Americans being functionally illiterate.
With over half of adult Americans having low literacy levels, it starts to affect every part of their lives. Apart from the ability to find employment, illiteracy also affects the likelihood of falling into poverty, the probability of getting incarcerated and access to proper health care and life expectancy. Though the issues of literacy (or lack thereof) do not just affect people on an individual level, they can continue to affect future generations. Children of parents with low literacy skills are 72 percent more likely to face low literacy skills in adulthood. It becomes a cycle, and one that is extremely difficult to escape from.
There are attempts being made to improve literacy skills in the average American. For instance, the federal government created policies in an attempt to make literacy a priority in schools so children can grow up with the proper literacy skills. However, these federal government policies do nothing to help the adults who did not have the opportunity to learn these skills in school for one reason or another.Ā This is why there are now state and local literacy programs, such as the Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education program, targeted towards adults, that provide them with the resources, environment and information needed to improve their literacy skills.