If you consider the rate of illiteracy in the United States, somewhere between 20 and 45 percent depending on whose interpretations of the data you believe, you might be concerned, discouraged, or just out-in-out outraged. As well, you should be. Even if you take the most optimistic interpretation -- one in five cannot read. This should suggest to you that there is something amiss in the country's schools and keep in mind that this is not a problem of only a few poverty-ridden school districts -- this is a problem for the entire country. Business has been dealing with the problem for decades. The practical business solutions have only managed to confuse the problem. By making a sign showing a picture of hands under running water the employee knows he is to wash his hands. Employee handbooks and procedure manuals are only a collection of sound bites with pictures of course. Many companies have resorted to putting training material, procedure manuals, and instruction manuals on video tape because they know that the employee is more than capable of watching television.
A few years ago, I attended a seminar on how to communicate better with today's employees. Not only should all writing be done to below a sixth grade level, but ideas must be presented in segments no more than nine lines. Newspapers have also adjusted their production to the new market of barely literate; just look at the difference between the New York Times and USA Today.
In grocery stores, scanners read the item into the store computer which in turn prints out what the item is and its price. Lo and behold, the computer will then tell the clerk what change to give back. I appreciate this because I like getting back the correct change. How long ago was it when clerks knew how to make change without the computer telling them each and every time. We now have math illiteracy. Have you ever been in the grocery store when the computers go down. The world stops.
Speaking of grocery stores; the other day I went to the store to buy three artichokes. Since the artichokes had no scan code on them, it was up to the clerk to decide what they were. After searching his vegetable price book for a while he asked, "Are these Brussel sprouts?" We now have vegetable illiteracy.
We also seem to have a whole generation or two that are visually illiterate. How many can recognize even the most famous works of art let alone the style in which they were painted?
The solution: READ, THINK, BE A PART OF THE WORLD, LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY. Even if you dislike what you read or see, know why you disagree -- remember that not every piece of art or literature is meant to make you feel comfortable or to reassure you that the world is as well-ordered as you thought.