It’s a given that as a nation, millions of children struggle to attain a functional level of literacy, but Tom Sticht of EducationNews.org wants to know, where does the reading problem go when children grow up? Overwhelmingly–but not always accurately–adults rate their own reading skills very highly. When broken out by ethnic groups, Sticht notes, the ratings are
Whites: Very Well-77%, Well-21%, or Not Well/Not At All-3%.
Blacks: Very Well-67%, Well-27% and Not Well/Not At All-6%.
Hispanics: Very Well-46%, Well-22% and Not Well/Not At All-32%
Just because adults think they read well, however, doesn’t mean they do. When the average proficiencies of whites and blacks on the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) prose scale were compared, Sticht notes, the average proficiency of whites who rated themselves as reading very well was 308, well above average. Blacks rating themselves as reading very well scored 259, well below average. What’s going on here? Sticht has a theory:
Perhaps when children grow up and get out of the pre-K-12 world they adapt to the ambient literacy demands of a cultural niche that they find possible to occupy. They find jobs they can qualify for, they get information from sources they have access to and feel comfortable in using, and as they slip ever more firmly into their literacy niche, they feel more and more satisfaction with their literacy skills. Maybe this is why so many U.S. adults think they read Well or Very Well, despite their poor performance on literacy tests.
If they are using themselves as a standard, Sticht concludes ominously, many adults are not able to judge whether or not their children are learning to read well in school and fail to act accordingly.
I am spending my Thanksgiving weekend digesting a report on educational data. Save for the Internet I would not have access to this information. The desire to read and understand reports like this forced me to improve my reading skills; otherwise, I probably would not have the ability. Not being able to read – and write well enough to respond adequately – leads people to take their natural frustrations at the inadequacy of our civil institutions into the streets, sometimes with tragic results. The necessity of every citizen to be able to do a penetrative reading of the output of the various institutions and respond to them in an appropriate manner is the only way this country “of, by, and for the people” will continue to stand. Being taught to read well is more than a civil right; it is a prerequisite to the survival of the Republic that the Founding Fathers envisioned.
I agree with Sticht. People are judging their reading ability based on the reading ability of the people around them.
Once a person is out of school, they don’t have anyone judging their reading and so they become the judges. And they are doing a comparative evaluation.
Honestly, though, if people are able to do the reading they want and need to do fairly well, then why do they need to read better? Maybe that is something we should consider.
If they are using themselves as a standard, Sticht concludes ominously, many adults are not able to judge whether or not their children are learning to read well in school and fail to act accordingly.
Interesting.
John Corcoran’s book, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, has a very interesting passage on Corcoran’s having created a student-centered classroom in order to mask the fact that he couldn’t read.
It made me wonder whether the NCTE’s position statement on 21st century literacies, which makes almost no mention of reading, is motivated by an NCTE membership with relatively poor literacy themselves.
As a side note, I’ve noticed that some of the highest-level administrators in my school district don’t seem to be interested in books. They are obsessed with technology, which they talk about (and purchase) constantly. But you don’t hear much about books.
A couple of years ago I gave an article to the middle school principal to read. He groaned and said, “More reading.”
Then: “We have to read a book.”
The superintendent was requiring all of the building principals to read one 200-page book on school improvement. And he was complaining.