The United States spends more money on education than any other country, and yet, Americans rank only seventh in the world in literacy, according to a 2016 study conducted by Central Connecticut State University. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education calculates that 32 million adults in the United States can’t read, which amounts to about 14 percent of the adult population being classified as “functionally illiterate.” This means that one in seven Americans lacks the ability to read well enough to hold down a job, or to navigate through everyday situations. Earning a living wage is much more difficult today without a basic ability to read than in decades past.
Read it, and weep:
- The link between academic failure and criminal activity is well documented. Eighty-five percent of all juvenile delinquents are functionally illiterate, and 63 percent of prison inmates can’t read.
- ProLiteracy has found that Minneapolis and Seattle are the most literate cities in the country. The group says that 774 million people worldwide are illiterate, and that two-thirds of them are women.
- The Central Connecticut State University study found that the Nordic countries are the most literate: Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden held the top five spots.