Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 9, 1993 TAG: 9309090172
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
For instance, the most difficult tasks that 90 million adults can perform include calculating the difference in price of two items and filling out a Social Security form.
These adults cannot write a brief letter explaining an error on a credit-card bill, figure out a Saturday departure on a bus schedule, or use a calculator to determine the difference between a sale price and a regular price, the study said.
"This should be a wake-up call for all Americans to consider going back to school and getting a tune-up," said Education Secretary Richard Riley. "It paints a picture of a society in which the vast majority of Americans do not know that they do not have the skills they need to earn a living in our increasingly technological society and international marketplace."
The "Adult Literacy in America" study was set in motion by Congress five years ago. The conclusions underscore alarms raised in recent years by business leaders and education experts about the literacy and quality of the American work force.
More people than ever are earning high-school and college degrees, but that doesn't make them functionally literate. More than half of high-school graduates were found to have restricted abilities in math and reading.
The $14 million study found that 40 million Americans had only the most rudimentary reading and writing skills. For instance, they could locate the expiration date on a driver's license, but not an intersection on a city map.
Of these adults with the lowest skills, one-quarter were born in another country; one-quarter reported some physical, mental or health condition; and one-half never finished high school. Minorities and poor people were disproportionately at the bottom. Half were white.
An additional 50 million adults fared a little better but were still considered to have inadequate reading and writing skills. They could not, for instance, use a calculator for basic addition.
American business has been paying dearly for the nation's literacy problems, said Keith Poston, spokesman for the National Alliance of Business, a group dedicated to building a competitive work force through education reform.
He said it is not unusual for employers to "reject three out of four applications because they cannot read or write well enough to hold entry-level jobs. Half the applications are thrown in the trash."
Jobs have changed with the times and even a generation ago a person was far more likely to be able to earn a decent living with few reading and writing skills. Even the definition of literacy has also changed: once being able to sign one's name qualified.
"We are not talking about assembly-line jobs any more," said Poston. The findings "translate into low wages and lost jobs."
by CNB