A Growing Problem With Reading
IMAGINE the problem of finding your way if you could not read a street sign. How would you take medicine properly if you could not read the instructions on the container? And how could you apply for a job if you could not read the application?
These are just a few of the problems facing those who cannot read. Yet it is estimated that one out of five American adults, about 27,000,000, are functionally illiterate.a In 1980 there were altogether some 824 million illiterates worldwide, age 15 and over, and the number is rapidly growing. The consequences are sad. For example, in the United States the Labor Department reported that up to 75 percent of the unemployed lack the necessary skills in reading and communication.
Yet those who cannot read do not simply face problems in employment. They are deprived of so much that brings pleasure and happiness. Think of the improved quality of life that can result from increased knowledge of the world around us. How limited we would be if we were to learn only from what we observe or experience ourselves! Reading opens the door to the accumulated knowledge of centuries.
Reading is a remarkable human ability. As Science Digest puts it: “In an instant your eyes and mind are playing hunches, cutting corners, filling gaps and dealing with an information processing task that would challenge the most ingenious computer.”
Would you like to improve your reading skill? Or would you like to assist someone else to do so? In the following two articles some of the factors contributing to reading problems will be examined, and suggestions will be given to help improve one’s reading.
[Footnotes]
a A person who is functionally illiterate is unable to use ordinary reading and writing skills, such as needed for reading applications, taking tests, etc.
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How could you apply for a job if you could not read the application?