According to statistics from the National Literacy Institute, the average American adult has a sixth grade reading level.
Books included in a sixth grade reading level are “The Lightning Thief”, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Giver.” The key mental developments of sixth grade students include the beginnings of concrete thinking and “the ability to think systematically about all logical relationships within a problem” according to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. At this age, one is just beginning to develop these skills, and reading plays a huge role in this development.
Dr. Joseph N. Abraham, founder of the Acadiana Area Educational Endowment, emphasized the importance of teaching young children the joy of reading. He stated that there were three main challenges facing literacy in children. These include the parents’ lack of knowledge on the subject, the rise of screen usage and school curriculum.
Dr. Abraham also pointed out that it is not necessarily literacy that is lacking, but a love for reading. “A lot of people can read, but they don’t,” he stated. This implies a deeper issue, one focused on how our society consumes information.
What do we gain from literacy? More importantly, what do we stand to lose without it?
The issue of literacy facing our culture today is not necessarily new, just different than generations of the past. Adults have always been distracted by quicker forms of entertainment such as magazines or news outlets. Today, however, we all hold the world’s biggest distractions in our pockets.
The issue of this “quick” entertainment is the inability to think through multi-step problems, a skill that is required of every adult in society. Dr. Abraham explains, “When you don’t read, you don’t develop internal conversation. When you don’t develop internal conversation, you can’t think things through several steps.”
Reading books, all kinds of books, develops a key part of our cognitive function related to decision making and understanding others. The act of reading a book and letting a story unfold at a slow pace takes patience and is a key skill one must use to interact with the world.
The ability to read, comprehend and form an opinion is also crucial for the development of critical thinking skills, which are now needed more than ever. The ability to assess information carefully and fully is a key to true freedom. In an age where social media and the news are constantly pressuring us to either buy or vote a certain way, it is incredibly important to hold on to these processing skills.
What can be done? This issue can seem so embedded in modern culture that it is easy to lose hope. The key to attacking the literacy problem is to pour into youth.
“Ideally, you want to start not just from birth, but before birth,” Dr. Abraham explained. Reading to children from a very young age has undeniable positive effects on their brain development.
The sad truth is, not every child receives this early literary assistance and therefore some enter their schooling with an initial disadvantage. This is the reason Dr. Abraham was inspired to establish readingwithkids.org. This is an outreach initiative to make books more accessible for all children.
Some of the work of this project includes the construction of little free libraries and book donations. Dr. Abraham calls on everyone to help in any way we can as literacy does not only affect one area of study or job field, but our society as a whole.
“Education is workforce development, and I would argue it’s citizen development,” he stated. Our education as young people is meant to give us the tools to be good members of our communities and country, a task that cannot be completed without thorough exposure to books. According to Dr. Abraham, “60% of children who are not prepared to read by first grade will end up in jail or welfare.”
This is an alarming statistic, but one that begs attention and intervention to prevent more people from experiencing this fate. It is true that we do not all have the same upbringing, but it is incredibly important for those of us that have been exposed to literature early on to realize the impact that this exposure has had on our lives and help others.
We can all find a way to contribute to enhancing the literacy of our nation! It is up to all of us to make a difference and share the joy of reading with the children closest to us. Getting involved with local programs such as readwithkids.org is also a great way to make an impact.
The importance of this skill is the gateway to freedom and true knowledge of the world around us. Together we can all make a change.