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Running to Stay in Place
There has been a lot of discussion about our “Taking the Joy Out of Reading” posting, and the burning issue here seems to be how well Canadians can read. The definitive study of this question is the OECD/Statistics Canada 2005 International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Study (IALLS).
The IALLS tested more than 23,000 Canadians. It found that “the average literacy score for Canadians had not changed significantly during the nine-year period since the last major survey was conducted in 1994….In general, young people perform better than older Canadians. However, after their parents’ education was taken into account, the survey seemed to show an apparent decline in literacy scores among young people aged 16 to 25 between 1994 and 2003.“ The IALLS separated Canad’a population into four levels. The lowest level, Level 1, which included 15% of Canadians, was defined as “persons with very poor skills, where the individual, for example, may be unable to determine the correct amount of medicine to give a child from information printed on the package”. The second-lowest level, Level 2, which included 27% of Canadians, was defined as “people (who) can only deal with material that is simple, clearly laid out, and in which the tasks involved are not too complex. It denotes a weak level of skill, but more hidden than Level 1. It identifies people who can read but test poorly. They may have developed coping skills to manage everyday literacy demands, but their low level of proficiency makes it difficult for them to face novel demands, such as learning new job skills”. Taken together, the two levels include 42% of Canadians, a figure that is essentially unchanged from 1994, and these citizens are considered illiterate by Statistics Canada. StatsCan makes the point that the adults in the lowest two levels have only a 50% chance of finding a job even after 52 weeks of unemployment.
Because the level of literacy needed to cope with the demands of the 21st century rises ever higher, just standing still means falling behind. As the Red Queen said to Alice, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place”.