The reason I believe the literacy level has dropped dramatically is my experience as an office temp for many years and seeing the bad grammar, misspelled words, limited vocabulary and lack of coherence in the thought processes of people my own age (54) and younger. The younger they get, the worse it seems to be. (Occaisionaly there are notable exceptions, but they are exceptions). At any rate, if you don't think there has been a decline in the literacy of Americans over the years, you can check the links below which report how low we are in the standings worldwide, and for a real shock, read some of the letters written on the Civil War battlefield by the "uneducated" blacksmiths, clerks, farmers, etc. who were wearing the blue and gray. They may only have had a rudimentary education (the 3 R's), but their prose is more coherent and literate than what I see and hear on the street these days.
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICTWIN.pdf Sum, Andrew, Irwin Kirsch, and Robert Taggart:The Twin Challenges of Mediocrity and Inequality: Literacy in the U.S. from an International Perspective (PDF file), Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, 2002. This monograph takes the information that has been collected through the NALS and the IALS and focuses on the performance of U.S. adults in comparison to adults in other high-income countries. The results underscore the fact that the U.S. overall performance is mediocre at best, and that, as a nation, the U.S. is among the world's leaders in the degree of inequality between its best and poorest performers. This report also offers a perspective on why these results should be of concern. http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/facts/facts_overview.html For more information on the NAAL, go to http://nces.ed.gov/naal. In the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) assessment, 1994-98: The average composite literacy score of native-born adults in the U.S. was 284 (Level 3); the U.S. ranked 10th out of 17 high-income countries; The average composite literacy score of foreign-born adults in the U.S. was 210 (Level 1); the U.S. ranked 16th out of 17 countries. The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with primary or no education, ranked 14th out of 18 high-income countries; The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with some high school, but no diploma or GED, ranked 19th out of 19 high-income countries; The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with a high school diploma or GED (but no college), ranked 18th (tie) out of 19 countries; The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with 1-3 years of college, ranked 15th out of 19 countries; and The mean prose literacy scores of U.S. adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, ranked 5th. > > On Feb 19, 2007, at 11:44 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> As far as the weapons, words used to be, but the literacy rate has >> dropped >> so dramatically, they hardly seem to have any impact any more. > > You're at it again! IMO the literacy rate has *climbed,* especially in > the long run. Got any actual evidence to support your view to the > contrary? > > Andrew Stiller > Kallisti Music Press > http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/ > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
