Illiteracy in the United States

Archive Report

Lingering of Illiteracy Among Americans

Reasons for Current Over Illiteracy

Illiteracy, associated in the minds of most Americans with other times or other countries, in emerging as a matter of present and serious domestic concern. Persons who have had no schooling, or only limited schooling, do not all live in underdeveloped foreign countries. A surprisingly large number of them are American citizens. They are attracting attention now because difficulty in reading and writing has taken on increased significance as a cause of chronic unemployment.

Political as well as economic factors also have given prominence to literacy skills or the lack of them. Literacy tests of doubtful validity are used in certain southern states to combat the intensified effort of Negroes to become qualified voters. To meet that ...

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