U.S. Illiteracy Statistics Data Percent of U.S. adults who can’t read 14 % Number of U.S. adults who can’t read 32 Million Percent of U.S. adults who read below a 5th grade level 21 % Percent of prison inmates who can’t read 63 % Percent of high school graduates who can’t read 19 % Global Illiteracy   Number of people worldwide who can’t read 774 Million Percent of the worlds illiterate who are female 66 %

Literacy has been under siege for some time. The supposed agents of this threat have changed over the years but the perception remains constant. Television, movies, video games, mobile phones, and the Internet have all been identified as the culprits that rot the brain, desensitize, delude, and generally ruin the minds of the young (and perhaps everyone else too). At the core of much of this concern is the perceived decline of literacy.

“The illiterate, the semiliterate, and those who live as though they are illiterate are effectively cut off form the past They live in an eternal present.”

This “eternal present” is comprised of “comforting, reassuring images, fantasies, slogans, celebrities, and a lust for violence.” It is a world devoid of substance, dislocated from history, reflection, and nuance.