The recent National Adult Literacy Survey showing a marked decline in the literacy of American adults — especially recent college grads — continues to bring forth perplexed comments from people in the education establishment. You can read a Washington Post article on it here.
“What’s disturbing is that the assessment is not designed to test your understanding of Proust, but to test your ability to read labels,” says the Commissioner of Education Statistics.
Here’s a stab at explaining it: Students can get through K-12 with weaker and weaker reading ability, and most colleges have lowered their standards to match. Only 31 percent of college grads are classified as proficient readers, so more than two thirds of the students who earn (if that’s the right word) their degrees don’t read proficiently. That tells you a lot about the dumbing down of the curriculum.
