Can you name the last book that you read?
For about a quarter of Americans, if they can remember a title, it’s been more than a year since they’ve read it.
According to a 2021 Pew Research survey, roughly a quarter of American adults—including 38 percent of Hispanic adults, 25 percent of Black adults and 20 percent of white adults—say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print or in electronic or audio form. This is even true of 11 percent of adults with a bachelor’s or other advanced degree.
These figures are nearly triple those reported in 1978.
—Inside Higher Education, January 18, 2022
The problems go deeper than reading frequency, however. About 43 million American adults have low English literacy. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, this means these people are incapable of “comparing and contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences.”
And the impacts are profound. People who have low English literacy have significantly lower incomes than those with higher literacy skills.
Handwringing Isn’t the Answer
While there are many causes of adult illiteracy, they all share a common root – failure to read when young.
We can fix this fairly easily – simply put a book in a child’s hands, and encourage them to read.
That’s why we at FXBG Advance are strong supporters of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Your gift puts books in the hands of children aged 0-5 in our community. There’s no better way to fight adult literacy than by ensuring that the next generation doesn’t have the problem.
Please consider making your gift today. It’s quick, painless, and will help ensure that tomorrow’s children learn the most important skill they’ll need to survive and thrive in life – to read.
