Now vs. Then

In the text America the Illiterate, Chris Hedges defines literacy as the ability to read above a middle school level. Hedges shows that there are “50 million Americans who read at a fourth or fifth grade level” (1). This point was very troubling to me. I am amazed how our country is able to function even though one third of our country is barely literate. I guess it can be argued that our country really isn’t functioning the way we used to. Could there be a correlation between literacy and the success of our country? It seems like there is. It is a common opinion that the United States of America was a more successful country in the 60s then it was in the 2000s. In a study conducted by the Princeton Review they compared the literacy level of the debates between Kennedy and Nixon and Gore and Bush. In the Kennedy/Nixon debates they spoke at a literacy level of 10^th graders while in the Gore/Bush debates they spoke at a 6^th grade level. This correlation is hard to ignore. The literacy level of the president’s speeches mirrors the literacy level of the audience. In the 60s the literacy level was higher and our country was strong, now the literacy level is that of a middle school student and our country is weaker.

Both Carr and Hedges bring up interesting and possible true points. The connection that I see between both articles is that Americans, whichever way you look at it, had changed for the worse. We are no longer the John Winthrop’s city on a hill. Our creations have lowered our literacy level and made us more ignorant individuals. Outside of our borders we are the “fat lazy American.” Has the Internet really done this to us? Or are there other factors that have drastically contributed to the illiteracy level of Americans?