A reader sent a link to the video below with a flattering note: “I’ve seen this YouTube video a couple of times and thought you might be interested in cogitating on the implications…” Me, cogitate? Why, make me blush…
The popular video by Fisch, McLeod and Brenman serves up statistics on the information age in compelling, rapid-fire fashion. The worldwide growth of info and data transmission in the past few years is truly astonishing.
Equally astounding are statistics from the American Human Development Project on Access to Knowledge in the United States for the same time period.
- 14% of the population – some 30 million Americans – lacks the literacy skills to perform simple, everyday tasks like understanding newspaper articles and instruction manuals.
- 12% of Americans lack the literacy skills to fill in a job application or payroll form, read a map or bus schedule, or understand labels on food and drugs.
- More than 1 in 5 Americans – 22 percent of the population – have “below basic” quantitative skills, making it impossible to balance a checkbook, calculate a tip, or figure out from an advertisement the amount of interest on a loan.
- In 2006, 4.5 million young people ages 18-24 were not in school, not working, and had not graduated high school.
- Nearly 1 in 6 American children lives in a family whose head didn’t graduate high school.
- Only three-fourths of American public high students graduated on time (within four years) with a regular diploma in 2003-2004.
We can do better — lots better — and public libraries are a key component of our success in this area.
