The National Center for Education Statistics just released National Assessment of Adult Literacy (pdf) that states that five percent of Americans are illiterate and 29% of Americans possess only “basic reading and computing skills.” Sound about right. 80% literacy deserves bragging rights.
Accorning to the article, “Many people come to the United States to get better jobs, and they don’t have a lot of time to learn English because they’re trying to get food on the table. In many ways, learning English is a luxury.”
The state of education in this country is very dire because it has lost its purpose, in my opionion. In my opinion, the education system has always been focused on enculturation in the past. Education is part book learning, but it used to also be citizenship, enculturation, and assimilation.
My dad grew up in a part of New Jersey that has a very regional dialect. In his 20s, Bob bought a set of books on speech and speaking. His goal was to rid himself of his regional dialect. His desire and passion was to rid himself of his difference and to attain a level of enculturation and sameness.
He wanted to remove his brand.
Of course, losing his regional dialect would not make him a robot. He was able to revert to his Jersey boy patois. He was, in many ways, bilingual.
As a kid growing up in Hawaii, I spoke fluent pidgin, the local patois of Hawaii. One of my express goals was to make sure was never branded by pidgin English. I didn’t want the regional dialect, I just wanted to speak it. It was a goal of my mother too.
Added to my French, am I trilingual.
In order to live, thrive, and succeed in the world, you must become absolutely fluent in your present culture be it your country, your city, your township, your neighborhood, your condo, and even your company.
If you aren’t willing to enculturate, unwilling to assimilate, your entire life will be a constant struggle.
