Literacy is critical to the transmission of the ideas that shape our world.

Some people might wonder what an article about literacy is doing on a political blog, but a literate population is crucial to a fully-functioning, informed democracy. According to ABC Canada, “Greater understanding of social and political issues means a more informed opinion at the ballot box, better understanding of issues, and greater confidence in discussing them. This, in turn, encourages leadership and engagement in public debate.” Poor literacy is a huge challenge for those who wish to keep the public informed on prominent issues and what their politicians are up to. Although many of us find power and information in the written word, others may find only confusion.

According to the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS), adult literacy can be described on a scale of 1 to 5, and has three components – prose literacy, document literacy, and quantitative literacy. The IALSS study showed that 48% of adult Canadians score a level of 1 or 2. Fortunately, very few Canadians are considered to be completely illiterate (ABC Literacy). Level 1 is considered to be below middle school skills. Level 3 is described as “the minimum skills level suitable for coping with the demands of everyday life and work in a complex, advanced society…roughly the skill level required for successful secondary school completion and college entry”. I was surprised to learn that only 21% of Canadians are considered to be highly literate and that this number is actually on the decline. Levels in the United States are even lower. The other fact that surprised me is that literacy skills, if not used regularly, will decline over time. I have been a voracious reader all my life, and I never knew that literacy skills will fade if not continually nurtured. It is not enough to only teach the young to read – we have to create an atmosphere of life-long learning.

Those of us with strong literacy skills may not see how poor literacy affects us personally, but its impact on the community is far-reaching. Those with low literacy are disadvantaged on several fronts, facing poorer outcomes in social, political, workplace, health, and justice situations. Very few people with literacy issues actually seek help to improve their own circumstances, let alone undertake political action. It is therefore up to those with better literacy skills to act as advocates and remind our politicians that literacy skills are critical to Canada’s long term future. Many of the problems facing Canada today, including healthcare, social injustice and the economy are actually strongly impacted by literacy or a lack thereof. The next time a politician lands on your doorstep be sure to question that person on his or her personal and party stances on literacy issues. Communicate to them that this is an important issue that they need to care more about. There is no reason that Canada should not be leading the world in literacy skills.

Why should our politicians care? If social justice arguments won’t sway them, then they should know that the overall economic success of a country can be closely tied to its literacy skills level. The IALSS study suggested that Canada’s relatively poor literacy scores may be a root cause of our sagging productivity. This is especially relevant in the case of economically depressed provinces such as New Brunswick. The New Brunswick government has been pursuing a strategy of self-sufficiency for several years, but statistics show that New Brunswickers have among the lowest literacy rates in Canada, with over 56% of the population ranking as either Level 1 or 2. I submit that when over half the population does not meet the Canadian average for literacy skills, our hopes of getting off the equalization payment welfare train are slim indeed.

The cynic in me fears that governments are not terribly worried about low literacy rates. Of course they pay lip service to “improving skills” and positioning Canada at the forefront of an emerging global economy, but I want less talk and more action. Canada’s literacy rates have been falling for the last ten years and the government needs to recognize this for the crisis that it is. I fear that this issue is not even on the radar of the major political parties. It seems far easier to govern a population that is uninformed and uninvolved. Governments don’t like being questioned and they don’t like being held accountable – two things that educated, highly literate people are more prone to do. I have often wondered why so much of the Canadian population seems uninterested and unengaged in politics. I never would have thought that much of the problem could be due to literacy issues.

The good news is that literacy problems are something that can be addressed, both on an individual and a national scale. Remind your elected representatives that literacy is critical to our success as a country in a global, knowledge-based economy. Encourage them to make sure that the government communicates its ideas in plain, jargon-free language, making the political process accessible to as many people as possible. On a personal level, consider volunteering some of your own time to assist someone who needs to improve his or her skills. There are many excellent organizations nationally that could use your help. For more information, please check out these literacy resources:

http://www.literacy.ca

http://www.fcaf.net

http://www.frontiercollege.ca

http://www.abc-canada.org

http://www.nald.ca/index.htm

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Tags: canada, literacy, politics

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Federal Government, Our Country. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.