Functional Illiteracy – The Dangers You Need to Know

One word that’s been thrown around quite a bit lately is “illiteracy”, especially when it comes to our American society. We’ve all heard it. Assessments are reporting their children reading at lower levels than previously, attention spans are dangerously low, and people are keeping their eyes glued to that TV screen. The American public is becoming illiterate, but it’s not just any kind of illiteracy. We are suffering from an epidemic of functional illteracy.

What is Functional Illiteracy?

To define functional illiteracy, let’s start by clarifying what illiteracy is. Illiteracy is the inability to read and write. Simple enough, right? But that’s not what the American people are struggling with. Reading and writing are skills provided by the public education system here, one the majority of Americans were a part of. So, if we’re not worried about Americans being able to read and write, then what is the problem?

The problem is comprehension. You see, when you read a text, it’s not just about being able to read the words inked in; it’s about being able to comprehend, or understand, what the text is saying. It’s being able to differentiate the tone of the text, the ideas within the text, and the purpose of the text. But even more importantly, it is the ability to discern good from bad. Essentially, functional literacy is the ability to make your literacy skills actually function. 

How it Impacts Us

You might be wondering why it’s important to know all of this. I mean, we’re not going to be reading Shakespeare. What’s the need for that level of comprehension, that level of discernment? Well, as studies have shown, a lack of functional literacy can lead to many negative effects down the line.

People who are functionally illiterate have a harder time completing higher education and getting employed. Around 50% of unemployed people between ages 16 and 21 are functionally illiterate. Even once they do have a job, they are less likely to be promoted within that position. The type of jobs functionally illiterate people have are also low-paying due to the skill level required. This would cause additional economic issues to the person with an inability to get or maintain a higher paying job. On top of that, those who are functionally illiterate have a harder time understanding contracts and medical documents, severely stunting their ability to make proper decisions for their wellbeing.

Propaganda

Functional illiteracy also makes us susceptible to propaganda. Like mentioned before, functional literacy is your ability to comprehend a piece of text or media. That also means that you will be able to discern real news from fake ones. So, when someone is functionally illiterate, they would not be able to distinguish real news from propaganda. They will more likely just believe whatever they read.

This is incredibly dangerous, but not surprising for the American public. Like I mentioned in my article on manufacturing consent, American media is riddled with propaganda. Every “enemy” to the American empire (one that doesn’t submit to its imperial hand) has loads of fake news targeted at them to make them seem as bad as possible. Just in 2024, the US government spent $1.6 billion to spread anti-China propaganda. The US government quite literally funds disinformation and propaganda to convince US citizens that said disinformation is the truth. If you want to learn more about the propaganda model, make sure to read this article.

However, functional illiteracy keeps you from understanding this news is fake. It’s even harder to do so when the US government is taking active measures to make sure you believe it, spreading it for as long as it can. On top of that, as this study showed, those who are functionally illiterate and ignorant often rely on those around them to form opinions. In other words, they need to know what other people say on a particular topic to express their own thoughts on it instead of doing the comprehension themselves. This becomes even more dangerous when it comes to spreading disinformation as the functionally illiterate person would be willing to believe the propaganda just because it came out of someone’s mouth.

How to Fight It (Especially as Teens)

People don’t choose to be functionally illiterate, the same way people don’t choose to be illiterate. Functional illiteracy is a result of the failure to properly and thoroughly educate that individual. So, when we see these relatively high numbers of functional illiteracy, we can’t solve the problem by blaming the individual—we must find fault in the system.

“Formal Education” Isn’t Enough

What I’m getting at here is that the American education system is not a good one. Too many children leave these school systems without being able to interpret media. With the rise of social media, many simply piggyback off of the opinions of those they follow online without actually forming an opinion for themselves. The US education system isn’t built for learning or helping future generations make meaningful contributions to society; it’s built to make workers who will sell their labor without challenging the system. It’s built to make those who know enough to do their work but not enough to change it. It wants you to see education as a chore, a requirement for a job to sustain your livelihood, instead of a way to better your capabilities as a member of society.

What We Need to Do

So, how do we fight it? First, we can’t rely on or formal education to teach us everything we need to know, especially not in the US. We need to be doing our own research on subjects and listening to people who do similar research on these subjects. We need to be aware of the sources this information comes from, because if it is backed by the US government or mainstream American media, it’s probably not trustworthy. 

But most of all, we need to practice. We need to read Shakespeare and all that awfully complicated olden British literature. We need to read those boring theory books, and confusing narrative nonfiction. It’s the stuff we hate to read that will help us become more literate. It is the stuff that isn’t straightforward, the ones that force you to really think to pull out its meaning. That’s the only way to be able to strengthen those literacy skills and be able to really interpret media.