“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”
—Victor Hugo

Imagine scores composed but never heard, paintings created but never viewed, books written but never read. At least for the latter, it happens. Illiteracy is a major problem in today’s society.

Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. While the two skills were once partnered with “arithmetic,” it appears that’s no longer the case. Students are not being challenged to read books, and they’re no longer taught to write in cursive . . . or to write at all. I’m painting with a broad brush here, and I hope you and your children/grandchildren, and the schools they attend, are exceptions.

Today’s students have moved on from Cliff Notes to alternatives like SparkNotes and LitCharts. They read excerpts, they’re fed analyses of texts, or they go to AI and ask for summaries of books they’re supposed to be reading. The result? High school graduates are entering college with no concept of what it means to sit down and read an assigned book.

In her November 2024 article in The Atlantic, Rose Horowitch discussed the problem of students at elite colleges who are unable to read a book. “High-achieving students at exclusive schools like Columbia can decode words and sentences. But they struggle to muster the attention or ambition required to immerse themselves in a substantial text.” Their professors have had to accommodate them by assigning short segments or excerpts of books. Otherwise, everyone would fail the course. Remarkable!

While I don’t have statistics specific to writing proficiency, it stands to reason that individuals who don’t read also don’t write. Do our children know how to write a note, much less a letter? Do they know how to address an envelope? Let’s face it, even adults have drifted away from letter writing toward digital communication like email and text.

Some sobering statistics from the National Literacy Institute:
• 21% of U.S. adults are illiterate.
• Of the 79% who are literate, 54% of adults read below a sixth-grade level.
• Worldwide, the U.S. ranks 36th in literacy.
• The illiteracy problem costs the U.S. as much as 2.2 trillion dollars per year.

Older adults read more than younger adults. This likely reflects the fact that the older population was educated “back in the day,” when reading and writing were emphasized more than they are today. Overall, however, the numbers are dismal. While women read more than men, a 2025 report from the National Endowment for the Arts reported that fewer than half of adults, both women and men, surveyed in 2022, had read a book that year. Adults can make their own decisions about how they spend their time, but our children need to be taught the ability to read and what it can mean for their lives.

In the U.S. and particularly worldwide, poverty is directly proportional to literacy. Consider your employment, your profession. Could you perform your job if you were unable to read and write proficiently? Would you have even gotten the job?

Before I close, allow me one plug for an often unmined gem in our country: the public library system. Our libraries are replete with books of all genres. With your own online account, you can search for and select the book you want and then pick it up at the library. If you prefer ebooks, they can be loaded onto your device. And it’s all available free of charge. I don’t think they even charge late-return fees any longer!

September is National Literacy Month, a time to focus on the importance of literacy. Perhaps it’s providential that it comes on the heels of our mourning of Dolly Parton’s death, and our heightened awareness of the work her foundation does in getting books into the hands of hundreds of millions of young children.

That’s an effort all of us should champion. It starts with one book in two hands. So, grab a book and read, and then pass it along!

Pixabay image courtesy of hermann