~ A survey found that less than 1 percent of adults and teenagers could name all of the Ten Commandments |
| ~ In 1940, teachers identified the following as the top problems in America’s public schools: Talking out of turn, making noise, cutting in line, chewing gum, running in the halls, littering, dress code infractions. In 1990, the top problems were: Drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, pregnancy, rape, assault, robbery |
~ During the past 30 years, there has been a...
560 percent increase in illegitimate births
Quadrupling in the divorce rate
Tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes
More than a 200 percent increase in teen suicide rates
A drop of almost 80 points in SAT scores
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| ~ A United States Department of Education study concluded that 54% of American adults are either functionally or marginally literate. |
| ~ 60% of United States prison inmates are illiterate. |
| ~ 85% of all juvenile offenders have serious problems reading. |
| ~ A recent study by the United Nations showed the United States ranked 49th in literacy among the 158 nations evaluated. |
| ~ A report by the Department of Labor concluded that 40% of all current jobs require only limited literacy skills, but that only 27% of all newly created jobs also allow for limited literacy. |
| ~ Almost half of all adults do not read even one book during a typical year. |
| ~ A Barma Research report noted that three-quarters of all adults spent time reading for pleasure during a typical week in 1990. That figure dropped to less than 40% in 1997. |
| ~ More than 35 million people in America do not speak English. |
| ~ More than one million of last year's high school graduates received their diploma even though they could not read and write at an eight-grade level. |
| ~ The most widely used version of the Bible in the United States is the King James Version (KJV). However, given the literacy skills of the population, slightly more than three out of every four adul.ts are incapable of reading and understanding the KJV due to their literacy limitations. |
