Well, It’s a Boast for Mississippi : Shocking findings about California’s fourth-graders: part of a nation of illiterates?

The results of the latest national survey of reading skills among public school students are appalling. More than two-thirds of the fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders tested lacked proficiency in reading. Especially dismaying was the performance by fourth-graders in California. They tied with children in Mississippi--which has traditionally placed at or near the bottom in tested educational skills--as the nation’s worst readers.

The high number of identified disadvantaged California students who took the test--22.4% against 9.9% nationally--is cited by acting Supt. of Public Instruction William D. Dawson as affecting the test results. Disadvantages include poverty and single-parent families. In addition California schools are crowded with children who speak limited English. But the state’s large population of immigrant and minority children only partially explains the dismal reading results. Non-immigrant, non-minority fourth-graders in California placed in the bottom 20% among all tested students.

The latest tests, which were administered by the National Assessment Governing Board, reflect the larger problem of a low level of national literacy. A five-year study by the U.S. Department of Education has found that more than 90 million adults lack the language skills to understand a bus schedule or write a business letter. To a large extent, they are functionally illiterate. Failure is expensive. The Education Department says that those with the lowest literacy test scores earn an average of $230 a week. Those with the highest make about $680.

What’s to be done? Two cost-free and by no means new ideas are the place to start. (1) Parents should strictly limit the time school-age kids are allowed to watch television. The tests of fourth-graders found that those who spend six hours a day or more in front of the tube scored lowest in reading scores. Those who watched three hours or less scored highest. (2) Parents should begin to read to their children well before formal schooling starts, and once kids are in schools parents should maintain a continuing supervisory interest in their work, especially reading.

Schooling to a great extent is producing disappointing results. But at the same time the schools simply cannot substitute for the family in providing motivation, self-discipline and encouragement. Children tend to succeed when parents expect them to succeed. Literacy is the essential skill for success. A nation where that skill is in demonstrable decline is a nation in deep trouble.