In a May 2005 article Can West News Service released some staggering statistics about the literacy skills of Canadians.
“Nearly one half of adults in Canada lack the literacy skills to meet the everyday reading requirements of today’s knowledge based society.”
Fully 42% of Canadians aged 16 to 65 have low-level literacy skills, which are below what is required in our information age. One in seven adults have a problem reading basic printed material.
It appears that literacy scores haven’t changed significantly in the past 10 years. There were small improvements in the lowest literacy scores; however, the aged 16 to 25 group scored lower if the parents had a limited education.
Nancy Jackson, an adult literacy specialist at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education claims there is little consensus about where to target funding for literacy.
In my opinion, no amount of literacy funding can make a significant impact on this huge problem.
The real culprit is the ubiquitous television set, which has taken over most households in Canada. In many houses, there are television sets in every room, complete with DVD players, sophisticated sound systems, and mammoth viewing screens.

The addiction to television began in the 60’s and I would suggest that literacy rates have decreased every since, despite the efforts of school boards and literacy councils.
Watching television has put “reading” on the back burner. The addictive nature of television has created a “dumbed” down population, a passive armchair society, which won’t make the effort to read, when they can laze away the time watching mostly trashy programming.
There is little emphasis on reading today. Even local newspapers publish articles aimed at an eleven-year-old mind in their complexity. Paragraphs are routinely only one or two lines, small amounts of information just like a “sound bite” on a radio or television program.
Ironically, only half of Canadians will be able to read and understand the Can West article of 400 words, so the ones we are trying to help, don’t realize they need the help. They’ll be spread out on their couches watching television in the evenings instead of reading a book or a newspaper.
The adults of today with a literacy deficiency are not able to assist their own children to read, so the problem starts to repeat itself. Without motivation and support, the next generation will find the same fate.
Furthermore, computers are touted as being the panacea for the problems of the information age but ironically, computers are simply adding to the problem. Young people on computers are using the technology to play video games, chat, and send photos- all tasks that can be completed with very few literacy skills. Computers will only be successful in improving reading when they are used under the supervision of a teacher.

As a young boy in the 1950’s before television came into our home, I learned to read by going to the library every week with my parents, and selecting my own books. I became a proficient reader during those years before I entered high school.
When the 60’s arrived I stopped reading and started watching television and doing other things. However, the world of reading was always open to me because I had already developed those skills.
The simple answer to get people to become literate is to turn off the television. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to hear that and it doesn’t look like they’re going to comply.
Actually, the reverse is happening. The cost of new televisions has plummeted, the monster televisions are in vogue, and now people are buying televisions to put in their cars.
That’s the way the corporate elite want things. An illiterate, “dumbed down” population is much easier to control because it doesn’t know what’s going on. Television screens are everywhere. People just stare at them and stop thinking. They become programmed.
When we all stop thinking we’ve got an even bigger problem. I don’t even want to think about it.
If you have children do them a favour. Keep them away from television.