A recent report by the State Education Agency found that 36 percent of D.C. residents age 16 and over function at the lowest level of literacy. This amounts to over 170,000 people considered "functionally illiterate." According to an article in The Washington Post, "adults who have trouble doing such things as comprehending bus schedules, reading maps and filling out job applications are considered functionally illiterate."
One reason the District suffers from a high illiteracy rate is the high immigrant population, since people fully literate in a language other than English were not considered fully literate in the study.
In addition to making individual lives immeasurably more difficult, the study estimated that illiteracy cost the District as a whole an estimated $100 million in lost tax revenue because some skilled jobs - requiring literacy - remain unfilled.
This survey simply highlights another in a growing list of social problems facing D.C. It is sad to think that the nation's capital, a so-called beacon of democracy for the rest of the world, suffers such astronomically high rates of homelessness, HIV and adult illiteracy. This is the D.C. that tourists don't see.
Hopefully this report will help draw more attention to the issue, nationally and within the District. Adult literacy programs often have difficulty reaching out to the people they are trying to help because traditional printed advertisements don't reach them. Word of mouth about the report, along with additional programs, should help reach these people.
The report also highlights a great way for AU students to give back to the community where they study for four years and where many end up living and working after school. There are many organizations throughout the city that need help improving quality of life for D.C.'s native residents, and we shouldn't lose sight of that when deciding how to allot time for service.
