The Illiteracy Crisis of New York City

It may be hard to tell that New York City has an illiteracy crisis. After all, New York is renowned around the world for its institutions of learning: Columbia University, NYU, the Specialized High Schools, Horace Mann and similar institutions pump out some of the nation’s best students.

But the city has a dark secret: Nearly one quarter of New Yorkers, two million people, are functionally illiterate. Attending a well-funded private school, it can be difficult to imagine that 36% of New Yorkers are unable to write a simple sentence or locate an intersection on a street map and a full 63% are unable to calculate the total cost on an order form or understand long or dense texts (according to a study from Columbia university).

Illiterate New Yorkers are disproportionately located in impoverished, immigrant and minority communities. Few resources have been mobilized to help, with only 62,000 New Yorkers in literacy programs, only 3.1 percent of the total.

Literacy is a critical life skill. The vast majority of jobs require at minimum a basic level of reading comprehension, and many more require more advanced literacy that 63% of New Yorkers lack. In addition to nearly tripling a person’s potential lifetime income, literacy is closely related to health, life expectancy and level of political participation. However,  most startling is the fact that reading level is bound tightly to the chance of incarceration. Someone who is on reading level by 3rd grade has a near-zero percent chance of going to prison.

For those adults burdened with literacy, little can be done to help. Once someone falls off the path to literacy it is nearly impossible to right their course, especially in adulthood. This means that the focus must be on children, young students who have yet to stray too far from the path, but are at risk.

Continuous reading throughout early education trends well with trying to keep students on track with their literacy education. This includes picture books and even being read to by parents or teachers. The earlier and more intensive reading starts, the more likely a child will succeed in their future education.

Unfortunately, in many working-class communities, parents lack the time or the flexibility (or are themselves illiterate/English language learners) to read to their children. This creates an initial and early disadvantage that compounds with the structure of the New York public school system.

Public schools in wealthy districts outperform those in poor ones. Low-income parents lack the resources necessary to move to a better school district, forcing them to place their children in poorly performing local public schools. This reinforces the concentration of illiteracy in poor districts, and, as mentioned before, cripples their ability to improve their economic standing.

So what can be done to help an illiteracy rate you’d expect in a third world country and not in one of the richest cities on the planet? Luckily there are many organizations around the City that have realized the scope and scale of the problem and have dedicated significant resources to fighting it. Vouchers and charter schools may help as well, allowing more low-income students to attend high-quality independent schools. Finally, several service-learning groups here at Grace have made it their objectives to help out. Donating to one would help the fight.