The ability to read and write.

Declining literacy in the United States has been an increasing cause for concern in recent decades. The Department of Education's National Adult Literacy survey, released in 1993, surveyed a demographic cross section of 27,000 Americans over the age of 16 and found that nearly 50% were functionally illiterate (lacking the reading and writing skills to function effectively in the work-place). Of these, almost half were barely able to read or write at all, while the rest lacked literacy skills beyond the fifth-grade level. The literacy level of adults between the ages of 21 and 25 had dropped 14% since the publication of a similar survey in 1985. The country's literacy crisis has also been documented by declining SAT scores over the past 30 years, especially on the verbal portion of the test.

Literacy and the Schools

Numerous reasons have been cited for the rising illiteracy rate in the United States, including...