Generally, speaking I find these collections of information annoying. Rather than taking the opportunity to create a balanced discussion of the issue to support the type of dialogue and actions we need to be having to reach digital fluency and literacy in the workplace, we get a town crier mentality telling us a return to the dark ages is imminent:
humanity is headed into an era when necessary work skills won’t include a high degree of literacy, it strikes many people as incredible, depressing and even dangerous.
a drop in the percentage of Americans who read literary works from 57% in 1982 to 54% in 1990 and 47% in 2002 (“Literary,” 2004).
Others say this is wishful thinking, noting that adolescents and young adults spend growing amounts of time playing games, listening to and downloading music, watching movies, and other non-text-oriented activities (Hardy, 2005).
In short, the majority of respondents said these new workers lack both a basic understanding of written English and a practical understanding of how to communicate via the written word in the workplace (The Conference Board et al.,
2006b).
The whole article and links are below but these two sentences, providing what little balance the article attempts, are what interest me:
Some experts argue that today’s kids may actually be reading more
than they used to, though much of their typical reading material is online.
William Crossman (2007), author of VIVO (Voice-In/Voice-Out): The Coming Age of Talking Computers, isn’t especially concerned about the erosion of traditional literacy. “Just as the car replaced the horse and wagon,” he writes, “speech and graphics and video streaming over the Internet will replace written texts, and talking computers will replace text-driven computers” (p. 27). He predicts that by mid-century, writing – as we currently think of it – will be an “obsolete technology” (p. 28).
To read an article on the way I'm watching this trend, cast your eyes on this essay by Andrew Odlyzko, Finding a voice: learning from history.
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Issue 350, March 2, 2007
The Long Goodbye to Literacy
By Mark Vickers
Chances are, you’re not highly skilled at tracking sly animals through dense forests and slaying them with a bow and arrow. And you’re probably not especially adept at the kind of agricultural techniques used by most Americans a little more than a century ago. Times and technologies have changed, and our daily skill sets have changed with them. We understand this.
Yet, when some futurists argue that humanity is headed into an era when necessary work skills won’t include a high degree of literacy, it strikes many people as incredible, depressing and even dangerous. That isn’t just because we have an emotional attachment to the 6,000-year-old technology we call the written word. It’s because there’s a huge apparent disconnect between the need to get work done in the
Information Age and other social trends pushing us into what some call a "post-literate” future.
In a recent edition of THE FUTURIST magazine, Megatrends author John Naisbitt (2007) writes, “Our literacy, and with it our verbal and communication skills, are in decline” (p. 24). There is growing evidence for this. Just last week, the U.S. government released data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showing that, even after years of educational reforms, high school seniors scored worse on a
national reading test than they had back in 1992. Fewer than three-quarters of U.S. 12th-graders scored at least at the “basic” level, down from 80% in the early 1990s (Tobin, 2007).
There have been other signs as well. A study conducted by the National Endowment of the Arts found that there had been a drop in the percentage of Americans who read literary works from 57% in 1982 to 54% in 1990 and 47% in 2002 (“Literary,” 2004). Declines were especially steep among 18- to 24-year-olds, who used to comprise one
of the most likely groups to read literature. Just 43% of this group now reads literature, down from 60% in 1982 (“Facts,” 2007; Hardy, 2005).
There’s also been a significant drop in the proportion of people who read newspapers, both in the U.S. and other parts of the developed world, including Europe and Japan (Naisbitt, 2007).
Most observers point to the same root cause of these trends: modern entertainment technologies, from TVs to PCs to video games to MP3 players. Yet, no one seems certain whether such devices are truly eroding literacy or just causing it to evolve, as so many – and especially the young – engage in blogging, text messaging, Web surfing, and the like. Some experts argue that today’s kids may actually be reading more than they used to, though much of their typical reading material is online. Others say this is wishful thinking, noting that adolescents and young adults spend growing amounts of time playing games, listening to and downloading music, watching movies, and other non-text-oriented activities (Hardy, 2005). William Crossman (2007), author of VIVO (Voice-In/Voice-Out): The Coming Age of Talking Computers, isn’t especially concerned about the erosion of traditional literacy. “Just as the car replaced the horse and wagon,” he writes, “speech and graphics and video streaming over the Internet will replace written texts, and talking computers will replace text-driven computers” (p. 27). He predicts that by mid-century, writing
– as we currently think of it – will be an “obsolete technology” (p. 28). Perhaps. In the meantime, however, the erosion of conventional literacy is turning out to be a major headache for many employers. “The future workforce is here – and it is woefully ill-prepared for the demands of today’s (and tomorrow’s) workplace,” asserts the study Are They Really Ready to Work? (p. 9).
The study – based on a survey of 431 HR officials and conducted in April and May 2006 by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management – found that high school graduates coming into the workforce are particularly deficient in terms of writing skills. When asked to rate the basic skills of these new entrants into the
workforce, almost three-quarters of respondents said such entrants were deficient in “Writing in English,” a category that includes spelling and grammar. And, when asked to rate high school graduates’ applied skills, a whopping 81% said new entrants with a high school diploma are deficient in the area of “Written Communications.” In short, the majority of respondents said these new workers lack both a basic understanding of written English and a practical understanding of how to communicate
via the written word in the workplace (The Conference Board et al.,2006b).
The study also indicates that employers view reading and writing as critical basic skills. Yet, these skills seem to be eroding. How can employers help slow down or even reverse this erosion? Traditional answers range from partnering with local school systems to providing students with mentors and internships to offering basic skills training in the workplace. These all seem like worthwhile pursuits, but so far
they’ve proven insufficient. In coming years, business will probably need better methods of boosting literacy in the workplace as society is drawn further into what could be a multisensory, computer-mediated, post-literate future.
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For More Information:
For much more on education trends, see the Education at the Primary and Secondary Levels Knowledge Center, and for more on employee skills,see the Skill Level of the Workforce Knowledge Center.
For more on recent studies about high school academic achievement in
the U.S., click here.
For more on the Are They Really Ready to Work? study, click here.
For more on recent FUTURIST articles in “The New Media Age: End of the Written Word?” click here.
Documents referenced in this TrendWatcher include the following:
The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management. “Most Young People Entering the U.S. Workforce Lack Critical Skills Essential for Success.” Press release. October 2, 2006a.
The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource
Management. Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers’ Perspectives
on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce. 2006b.
Crossman, William. “Voice-In/Voice-Out Computers and the Postliterate Age.” THE FUTURIST, March-April 2007, pp. 27-28.
“Facts on Literacy.” THE FUTURIST, March-April 2007, p. 30.
Hardy, Lawrence. “Forgetting How to Read, or Just Re-Locating It?”
Education Digest. ProQuest. February 2005
“Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline, According to National Endowment for the Arts Survey.” Press release. July 8, 2004.
Naisbitt, John. “The Postliterate Future.” THE FUTURIST, March-April 2007,
pp. 24-26.
Tobin, Thomas C. “12th-Grade Scores Gloomy.” St. Petersburg Times,
February 23, 2007, pp. 1A, 15A.
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