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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lockridge, Kenneth A.
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 1979
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED170727
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author Lockridge, Kenneth A.
author_facet Lockridge, Kenneth A.
Lockridge, Kenneth A.
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents Literacy in Historical Perspective. Lockridge, Kenneth A. Adult Literacy Daily Living Skills Educational History European History Functional Literacy History Library Extension Literacy Nonformal Education United States History By the early nineteenth century, religion and social necessity had driven literacy in western Europe and in the United States from an overall level below 20% to about 50% of all men in a little more than two centuries; women had benefited as well. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the state entered the business of education on a large scale. Vast systems of public schools pushed reading and writing among men and women to essentially universal levels throughout western society by the early twentieth century. The classic arguments for literacy include the production of a healthy skepticism, the invitation to participate in a wide and varied new mental world, access to material prosperity, and the acquisition of the functional competence necessary to survive and prosper in, as well as improve, the world. These goals have been realized only in very limited and frustrating ways; in an age in which two-thirds of Americans need assistance with their tax returns, and most require lawyers to guide them through the bureaucracy, functional incapacity affects everyone. Self-directed learning using library facilities is recommended as a remedy to widespread functional incompetence. (DF)
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_ED170727
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 1979
record_format eric
spellingShingle Literacy in Historical Perspective.
Lockridge, Kenneth A.
Adult Literacy
Daily Living Skills
Educational History
European History
Functional Literacy
History
Library Extension
Literacy
Nonformal Education
United States History
Literacy in Historical Perspective. Lockridge, Kenneth A. Adult Literacy Daily Living Skills Educational History European History Functional Literacy History Library Extension Literacy Nonformal Education United States History By the early nineteenth century, religion and social necessity had driven literacy in western Europe and in the United States from an overall level below 20% to about 50% of all men in a little more than two centuries; women had benefited as well. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the state entered the business of education on a large scale. Vast systems of public schools pushed reading and writing among men and women to essentially universal levels throughout western society by the early twentieth century. The classic arguments for literacy include the production of a healthy skepticism, the invitation to participate in a wide and varied new mental world, access to material prosperity, and the acquisition of the functional competence necessary to survive and prosper in, as well as improve, the world. These goals have been realized only in very limited and frustrating ways; in an age in which two-thirds of Americans need assistance with their tax returns, and most require lawyers to guide them through the bureaucracy, functional incapacity affects everyone. Self-directed learning using library facilities is recommended as a remedy to widespread functional incompetence. (DF)
title Literacy in Historical Perspective.
topic Adult Literacy
Daily Living Skills
Educational History
European History
Functional Literacy
History
Library Extension
Literacy
Nonformal Education
United States History
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED170727