The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-06-29
Illiteracy in the United States.

Illiteracy in the United States.
If Americans have been boastful OF
any one thing more than another it has
been of their common school system,
which, concededIy, Is good system,
yet, as reliable facts and figures clearly
indicate, not perfect one. There is
a very general impression that that
which is called education, VIZ, the
knowledge of re aiding, writing and arith
metic, is possessed by everybody, or by
nearly everybody, and that education
is much more commonly enjoyed in
this country than in any OF the Euro
pean countries. This impression is
erroneous, as even IN Sweden and Scot
land the percentage OF illiteracy is lower
than it is in several States of the Amer
can Union. According to the census
of 1880 the percentage (taking the
average for the whole country, black as
we'll as Whitley of those over 10 years
old who cannot read is 1874, and of
those unable to write, II. There is
less illiteracy in Wyoming Territory
than elsewhere in the Union, there be-
ing there only 2.6 per cent. of the pop
ulation who can not read in Dakota
the percentage is ouly 81 in Oregon
it is Al, Or less than in Pennsylvania,
where it is 6. In Massachusetts, it is
So +; though in Maine it is only 3.5.
All these figures regarding the respec-
tive States mentioned apply only to
those who cannot read in all cases the
percentage of those who cannot write
is higher. 1t will probably surprise a
good many of our boastful countrymen
to learn that IN the whole German En-
pire there is but one per cent. of the
population that can neither read nor
write. OF course the compulsory edu-
cation laws of Germany are exceeding
ly rigorous, and there the people are
educated to a greater or less degree,
because they have to be. No doubt ii
a census of native-born Americans were
specially taken it would be seen that
the percentage OF illlteracy is far less
than the general census indicates. AL
lowance must be made on behalf of
this country for the large numbers of
emigrants who come here, old and
young, from those European countries
the illiteracy of which is greatest, as,
for instance, from italy, where it is 4S
per cent, and Hungary, where it is 43
per cent. These emigrants have not
had the advantage of educational pro-
visions, but it is to be assumed that
their children, having them here, will
take advantage of the opportunity at
forded to receive a common school
education. When it is perceived that
in South Carolina the percentage of
iliteracy is as large as in Italy and that
in Louisiana it is 2.8 per cent. higher
than In Hungary, it will be recognized
that the ignorance of the Southern col
ored people has great deal to do with
increasing the general percentage of
illiteracy in the United Safes. But
another cause for illiteracy, and one
which should be removed, is the prac-
tice, which is altogether too common,
of permitting children of a tender age
to be put to work before they have had
an opportunity to receive any school
ing. Another large class of illiterates
is made up of those whose parents do
not appreciate the advantages of even
a little knowledge, and allow their
children TO become Arabs of the streets.
-PhiladeLbhia Ledger.