A review of the development of literacy in American national life provides both a picture of two centuries during which the strong association of literacy with mainstream cultural values was largely unexamined and unchallenged, and a realization that illiteracy is inextricably related to problems of discrimination and alienation in the workplace,…

Emphasis on adult literacy education in the United States began in the first decade of the twentieth century, which was characterized by heavy immigration from countries whose populations were not uniformly educated. Special attention was paid to adult literacy during times of crisis such as World War I and II when it was learned that many adults…

Describes American Library Association's involvement in adult and literacy education from support for adult education programs to encourage reading in the 1920s to more recent emphasis on services to illiterates, the disadvantaged, and nontraditional users. Continued support from the association for literacy programs is expected to continue…

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…

The variable nature of literacy is discussed in chapter one of this paper, including problems of arbitrary standards, instruments, and criteria. In the second chapter, some of the historical roots of the concept of literacy are traced both to show how the concept of literacy evolved and to show how literacy has always been closely tied to the…