This is a reading PSA

America has a problem, and it’s stupid.

According to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, American adults’ literacy skills are below the international average, trailing 12 other countries.

This is nothing new. We’re aware of it. We joke about it. We do little about it.

More interestingly, the report noted “individuals who score at lower levels of proficiency in literacy are more likely than those with higher proficiency to ... believe that they have little impact on the political process.”

As an English major, I realize the connection between a strong society and a society that reads.

Literacy fosters creativity and advance argumentative, communicative and analytical skills. These skills can be used to solve problems — namely, government problems, a government that a measly 19 percent of Americans say they trust.  

Government shutdown jokes and a general “Thanks, Obama” attitude pervade this country. We have a lot of distrust toward the only people we think can solve them.

I have a solution, and it comes in the form of a nice, big book.

Reducing stories to mere escapes from reality or nonfiction to the boring alternative to watching TV completely misses the point.

Reading is more than fairy stories and picture books. It doesn’t have to be a dense political biography or anything directly related to global change. Reading anything, except just your Twitter feed, enhances focus and concentration, sharpening intelligence.

The skills obtained from reading are useful to every policy-maker in Washington. I want to know that all members of Congress are reading books right now. A Senate literary reference other than Dr. Seuss would reassure me that our Senators have read books since they were five.

More importantly, reading provides a valuable weapon to us, the common citizen.

The OECD report suggests less literacy proficiency means you are less likely to vote. I would go so far as to say individuals who read more will be more productive members of society in all matters. A literate society is an intelligent one, one that knows how to harness analytical skills to create solutions.

If you’re part of the 81 percent of Americans who distrust government, there is something you can do.

Read more. Think more. Learn more about the people you vote for, and research the multiple sides to issues and the ways in which you can affect change yourself.

Complaining about elected officials only gets us so far, and at some point we need to do something ourselves about the issues that matter to us.

If there’s any power in the people, it’s with an educated people. So while you’re complaining about the ineffectiveness of government, pick up a book — that way you will actually be able to do something about it.

­— cjellert@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Caroline Ellert  on Twitter @cjellert.