To address my overall question “Why are literacy rates dropping and what does this mean for us?” I will divide my research into these 3 smaller steps:
- evidence of rates dropping
- explication of why this is happening
- effects of this decline
evidence of rates dropping
In blog post #3 I will find evidence to support the decline of literacy, I use studies from all around the world to show the effect. I will also fin studies specific to Canada and see how the children and adolescences compare to the overall decline.
some resources I could use in this section:
explication of why this is happening
In blog post #4 I will find reasons to backup the evidence I found in blog post #3. Ill delve in to the specifics of why the rates are dropping, why now and how come some places are more a affected than others.
some resources I could use in this section:
- https://jaredhenderson.substack.com/p/the-literacy-crisis-more-than-you
- https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking/reading-crisis-perspective
- https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/09/whats-driving-decline-in-u-s-literacy-rates/
- https://www.buildcanada.com/memos/build-canadas-literacy-foundation
effects of this decline
In blog post #5 I will list all the effect this decline in currently having on/ future effects on:
- compassion/empathy
- quality of media
- rate of discoveries
- Strength of interpersonal connections
- misinformation and naivety
- etc.
some resources I could use in this section:
This question will have implications for both me and our community as this crises effects everyone. It effects our whole society: it effects the intelligence of the average person, how we interact with each other, as well as what we discover from the world and put out into it. It effect me especially as even though I am not in the group that is most effected (being lucky to be born in a wealthy country with free education), I am a part of the age group which is most effected currently. The effects of this decline started before I was born and have been worsening in my formative years.