By Cooper Gregg/Editor-in-Chief

     Merriam-Webster dictionary defines being literate as being educated and cultured, as well as being able to read. While these things on the surface seem basic, their importance cannot be understated.

     Despite the importance of literacy, rates of literacy in the United States have continued to decrease. In 2024-2025 54 percent of American adults could not read above a sixth grade level, and 64 percent of children in fourth grade were unable to read effectively, according to the National Literacy Institute.

     This lack of literacy can have widespread negative effects on American society as a whole, with social studies teacher, Joshua Budd, believing this to be worryingly true.

     “In terms of written literacy, if people are unable to read, then their government loses a massive strategy that they can have to communicate with their population, which harms civil society,” Budd said. “People aren’t able to produce language, which means no free press, which would be bad for a democracy.”

     Even outside the boundaries of politics and government, Budd believes the lack of literacy’s effects on communication as a whole may be even more concerning.

     “If you can’t be literate, then you can’t really communicate well with a lot of people, or there are a lot of boundaries to what you’re able to do,” Budd said.

     Along with affecting society as a whole, English teacher, Shawn Stratton, believes that lacking literacy also has a highly negative impact on oneself.

     “Your life is filled with information coming at you from all angles–social media, emails, newspapers,” Stratton said. “You need to be able to discern what is truth, what is lies, what is propaganda; you’ve got to be able to think for yourself and learn things.”

     Stratton also believes that lacking literacy and particularly the ability to write professionally will lead to negative outcomes for a person.

     “If you can’t read and learn on your own, your job options are limited, and then if you’re going to let AI take your jobs anyway, and then you compound that with literacy, or lack thereof, that’s a scary world for people trying to find gainful employment,” Stratton said.

     The rise of AI has certainly played a role in the continued decline in literacy, with many taking shortcuts due to how easy AI makes certain tasks, especially those pertaining to reading and writing.

     “People have a tendency to do something the least stressful way possible. Easy is always better for a lot of people,” Stratton said. “People aren’t challenging themselves; they don’t want to think for themselves.”

     School librarian, Kelly Lanci, believes AI can be a solid tool when used properly; however, many are not, which is why it is such a concern for literacy.

     “Unfortunately, many students and adults will use AI to just do the work for them. So in that way, [they’re] not working at all, but if it is used as a type of a resource and a tool, and you are applying all your research steps and your literacy steps in your research with AI, then it can be a good resource. It’s just depending on how you’re using it,” Lanci said.

     Budd shared an extremely similar sentiment, even going as far as to say AI use should be limited or disallowed until a person is in grad school.

     “You wouldn’t give a baby a power drill. [A] baby [is] too little to use the power drill. One day it will be useful, but not when they’re infants,” Budd said.

     One other reason literacy may be on the decline is because of the lack of funding for schools. This is particularly important for children in the lower grades, as this is where literacy begins.

     “A high school teacher is normally not given the adequate training to teach children how to read because we’re not the ones who teach people how to read,” Budd said.

     One way that Stow attempts to cultivate literacy within its student body is to foster a love of reading.

     “Getting lost in a book is a beautiful thing. Getting away from screens and using your imagination, instead of letting the screen interpret, your brain interprets it,” Stratton said. “The mental movie is always better than the movie, if the writer is good. As an English teacher, the power of the written word is super important to me.”

     Lanci has also taken many initiatives to make students enjoy reading, such as yearly competitions and book club, which has been running for 18 years. Lanci also believes students at the high school do enjoy reading, and she hopes to work with students to keep it that way.

     “The students…they create the shelves that we have here, so if they are looking for a series, or they know of a good series, and it’s popular, they will ask for these titles to be on the shelves, and then if I can, I get them,” Lanci said. “It is their library, and so they’re all involved in creating the space and the reading.”

     Teachers’ passions for reading and their desire for students to feel the same is ultimately the strongest force on the frontlines of the battle for students’ literacy.

     “That’s why I became an English teacher. Literature is beautiful. The wisdom of the ages can be found on those pages, and if you can’t read that, you miss out on so much in life,” Stratton said.