Stockton is America’s Least Literate City for the Third Year Running

The Stockton Record published an article today that gave Stockton the dubious honor of being America’s Least Literate City. The full article can be found here. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

“…For the third year in a row, Stockton ranks last in a Central Connecticut State University study of literacy in U.S. cities with populations of at least 250,000.”

The report, America’s Most Literate Cities, considers not whether residents can read, but whether they do. It measured newspaper circulation, library and Internet resources and use, educational attainment, number of periodicals published and number of booksellers in 69 cities…

…As in 2006, Stockton in 2007 ranked lower than 60th in all but one measure, Internet resources. It placed 58th in that category, based on its number of library Internet connections and percent of adults who read the newspaper or bought a book online…

Library goers taking advantage of the resources of the Troke Library in Stockton, CA.

…[Councilman Susan Eggman] said, ‘It didn’t get this way overnight. We’re not going to fix it overnight.’

…Ken Yamashita, deputy director of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, called the report a ‘call to action.’ He said the library is focusing greater attention on its adult literacy program and is ‘doing everything that it can to get us out of that bottom spot.’”

As Councilman Eggman has stated, these rankings will not change on their own. Libraries are a proven cure for illiteracy, and if we desire change, we as the community must demand the world-class library system that we need and deserve.