Sledd, James. “The Literacy Crisis: Or if Johnny Can’t Write, Must Teachers Walk on Water?” Publications of the Arkansas Philological Association. Vol 7 (Spring 1981): 1-39.

Sledd, James. “The Literacy Crisis: Or if Johnny Can’t Write, Must Teachers
Walk on Water?” Publications of the Arkansas Philological Association. Vol 7
(Spring 1981): 1-39.
The American public as a whole believes that our society is currently facing a literacy
crisis, which many tend to believe is a result of the teachers. Although it may seem
that students today are illiterate and poorly educated, it is false. Language is highly
defective and there is no accurate way to compare language and its use. The existence
of a literacy crisis has seemed to evolve from standardized tests, which test
accomplishment rather than aptitude, and the journalists that publish and exaggerate
these unreliable scores. The blame for t...