As a voracious reader and professional writer living in the Phoenix metropolitan area, I am not sure I agree with this assessment. Then again, I'm not sure I totally disagree with it because, while most of the people I know are quite literate, they are not all widely literate. Some of them are generalists. Others are experts. So I guess it comes down to how you define literate.
Dr. Jack Miller, President of Central Connecticut State University, and author of the annual ranking of "America's Most Literate Cities" evaluated 69 cities having populations exceeding 250,000, using 6 six literacy indicators:
- newspaper circulation
- number of bookstores
- library resources
- periodical publishing resources
- educational attainment and
- Internet resources.
As to newspapers, the Arizona Republic, which is owned by media mega-corp Gannett, is the big dog for the entire state. It is also, according to their website, "one of the fastest-growing major metropolitan newspapers in the country, ranking among the top 20 newspapers in daily circulation." I am not a subscriber, although I do occasionally pick up a Sunday paper and regularly surf the azcentral.com web site., but that apparently is part of the Internet resources ranking rather than the newspaper ranking. I did subscribe, a few years ago, to the East Valley Tribune but I have let the subscription lapse. Both seem to get a significant portion of their content from the AP and it seems like a waste of paper to subscribe to either when I can get the content online. I'd say something about the shortcomings of their local coverage, however, being a local journalist but not a subscriber means I have to shoulder some of the responsibility for those myself.
I regularly use the Valley's libraries. In fact, the Tempe Public Library on Rural/Scottsdale Rd. and Southern, is among the greatest libraries I have been in. It's no Library of Congress but it beats many others, including those in other college towns. The Southwest Regional Library is also amazing, but more for the environment than the stacks.
The Phoenix New Times is the periodical I read most frequently, but again, I don't subscribe. I don't think anyone has actually ever offered me a subscription to the New Times. It's available free at several locations, so I don't even think about subscribing, although I have thought about contributing. I will purchase some of the local magazines if the featured topic is one I am interested in.
Phoenix shares the 39th ranking in terms of Internet resources with Detroit. That's a bit of a surprise. I would have thought we would be higher. Still, the study only looked at library internet connections and most everyone I know accesses the Internet from home or work. Not even I surf the 'net at the library although I have been known to access the library's card catalog and electronic resources from home. I've even encouraged others to make use of the resources available online through the library to others.
Since I don't have kids and am not a product of the Arizona educational system, I don't have any comment about it. I will say that I am very tired of cashiers who can't make change without a calculator and clerks who can't spell even with the aid of spellcheck.
Unfortunately, I, and my friends, appear to be the exception, rather than the rule. The 2007 America's Most Literate Cities survey supports the conclusions of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that Americans at all levels are reading less and less well. Disturbingly, this downward reading trend is occurring when Americans are spending more time in school and accomplishing higher levels of education. In other words, whatever Americans are learning in school, it is not literate behavior. At least, not literate behavior as measured by America's Most Literate Cities.
