ABSTRACT
Adult illiteracy has been in the forefront of educational, social and political news for the past two decades. Ironically this emphasis is due in large part to the unparalled success in technology which has resulted in the automation of farms and industry. The situation has been described as follows: “Within the United States today there are a staggering 23 million Americans - 1 in 5 adults -that lack the reading and writing abilities needed to handle the minimum demands of daily living. An additional thirty million are only marginally capable of being productive workers” (U.S. News and World Report, 1982a, p. 53). While this number is possibly a smaller percentage of our population than in past years, the tragedy in human terms is illustrated by the high rate of unemployment among undereducated adults. In social terms the lack of productivity and the feeling of social inadequacy in this segment of the population results in increased welfare and unemployment costs to the general public.
