tend to be linked to the working-class poor.^5 Education, however, is not an abso-
lute indicator of dialect. The language skills of college graduates appear to have
declined significantly over the last 25 years (Healy, 1990). Moreover, the shrink-
ing of the middle class has led increasingly to comments about class warfare,
with predictable aversion and animosity toward the educated elite who have high
incomes. Being identified as a member of the elite has tangible liabilities, espe-
cially for politicians. Thus, we frequently see candidates doffing their suits and
ties for polo shirts and jeans. They not only declare that they feel the pain of vot-
ers but make every effort to utter that declaration in a homespun dialect intended
to project the image of Everyman. Some would argue on this ground that Presi-
dent George W. Bush represents the perfect politician, because voters so easily
see themselves in his Texas dialect and his linguistic misadventures. Given these
realities, our complaints about the decline in student language skills over the last
two decades necessarily must be viewed in the context of a major shift toward
nonstandard English among the well-educated nationwide.
Not surprisingly, several reports have shown that literacy levels in the public
schools and in higher education have plummeted since the mid-1960s. Chall
(1996) and Coulson (1996) reported serious declines in language and literacy
levels for students in all age groups. Chall, for example, described her experience
at a community college where the “freshmen tested, on the average, on an
eighth-grade reading level. Thus, the average student in this community college
was able to read only on a level expected of junior high school students” (p. 309).
Findings like these are not limited to community colleges. Entering freshmen at a
major research university in North Carolina, ranked among the top 25 schools in
the nation, are tested each year for reading skill, and their average annual scores
between 1987 and 1994 placed them at about the 10th-grade reading level.^6
234 CHAPTER 7
(^5) We must be careful about our understanding of what it means to be poor in America. Rector and
Johnson (2004) reported that:
only a small number of the 35 million persons classified as ‘poor’ by the Census Bureau fit that
description. While real material hardship certainly does occur, it is limited in scope and severity.
Most of America’s “poor” live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or
well-off just a few generations ago.... Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their
own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a
three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio. Seventy-six per-
cent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the
entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning. Only 6 percent of poor households are over-
crowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person. The average poor Ameri-
can has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens,
and other cities throughout Europe. Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 per-
cent own two or more cars. Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over
half own two or more color televisions. Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62
percent have cable or satellite TV reception. Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more
6 than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher. (pp. 1–2)
During this period, students took the Nelson-Denny reading test, which was administered by the
university’s learning skills center. I reviewed the data in my capacity as an administrator at the school.