CHAPTER 9. 



LITERACY. 



Information on illiteracy in the drafted army was obtained only incidentally as it was 

 indicated by the type of examination given recruits. The beta examination was developed 

 primarily for men who could not read and write English and was used for these men in place 

 of the alpha examination which presupposes English literacy. The percentages of men taking 

 the beta examination are available, but unfortunately the method of segregation for beta in 

 different camps and at different times differed greatly, so that no positive definition of illiteracy 

 can be laid down on this basis. 1 Without a definition, statistics of dliteracy are meaningless 

 for men vary by all degrees from inability to sign their names or to read even digits up to 

 degrees of ability that would be classed as literate by anyone. In general it may be said that 

 many of the camps aimed at an "ability to read and understand newspapers and write letters 

 home" as a basis for the alpha examination, and that the figures for the numbers of men taking 

 beta do approximately reflect this level of literacy. Unfortunately, however, the degree of 

 adequacy with which the intended separation was made depended on chance conditions, such 

 as the skill of a sergeant who separated the men, the presence of an interpreter, the time 

 available for segregation, or even, perhaps, the immediate availability of space in the beta 

 examination room. Camp conditions were rough and examining procedure was constantly 

 being adapted to meet the ever-present emergency. The figures for men taking beta, given 

 in this chapter, are rather the figures for the "less literate" in the drafted army than for the 

 illiterate in any strictly defined sense of the term. 2 



Notwithstanding these limitations the extent of illiteracy among the drafted men is a 

 striking fact. The figures for beta are not an exact measure of this fact, and it is equally 

 obvious that without a more definite measure of literacy and a uniform standard for the 

 segregation of groups detailed statements are impossible. Nevertheless these measures, though 

 rough and varied, do indicate conditions of serious public concern. 



The weekly statistical reports to the Surgeon General's Office from the camps give the 

 numbers of men taking the beta examination. The usual basis of separation for beta was 

 "ability to read and understand newspapers and write letters home." In a number of camps, 

 however, an educational qualification (four, five, or six years' schooling) was added, and in a 

 few camps an educational qualification alone was used. Table 279 indicates, for 28 stations 

 in which extensive examination was carried out, both the basis on which a man was considered 

 literate, and the number and per cent of all men examined whom it was found necessary to 

 send to the beta examination for illiterates. The extent of illiteracy is often largely dependent 

 on the proportion of negroes in the group; this is therefore indicated in the final column. 

 The figures cover the period from April 27, 1918, to the close of examining. 



1 See section on camp organization in Part I, chapter 3, section 6 (pages 62 to 87), and the chapter on methods of segregation, Part II, chapter 

 5, especially section 1 (pages 347 to 355). 



' Very roughly the figures for beta correspond to a literacy of the fifth grade or less, although the variation about this point is great. It is 

 evident that to call fifth or fourth grade literacy "illiteracy " is to use the term "illiteracy" in a very different sense from the usual usage. The 

 United States Bureau of the Census classifies as illiterate any one 10 years of age or over reporting themselves as unable to write. (See Abstract 

 ef the Thirteenth Census of the United States, Washington, 1913, p. 239.) This classification is quite as indefinite as the segregational division 

 in the psychological service, but it represents presumably a much lower degree of literate ability. 



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