Some Statistics [from here]:

(Keep in mind that these percentages may be even lower, because people tend to lie when given such surveys to avoid looking stupid; there is no way to ensure that participants in any kind of survey aren't lying)

30% of 13-year-olds read nearly every day for pleasure compared to 90% of 8-year-olds.

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book in their lives.

65% of college freshmen say that read little or nothing for pleasure.

42% of college graduates never read another book after graduating.

80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

Most readers don't get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

Even those of you who could give a flip less about proper English and grammar can probably see all around you that our language is deteriorating, that an astronomical percentage of the population has no grasp whatsoever on English.  You might even be willing to admit yourself that you're not very good with English.  But where does that leave our future?  We live in a world that has so devolved from what it once was in terms of language and grammar education that many adults have never read a book at all and would struggle mightily to read, let alone comprehend, the young adult literature of the past, such as The Call of the Wild or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  While I will admit that a larger percentage of our society is now literate (meaning that they actually have the ability to read) than once was, that in no way means that they have a grasp on the language or on words in a way that will allow them to read more than an Us magazine article.  People can read, but they are what we call "functionally illiterate," meaning that they cannot comprehend what they are reading in a way that makes their ability to read letters of any use.  We need to strive for quality as well as quantity.

Something that has made me shudder since the inception of that literary garbage that has the value of a book composed of facebook statuses is hearing from the mouths of adults as old as 50 that before Twilight, they had never read a book in their lives.  How, HOW, does someone get through their entire life without reading a book?  And how are people so poorly educated that something like that is the only thing that can captivate their ignorant minds, being the only thing they've read that they can understand?  It is beyond me.  Clearly our education system is failing in that very large respect.

English is what we call a lingua franca, or a  language used in the great majority of countries to conduct business and communicate in that a great number of people understand.  We desperately need people to comprehend it in order to face the global economy and for the individuals our country produces to succeed and help us to succeed in the world at large.  If all our education system can produce is a group of people who have never read a book, we will be a society of ignorants, a society full of fry cooks with a handful of people with the drive to learn and pursue their education being our only shot at global success.  After all, the language education of our people is reflective on the quality of education they have received in other areas.  We become noncompetitive, we lose the edge offered by having a well educated populous that is able to research, invent, and develop the technologies and philosophies of the future.

Recalling an Ingsoc motto from the book 1984, "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."  Being a dystopian society that has come to a complete standstill where no one can think for themselves and therefore can never advance society for the good or for their own basic rights, ignorance is only strength for Big Brother's regime and war.  When the populous is ignorant, no one can make informed decisions and they desperately fear change.  People devolve to the point that they only possess the ability to agree with what they are told rather than to research (something one must possess reading comprehension to do) and formulate objective, well-informed opinions.  Without reading, people become sheep.  Our country doesn't need sheep to advance, to become successful, to avoid disaster, it needs animals that don't follow blindly, animals that are clever.

Okay, on a side note, I do know that there are countries out there that are radically more illiterate than the United States, but those countries are generally not our main economic and intellectual competitors.  Our competitors are generally bilingual, score higher on tests (although this is not a great tool for measuring intelligence), and attend schools that cater much more to the individual rather than treating children like they're products on an assembly line that will all come out the same.  In order to have an edge, we need better education, and in order to have better education, we need change and objective, non-biased decision making, and in order to have that, we need to have an educated populous, and in order to have that, we need better education etc. so on forever.  

I think a good place to start is simply self-education: seeking to better oneself, reading for pleasure, watching something aside from reality TV, taking risks, trying new things, immersing oneself in experiences you might not have normally selected for yourself.  You might be surprised where all that takes you.  If our education system is failing, we must remedy it ourselves through our own personal strength and drive.  If you read and know someone who doesn't, encourage them.  I guarantee that if someone who isn't well read just picks up a good book, one that captivates them, and reads it from cover to cover, things will change for them.  Now, I don't mean Twilight; I mean something slightly challenging, emotionally charged, full of vivid descriptions for your imagination to turn to images.  I mean something worthwhile that will guide readers forward rather than miring them down on the same low level, offering no opportunity to advancement and merely catering to ignorance.