So what if we’re not all going to be Congressmen?

Resnick states that “not all segments of our population have come to demand literacy skills of the kind that educators, members of Congress, and other government officials think necessary” (371).  They seem to be saying that not everyone has to speak like a Congressman because – quite simply – not everyone will have to speak like that in his profession.  If this is the case, how do we – as teachers – ensure that students become literate?  Are we to lower literacy standards (i.e., lower than those required by businessmen and government officials)?  Are we to teach different curriculums based on which profession the student is interested?

To me, this quote then relates to “functional literacy.”  Resnick points out that “this mass-literacy criterion [i.e., functional literacy] is stronger than that of any earlier period of history” (383).  Why do you think this is?  Is it such a bad thing that more and more people are now considered to be only functionally literate?