A recent survey showed that 12% of students were proficient in reading at only the most basic level.

That's the view of Volker Gaeckle, Dean of Studies at the evangelical Bengel Centre in Tuebingen, Germany.

PISA, (Program for International Student Assessment), is a new, three-year survey of knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds from the world's principal industrialized countries. First conducted in 2000, PISA tested 265,000 students from 32 countries.

The survey showed that fully 12% of students were proficient in reading at only the most basic level, indicating serious difficulties with the comprehension of texts. A further 6% of students tested could not perform even the simplest tasks.

Biblical Illiteracy "Insidious"

Saying the PISA results should alarm churches, Gaeckle draws the connection to what he sees as an "insidious biblical illiteracy", even in Christian circles, where many find it difficult to read and comprehend the Bible. At the same time, many preachers pay too little attention to whether their message is easy to understand. The Scripture reading in some worship services has become a mere ritual.

"Churches should heed the PISA warning that text comprehension is a major problem," Gaeckle said.

Source: Bible Network News, with notes from Crosswalk.com News

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