(CNN) -- I'm a sucker for all of those man-on-the-street interviews that late-night shows do to reveal just how dumb Americans are.
It's fun to laugh at the people who struggle with simple math problems or are unable to find any country we're at war with on a map.
More than a few even get tripped up trying to name the branches of government.
It's all fun and games until you remember that elections have consequences, and that many of those people who said they could name the president -- but not the commander in chief -- will soon be standing in a voting booth, armed with a ballot.
If you think government dysfunction is the country's No. 1 problem -- and according to a recent Gallup poll, a third of the nation does -- then maybe we should take those hilarious late-night interviews a little more seriously.
You see, while we were busy waving our angry finger at Washington, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its findings from the Survey of Adult Skills. The group's research measured the literacy, math and computer skills of 5,000 adults from 16 to 65 and compared those numbers with that of 21 other countries.
The good news is that we didn't finish last in anything.
Educational divide
The bad news is that we're in pretty sad shape when not finishing last is the good news.
Trailing every country in the survey except Italy and Spain in math is rough. But how the OECD's findings may play a role in elections and the economy is disturbing.
According to the report, "individuals who score at lower levels of proficiency in literacy are more likely than those with higher proficiency to ... believe that they have little impact on the political process." Also "in most countries, individuals with lower proficiency are also more likely to have lower levels of trust in others."
U.S. adults ranked 16th in literacy proficiency.
The OECD findings seem to be consistent with that of the U.S. Department of Education, which estimated back in 2009 that some 32 million adults lacked the proficiency to read a newspaper. This was captured by a witty USA Today headline about the findings: "Literacy study: 1 in 7 U.S. are unable to read this story."
That was kinder than the New York Post headline after the new OECD report: "U.S. adults are dumber than the average human."
An uneducated workforce is a hindrance to us all and an uninformed electorate is the thorn in democracy's side, taunting us with the words of Joseph de Maistre: "Every country has the government it deserves."
More:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/opinion/g ... ?hpt=hp_t4
