Be proud, North Texans. You read kind of OK-ish.
A study, published recently in USA Today, of the nation’s reading habits, sources, and abilities ranked the top 75 U.S. cities in terms of literacy. Dallas placed 44th on the list, up from 48 last year — and hey, good for us. Fort Worth came in at 50, better than its 52nd ranking last year, so yea Fort Worth.
Plano placed at 54, down one from 2009, hrrumph, and Arlington nearly dragged the bottom of the barrel at 71, also sliding one spot.
Traveling around the state, in order of ranking, Austin made the top half of the list at 21 — the only Texas city to better Dallas — Houston came in at 60, San Antonio placed 62, and Corpus Christi tied with El Paso at 69.
Central Connecticut State University conducted the study. According to the USA Today article, “The study, based on 2010, looks at measures for six items — newspapers, bookstores, magazines, education, libraries, and the Internet — to determine what resources are available in each city and the extent to which its inhabitants take advantage of them.”
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The study failed to measure “lips moving while reading” rates.
Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. Most of his books have more pictures than words.
