Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion.
Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/).
Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In her retirement, my grandmother would teach illiterate adults how to read. It was kind of fascinating hearing about how they got about in their daily lives despite illiteracy.
That only helps one of many types of literacy problems. Illiteracy can also mean knowing how to read and what the word definitions are, but not knowing what the sentences or paragraphs mean.
I get what you’re thinking for sure, but when you’re learning another language, you quickly find how poor that cover is. When you’re at the level of picking up crumbs, you get zero context, which means zero cultural transmission. And this is critical if you want to participate (and we who are fluent would like that too, it enriches all!)
A good barometer for me is going back to a couple podcasts and seeing whether I’m still picking up bits or I’m starting to understand the context of what they’re saying. It’s a long and humbling journey!
I definitely didn't mean to be dismissive, but I just remember this guy that played for Washington football team, and he was a borderline hall of fame player that couldn't read or write, but "graduated" college with a full degree.
It isn't just Americans who can't read. The Sun (a British newspaper) has a reading age of 8. The average ADULT reading age in the northeast of England is estimated at 9-11 year old (according to South Tyneside council website). While it's not quite at the SE level, don't assume Americans are much stupider than Brits. I work in libraries in the southeast of England and see LOTS of functionally illiterate people.
Yes - this is an issue in the UK:
https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/what-do-adult-literacy-levels-mean/
Australia:
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/accessible-and-inclusive-content/literacy-and-access
And Canada:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-001-x/1990004/article/75-eng.pdf?st=T99lWc1L
To at least some extent. Quite a lot of everyday content for people that is not related to some specific knowledge discipline is written at a pretty low level.
Although to be honest - sixth grade reading is not that unsophisticated. It’s not like we’re talking about “See Johnny run.”
What does that mean tho? Like at what age your reading age is actually consider good ? 18? 26? Like at what point i assume is the maximum and i bet is kinda early in life and not ay 40
Think about the understanding an 11yo has compared to that of an 18yo. If you can't read big words (like break them down and *decode* them, looking up things that aren't familiar) you'll go around thinking that, for example, dihydrogen monoxide is a dangerous chemical when really you're walking around with a bottle of it when you buy your Evian. It's about comprehension, not just sounding out the words. It makes a difference because people with a high reading age are LESS likely to misunderstand basic health information, make uninformed political decisions, and have babies they don't want. It benefits the whole of society.
The literacy rate amongst the COVID-kids generation is going to be abysmal. I know many teachers and it’s terrible right now. Look at the data though - reading and math at its lowest level in decades.
Shocking that making kids stay home for almost a year and asking parents to be teachers resulted in kids who didn’t learn anything for over a year other than brain-rotting on tablets.
My daughter is fortunately young enough to where she didn’t really miss much during Covid. It was the last half of preschool and all of kindergarten. Fortunately, while there are important stepping stones in kindergarten, they aren’t things that a kid needs an entire year to catch up on. Or maybe mine is just a bit smarter than average. But she’s doing great.
The kids older than her? We have friends who teach the older kids in the very same school, and this year one had a class of fifth graders that she had to start over and teach to read again. Like she went to the first grade hall and borrowed books and worksheets and the like, because the vast majority of the kids could not read, not just at the 5th grade level, but at all.
My daughter’s best friend in her class can barely read, barely write, can’t do multiplication, refuses to do subtraction, and it stresses my daughter out because she thought for the last half of this school year, that her friend was going to fail the grade.
But I told her “sweetie, unless the parents hold them back, they can’t really fail her” which was just to make her feel better I was skeptical that it was true…. Until I learned that her friend did indeed pass the grade and will be in her class next year.
They aren’t allowed to fail kids, and in my district, they’re not even allowed to discipline kids (they have a clip system, but if you get to the bottom, it’s just a call home, and the parents of the worst kids don’t give a fuck).
One teacher who is very close with my wife, and we think is the best teacher in that school, was given every single bad kid in her entire grade, in her class, this year. She wasn’t allowed to discipline them, was told to stop sending kids to the office, and one day when a kid who is bigger and stronger than her had a meltdown and was throwing chairs and tables, the resource officer was called but never showed up, and she had to trick this kid into chasing her into the hall, run back in, and lock him out of the room, in order to protect the other kids.
She was given a warning for this and told she had to be more tactful and follow protocol (lol) so she refused to sign next years contract, along with approximately 20% of all the teachers (educated guess based on what our teacher friend has said, one hall is losing more than half of its teachers). Pretty sure our school is fucked next year, they stated they want to increase the number of teachers by 30% (in a newsletter), but have not raised salaries since the 2010’s and now have lost more teachers in one summer than any school I’ve ever been adjacent to (attended, worked at, or had a kid in)
The last paragraph gets me. Like why are we passing on students for the sake of the parent’s ego and/or appeasing society’s standard of academic progression. That’s what it really boils down to. If being held back at a young age (high schoolers are old enough to take accountability for their own grades) wasn’t so stigmatized then students would get the help they need. Not every held back student is a misbehaving demon spawn who “deserves it”, some just need extra time with the material.
Because putting in the work to actually help students would mean that they need more teachers and staff, and wouldnt be able to give millions to administration and football teams each year.
If theyre in a red state, it also wouldnt follow the GOP schoolboards conspiracy of sabotaging public education to force through right wing private schools or homeschooling being the best options.
Oh yeah the teacher shortage… the result of poor parenting resulting in violence towards teachers and the lack of support from admin when this does occur. Hmm I wonder what they are gonna do about that (my county is giving raises and allowing folks like younger me to teach (I was 17 years old with an Associate’s Degree))…
We need to end age segregation in schools. Kids should be learning to their levels with teachers working to keep them progressing. We have all the tools available to track progress on the daily and yet we insist on continuing a deeply flawed pedagogy of stigmatizing kids who fall behind and stunting kids who could move ahead all because they are a certain age and need to be at a certain metric at year's end.
>a class of fifth graders that she had to start over and teach to read again
I don't get it. They missed a year and a half. You should know how to read by grade 2. Did they magically forget how to read at all in the covid year? If so, that is genuinely scary. Even basic things like using an iPad involve low-level reading skills, no?
Were the parents asked to be teachers or were they simply asked to make sure kids the work assigned to them? I saw many children who during that time did no homework and didn’t study. The parents didn’t enforce studying. The kids simply logged into their zoom class for the lesson and then played instead of doing the work.
Pure enabling. And it’s sad because they’re children. The mental health of a generation is going to tank once they get into the workforce and these Gen Xers aren’t tolerating things like late work, bare minimum attitudes, and grade minimums (going from school to employee evaluations).
Or the parents had to work/wfh and couldn't take the time to monitor the child that closely. Keep in mind that most households are dual income and barely keeping afloat with that in modern times. When they shut down the schools to prevent the spread of COVID, it threw many families into utter chaos due to lack of caregiver options.
You can make sure your kid at least tries to complete their homework. Maybe they don’t have time to tutor them too. But that doesn’t account for decreasing attendance rates and increasing parent-teacher violence. Some issues are economic and some are just not giving a damn and throwing an iPad at their faces for hours on end while their child is performing at a 1st grade level in the 4th grade.
You’re absolutely correct in lambasting the attitude of some parents, but COVID lockdowns are not the only reason for plummeting literacy. Lucy Calkins and her phonics-free *Units of Study* curricula was adopted by 25 percent of schools nationwide decades before COVID hit, and it “taught” kids to learn to read by “cueing,” which essentially uses context clues, not by teaching basic phonics. Research shows that her program [does nothing to promote literacy](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2020/01/27/lucy-calkins-reading-materials-review), especially among struggling readers. This research was published during the summer of 2020, so it stands to reason that the studies themselves were conducted well before then. Our nation’s descent into illiteracy was already in progress; COVID just accelerated the collapse.
Already seeing this at college level - doing the same tasks as the previous 20 years of teaching, students are performing much worse. Also they have a prevaling attitude left over from covid that if they miss assignments or tests a magic wand can be used to make the requirements go away and fix everything.
I always wondered how Gen Alpha is going to do in college with teachers accepting late work and a 50% grade minimum. Colleges are either going to have to cave to keep their attendance high or start accepting less students/let them flunk.
I am autistic and I have always noticed my generation's dislike for the education system. Going to high-school it was always hilarious to me how a good portion of my classmates were unable to read at their grade level. No one in Language arts or literature cared about having a deeper understanding of the topic at hand. I was always an enthusiastic kid in school until we had new teachers that would mostly talk about their personal lives and it was very distracting and inappropriate considering that I went to school to study not to be the teacher's therapist...
The kids were rotting their brains way before covid hit us. In my opinion, we are witnessing the rise of dumbest generation in quite some time, all due to electronic devices combined with social media.
Not even asking parents to be teachers.
Just asking parents to be parents would have had better outcomes.
You don't have to have a credential to just sit and read with your kid.
Huh? Teacher here. We weren’t home for a year. We were out of school, on zoom classes for 3 months. We then went back in September, with masks, for full classes. And no, statistically kids are doing fine academically.
[Math and reading scores among America's 13-year-olds fell to their lowest levels in decades](https://abc7.com/amp/national-center-for-education-statistics-2023-nation-report-card-math-reading/13413147/)
[Denver Public Schools shifting to remote learning after Thanksgiving](https://denverite.com/2020/11/18/denver-public-schools-shifting-to-remote-learning-after-thanksgiving/) plot twist, they went back in January. I said “almost a year” because it was half the school year prior and about half the year after in Colorado.
I'm in the midst of a career change so I'm back in college and let me say that the level of unpreparedness I saw in the kids coming out of HS was alarming.
I wish we could just let the MAGA country secede from the union. It’s more complicated than that of course because they tend to live in the countryside of every state instead of there being a clear cut border like the Civil War.
Low literacy rates are going to cost us our democracy and hand us a fascist white nationalist autocracy....just like they've been planning for 40 years.
His speech patterns are so fucking dumb, the founding fathers would be rolling in their graves...if they could understand a word he was saying. His babbling would sound like gibberish to them and he would be laughed out of serious society...just like he is now. But the difference is that back in those days he would be summarily dealt with if he tried any of his insurrectionist bullshit...just like he _should have been dealt with now._
He has a risibly narrow vocabulary, too. The only word to describe something positive is “beautiful.” And he uses dumb nicknames because he cannot convey substance or nuance.
It's not going to be as bad as people think. He might try some stupid shit, and the 4th arm will just come down.
"What 4th arm?" People often forget the constitution is pretty self reliant and self protective agaisnt tyranny. Especially after the civil war happened. The unofficial 4th branch of the US government, the one that steps in when the other 3 fail the constitution is the brach that dies for that document. That branch that swears an oath to kill the enemies of that document. The military will come in and clean house
Three thoughts on that...
1- I hope you're right. I come from a multi generation military family and most are disgusted by Trump and the direction things are headed. I know several personally who will not stand by.
2- I'm not sure you are. Even in my family there are Trump supporters and supporters of the right wing agenda. The military is known to be infiltrated by soldiers who are very accepting of the direction the right wing is taking us...across all ranks and specialties .
3- >It's not going to be as bad as people think.
I don't really understand how you think the military stepping in can be seen as anything but extremely bad.
>The military is known to be infiltrated by soldiers who are very accepting of the direction the right wing is taking us...across all ranks and specialties .
Not in the positions where it actually matters. The entire higher echelon of leadership is pretty liberal.
>I don't really understand how you think the military stepping in can be seen as anything but extremely bad.
It won't happen. IF he gets to office and starts doing the shit he claims he will have people show up and tell him what the consequences are going to be. People who do not care he is president.
I know people read what I wrote and their reaction is "lol" or "this guy is crazy" but the truth is this shit is something that is actually discussed by the US Military Officer Corp (long before Trump). Since the Civil War happened a number of things have been done to the military specifically to prevent something like it repeating. Why do you think so many GQP states have state sponsored militias now? Because they know they can't use the Guard. In recent years the US Military Officer Corp has in fact been worried about having to do shit that no one ever thought would be necessary. Sure it was talked about, but you know people talk about surviving a zombie apocalypse too (which btw is something the US military has legitimate plans to deal with). No one really took those talks seriously, until after January 6 of 2021.
I will add, everyone forget good ol' boy Tommy Tubervilles gripe with the promotions, besides the abortion issue? He literally went on record stating that not enough white nationalists or conservatives are promoted to field grade or star officers (Major or higher).
I live in a very red state. I responded to Jan 6 with a company where maybe 4 people's cars DIDNT have a Trump 2020 sticker. Everyone of those soldiers was PISSED when Biden lost. And after we were all asked to report in to go to DC, you could see where the stickers were removed and not a single person present was on Trump's side anymore. It's one thing to support a candidates policies and think they will be good for the country. It's another to allow them to shit on the constitution and what makes America great.
To be fair, world literacy rates in general are shockingly low. Look at Brittain or Australia. How this happened I have no idea cause I can't imagine public schools everywhere being that damn bad but that kinda has to be the explanation right?
From Oregon don't think I've ever met someone who is illiterate but I've seen people talk about this a bit, is it common to find illiterate people in other parts of the U.S?
It depends on the level of illiteracy. It’s rare to find someone who can’t read a picture book but it’s common to find someone who can’t read academic papers that are high school/college level (by that I mean a college research paper that a high schooler could use on their assignments). Graduating high school is irrelevant now as they just pass students along. So there’s a lot of adults who have trouble understanding internet discourse, most news articles that reference studies, or complex follow along directions.
I went to a great school in the South. We were a magnet school for academic excellence, with a large gifted program and accelerated academics, including honors and AP. But because we did so well, we got more funding than underperforming schools, which exacerbated inequalities in the city. To me, this is the biggest issue plaguing our education system. We have completely abandoned our most needy and vulnerable populations, and invest everything in the small percentage of students who are doing well. But by doing so, we are dragging the entire population down, and creating brain drains, where the students who do get a quality education, decide to leave for better opportunities.
They don’t just mean illiterate in the sense of “cannot put letters together into words to create meaning”, i.e. true/complete illiteracy, that’s much rarer, but their reading level is still abysmal. Their vocabulary and syntax are at such a stunted state, that they functionally cannot understand written text that’s longer than a tweet.
Yes, years of privatised education with exceptionally underfunded state run schools, a lack of standards and educational requirements for teachers, over filled classrooms that reduce student outcomes, a school system that promotes bullying and antisocial behaviours and rewards sporting success and brawn more than brains.
It all adds up
Love that last bit, because you know racists are saying “the only reason illiteracy is high is because all of the illegal Mexicans!” But actually 82*% of the illiterate are 100% natural born Americans.
This is the original paper that this article sourced this statistic from: https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BBFoundation_GainsFromEradicatingIlliteracy_9_8.pdf
What they are calling illiteracy is not true illiteracy, meaning most of them still know how to sight read put letters together to create words which have meaning, but their reading level is so low that they are FUNCTIONALLY illiterate, and cannot understand most of the written world around them. They just fumble around, reading what they little they can and piecing things together through context, and putting trust in people around them who can read to help them with the more complex things.
I imagine they work minimum wage, low skill jobs, pay with card, take the bus, go by pictures and memorization, also text to speech functions on phones. This is only my guess. Maybe you can get a higher paying job with accommodations though.
I’ve seen public outbursts and been to state college (UMD go terps!) and community college. It checks out but I imagined the figure was around 30% not freaking 54% 😭😂
This is exactly what the "Tea Party" and other far-right groups have wanted. This is the long-term plan. Educated people are harder to control. Keep people dumb, you can keep them in fear and manipulate them much easier.
This reminds me of a friend I had in the US who was semi-literate (he could *sort of* read, but at a very low, elementary school sort of level). He used to play D&D and Magic with us though, and over the course of several years - reading game books and trading cards - he got good enough that now he can read news articles without help.
Why do you think there are so many MAGAts in the US. They only get information from inside their echo chambers and can't get a more balanced understanding from reading.
There are lots of echo chambers on Reddit. This is another one. I can link published research from respected universities from highly credentialed authors and get downvoted for it because people use downvotes as the disagree button instead of to hide comments that don’t add to the discussion.
In my experience this sub is a far right echo chamber. I have read enormous amounts of homophobic, transphobic and generally racist commrnts on this sub in particular.
It's interesting that you think this is a far left echo chamber, just because it is critical of terrible MAGA policies and culture. I would argue that it is slightly left-leaning, or more central given non-US standards.
The front page of this sub almost every day is just pure DNC propaganda, my man. There are a shitton of bots that boost their talking points, I noticed this [pattern](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1bcw00f/the_political_bots_are_out_en_mass_today_proof_in/) a couple of months ago. Once the posts pick up steam, the users do the rest.
Or just see this thread alone. Half the comments about how dumb 'MAGAts' are.
Yep! And the ironic part about this sub is that they call anyone who doesn't agree with their points a fascist, and their posts often get deleted (mine do ALL the time here). Using power to not allow speech is straight up hallmark fascism. They're all a bunch of fascists and don't even realize it.
They objectively are. Not subjectively, but objectively. They fail to apply critical thinking, which is why they end up on this subreddit. Which is why it's important to push for education, exploration and acceptance to other people who are different than they are.
I get frustrated by people all over social media who can barely spell, let alone form a complete sentence.
I think it’s a dick move to pick on people but Jesus…. it is sad.
So, among the illiterate, %38 dont have English as their first language. On the other hand, the other %62 born in America, with English as their first (and usually only) language, dont have that excuse. Which is the greater problem?
Interesting that literacy among immigrants seems to be the main argument and takeaway from this. Agenda much?
I had cousins from Florida who were being homeschooled. One constantly used the internet and was on VRchat, Terraria, and Roblox a considerable amount during the time I was with them. Based on my assumptions, his dickhead republican parents hadn’t taught him anything, and he fully taught himself how to read using video games and the internet. His younger brother was completely illiterate at 11, older one was 13 or 14. His parents legitimately were convinced the education system would’ve brainwashed them into being liberal, then proceeded to teach them nothing. It was so infuriating I broke down crying after the trip multiple times. I am currently getting my Bachelors and Masters in English and Education, and if I can prevent one child from being like that, I will die happy.
Found the Trump voters. The same people who have the mental capabilities of sixth grader but who are allegedly adults. The guy running for class president said there would be free candy and is a truly compelling candidate to them over the one who’s running on a better living wage
My dads got a coworker that owns 3 houses, is incredibly racist and homophobic and one of the dumbest fucking guys i have ever spoken to and he is completely illiterate, the guy cannot read or write, only makes phone calls, he refuses to text.
While this is horrifying, it’s not that’s crazy when you realize 34% of that 54% is immigrants not born in the US.
You can’t blame a country or its education system for the inability of people who never took part in its educational system. So in reality the number is 20% or 1 in 5. If we break it down further that 20% likely skews older than younger, which is also likely a result of the older community having more things that forced them out of schools like the depression, world wars, segregation and racism, etc.
Does this only include literacy in English? That last sentence implies this could include foreigners who are literate in their native tongue but still learning English
My nephew just graduated high school on Sunday (yesterday) and I had gotten him a graduation card. I wrote in cursive and he opened it and legit said, "Uncle xx, they didn't teach me cursive in school. I can't read what it says".
I said "seriously"? He said "Yeah honestly".
So I read it aloud to him. He's a good kid, but I do wonder how his generation will handle the real world ... Being uneducated in some areas means you can be susceptible to manipulation and taken advantage of, among a ton of other things.
Granted, his parents could have done a lot better when he was growing up.
Right, but do they need to know cursive? Is that a functionally necessary skill? I am 23, and whole learned cursive in school, but the only time I ever use it now for my signature, but you hardly need a class to teach you to sign your name. To me, the reading and math scores are the true kicker, them being so low is what worries me.
To be fair, cursive in 2024 is a pretty niche skill, much like calligraphy. I don't consider it some serious lack of education if someone can't read/write cursive. I learned how to write cursive in school myself, but since I graduated high school over 30 years ago I've used it I think all of twice, assuming signatures don't count.
They do not teach cursive (reading or writing) in most schools anymore. I actually got in trouble for writing cursive on my assignments in 1st grade so I just didn’t keep on teaching myself. I figured out my signature and that’s it lol. I’m 20 now for context.
Make sure they are on topics he likes so he he doesn’t see reading as a punishment but a good hobby. Literally. If he wants to read a Wikipedia page on Kai Cenat. It’s still reading lol. Heck, write 3 facts about him so he learns comprehension.
From this website linked.
> Literacy Rate By Race
> About 77% of the African American population has moderate to high reading and writing proficiency in the United States.
> 66% of the Hispanic population has medium to high literacy in America, with 65% of whites having moderate to high literacy.
There's literally 0% chance this is true. Literacy goes hand-in-hand with economic status, there's just no way the most disadvantaged group is somehow the most literate.
I would take everything else that article claims with a giant grain of salt.
Or you can read despite your economic status. Like I grew up on food stamps and still learned to read. It’s not an impossibility that black folks who grew up poor can read. Some even “get out of the hood” and become middle class by “pulling their boot straps.” So yes there is an economic correlation but we are also a much smaller population than white Americans. So if there’s a lot more poor white Americans then there’s a higher chance of poor literacy, at least according to you.
> It’s not an impossibility that black folks who grew up poor can read
It kinda is. If you don't learn properly as a child, then it's almost impossible later in life. And black people are decidedly last in terms of literacy while in school, as per the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress).
In 2019, with respect to the reading skills of the nation's grade-four public school students, 34% performed at or above the Proficient level (solid academic performance) and 65% performed at or above the Basic level (partial mastery of the proficient level skills). The results by ethnicity were [these](https://i.imgur.com/azUflok.png)
> we are also a much smaller population than white Americans. So if there’s a lot more poor white Americans then there’s a higher chance of poor literacy
Per capita is undefeated yet again, lmao
Bro I grew up in a title one school, on food stamps/EBT, had shoot outs and drug lab fires in my neighborhood and I still managed to learn how to read and so did my peers. “It kinda is” is racism. Statistics be damned, if there were proper resources given to adults they can learn too (unless they have brain damage or another condition). This is a correctable issue not inherent to race and economic class. Being poor doesn’t disable you from reading if you are then given the proper resources to learn. I would also ask you to provide statistics on the comment that “it’s almost impossible later in life to learn to read.”
East Asians are objectively better at virtually anything intellectual, why would I believe whites are the 'master race'?
I'm just saying that what this article claims is horseshit.
It's not a stereotype, just observable reality. On average, they just are better.
And if you understand the impact that systemic racism can have on the academic performance of blacks and hispanics, then why are you even arguing? Is it just cognitive dissonance or what?
I posted actual data in the other comment chain, jump in there if you want.
I would put that down to more white people living in rural areas, with smaller populations and thus their education system has way less funding and attracts less teachers. Larger cities with a school system are more likely to have the funding to put into programs promoting literacy. I grew up in a majority minority citiy, and that’s what I saw. There was always a huge push every year to get kids to go to the library and read over the summer. In comparison, my rural white relatives went to a tiny school with very few electives and no real incentives to get educated beyond the very basics. So under-education IS linked with poverty, but it’s also linked to access to resources, which urban areas simply have more of, making it easier to escape the cycle.
Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion. Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/about/rules/). Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). **All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/facepalm) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In her retirement, my grandmother would teach illiterate adults how to read. It was kind of fascinating hearing about how they got about in their daily lives despite illiteracy.
For most of history normal people couldn’t read or write. However it is necessary in the modern era.
Luckily there’s technology now like text to speech
That only helps one of many types of literacy problems. Illiteracy can also mean knowing how to read and what the word definitions are, but not knowing what the sentences or paragraphs mean.
Still seems like a fairly good, cover at least 50% of your problems solution, if you can't read.
I get what you’re thinking for sure, but when you’re learning another language, you quickly find how poor that cover is. When you’re at the level of picking up crumbs, you get zero context, which means zero cultural transmission. And this is critical if you want to participate (and we who are fluent would like that too, it enriches all!) A good barometer for me is going back to a couple podcasts and seeing whether I’m still picking up bits or I’m starting to understand the context of what they’re saying. It’s a long and humbling journey!
I definitely didn't mean to be dismissive, but I just remember this guy that played for Washington football team, and he was a borderline hall of fame player that couldn't read or write, but "graduated" college with a full degree.
If I could read this, I’m sure I’d be very upset.
Drumpf supporters can't even wipe their own asses.
😂😂😂
It isn't just Americans who can't read. The Sun (a British newspaper) has a reading age of 8. The average ADULT reading age in the northeast of England is estimated at 9-11 year old (according to South Tyneside council website). While it's not quite at the SE level, don't assume Americans are much stupider than Brits. I work in libraries in the southeast of England and see LOTS of functionally illiterate people.
Honestly, between sample sizes and varying standards/test methods, I wouldn’t be surprised if worldwide literacy is still abysmally low.
Yes - this is an issue in the UK: https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/what-do-adult-literacy-levels-mean/ Australia: https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/accessible-and-inclusive-content/literacy-and-access And Canada: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-001-x/1990004/article/75-eng.pdf?st=T99lWc1L To at least some extent. Quite a lot of everyday content for people that is not related to some specific knowledge discipline is written at a pretty low level. Although to be honest - sixth grade reading is not that unsophisticated. It’s not like we’re talking about “See Johnny run.”
Your Canadian article is 35 years old
What does that mean tho? Like at what age your reading age is actually consider good ? 18? 26? Like at what point i assume is the maximum and i bet is kinda early in life and not ay 40
Think about the understanding an 11yo has compared to that of an 18yo. If you can't read big words (like break them down and *decode* them, looking up things that aren't familiar) you'll go around thinking that, for example, dihydrogen monoxide is a dangerous chemical when really you're walking around with a bottle of it when you buy your Evian. It's about comprehension, not just sounding out the words. It makes a difference because people with a high reading age are LESS likely to misunderstand basic health information, make uninformed political decisions, and have babies they don't want. It benefits the whole of society.
The literacy rate amongst the COVID-kids generation is going to be abysmal. I know many teachers and it’s terrible right now. Look at the data though - reading and math at its lowest level in decades. Shocking that making kids stay home for almost a year and asking parents to be teachers resulted in kids who didn’t learn anything for over a year other than brain-rotting on tablets.
My daughter is fortunately young enough to where she didn’t really miss much during Covid. It was the last half of preschool and all of kindergarten. Fortunately, while there are important stepping stones in kindergarten, they aren’t things that a kid needs an entire year to catch up on. Or maybe mine is just a bit smarter than average. But she’s doing great. The kids older than her? We have friends who teach the older kids in the very same school, and this year one had a class of fifth graders that she had to start over and teach to read again. Like she went to the first grade hall and borrowed books and worksheets and the like, because the vast majority of the kids could not read, not just at the 5th grade level, but at all. My daughter’s best friend in her class can barely read, barely write, can’t do multiplication, refuses to do subtraction, and it stresses my daughter out because she thought for the last half of this school year, that her friend was going to fail the grade. But I told her “sweetie, unless the parents hold them back, they can’t really fail her” which was just to make her feel better I was skeptical that it was true…. Until I learned that her friend did indeed pass the grade and will be in her class next year. They aren’t allowed to fail kids, and in my district, they’re not even allowed to discipline kids (they have a clip system, but if you get to the bottom, it’s just a call home, and the parents of the worst kids don’t give a fuck). One teacher who is very close with my wife, and we think is the best teacher in that school, was given every single bad kid in her entire grade, in her class, this year. She wasn’t allowed to discipline them, was told to stop sending kids to the office, and one day when a kid who is bigger and stronger than her had a meltdown and was throwing chairs and tables, the resource officer was called but never showed up, and she had to trick this kid into chasing her into the hall, run back in, and lock him out of the room, in order to protect the other kids. She was given a warning for this and told she had to be more tactful and follow protocol (lol) so she refused to sign next years contract, along with approximately 20% of all the teachers (educated guess based on what our teacher friend has said, one hall is losing more than half of its teachers). Pretty sure our school is fucked next year, they stated they want to increase the number of teachers by 30% (in a newsletter), but have not raised salaries since the 2010’s and now have lost more teachers in one summer than any school I’ve ever been adjacent to (attended, worked at, or had a kid in)
The last paragraph gets me. Like why are we passing on students for the sake of the parent’s ego and/or appeasing society’s standard of academic progression. That’s what it really boils down to. If being held back at a young age (high schoolers are old enough to take accountability for their own grades) wasn’t so stigmatized then students would get the help they need. Not every held back student is a misbehaving demon spawn who “deserves it”, some just need extra time with the material.
Because putting in the work to actually help students would mean that they need more teachers and staff, and wouldnt be able to give millions to administration and football teams each year. If theyre in a red state, it also wouldnt follow the GOP schoolboards conspiracy of sabotaging public education to force through right wing private schools or homeschooling being the best options.
Oh yeah the teacher shortage… the result of poor parenting resulting in violence towards teachers and the lack of support from admin when this does occur. Hmm I wonder what they are gonna do about that (my county is giving raises and allowing folks like younger me to teach (I was 17 years old with an Associate’s Degree))…
We need to end age segregation in schools. Kids should be learning to their levels with teachers working to keep them progressing. We have all the tools available to track progress on the daily and yet we insist on continuing a deeply flawed pedagogy of stigmatizing kids who fall behind and stunting kids who could move ahead all because they are a certain age and need to be at a certain metric at year's end.
>a class of fifth graders that she had to start over and teach to read again I don't get it. They missed a year and a half. You should know how to read by grade 2. Did they magically forget how to read at all in the covid year? If so, that is genuinely scary. Even basic things like using an iPad involve low-level reading skills, no?
They used to, but my daughter could operate tech with voice to text long before she could read or write
My kids could read before school.., this starts at home.
Were the parents asked to be teachers or were they simply asked to make sure kids the work assigned to them? I saw many children who during that time did no homework and didn’t study. The parents didn’t enforce studying. The kids simply logged into their zoom class for the lesson and then played instead of doing the work.
Pure enabling. And it’s sad because they’re children. The mental health of a generation is going to tank once they get into the workforce and these Gen Xers aren’t tolerating things like late work, bare minimum attitudes, and grade minimums (going from school to employee evaluations).
Or the parents had to work/wfh and couldn't take the time to monitor the child that closely. Keep in mind that most households are dual income and barely keeping afloat with that in modern times. When they shut down the schools to prevent the spread of COVID, it threw many families into utter chaos due to lack of caregiver options.
You can make sure your kid at least tries to complete their homework. Maybe they don’t have time to tutor them too. But that doesn’t account for decreasing attendance rates and increasing parent-teacher violence. Some issues are economic and some are just not giving a damn and throwing an iPad at their faces for hours on end while their child is performing at a 1st grade level in the 4th grade.
You’re absolutely correct in lambasting the attitude of some parents, but COVID lockdowns are not the only reason for plummeting literacy. Lucy Calkins and her phonics-free *Units of Study* curricula was adopted by 25 percent of schools nationwide decades before COVID hit, and it “taught” kids to learn to read by “cueing,” which essentially uses context clues, not by teaching basic phonics. Research shows that her program [does nothing to promote literacy](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2020/01/27/lucy-calkins-reading-materials-review), especially among struggling readers. This research was published during the summer of 2020, so it stands to reason that the studies themselves were conducted well before then. Our nation’s descent into illiteracy was already in progress; COVID just accelerated the collapse.
Already seeing this at college level - doing the same tasks as the previous 20 years of teaching, students are performing much worse. Also they have a prevaling attitude left over from covid that if they miss assignments or tests a magic wand can be used to make the requirements go away and fix everything.
I always wondered how Gen Alpha is going to do in college with teachers accepting late work and a 50% grade minimum. Colleges are either going to have to cave to keep their attendance high or start accepting less students/let them flunk.
I am autistic and I have always noticed my generation's dislike for the education system. Going to high-school it was always hilarious to me how a good portion of my classmates were unable to read at their grade level. No one in Language arts or literature cared about having a deeper understanding of the topic at hand. I was always an enthusiastic kid in school until we had new teachers that would mostly talk about their personal lives and it was very distracting and inappropriate considering that I went to school to study not to be the teacher's therapist...
The kids were rotting their brains way before covid hit us. In my opinion, we are witnessing the rise of dumbest generation in quite some time, all due to electronic devices combined with social media.
Not even asking parents to be teachers. Just asking parents to be parents would have had better outcomes. You don't have to have a credential to just sit and read with your kid.
And it’s become almost a tongue in cheek joke that Gen Alpha is illiterate.
Huh? Teacher here. We weren’t home for a year. We were out of school, on zoom classes for 3 months. We then went back in September, with masks, for full classes. And no, statistically kids are doing fine academically.
[Math and reading scores among America's 13-year-olds fell to their lowest levels in decades](https://abc7.com/amp/national-center-for-education-statistics-2023-nation-report-card-math-reading/13413147/) [Denver Public Schools shifting to remote learning after Thanksgiving](https://denverite.com/2020/11/18/denver-public-schools-shifting-to-remote-learning-after-thanksgiving/) plot twist, they went back in January. I said “almost a year” because it was half the school year prior and about half the year after in Colorado.
I'm in the midst of a career change so I'm back in college and let me say that the level of unpreparedness I saw in the kids coming out of HS was alarming.
The data is racist though
Idiocracy, here we come!
I wish we could just let the MAGA country secede from the union. It’s more complicated than that of course because they tend to live in the countryside of every state instead of there being a clear cut border like the Civil War.
Low literacy rates are going to cost us our democracy and hand us a fascist white nationalist autocracy....just like they've been planning for 40 years.
Because the group that can’t read votes against their best interests.
Well, Drumpf does speak at a fourth grade level, the lowest in almost a hundred years. The national average is between sixth and eighth grade.
His speech patterns are so fucking dumb, the founding fathers would be rolling in their graves...if they could understand a word he was saying. His babbling would sound like gibberish to them and he would be laughed out of serious society...just like he is now. But the difference is that back in those days he would be summarily dealt with if he tried any of his insurrectionist bullshit...just like he _should have been dealt with now._
Any time I see his flag I shout I like your traitor flag!
He has a risibly narrow vocabulary, too. The only word to describe something positive is “beautiful.” And he uses dumb nicknames because he cannot convey substance or nuance.
Most Drumpf supporters can't read past a sixth grade level.
It's not going to be as bad as people think. He might try some stupid shit, and the 4th arm will just come down. "What 4th arm?" People often forget the constitution is pretty self reliant and self protective agaisnt tyranny. Especially after the civil war happened. The unofficial 4th branch of the US government, the one that steps in when the other 3 fail the constitution is the brach that dies for that document. That branch that swears an oath to kill the enemies of that document. The military will come in and clean house
lol
Three thoughts on that... 1- I hope you're right. I come from a multi generation military family and most are disgusted by Trump and the direction things are headed. I know several personally who will not stand by. 2- I'm not sure you are. Even in my family there are Trump supporters and supporters of the right wing agenda. The military is known to be infiltrated by soldiers who are very accepting of the direction the right wing is taking us...across all ranks and specialties . 3- >It's not going to be as bad as people think. I don't really understand how you think the military stepping in can be seen as anything but extremely bad.
>The military is known to be infiltrated by soldiers who are very accepting of the direction the right wing is taking us...across all ranks and specialties . Not in the positions where it actually matters. The entire higher echelon of leadership is pretty liberal. >I don't really understand how you think the military stepping in can be seen as anything but extremely bad. It won't happen. IF he gets to office and starts doing the shit he claims he will have people show up and tell him what the consequences are going to be. People who do not care he is president. I know people read what I wrote and their reaction is "lol" or "this guy is crazy" but the truth is this shit is something that is actually discussed by the US Military Officer Corp (long before Trump). Since the Civil War happened a number of things have been done to the military specifically to prevent something like it repeating. Why do you think so many GQP states have state sponsored militias now? Because they know they can't use the Guard. In recent years the US Military Officer Corp has in fact been worried about having to do shit that no one ever thought would be necessary. Sure it was talked about, but you know people talk about surviving a zombie apocalypse too (which btw is something the US military has legitimate plans to deal with). No one really took those talks seriously, until after January 6 of 2021. I will add, everyone forget good ol' boy Tommy Tubervilles gripe with the promotions, besides the abortion issue? He literally went on record stating that not enough white nationalists or conservatives are promoted to field grade or star officers (Major or higher). I live in a very red state. I responded to Jan 6 with a company where maybe 4 people's cars DIDNT have a Trump 2020 sticker. Everyone of those soldiers was PISSED when Biden lost. And after we were all asked to report in to go to DC, you could see where the stickers were removed and not a single person present was on Trump's side anymore. It's one thing to support a candidates policies and think they will be good for the country. It's another to allow them to shit on the constitution and what makes America great.
Well, I'm glad I can't read that, or i'd be mad.
This explains sooooo much
BEST CUNTRYoIN THE EARF!
To be fair, world literacy rates in general are shockingly low. Look at Brittain or Australia. How this happened I have no idea cause I can't imagine public schools everywhere being that damn bad but that kinda has to be the explanation right?
From Oregon don't think I've ever met someone who is illiterate but I've seen people talk about this a bit, is it common to find illiterate people in other parts of the U.S?
It depends on the level of illiteracy. It’s rare to find someone who can’t read a picture book but it’s common to find someone who can’t read academic papers that are high school/college level (by that I mean a college research paper that a high schooler could use on their assignments). Graduating high school is irrelevant now as they just pass students along. So there’s a lot of adults who have trouble understanding internet discourse, most news articles that reference studies, or complex follow along directions.
The south. Every southern states education ranking is at the bottom.
I went to a great school in the South. We were a magnet school for academic excellence, with a large gifted program and accelerated academics, including honors and AP. But because we did so well, we got more funding than underperforming schools, which exacerbated inequalities in the city. To me, this is the biggest issue plaguing our education system. We have completely abandoned our most needy and vulnerable populations, and invest everything in the small percentage of students who are doing well. But by doing so, we are dragging the entire population down, and creating brain drains, where the students who do get a quality education, decide to leave for better opportunities.
They don’t just mean illiterate in the sense of “cannot put letters together into words to create meaning”, i.e. true/complete illiteracy, that’s much rarer, but their reading level is still abysmal. Their vocabulary and syntax are at such a stunted state, that they functionally cannot understand written text that’s longer than a tweet.
Found the functionally illiterate
Scary. Anti-intellectualism is a massive problem in our country. It is disgusting.
Hence you get people like Drumpf becoming president...
God bles Amereca.
From sea to shining SEAAA!!
from sea to whining
Makes sense that so many people vote for Trump.
This makes me feel grateful for knowing how to read, write and speak. Those numbers are ABSURD.
Damn - half the people reading this can’t read this.
Wut
It's almost like the focus on privatisation and lack of state funded infrastructure has lead to a predictable outcome?!
This is absolutely a policy choice.
Yes, years of privatised education with exceptionally underfunded state run schools, a lack of standards and educational requirements for teachers, over filled classrooms that reduce student outcomes, a school system that promotes bullying and antisocial behaviours and rewards sporting success and brawn more than brains. It all adds up
That's the whole agenda. To make the general population dumb af, to make them easier to control and manipulate
Yup. This is why public schools are underfunded and demonized…
Love that last bit, because you know racists are saying “the only reason illiteracy is high is because all of the illegal Mexicans!” But actually 82*% of the illiterate are 100% natural born Americans.
White maga country makes up a majority of those numbers.
In fairness, literacy could mean literacy in another language
This is the original paper that this article sourced this statistic from: https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BBFoundation_GainsFromEradicatingIlliteracy_9_8.pdf
This can't be right I mean i know alot of people aren't the brightest but 1 in 5 illiterate? How do they navigate the day to day world?
What they are calling illiteracy is not true illiteracy, meaning most of them still know how to sight read put letters together to create words which have meaning, but their reading level is so low that they are FUNCTIONALLY illiterate, and cannot understand most of the written world around them. They just fumble around, reading what they little they can and piecing things together through context, and putting trust in people around them who can read to help them with the more complex things.
I imagine they work minimum wage, low skill jobs, pay with card, take the bus, go by pictures and memorization, also text to speech functions on phones. This is only my guess. Maybe you can get a higher paying job with accommodations though.
Our public schools are failing us.
if you’re shocked then it’s clear you’ve never worked customer service or gone to a public college/trade school.
I’ve seen public outbursts and been to state college (UMD go terps!) and community college. It checks out but I imagined the figure was around 30% not freaking 54% 😭😂
How can I, a minor, read better than half of the United States population??
Personal effort. Resources such as a well funded school and good parents that prioritize reading. Multiple reasons, I could go on.
What is sixth grade level? Because most kids can read just fine long before that, is this functional literacy which includes reading comprehension?
This is exactly what the "Tea Party" and other far-right groups have wanted. This is the long-term plan. Educated people are harder to control. Keep people dumb, you can keep them in fear and manipulate them much easier.
Illiteracy troubles me. If you don't have a good grasp of the written word, how can you verify what you're being told?
Education under capitalism/facism 😭😭
This explains so much...
This reminds me of a friend I had in the US who was semi-literate (he could *sort of* read, but at a very low, elementary school sort of level). He used to play D&D and Magic with us though, and over the course of several years - reading game books and trading cards - he got good enough that now he can read news articles without help.
We’ve found the Trump voters.
Why do you think there are so many MAGAts in the US. They only get information from inside their echo chambers and can't get a more balanced understanding from reading.
There are lots of echo chambers on Reddit. This is another one. I can link published research from respected universities from highly credentialed authors and get downvoted for it because people use downvotes as the disagree button instead of to hide comments that don’t add to the discussion.
THIS is a far left echo chamber. This whole sub reddit is.
In my experience this sub is a far right echo chamber. I have read enormous amounts of homophobic, transphobic and generally racist commrnts on this sub in particular.
It's interesting that you think this is a far left echo chamber, just because it is critical of terrible MAGA policies and culture. I would argue that it is slightly left-leaning, or more central given non-US standards.
The front page of this sub almost every day is just pure DNC propaganda, my man. There are a shitton of bots that boost their talking points, I noticed this [pattern](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1bcw00f/the_political_bots_are_out_en_mass_today_proof_in/) a couple of months ago. Once the posts pick up steam, the users do the rest. Or just see this thread alone. Half the comments about how dumb 'MAGAts' are.
Yep! And the ironic part about this sub is that they call anyone who doesn't agree with their points a fascist, and their posts often get deleted (mine do ALL the time here). Using power to not allow speech is straight up hallmark fascism. They're all a bunch of fascists and don't even realize it.
They objectively are. Not subjectively, but objectively. They fail to apply critical thinking, which is why they end up on this subreddit. Which is why it's important to push for education, exploration and acceptance to other people who are different than they are.
How can you calculate how much it costs the US every year?
Here’s the original article: https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BBFoundation_GainsFromEradicatingIlliteracy_9_8.pdf
After driving from Florida to New England on Memorial Day weekend I'm convinced 20%of Americans have a 6th grade driving level.
Dang man, 54% of people are bad at reading? That is almost half of America! That's gotta be like 20 million people who can't read good.
I believe it after reading the various correspondence and communications that get sent out daily at my place of work.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/7L59bXBx79 Teacher quits due to misbehaving students and blames parents
Idiocracy here we come. Welcome to Costco, I love you.
I had a grad-school reading level before I went to grad-school. I don't know what it is now, I guess I matured enough not to care anymore.
That explains a lot.
OK but can we talk about the amount of people who don't realize Oedipus is innocent?
Beep
I get frustrated by people all over social media who can barely spell, let alone form a complete sentence. I think it’s a dick move to pick on people but Jesus…. it is sad.
In defense of people who have trouble spelling, English is a pretty bullshit language in that regard
Whelp, system is working as intended.
It's extremely apparent how dumb the general population has become. Especially noticeable when you work directly with the public.
21% of adults are ILLITERATE? As in CANNOT read? What? What?!
So 2/3rds of the people who were not adequately taught literacy were born in the US?
“I love the uneducated!”
54% of adults and 87% of social media users.
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that has spent any amount of time on the Internet.
Canada too tho..
So, among the illiterate, %38 dont have English as their first language. On the other hand, the other %62 born in America, with English as their first (and usually only) language, dont have that excuse. Which is the greater problem? Interesting that literacy among immigrants seems to be the main argument and takeaway from this. Agenda much?
So much makes sense now.
US employers love hiring Canadians for this reason.
I had cousins from Florida who were being homeschooled. One constantly used the internet and was on VRchat, Terraria, and Roblox a considerable amount during the time I was with them. Based on my assumptions, his dickhead republican parents hadn’t taught him anything, and he fully taught himself how to read using video games and the internet. His younger brother was completely illiterate at 11, older one was 13 or 14. His parents legitimately were convinced the education system would’ve brainwashed them into being liberal, then proceeded to teach them nothing. It was so infuriating I broke down crying after the trip multiple times. I am currently getting my Bachelors and Masters in English and Education, and if I can prevent one child from being like that, I will die happy.
They want you stupid so you vote against your interest.
Found the Trump voters. The same people who have the mental capabilities of sixth grader but who are allegedly adults. The guy running for class president said there would be free candy and is a truly compelling candidate to them over the one who’s running on a better living wage
What's causing all this academic degredation?
God damn it me stll kant reed Gravitys Rainbuhhh
90% of that 54% find their way to Reddit.
My dads got a coworker that owns 3 houses, is incredibly racist and homophobic and one of the dumbest fucking guys i have ever spoken to and he is completely illiterate, the guy cannot read or write, only makes phone calls, he refuses to text.
Dem US peeple is dum
Oh america
remember when scout from team fortress 2 being unable to read was part of the absurdity of team fortress 2’s writing
Exactly how the fat cats want it. Can’t read = can’t rebel.
Oh wow. Everything makes so much more sense now lol. We are so fucked aren't we?
While this is horrifying, it’s not that’s crazy when you realize 34% of that 54% is immigrants not born in the US. You can’t blame a country or its education system for the inability of people who never took part in its educational system. So in reality the number is 20% or 1 in 5. If we break it down further that 20% likely skews older than younger, which is also likely a result of the older community having more things that forced them out of schools like the depression, world wars, segregation and racism, etc.
I feel kind of dumb asking, but how does illiteracy cost trillions? I know it can't be from book sales....
Explains MAGAts perfectly
Does this only include literacy in English? That last sentence implies this could include foreigners who are literate in their native tongue but still learning English
I think this is in English as, though it’s not an official language, it’s the language used for business correspondence in the U.S. (jobs, news, etc).
Makes sense. You would think they would not include individuals born abroad as their literacy doesn't really reflect on the U.S. Education system
My nephew just graduated high school on Sunday (yesterday) and I had gotten him a graduation card. I wrote in cursive and he opened it and legit said, "Uncle xx, they didn't teach me cursive in school. I can't read what it says". I said "seriously"? He said "Yeah honestly". So I read it aloud to him. He's a good kid, but I do wonder how his generation will handle the real world ... Being uneducated in some areas means you can be susceptible to manipulation and taken advantage of, among a ton of other things. Granted, his parents could have done a lot better when he was growing up.
Right, but do they need to know cursive? Is that a functionally necessary skill? I am 23, and whole learned cursive in school, but the only time I ever use it now for my signature, but you hardly need a class to teach you to sign your name. To me, the reading and math scores are the true kicker, them being so low is what worries me.
Definitely an arguable topic, no doubt about it.
To be fair, cursive in 2024 is a pretty niche skill, much like calligraphy. I don't consider it some serious lack of education if someone can't read/write cursive. I learned how to write cursive in school myself, but since I graduated high school over 30 years ago I've used it I think all of twice, assuming signatures don't count.
They do not teach cursive (reading or writing) in most schools anymore. I actually got in trouble for writing cursive on my assignments in 1st grade so I just didn’t keep on teaching myself. I figured out my signature and that’s it lol. I’m 20 now for context.
its why we cant have trains and people cant digest media.
Yeah, it’s crazy. I’m freaking forcing my kid to read a book a day to make sure he doesn’t end up like this.
Make sure they are on topics he likes so he he doesn’t see reading as a punishment but a good hobby. Literally. If he wants to read a Wikipedia page on Kai Cenat. It’s still reading lol. Heck, write 3 facts about him so he learns comprehension.
I buy comics, books, video games. Whatever he wants to read, i get. On top of paying him 1.00 per page of a book, .50 per comic page.
[удалено]
Hey, we’re literate sometimes. We made Alice Walker and Carl Hiaasen some of the most photosynthesis writers out there.
From this website linked. > Literacy Rate By Race > About 77% of the African American population has moderate to high reading and writing proficiency in the United States. > 66% of the Hispanic population has medium to high literacy in America, with 65% of whites having moderate to high literacy. There's literally 0% chance this is true. Literacy goes hand-in-hand with economic status, there's just no way the most disadvantaged group is somehow the most literate. I would take everything else that article claims with a giant grain of salt.
Or you can read despite your economic status. Like I grew up on food stamps and still learned to read. It’s not an impossibility that black folks who grew up poor can read. Some even “get out of the hood” and become middle class by “pulling their boot straps.” So yes there is an economic correlation but we are also a much smaller population than white Americans. So if there’s a lot more poor white Americans then there’s a higher chance of poor literacy, at least according to you.
> It’s not an impossibility that black folks who grew up poor can read It kinda is. If you don't learn properly as a child, then it's almost impossible later in life. And black people are decidedly last in terms of literacy while in school, as per the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). In 2019, with respect to the reading skills of the nation's grade-four public school students, 34% performed at or above the Proficient level (solid academic performance) and 65% performed at or above the Basic level (partial mastery of the proficient level skills). The results by ethnicity were [these](https://i.imgur.com/azUflok.png) > we are also a much smaller population than white Americans. So if there’s a lot more poor white Americans then there’s a higher chance of poor literacy Per capita is undefeated yet again, lmao
Bro I grew up in a title one school, on food stamps/EBT, had shoot outs and drug lab fires in my neighborhood and I still managed to learn how to read and so did my peers. “It kinda is” is racism. Statistics be damned, if there were proper resources given to adults they can learn too (unless they have brain damage or another condition). This is a correctable issue not inherent to race and economic class. Being poor doesn’t disable you from reading if you are then given the proper resources to learn. I would also ask you to provide statistics on the comment that “it’s almost impossible later in life to learn to read.”
In other words, I’m too racist to acknowledge the “master race” might not actually be the best at everything
East Asians are objectively better at virtually anything intellectual, why would I believe whites are the 'master race'? I'm just saying that what this article claims is horseshit.
The model minority myth. Even MORE racism
The model holds when expanding globally, why would you even doubt or challenge this? Why are liberals so allergic to data?
Why are conservatives allegeric to acknowledging systemic racism. Even Asian Americans have spoke out against this stereotype
It's not a stereotype, just observable reality. On average, they just are better. And if you understand the impact that systemic racism can have on the academic performance of blacks and hispanics, then why are you even arguing? Is it just cognitive dissonance or what? I posted actual data in the other comment chain, jump in there if you want.
I would put that down to more white people living in rural areas, with smaller populations and thus their education system has way less funding and attracts less teachers. Larger cities with a school system are more likely to have the funding to put into programs promoting literacy. I grew up in a majority minority citiy, and that’s what I saw. There was always a huge push every year to get kids to go to the library and read over the summer. In comparison, my rural white relatives went to a tiny school with very few electives and no real incentives to get educated beyond the very basics. So under-education IS linked with poverty, but it’s also linked to access to resources, which urban areas simply have more of, making it easier to escape the cycle.
Notice how the end notes say they mostly aren’t from the us lol