23% Of Americans Are illiterate...

reply to post by ownbestenemy


I thought that too, so I searched; my guess is they base it on the Flesch-Kinkaid system?

en.wikipedia.org...

There are oline calculators to work it out. I just put some of my written work in there (an essay from first-year Law School). I scored Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 16.... Im pretty disappointed in myself

Online Readability Counter

EDIT: After reading about how the scale is calculated, I pasted a blog post of mine in there which I knew would fudge the score up. I got 26... less disappointing


EDIT AGAIN: Punctuation matters!. Same blog post edited for, what I would consider, a wider appeal to lower literacy levels; scored 17. To put it in perspective the US Constitution scored 22 when I pasted the text in. Im back to being disappoint

When I was in a small private school we learned everything except science (religious school). Small classes, very disciplined. When I got to public jr.high it was a nightmare. So much classtime spent handling disruptions that there were literally days when all the teacher could do was a quick review and assign homework, no time for discussion or questions. I realized over the following few years that myself and the few friends I made were all big readers and had been since early childhood. Parents read to us, then made books easily available. Library trips were my favorite as it was one of the few activities that involved complete freedom. I could pick anything I wanted, a rare thing for a child. Went up The Steps to The Adult Section when I was 9 to discover an even bigger universe waiting. Went to Libary of Congress as a teen and thought I would faint! lol

I think if reading is presented as something you "have to learn" for grades, it becomes another chore/class subject. If introduced early as a means of gaining pleasure, it will become second nature and be a useful tool.

In my area I see a good number of people,mostly men, who are to the point of being fearful and defensive about any kind of paperwork or writing. They have their women handle it. Bold men in other arenas but fold instantly in the face of a questionnaire or job application or form of any kind. Suggest help or classes and they act like you suggested punching their grandma. I told the BF that all They need to take over the town would be a bazooka that shoots tampons, cat poo and job applications. I can't understand not at least trying to fix it. If you can't read you have to take someone's word for it about what's happening. Why would anyone think learning to read is a bad thing?

hahah well, imagine that on of those it`s my president!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! viva la mexico!!!
www.youtube.com...

And the other 78% cant add up

Good job to the educators of our
public school systems...

Teachers today are there to pad their wallets, not for the love of teaching.

being illiterate, and having intelligence are 2 different things, state boards set the curriculum for the schools of that particular state, to blame teachers, that's just scapegoating. parents are supposed to set rules for studying at home and keeping their kids on track by engaging with the teachers and the school itself. this isn't rocket science, you have to push. my son graduated from college with a BA in business in 2012, and has a well-paying job now. he was out of work for 3 weeks after he graduated. this was all accomplished using the public school system of calfornia.

Originally posted by havok
reply to post by jude11

 

Clever pun!
I didn't think of that...

It's times like these that I wished all the cable networks just failed.
You know, actually forcing people to do something other than watch TV.
It's such a waste of effort and time!

Good Lord, America!
Research!
Read!
Educate yourself!

Nowadays, kids are more worried about less words, less letters more texts.
Shorthand is quite a buzzkill if you ask me.
And taking cursive out of schools?
Preposterous!

To blame TV for illiteracy is naive, to say the least.

I dumped my Cable more than a year ago, but I still watch a LOT of TV! Always have and until they discontinue PBS I always will.

TV is just like everything in our world a tool, no different than the newspaper, or the internet, or even a book. It is how you (or society) use that tool, that matters.

Typically I love 'Create" and cooking with Ming, learn a lot of useful skills from him! I also use my netflix to catch up on National Geographic Documentaries.

So you might want to rephrase it is a waste of time, it can be but is also a way to connect us and teach us. What it teaches us is entirely up to us.

Historically Illiterate too, I guess quantitative covers Numerical Literacy, This is kind of a Slave Chart, meaning aspects of literacy that encompass 'good' slave behaviour, What is worse is among the 'literate' is their complete lack of History and Logic.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


This really doesn't surprise me at all.....

PARENTS are the reason.....Everyone is lazy and wants the internet to teach their kids!!

Stop being lazy and read a freaking book to your effing child!! BE A PARENT!!!

If you have a kid, RAISE the kid better than you were, don't expect someone to do it for you!!!

Sorry, rant over

I notice in reading the thread here, there is one constant that everyone DOES seem to agree with. Someone ELSE is at fault. Everyone has a culprit and it's always someone else.

The Teachers are not trying, underfunded our understaffed

The Parents are stupid, lazy, uninterested or simply bad people who don't need kids

The Kids are little monsters who don't want to, can't or simply won't learn.

There is NO shortage of blame to send around....yet it never seems to stop anywhere. No one takes any of it for themselves. Odd about that as we can never fix anything if everyone ELSE is the problem and of course, everyone else thinks the same of you...whoever you are on the scale.

I wonder if the greatest loss in what our kids aren't learning is pure personal responsibility? In this case, it would be the PERSONAL responsibility to make use of the time and resources to learn in school. Teachers should NOT have to spoon feed it "just so", although kids have been left with that expectation.

At the same time, kids are hardly all the blame either. Teachers DO write off too damn many kids and it's obvious by the functionally illiterate ones I see in 040 level college courses....fresh out of High Schools that didn't teach the basics.

Oh but Parents do get their share as well. WE (I include myself) absolutely do give the Internet and television entirely too much duty in babysitting and raising our kids. That's not a few parents. It's a majority to various degrees.

So while we're sending that buck around and around for a great version of the Blame Game....perhaps we all ought to consider grabbing a bit of all that blame for ourselves. Each of us absolutely earned part of it and only we can change anything about the problem, one person at a time.

kind of tired of people blaming t.v. for brain rot, or in this case being illiterate.
I equate it to comparing reading Shakespeare vs reading Mad Magazine. Both require reading, but you won't see many people arguing that reading rots your brain.
Just watch more West Wing and less "reality" t.v.

I do believe that the movie "Idiocracy" should be required viewing for all American's as a cautionary tale of where we are heading at an alarming rate of speed.

reply to post by Res Ipsa

I have to disagree and this is nothing like the TV of years past. Nothing at all. I never felt physically addicted to an idiot box. I never had difficulty simply crossing a ROOM without being drawn into looking at the TV, no matter what is on it, to watch.

I used to think my Son was unique that way and it was just his problem relating to high functioning autism. Then I began to really watch other kids closely when they were around TV's or other electronic screens of similar size. It's by no means ONLY him. It's a friggen epidemic. He's not the only one who can't cross in front of a big screen TV without almost being compelled to stop and gaze into it....again, no matter what is on.

Subliminal something? I have NO idea...but it's sickness. A true illness as far as I'm concerned. It was shortly after I realized it was far more than JUST my own kid showing this odd behavior that I cut my own TV viewing from hours a day to hours a MONTH. I have to say....oddly...it's made a difference and I'll leave it at that for now.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I can't understand what you are talking about.

Can you explain illiterate as related to comprehension of a language that has become so complex with respect to integration of many scientific languages that it becomes unintelligible to most people?

Originally posted by seabag
Personally, I wish I could take the money I’m forced to pay in school taxes and send my kids to private schools that espouse my ideals.

Isn't that part of the problem?

The Texas State Board of Education spends more time vetting text books for the ideals they wish to push than concentrating on the basics.

And where goes Texas, so goes the nation.
How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us

It's so true, and so sad. Our educational system has failed miserably.
They don't teach kids at a young age how to read a story anymore, they teach them to read made up nonsense words that are only a few letters long.
I homeschool because of this and so many other reasons. My son sits within a few feet of me for most of the day and does more in depth work than I have seen all school year. He has been reading books since the age of 4. When I pulled him out at the start of the semester, he tested 50% on his reading comprehension. I was horrified, I knew that he could do better than that! When I retested him last week he scored 100%. It only took me one month to bring him back up to par. It is our job as the parents and other adults in these children's lives to step up and take responsibility for their education. Homeschooling is only one option, we just need to pay attention to what is going on and not trust the system to do the job right.

And yes, I know my grammar is terrible

The government and their education management keep changing the way they do things and expectations every year. The teachers stumble through this and learn how to teach what they want efficiently after the year and the next year they change it again. Tell the upper government bodies that govern education to quit all these changes every year and let the teachers do their job. The big chiefs with very little on hand knowledge are screwing up the indians ability to teach the young.

Originally posted by opethPA
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

It doesn't surprise me at all. I am 39 and read for enjoyment often going to the Library to take out books. I mentioned that to my sister and a group of her friends and I swear one of her friends said , "what is a library"

I really didn't know how to respond to that , just shook my head and walked away.

Pretty sad if you ask me. Thats why I havn't invested in tablets or smart phones as both my toddlers end up spending hours on them (when others bring them over to my house). They have access to a Desktop/Laptop with parental control enabled mainly for watching kids entertainment on youtube even though I have netflix. However they only get hour plus on a daily basis. We increase their homework (reading and writing) in addition to what the school provides.

Originally posted by Ghost375
I'm calling BS on that. America had a 90%+ literacy rate last time I checked.
If you actually read it, that article is bending the truth. It's talking about a type of literacy.
While on the topic, the average American has an 8th grade reading level. It's not great, but saying 23% are illiterate is simply untrue.

edit on 13-2-2013 by Ghost375 because: (no reason given)

Sure it can be 95% for all I care. The percentages are nothing more than political propoganda tools and means for budgeting purposes. Its the standards, practices and the curriculum that you should really focus and wonder as per how many students actually 'learn'. The unionized teachers in many states and/or suburbs are in there for the government sponsored bonuses (based on the rate of passing students), where they help the students cheat on exams. Search google and you shall see the specific cases.

Originally posted by seabag
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

I think the article is propaganda designed to shove more tax payer money into the public brainwashing…whoops…public indoctrination….WHOOPS…..I meant the public educational system.

Or jack up/extort more taxes for the local school boards as many states have cutback the funds

reply to post by tothetenthpower


The majority of those who they are considering illiterate are immigrants and those with english as a second language. back them out and you have the rate where it has been for many decades.