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About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

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Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#21

Post by Jarwain »

mbrumlow wrote: post #17

I always wonder what it means to have low literacy. I seem to be able to read, but my spelling has always been bad. Am I low, or just below average? I know I am not stupid, and at least when it comes to software and computers are probably far above average. I always find my self in weird situations working with people who can spell and spot spelling errors so easy, but I am the one explaining how to do something tech…

> Literacy is broadly defined as the ability to read and write, but it more accurately encompasses the comprehension, evaluation and utilization of information

So I wouldn't stress about your spelling in this context

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#22

Post by karles »

hunglee2 wrote: post #13

how does this actually happen, at the classroom level? Are the kids actually going to school or is it a case they show up and basically teacher can't control what's going in the room?

Social media.

What's the use of "reading" anymore? It's not like it's hard for us outsiders to spot why your general political and social environment in the US is going haywire.

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#23

Post by Cthulhu_ »

mbrumlow wrote: post #17

I always wonder what it means to have low literacy. I seem to be able to read, but my spelling has always been bad. Am I low, or just below average? I know I am not stupid, and at least when it comes to software and computers are probably far above average. I always find my self in weird situations working with people who can spell and spot spelling errors so easy, but I am the one explaining how to do something tech…

In the context of this particular finding, the source [0] defines literacy as

> [..] as a lack of proficiency on the PIAAC, an internationally validated literacy exam. Adults who score below Level 3 for literacy are not considered proficient and are defined as at least partially illiterate in this study. Adults below or at Level-1 literacy may struggle to understand texts beyond filling out basic forms. Drawing inferences or combining multiple sources of texts is likely too difficult. Adults at Level 2 can read well enough to evaluate product reviews and perform other tasks that require comparisons and simple inferences, but they are unlikely to correctly evaluate the reliability of texts or draw sophisticated inferences. Adults at Level 3 and above are considered fully literate in this study. They can reliably evaluate sources, as well as infer sophisticated meaning and complex ideas from written sources.

In other words, it seems like the headline has been sensationalised; if half of the US has a level 3 literacy, I'd say they're not doing too bad at all.

[0] https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BBFou...

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#24

Post by averageRoyalty »

yorwba wrote: post #19

> more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. This is framed as a bad thing, as if it is somehow self-evident that sixth-graders are intellectually deficient and illiterate. But if you turn it around as "sixth graders read about as well as the median adult," it doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it? In any case, criticism of recent education polici…

I assuming "6th grade" is around 12 years old. Do you not think in the next 4 years of learning there should be no improvement?

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#25

Post by fvdessen »

hunglee2 wrote: post #13

how does this actually happen, at the classroom level? Are the kids actually going to school or is it a case they show up and basically teacher can't control what's going in the room?

I think it's more that people lose the ability to read and write as they stop doing it when they finish school.

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#26

Post by yorwba »

averageRoyalty wrote: post #24
yorwba wrote: post #19

> more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. This is framed as a bad thing, as if it is somehow self-evident that sixth-graders are intellectually deficient and illiterate. But if you turn it around as "sixth graders read about as well as the median adult," it doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it? In any case, criticism of recent education polici…

I assuming "6th grade" is around 12 years old. Do you not think in the next 4 years of learning there should be no improvement?

On literacy? No. Math, physics, biology, chemistry, history, foreign languages? Sure.

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#27

Post by Cthulhu_ »

hunglee2 wrote: post #13

how does this actually happen, at the classroom level? Are the kids actually going to school or is it a case they show up and basically teacher can't control what's going in the room?

Classroom level is only one aspect of it though; literacy is learned through exposure and various levels. Another commenter mentioned social media, which is probably a factor too. Low effort high volume comments, indifference to proper spelling ("bcuz u can understand me"), more video / image based than text based, different reading habits. Education is part of it too, in theory we were supposed to read X books per year and write a report on them (in practice, even back then we downloaded and slightly edited the reports from the internets).

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#28

Post by magicalhippo »

mbrumlow wrote: post #17

I always wonder what it means to have low literacy. I seem to be able to read, but my spelling has always been bad. Am I low, or just below average? I know I am not stupid, and at least when it comes to software and computers are probably far above average. I always find my self in weird situations working with people who can spell and spot spelling errors so easy, but I am the one explaining how to do something tech…

What kind of spelling errors?

I had a classmate in high-school who always got liw marks in the language classes due to spelling errors.

I worked with him on a group project once, and had to correct tons of words which were jumbled up. But apart from that his wprk was very good.

Was years later until I realized he must have had dyslexia.

So yea, that's one way "poor writing skill" might not be an indicator for anything else.

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#29

Post by Cthulhu_ »

UberFly wrote: post #10

Many school districts now have policy against praising achievement for fear of being accused of marginalizing underachieving students, so underachievement becomes a safe norm.

TBF people who get praised for their achievements too much become insufferable. Or they end up running into a wall later in their education because it's not as easy for them anymore.

Re: About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills (2022)

#30

Post by josephh »

drewcoo wrote: post #16
josephh wrote: post #9

[flagged]

> It seems that the article is trying to intentionally mislead its readers to think that those 130M adults don't possess literacy skill in any language that they use, while the underlying study only looks at literacy skill in English. Yet the article says: > It's not just people who are racial minorities. It's not just people who speak funny because they're from the South. It literally can be anybody So maybe it's a…

Except that the 130M figure absolutely isn't going to be correct if adjusted for literacy skill of their primary language.
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