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

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31–40 of 80 posts

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

#31
post #22

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.

Guess what kind of site you're on

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

#32
That map of "low literacy" looks like a map of where large volumes of blue collar immigrants live. At a minimum, the presentation seems misleading. It is like noting that a disturbing number of people who own cowboy boots live in Texas. Probably true, but it doesn't imply anything important.

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

#33
> Some of these high county-level percentages stem from high populations of immigrants, whose first language is not English. The PIAAC only assesses English literacy, though its background questionnaire is given in English and Spanish.

If you look at the map (and read the article), it's fairly obvious that they are NOT adjusting for non-English first language speakers. This is partly on purpose since it's those demographics that need the most assistance and funding to learn English. However, it's really disappointing that this data is used to make statements and titles regarding people's "literacy" or reading comprehension when it's specifically testing a single language.

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

#34

I am bewildered by the low literacy ability of a significant amount of the people I hired. People with advanced degrees; can't take notes, can't really read either. Not idiots, but illiterate. How did they end-up there ? Do we now need to test for literacy in interviews ?

Hired for what roles?

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

#35
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you think they should be learning those using the vocabulary and comprehension skills of a 12 year old?

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

#36

I am bewildered by the low literacy ability of a significant amount of the people I hired. People with advanced degrees; can't take notes, can't really read either. Not idiots, but illiterate. How did they end-up there ? Do we now need to test for literacy in interviews ?

[deleted]

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

#37
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…

In the US how many sixth graders read at a sixth grade level though?

How does this compare to Finland which has essentially the same humans but a significantly higher literacy level all round (in multiple languages)?

As a world traveller my past impressions of the US was that mean education levels, the man on the Clapham omnibus conversations, weren't as high as other G20 countries.

That was a suprising observation an it's something that could be improved if people cared enough to change policies .. something that seems difficult in the US that appears to view social policy (health, education, work safety, etc.) as akin to satanic communism in some quarters.

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

#38
post #34

I am bewildered by the low literacy ability of a significant amount of the people I hired. People with advanced degrees; can't take notes, can't really read either. Not idiots, but illiterate. How did they end-up there ? Do we now need to test for literacy in interviews ?

Hired for what roles?

Business / Analysts / POs. Programmers as well, although it matters less.

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

#39

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 infer…

But it says that level 1 and 2 sum up to 54%.

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

#40

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 infer…

> I'd say they're not doing too bad at all.

I'm astonished at this POV. When I read that more than half of the country is "unlikely to correctly evaluate the reliability of texts," I see this as evidence that we are indeed doing "too bad."

I suppose this is a textbook glass half full vs glass half empty situation.

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