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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)

#51

Post by pseudo0 »

kleene_op wrote: post #49
jandrewrogers wrote: post #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.

Yes but it's about 130 millions illiterate adults in a 300 millions population country. It is important.

Isn't the obvious solution to require prospective immigrants to demonstrate sufficient English skills prior to immigration? Specific niches like agriculture that do not require advanced language skills can use temporary work visas.

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

#52

Post by b112 »

emseetech wrote: post #4
b112 wrote: post #2

"Literacy" is a ridiculously low metric as per the UN, I've read that a grade 6 reading level easily qualifies. So it's not really a case of "low literacy skills" in terms of offical stats, but that the stats are lowish. But what does one expect? For 100 IQ to be an average, there will be many below that number. The goal is to train all citizens as mich as possible, and literacy stats are to reflect that attempt.

IQ has to be 55 or below in order for literacy to be unattainable, which is less than 1% of the population. Between 56 and 85 adds difficulties and requires extra education but is not insurmountable. That's about 15% of the population. 130M in the US is over 50% of the adult population. That is not a matter of statistical distribution, that is a matter of policy failure.

And? As I explained, "literacy" has a specific definition. The median Grade 6 level reading capability is not impressive for an adult.

Being literate means you can read stop signs, and warning labels.

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

#53

Post by b112 »

monkpit wrote: post #3
b112 wrote: post #2

"Literacy" is a ridiculously low metric as per the UN, I've read that a grade 6 reading level easily qualifies. So it's not really a case of "low literacy skills" in terms of offical stats, but that the stats are lowish. But what does one expect? For 100 IQ to be an average, there will be many below that number. The goal is to train all citizens as mich as possible, and literacy stats are to reflect that attempt.

> This means more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. It’s like the second sentence in the article.

And yet missed by many here.

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

#54

Post by jstummbillig »

pseudo0 wrote: post #50
jstummbillig wrote: post #47

In a society that is increasingly less centered around reading, unused skills will atrophy and replaced with other things. It's not like the underlying genomics to execute the entire human spiel are getting better in step with societal change. Something's gotta give. Furthermore, and despite my own inclinations, I have a hard time looking at literacy as an efficient delivery mechanism. In fact, I suspect the amount o…

What do you view as more efficient than reading? In my experience, reading information is easily 3-5x faster than audio or video, even when using 1.25x or 1.5x playback.

On a purely technical level: Nothing so far, but given how obviously slow and important it is, I think interest to find something better is high enough for that to happen soon-ish.

On a systemic level, the answer so far is "less reading". Our general tolerance for convoluted writing is waning. Most things we read are not books anymore (even if they are about books) and lately, ChatGPT has been slashing the reading time of a lot of papers for me.

Personally I find myself consuming large amounts of audio text, which by itself is not faster, but can be done during walks and runs.

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

#56

Post by JumpCrisscross »

josephh wrote: post #30
drewcoo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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

Half of American adults speak English as a second language?

Speaking anecdotally, dual-language learners are more likely to be literate than single-language speakers.

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

#57

Post by viraptor »

bogdan-lab wrote: post #48

In the article they talk so much about funding schools which will improve immigrant literacy. But I think, that funding is not the problem. When you migrate to a new country you just naturally get into a bubble of your nationals. Its much easier to make a connection with other people from your country because of your common experience and culture. Then you just live in this bubble. You are in US, but all your free ti…

While it's going to apply to some specific communities:

> When you migrate to a new country you just naturally get into a bubble of your nationals.

Just keep in mind that's a really bad generalisation. There's different groups migrating for different reasons with/without a family. You don't "naturally" get into any bubble unless you seek one, or have an existing connection to.

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

#58

Post by sschueller »

This is frighteningly high when these days even highly educated people fall for propaganda.

This would also explain why we still have spam when everyone has heard of the Nigerian Prince scam.

It also explains why dark patterns are so popular and why products get dumbed down more and more. Websites look like duplo sets these days.

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

#60

Post by mewpmewp2 »

fvdessen wrote: post #20

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 ?

Do you mean they are incapable of taking notes or that they just won't bother to?

It is hard for me to imagine how someone would be incapable of taking notes. It is something you constantly had to do in school.

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