Russia Today says: Illiterate UK youth can’t count on jobs [The Kremlin Doesn't Like the UK]

Russia Today ^ | 24 September, 2011 | Moscow Staff

[Cardhu]

A recent survey in the UK has revealed an alarming number of school-leavers lack even basic skills in reading and numeracy, which once again proves that levels of literacy even in developed countries are not something to be taken for granted.

{snip}

Reading, writing and arithmetic are the cornerstones of a basic education. But one in five young people in the UK leave school without them, and that statistic has not improved since the 1960s. Teacher Saleem Raja at East London Skills picks up the pieces schools have dropped, teaching 16-19 year olds wholly unprepared for the job market.

“It’s purely down to the individual, again, interlinked with upbringing, how the family raises them,” says Saleem Raja. “Sometimes it could be a case of their personality, they want to show, ‘I’m not smart, I’m not a study type of person, I just cannot get along with people,’ so that is a big problem as well.”

­Saleem teaches small classes of school leavers who have realized they cannot get a job with their level of writing and math skills. These students are managing to stay the course, despite a 30 per cent drop-out rate, and a poor school record.

“I missed out a lot in year 2010, and in year 2011 I didn’t really get the chance to revise much and get done much help,” says Raja’s student Kiran.

“I think I was distracted a lot. There were a lot of students and I got distracted,” echoes Amin.

­ “At school I wasn’t able to complete my English and Maths, because at that age, I wasn’t really into it. I kind of messed up," confesses Saira.

The girls both want jobs in retail. They are in the right place, and they are not alone in their lack of literacy.

[Cardhu]

"Newham is one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK, where more than two-thirds of children live in low-income families. But it is now also home to the Olympic stadium, and the recently opened Westfield Stratford City, Europe’s largest shopping centre. Westfield aimed to hire 5,000 local people, almost half of them from the ranks of the long-term unemployed. Candidates, managers say, were enthusiastic, but it was soon discovered more than 300 of them could not read or write enough to fill out a basic form."

Checking the names of the students mentioned they do not seem very Anglo-Saxon.

[RayChuang88]

I remember reading a story about some Brits that have essentially lived on government aid for three generations without taking a job. It's essentially just as bad as some urban areas here in the USA.

[Molon Labbie]

Bastard children with low IQ’s tend to make poor employees.

And law-abiding citizens.

[rickmichaels]

In a few short years it won’t matter that British kids can’t write or spell. As long as they can recite the Koran word for word, they’ll be just fine.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

It used to be that if you fell to the bottom you had menial jobs, and that was an incentive for you and your parents to see that you tried to do your best in school to get ahead.
Watching others do menial work at low pay was a motivator.

But why bother if the govt, ie other people called taxpayors, take care of you without your having to work?

[RayChuang88]

Here's the problem: only a small number of Muslims can cite the Qu'ran word for word in the original Arabic language of the time it was written down. It takes a LOT of practice to memorize the whole thing.

But getting back on topic, the UK always had a major problem with class divisions that goes back hundreds of years. That's why we had that major riot in that country about a month ago.

[MNDude]

The girls in the video are wearing BURQAS!

[sodpoodle]

****they are not alone in their lack of literacy.****

The article is a fine example.

With bar-codes, scanners and fully automated registers would any retail clerk need reading, writing and arithmetic?

Communication technology and texting shorthand is rendering the human species dysfunctional.

[Kozak]

Bastard children with low IQ’s tend to make poor employees.
And law-abiding citizens.

But they make excellent Serfs.

[Cardhu]

...would any retail clerk need reading, writing and arithmetic?

Everyone needs to be able to read instructions - actually I am very impressed with the skill of people at the checkout counter.

[Pit1]

That sounds like amerika. The department of Ed is turning out many dumbos, ready to get handouts.

[Chode]

Ungland... another generation of UB-40's

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Checking the names of the students mentioned they do not seem very Anglo-Saxon.

You mean like, Æthelred, Eadwig, Bretwalda, Wulstan, Eohric, Guthrum and Beowulf?

[Cardhu]

Exactly Lonesome - except Guthrum and Beowulf were Scandinavian.

[Mitch86]

If I have a son, I shall call him Hereward or Aethelwulf, just to avoid any confusion.