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Low Literacy Levels Among U.S. Adults Could Be Costing The Economy $2.2 Trillion A Year
Forbes ^ | 9/9/2020 | Michael T. Nietzel

Posted on 03/03/2022 5:11:24 AM PST by EBH

A new study by Gallup on behalf of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy finds that low levels of adult literacy could be costing the U.S. as much $2.2 trillion a year.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. That’s a shocking number for several reasons, and its dollars and cents implications are enormous because literacy is correlated with several important outcomes such as personal income, employment levels, health, and overall economic growth.

Commenting on the significance of the study, British A. Robinson, president and CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation, said, “America’s low literacy crisis is largely ignored, historically underfunded and woefully under-researched, despite being one of the great solvable problems of our time. We’re proud to enrich the collective knowledge base with this first-of-its-kind study, documenting literacy’s key role in equity and economic mobility in families, communities and our nation as a whole.”

Adults who scored below Level 3 for literacy on the PIAAC were defined as at least partially illiterate. Adults below or at Level 1 may struggle to understand texts beyond filling out basic forms, and they find it difficult to make inferences from written material. Adults at Level 2 can read well enough to evaluate product reviews and perform other tasks requiring comparisons and simple inferences, but they’re unlikely to correctly evaluate the reliability of texts or draw sophisticated inferences. Adults at Level 3 and above were considered fully literate. They’re able to evaluate sources, as well as infer sophisticated meaning and complex ideas from written sources.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: deplorables; reading
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To: fatboy

“Parents need to…”

No. They really don’t.

It would help if they did. But no.


61 posted on 03/03/2022 6:43:46 AM PST by stanne
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To: FarCenter

“Instead they will depend on video, audio, and icon knowledge, with text to speech and speech recognition “

Yes, but our heavily used devices currently require an ability to read and write and I think that won’t be supplanted by text to speech, etc., because it’s quicker to read than listen.

Our populace might not be learning the King’s English but reading and writing ain’t be goin way.


62 posted on 03/03/2022 6:44:58 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: jpsb

Surely who care’s about where the comma’s are at anyway’s.


63 posted on 03/03/2022 6:47:16 AM PST by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable STILL)
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To: EBH

But these are the Democrat voters, so they must be kept ignorant.


64 posted on 03/03/2022 6:48:04 AM PST by EastTexasTraveler
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To: 9YearLurker

Good idea, not going to happen but just maybe we can do the next best thing. School choice, let the money follow the student to the school of THEIR choice, with no guarantee of being accepted into that school.


65 posted on 03/03/2022 6:56:24 AM PST by jpsb
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To: EBH

Barbara Bush Foundation
***Assistant Democrat Foundation.


66 posted on 03/03/2022 6:56:36 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: stanne

At this point the system has started to cross the line into simple corruption. Teachers know that those 10 students who never turned in any homework and continuously disrupted the class do not deserve to get a passing grade but they do it anyways. Then the next teacher does the same god damned thing.


67 posted on 03/03/2022 6:58:20 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: JudyinCanada

The intentionality was due to laziness on the part of teachers.


68 posted on 03/03/2022 6:59:47 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: EBH
The illiteracy also covers being able to do math.

A teacher in an inner city school reported that little Asian kids came to school already knowing math although they are poor at reading and writing. Math and language arts only weakly depend on each other.

As for critical thinking, consider that in this state jurors are not permitted to read transcripts of testimony while deliberating. Instead, if they want to refer back to what was presented in court, they can request that the clerk read back portions of the transcript. So critical thinking can presumably be done using only verbal communication.

Universal literacy was originally promoted so that Protestants could read the Bible in the vernacular, and so that non-commissioned officers could read and write orders.

69 posted on 03/03/2022 7:00:57 AM PST by FarCenter
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To: MissEdie

Unfortunately we have a vast population of people who do not value education and see schools only as their free babysitting service.
***So... let them babysit. Set up entire classrooms of kids who failed to go to the next grade. Let it sink in before it’s too late.

School should be about learning. When most of America had one-room schools, the teacher would be teaching a 6th grader right alongside a 2nd grader. If that 2nd grader was smart enough, they learned 6th grade material and if that 6th grader wasn’t smart enough he never got more than a 6th grade edumacation. There’s nothing wrong with 8 year olds attending high school.


70 posted on 03/03/2022 7:03:30 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: Kevmo

The intentionality was due to laziness on the part of teachers.

I don’t think laziness had much to do with it. There was so much time spent indoctrinating that there was no more time left to educate.


71 posted on 03/03/2022 7:04:23 AM PST by JayAr36 (Just watching the demise of America.)
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To: Kevmo

Laziness may have come into play, but that’s not what I observed.

Elementary school teachers were so indoctrinated into this whole language method of NOT teaching reading, it became like a religion to them. Whole language is so advanced, so wonderful, so much better for kids.....teaching phonetically in a logical order, bad. Teachers made fun of anyone who mentioned phonics and the spelling to sound association.

I did a lot of research years ago, and wound up starting a tutoring business, writing my own reading/spelling program, educating my own kids, and helping out in our neighborhood school. It was fascinating to observe. Some teachers were truly interested in looking at the proper way to teach reading, others just did the expected elite scoff.

Add to this that they never would have acquired their teaching degrees if they didn’t tow the party line.


72 posted on 03/03/2022 7:09:04 AM PST by JudyinCanada (Maranatha)
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To: drSteve78

At least two - it’s “O, o, Spaghettios”, after all.


73 posted on 03/03/2022 7:09:33 AM PST by LouieFisk
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To: Cboldt

Raise the minimum wage and spend more to support poverty. So-called “war on poverty” is actually a support system for poverty.

I know, the OP is on literacy, not wages. But literacy is not a pre-requisite to “make it” in the USA. The education level in general has been trending downward for many years. Throwing more money at it has made things WORSE. People have to yearn to learn. Defund public education and save that 2.2 trillion. The results would not be any worse than they are now.


What they don’t want to hear:

Illiterate, underclass parents will produce another generation of illiterate underclass children. The solution is to eliminate welfare, and have the underclass stop producing so many dysfunctional kids.

Meanwhile, encourage the middle class to produce more kids.


74 posted on 03/03/2022 7:10:55 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so stupid people won’t be offended)
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To: LouieFisk

What was the point of cursive? It was to write faster. Not needed any more in today’s age of typewriting on computers. Cursive is no indicator of learning capability nor usefulness nor proficiency.

I have had multiple bosses who never took a calculus class, don’t even know what calculus is. The ones who DID pass calculus were far and away better bosses, more capable than those who had degrees in sociology or no degree at all. Calculus is a far better measure of proficiency than cursive.


75 posted on 03/03/2022 7:10:58 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: Highest Authority

Because libtards have control over the process.


76 posted on 03/03/2022 7:11:33 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: FarCenter

The weird thing is that a lot of those folks don’t realize how illiterate they are. But the open borders types want MORE people flooding the system instead of fixing the problems that are already here.


77 posted on 03/03/2022 7:13:51 AM PST by Kevmo (I’m immune from Covid since I don’t watch TV.🤗)
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To: drSteve78
And knew how to count money.

Lol, oh yes they did! I used to test their monetary skills on a daily basis. I was TED (temporary extra duty) in Detroit and on an expense account! Fun times.

78 posted on 03/03/2022 7:14:16 AM PST by jpsb
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To: stanne

“......Live within your means and take control.”

________________________

Bingo


79 posted on 03/03/2022 7:14:22 AM PST by fatboy
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To: Kevmo

Well, I object to the term GD

That said, teachers have power like everyone who was mandated to take drugs. They can say no I’m not doing that. I’m not passing that child. The administration can face losing teachers or shaping up.

Teachers give away their leverage pretending they need their job. They could stop living beyond their means. That’s all


80 posted on 03/03/2022 7:15:16 AM PST by stanne
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