Posted on 01/11/2009 8:12:31 AM PST by presidio9
About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article. Well, okay, most people won't read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world.
But about 1 in 7 can't read it. They're illiterate.
Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.
The figures are for 2003, the latest year available. State and county results are available here.
"The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, in response to the finding.
This is about jobs and the economy, Harvey said.
"More than 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008 and the new unemployment figures are the highest in 16 years," Harvey said. "A large number of the unemployed are low-skilled individuals who struggle with everyday reading, writing and math tasks. The administration wants to create new jobs
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I read recently that 47% of the residents of New Orleans are illerate.
I suppose it's the community activists who fill out the welfare forms for them, huh?
AND...these people vote!!!!
I'm surprised the percentage is that low. Department of Education is probably padding the stats.
A hidden secret is that lots of people don’t learn to read because they have varying degrees of dyslexia. Undiagnosed in childhood, it makes reading difficult, at best. It also serious messes with reading comprehension, because they are trying so hard to read the words, they miss their meaning.
Ironically, a very inexpensive and effective treatment exists that could negate dyslexia in many children, so that they could learn to read, and learn from what they read, and even enjoy reading.
“If you or your child is experiencing visual effects such as text wobbling, moving, flickering, blocking out, underlining, halo effects, head aches, a feeling of over brightness then it would be useful to have an assessment in this regard.
The Irlen Method has helped children and adults worldwide become successful rather than continue to experience enormous difficulties. In addition to dyslexia, patients with headaches, migraine and photosensitive epilepsy may benefit.”
What is the magic cure? Colored glass lenses or tinted clear plastic sheets put over the text. The exact color that works varies with the individual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotopic_sensitivity_syndrome
I expect the Demonrats to propose that ballots have images of animal totems representing each party, for the benefit of illiterates. That’s the way they do it in some African countries.
A hidden secret is that lots of people don’t learn to read because they is dumbies.
My suspicion is that this data probably tracks consistently with the rate of children born to unwed mothers and raised by a single parent. Currently, the rate of unwed, single mothers in the latino community (mostly illegal immigrants) is growing at a fast rate and already exceeds the rate among inner city blacks. Since the media and hollywood condone and even glorify single parenthood, the best way to improve literacy in the long run is to change this destructive message.
They don't need to read. Obama will tell them what they need to know and what to think about it.
I would just love to see a breakdown of those numbers.
By State...by ethnicity...by race.
"The South also has huge unemployment which could be result of the education problem. South Carolina is ranked third worst in the country on unemployment. However, the blame really can’t be placed on anybody but the governors of each southern state. They should do something about education."
I'm in Alabama and my son has a PhD in physics...what about your children?
“I found it interesting that only 15% of the population is considered to be reading on the most advanced levels. “
THAT is frightening.
“Not uncoincidentally, he loves Mary Poppins too.”
Do you mean “Coincidentally, he love Mary Poppins, too?”
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
I was joking with a group of kids the other day (8th graders) - none of them had even heard of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or Mary Poppins.
They do seem well versed in “Family Guy”, though.
Would those people happen to speak Spanish?
And I'd say that you're most likely wrong. Parents who are willing (and able) to spend the time and effort to homeschool aren't going to allow their child to just play the Wii all day long. While there may be a few isolated cases where this happens, it's most certainly not common.
“The reason is not because the eduction is better (even though it usually is) but because the children have parents who are invested in their kids eduction.”
Agreed.
Odd that major liberal newspapers back teacher's unions - unions that can teach "earth day" but not basic reading skills. Then those kids grow up and don't buy newspapers... When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
Depends on the parents. Some parents do a great job of homeschooling; others, not so much...
Only thing is, you don't get the data (test scores etc) on all homeschoolers as you do with all public school students.
My local VA center has great pictures of GWB, Dick Cheney, and the SecDef on the wall as you first walk in the door. I'm not looking forward to seeing those pictures replaced later this month.
Seems to me that we used to do that here in the South, and the courts decided it was a bad idea. ;-)
That's so old it makes the figures meaningless.
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