Maybe they can’t read, but they can watch Ophrah!
Don’t worry, ACORN votes for them.
Reading is no longer necessary for many people. They can touch the little pictures on the computer screen.
I found that an adult is anyone over 16
http://nces.ed.gov/ssbr/pages/adultliteracy.asp?IndID=32#notes_002_top
Any one know what the heck basic prose literary skill is or am I in the 14%? This sure as heck doesn’t tell me anything:
Prose Literacy is defined as the knowledge and skills needed to perform prose tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from continuous texts). Document Literacy is defined as the knowledge and skills to perform document tasks (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use information from noncontinuous texts in various formats). Please refer to page 2 of A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century for more detailed information.
“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.”
WRONG. Since every child is eligible to attend school the problem is not with lack of investment in schools. The problem is bad schools (and not because of lack of funding) and parents who just don’t give a damn about their kids.
Ok all you smart people out there. Tell how many of you can read and understand the income tax code. I am sure that adult literacy is a growing problem but I would also be weary of "facts" that show we must spend more money. Just be cause someone can't understand the tax code doesn't mean that they are illiterate.
I have worked with adult reading programs though my church. Just say no to more taxes.
Schools got away from teaching phonics and the result is that many people never learned to read. Many other people can with difficulty read instructions and the like. I think the powers that be want semi-literate people who can follow simple directions but are not equipped to function independently.
I guess they are counting the Illegal Aliens as Americans.
This helps some:
http://literacy.kent.edu/~nebraska/research/wlit.html
CONTEXT BASED
In September of 1993, the results of the National Adult Literacy Survey were released. Known as NALS, this research has resulted in debate about the profile of Literacy nationwide. The definition of Literacy measured by NALS consists of three scales: PROSE, DOCUMENT, AND QUANTITATIVE. Each of these scales considers levels of ability in terms of tasks, and each task is assigned a score. The higher the score, the greater the complexity of the task within the scale. For example: A Level One Prose task involves locating one piece of information in a sports article. Level Three, by comparison, requires one to read a news article and identify a sentence that provides intepretation of a situation. In contrast, Level 5, the highest level of Literacy in the Prose scale, requires one to perform tasks such as summarize two ways lawyers may challenge prospective jurors.
In the Document scale, a Level One task involves being able to sign your name or being able to enter background information on an application for a social security card. Level Three involves being able to use a bus schedule. Level Five involves mastery of tasks like using a table depicting information about parental involvement in a school survey to write a paragraph summarizing the extent to which parents and teachers agree.
The Quantitative scale ranges from Level One - totaling a bank deposit entry, to Level Four - using information stated in a news article to calculate the amount of money that should go to raising a child, to Level Five - determining the total cost of carpet to cover a room, using a calculator.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with these scales, and as you can see, the Levels represent a range of ability, which indicate a Level of Literacy.
No longer an ability to have or have not, Literacy is now measured on multiple levels in multiple areas. Literacy has become CONTENT SPECIFIC.
For example:
I worked for two years as a computer sales consultant. A good part of my job was to teach highly literate professionals how to speak and understand the language of computers. I worked with doctors and educators; CEOs and professors. Highly literate - awesome in some instances - but moving into the new technology required mastering a new language with new meanings. They were Illiterate within that context. Some even said so themselves. Other examples of CONTENT SPECIFIC Literacy are these pages from some books which I have at home:
1. The first overhead is the work of BLAKE-if we work at it long enough, we can figure out the words he is using, and possibly figure out what he is talking aobut.
2. The second overhead, on the other hand, is text from an educational measurement textbook. Some of you may be able to read this and know the meaning. I do not know what these words mean. I can read them and pronounce them based upon my knowledge of phonics and whole language learning. The meaning attached to these words is content specific-to statistics
this is better;
Results for each type of literacy are reported using the following 4 levels
•
Below Basic:
o Indicates no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills
o Ex: able to add the amounts on a bank deposit slip, able to find out what a
patient is allowed to drink before a medical test
•
Basic:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform simple and everyday literacy activities
o Ex: using a TV guide to find out what programs are on at a specific time,
comparing ticket prices for two events
•
Intermediate:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform moderately challenging literacy activities
o Ex: consulting reference materials to determine which foods contain a
particular vitamin, identifying a specific location on a map, calculating the
total cost of an order from a catalog
•
Proficient:
o Indicates skills necessary to perform more complex and challenging literacy
activities
o Ex: comparing viewpoints in two editorials, computing and comparing the
cost per ounce of food items, interpreting a table about blood pressure, age and
physical activity
http://www.mcae.net/NAALHighlights.pdf
If it's printed in the New York Times a lot more than that won't be reading it.
That’s OK, because poll workers were available to show them which boxes to check in order to vote for Obama and the Democrats.
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
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.
I would just love to see a breakdown of those numbers.
By State...by ethnicity...by race.
Would those people happen to speak Spanish?
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?
That's so old it makes the figures meaningless.
Unfortunately it isn’t just adults, there are many high school graduates who are functionally illiterate and can barely read a newspaper. Isn’t free public education great. (sarcasm)
My theory:
this is the work of the devil as the Bible said the Word IS God. If you can’t read, you can’t know God.