Low Literacy Levels Among U.S. Adults Could Be Costing The Economy $2.2 Trillion A Year

[L88]

Yes, this is a 4-year-old article, but I'm sure nothing has changed. For a lot of reasons, this needs to change dramatically.


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.”

Low Literacy Levels Among U.S. Adults Could Be Costing The Economy $2.2 Trillion A Year

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

www.forbes.com

 

[ataraxia]

This may explain how corrupt and wily politicians can have so many grown grown-a$$ adults in this country chasing after cat-eating Haitians, secret Kenyan birth certificates, stolen presidential elections, autism-causing vaccines, cancer causing wind turbines, and genicidal South Africans- just to cut their taxes on their backs.

No wonder they are eager to attack and gut education at every level.

“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps, both.”
-James Madison

“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.”
-Thomas Jefferson

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
-Thomas Jefferson

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
-Thomas Jefferson

“Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know, that the people alone can protect us against these evils, and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose, is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles, who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”
-Thomas Jefferaon

 

[Lycanthrope]

Meanwhile Dear Leader and his fawning MAGA monkeys do everything to undermine public education and promote contempt for intelligence.

 

[gman]

It’s an interesting article but aside from pointing a finger at underfunding and just pushing people thru the education system I didn’t see any reference to dyslexia. Lately it’s been recognized as a problem with many people. Earlier recognition at younger ages of this issue could serve to adequately addressing this issue.

 

[ataraxia]

Meanwhile Dear Leader and his fawning MAGA monkeys do everything to undermine public education and promote contempt for intelligence.

Yep, if you dare teach children that the Earth may be more than just 6000 years old, or the founding fathers of this country wanted separation of church and state, you will be accused of shoving liberal indoctrination down their throats.

But if you question the unanimous consensus of every single scientific organization on the planet on climate change, or the advice of physicians and biomedical scientists during a deadly pandemic, you are not being smart and sophisticated like them.

Only chasing Jewish space lasers makes you smart and you know what’s really up.

 

[lynnwinslow]

Yes, this is a 4-year-old article, but I'm sure nothing has changed. For a lot of reasons, this needs to change dramatically.


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.”

Low Literacy Levels Among U.S. Adults Could Be Costing The Economy $2.2 Trillion A Year

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

www.forbes.com

Unfortunately, education is ultimately a local responsibility and lots of areas don't care, don't want to spend money or aren't up to the task.

 

[Risky Thicket]

And now we discourage foreign students, threaten to withhold federal money from universities, which fewer Americans can afford, ban books, have a former wrestling executive running the DOE, which MAGAs want to shutdown, and there is no national expectation of better things to come nor should there be.

 

[CaughtInThe]

 

[ataraxia]

It’s an interesting article but aside from pointing a finger at underfunding and just pushing people thru the education system I didn’t see any reference to dyslexia. Lately it’s been recognized as a problem with many people. Earlier recognition at younger ages of this issue could serve to adequately addressing this issue.

Oh please. This is much more than about dyslexia.

Republicans want to kill the Dept. of Ed and privatize education. Billionaires are helping them.

Calls to “return education to the states” and expand private school voucher programs could hurt queer, rural, disabled and BIPOC youth, report says.

19thnews.org

 

[CaughtInThe]

And now we discourage foreign students, threaten to withhold federal money from universities, which fewer Americans can afford, ban books, have a former wrestling executive running the DOE, which MAGAs want to shutdown, and there is no national expectation of better things to come nor should there be.

 

[gman]

Oh please. This is much more than about dyslexia.

Republicans want to kill the Dept. of Ed and privatize education. Billionaires are helping them.

Calls to “return education to the states” and expand private school voucher programs could hurt queer, rural, disabled and BIPOC youth, report says.

19thnews.org

I never said it was just about dyslexia. My point is that it wasn’t mentioned and it is a problem.

 

[CaughtInThe]

 

[L88]

Unfortunately, education is ultimately a local responsibility and lots of areas don't care, don't want to spend money or aren't up to the task.

It's about educating parents about the importance of reading skills for children, regardless of their own skills.

 

[Josie]

It's about educating parents about the importance of reading skills for children, regardless of their own skills.

You'd think it would be common sense to read to your child, play with your child, name things you see with your child to build their vocabulary, just talk to your child. Sadly, many parents lack that common sense or are just continuing the bad parenting cycle that they experienced. Soooo many kids come into kindergarten with very little early literacy and language skills.

 

[lynnwinslow]

It's about educating parents about the importance of reading skills for children, regardless of their own skills.

How do you propose that gets accomplished? I personally don't think that's 100% of the problem, BTW.

 

[BirdinHand]

It’s an interesting article but aside from pointing a finger at underfunding and just pushing people thru the education system I didn’t see any reference to dyslexia. Lately it’s been recognized as a problem with many people. Earlier recognition at younger ages of this issue could serve to adequately addressing this issue.

Our educational system isn’t designed to produce the best and brightest - it is designed to produce workers.

 

[L88]

You'd think it would be common sense to read to your child, play with your child, name things you see with your child to build their vocabulary, just talk to your child. Sadly, many parents lack that common sense or are just continuing the bad parenting cycle that they experienced. Soooo many kids come into kindergarten with very little early literacy and language skills.

The US has a lot of illiterate parents. We need through break that cycle. I had no idea how bad it was until I started a project in a warehouse and in constant contact with the workers.

 

[L88]

How do you propose that gets accomplished? I personally don't think that's 100% of the problem, BTW.

If parents can't read to their children or show an example of reading, what do you think the problem is? I'm currently on a project in a warehouse, and there are as many as 3 generations working there that cannot read on a fundamental level.

 

[lynnwinslow]

If parents can't read to their children or show an example of reading, what do you think the problem is?

I explained up thread what I thought the problem was. You replied to my comment.
How do you propose that we inform parents about the importance of reading?

 

[BirdinHand]

The US has a lot of illiterate parents. We need through break that cycle. I had no idea how bad it was until I started a project in a warehouse and in constant contact with the workers.

The US also has a ton of tired parents that are doing the absolute best they can.

I have friends who barely have 2-3 waking hours a day with their kids. They have to be at their offices by 8-8:30 in the morning - so they’re rushing out the door at 7am to drop half asleep kids off at before care.

They are then picking those same kids up at 5:30-6pm from after care.

They still then need to get home, feed them, make sure homework is done - go to any extra curriculars if kids are involved - and get kids bathed and in bed, etc by 8:30-9:30pm.

Rinse and repeat 5 days a week.

They’re struggling to spend any quality time with kids and if you watch their day to day lives? A lot of the time spent with their kids consists of repeating “get dressed, get your shoes on, get your teeth brushed, etc” type of things over and over. It’s brutal.

 

[aociswundumho]

Our educational system isn’t designed to produce the best and brightest - it is designed to produce workers.

Yep, the Prussian model, based on conformity and control, designed to produce good little citizens who will do what they're told and to obey authority.

Another "gift" from early American progressives.

 

[gman]

The US also has a ton of tired parents that are doing the absolute best they can.

I have friends who barely have 2-3 waking hours a day with their kids. They have to be at their offices by 8-8:30 in the morning - so they’re rushing out the door at 7am to drop half asleep kids off at before care.

They are then picking those same kids up at 5:30-6pm from after care.

They still then need to get home, feed them, make sure homework is done - go to any extra curriculars if kids are involved - and get kids bathed and in bed, etc by 8:30-9:30pm.

Rinse and repeat 5 days a week.

They’re struggling to spend any quality time with kids and if you watch their day to day lives? A lot of the time spent with their kids consists of repeating “get dressed, get your shoes on, get your teeth brushed, etc” type of things over and over. It’s brutal.

I was one of them and I can attest to the fact that there were times I didn’t know if I could do it anymore. It’s mentally and physically exhausting.

 

[redbeer]

More signs of a corrupt, useless federal Dept of Education. Great at creating federal do-nothing jobs with benefits and retirement perks, but an utter failure in performing its mission, gross failure to our children. Creating generations of adults who can't read or write and add numbers with their fingers. Yet, these so-called intelligent ones fight/argue to keep such a useless, wasteful, money grubbing, corrupt system if only for all those people and families who benefited from the corruption.

 

[BirdinHand]

I was one of them and I can attest to the fact that there were times I didn’t know if I could do it anymore. It’s mentally and physically exhausting.

I worked outside our house for less than one year of my son’s life - and both my husband and I agreed that nope…it was not going to work for us.

It’s impossible to live like that and achieve the goals we have set forth for our son. There are just not enough hours in a day.

Lucky I have that option - not everyone does.

And I don’t think people truly recognize just how hard today’s parents have it.

 

[lynnwinslow]

More signs of a corrupt, useless federal Dept of Education. Great at creating federal do-nothing jobs with benefits and retirement perks, but an utter failure in performing its mission, gross failure to our children. Creating generations of adults who can't read or write and add numbers with their fingers. Yet, these so-called intelligent ones fight/argue to keep such a useless, wasteful, money grubbing, corrupt system if only for all those people and families who benefited from the corruption.

Education is ultimately the responsibility of the local area not the DOE. How do you propose we get local areas to step up to the task?