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

[Risky Thicket]

It's costing democrats elections I know that much...

There is no question that if a higher percentage of adults in the U.S. could read above 6 grade level Trump would never have been elected. Trump appeals to uneducated and semi-literate adults.

 

[uptower]

There is no question that if a higher percentage of adults in the U.S. could read above 6 grade level Trump would never have been elected. Trump appeals to uneducated and semi-literate adults.

Critical reading is also a neglected skill. I'm not saying that everyone would be liberal if they could read better. But if they were better informed, if they understood the difference between fact and opinion, evidence and innuendo, even staunch conservatives would never have let him get through the primaries. At the very least there'd be an adult republican president.

 

[slavablueberryjam]

Speak for yourself

Lots of people read for fun - not because of work/school. At least in the circles I associate with. There’s book clubs everywhere and I belong to several that meet monthly on different days in person. They’re all well attended.

People make time for what they enjoy - even with busy schedules.

I don't speak for myself. I typically read a book once a week.

I just understand that individuals don't want to do things they find 'too boring'. And I understand that the life is filled too much with bots.

 

[aociswundumho]

It's costing democrats elections I know that much...

This but unironically. They can't read because your ideology failed them.

 

[uptower]

This but unironically. They can't read because your ideology failed them.

It's not Dems defunding education.

 

[Cecil James]

That's great for everyone who posts on here. Not so much for the 54% non functioning illiterate and their children.

Poor educational outcomes is directly tied to childhood poverty, which the US excels at, especially compared to our "socialistic-ish" Western counterparts.

 

[aociswundumho]

It's not Dems defunding education.

I doubt there is anyone dumb enough to believe these awful public schools are going to become wonderful simply by giving the teacher's unions more taxpayer dollars.

 

[rhinefire]

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

Just don't take their MAGA hats from them. They use them to navigate how to leave home and return.
t

 

[cpwill]

It's not Dems defunding education.

In this country we don't have a funding problem when it comes to education - some of our most funded areas are our poorest performing, and the state doing the best in improving literacy is Mississippi, which is not exactly our richest state (nor did they dramatically increase their spending - they instead managed to adopt reforms that have been opposed by Teachers Unions).

There is no Single Cause of our education problems in America. Complex outputs have complex systems that lend themselves poorly to monocausal explanations. Repairing our family formation would help. Having elites preach what they practice would help. Changing cultural narratives about the locus of control in our lives would help. School Choice would help. Phonics (and other innovations) would help. Ending the extent to which the system is run by one particular class of people (middle class women with masters' degrees) would help, as would reforming our system to focus less on preparing kids for college (those who go to college generally need support the least) and more on preparing kids for a broader range of life choices (or, better, allowing diversity of education experience so students and parents have greater ability to choose). Shifting our spending from administration to teacher pay (allowing us to attract higher quality candidates) would help, as would public sector union reform.

But we can generally (at the system level) rule out one problem - total expenditures. We're good on that.

 

[L88]

Poor educational outcomes is directly tied to childhood poverty, which the US excels at, especially compared to our "socialistic-ish" Western counterparts.

I don't disagree. But that's only part of the problem. And it is disturbing that the poverty rate for children has increased dramatically from 5% to over 13% in the last 3 years.

 

[L88]

In this country we don't have a funding problem when it comes to education - some of our most funded areas are our poorest performing, and the state doing the best in improving literacy is Mississippi, which is not exactly our richest state (nor did they dramatically increase their spending - they instead managed to adopt reforms that have been opposed by Teachers Unions).

There is no Single Cause of our education problems in America. Complex outputs have complex systems that lend themselves poorly to monocausal explanations. Repairing our family formation would help. Having elites preach what they practice would help. Changing cultural narratives about the locus of control in our lives would help. School Choice would help. Phonics (and other innovations) would help. Ending the extent to which the system is run by one particular class of people (middle class women with masters' degrees) would help, as would reforming our system to focus less on preparing kids for college (those who go to college generally need support the least) and more on preparing kids for a broader range of life choices (or, better, allowing diversity of education experience so students and parents have greater ability to choose). Shifting our spending from administration to teacher pay (allowing us to attract higher quality candidates) would help, as would public sector union reform.

But we can generally (at the system level) rule out one problem - total expenditures. We're good on that.

Amen

 

[ttwtt78640]

It's not Dems defunding education.

Paying the same administrators and teachers more isn’t likely to make them perform better. Public monopolies aren’t likely to be any better than private monopoles.

 

[L88]

Paying the same administrators and teachers more isn’t likely to make them perform better. Public monopolies aren’t likely to be any better than private monopoles.

The most damaging monopolies are those located in impoverished urban areas. In Missouri, the average per-pupil spending is around 11000.00. In the city of St Louis, with disastrous educational outcomes, it is over 18000.00 per student.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The most damaging monopolies are those located in impoverished urban areas. In Missouri, the average per-pupil spending is around 11000.00. In the city of St Louis, with disastrous educational outcomes, it is over 18000.00 per student.

That’s what happens when pay is decoupled from performance/outcome.

 

[L88]

That’s what happens when pay is decoupled from performance/outcome.

In the city of St Louis, I think it is more because of support from the parents. Its tough to get kids to show up for school

 

[ttwtt78640]

In the city of St Louis, I think it is more because of support from the parents. Its tough to get kids to show up for school

It should be tough for those who don’t show to get advanced to the next grade level.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

This happened because Librulls took baby Jesus out of the skools imo.

 

[weNeedaNewParty]

In this country we don't have a funding problem when it comes to education - some of our most funded areas are our poorest performing, and the state doing the best in improving literacy is Mississippi, which is not exactly our richest state (nor did they dramatically increase their spending - they instead managed to adopt reforms that have been opposed by Teachers Unions).

There is no Single Cause of our education problems in America. Complex outputs have complex systems that lend themselves poorly to monocausal explanations. Repairing our family formation would help. Having elites preach what they practice would help. Changing cultural narratives about the locus of control in our lives would help. School Choice would help. Phonics (and other innovations) would help. Ending the extent to which the system is run by one particular class of people (middle class women with masters' degrees) would help, as would reforming our system to focus less on preparing kids for college (those who go to college generally need support the least) and more on preparing kids for a broader range of life choices (or, better, allowing diversity of education experience so students and parents have greater ability to choose). Shifting our spending from administration to teacher pay (allowing us to attract higher quality candidates) would help, as would public sector union reform.

But we can generally (at the system level) rule out one problem - total expenditures. We're good on that.

Anyone who pays property taxes must know that funding for K-12 public schools is growing robustly. The local school tax bill on my residence has increased from $1750 in year 1995 to $3209 in 2025. I don't see this as a lack or shortage of funding.

 

[southwest88]

There we go, the Democrat penalty for failed bureaucracy is give them more taxpayer money. Who cares if they have failed let's mortgage our children's future in debt for a failed Federal department.

Most US public education K-12 is paid for @ the local level, either state or municipality - or county/parish, if there's no large town/city to build an ISD around. The federal Dept. of Education isn't the issue if your local schools are failing - that's a state/local set of issues.

 

[southwest88]

So now there will be limited federal help.
Limited federal resources to review federal complaints from parents.
Limited federal oversight.

And an expanded deficit as we give tax cuts to the rich - whose kids already are getting the best educations.

So much winning

Those kids are exposed to the best education, likely. Whether they actually absorb it is more problematic. But if their parents & their social networks can help guide/steer/place the kids after college, those kids will do OK - possibly outperform their parents, academically & financially.

I'm more concerned about the underachieving kids due to poor health, nutrition, unsupportive family, lack of access to library, etc. If we allocated talent & resources based on need, we'd put much more emphasis on helping along kids who are bright but fighting an uphill battle, academically. & then we could shift focus to all their underachieving peers, & see what we can do to help them along too.

The more functional citizens & taxpayers we have in the society, the better our institutions work, & the better the educational, economic & social outcomes for everyone.

 

[nota bene]

There is no question that if a higher percentage of adults in the U.S. could read above 6 grade level Trump would never have been elected. Trump appeals to uneducated and semi-literate adults.

Sadly, college grads are among the semi-literate these days. Appalling, but we've been referring to the "post-literate generation" for 20 years now at least. I've mentioned this before, but although I can't recall the year of publication--maybe just before or right after the turn of the century--I remember a Newsweek cover story on this. More than half the college seniors polled couldn't read a freaking bus schedule.

Would be interesting to run a poll here at DP on how many people read for pleasure. My bet is that we're a far, far more literate crowd that the average people on the street simply because we are choosing to communicate through writing and are actively learning here as we read and provide providing linked sources that support our arguments--theoretically, anyway. We're here for pleasure in a society in which "I hate to read" is now far more common than reading for pleasure.

I'm with our Miss Emily (Dickinson) here: A book is a frigate. https://poets.org/poem/there-no-frigate-book-1263

Was it as true for you as it was for me that growing up, we knew older folks who maybe finished only 8th grade or so but who were nevertheless got more out of those 8 years than far too many college kids get out of their 4?

 

[devildavid]

I don't think that I am qualified to suggest the solution. As AI suggests, more than one tactic is needed to resolve the issue. I do know that parents who read in home and read to their kids produce literate children.

You aren’t even qualified to say that there is an actual problem.

 

[devildavid]

There is no question that if a higher percentage of adults in the U.S. could read above 6 grade level Trump would never have been elected. Trump appeals to uneducated and semi-literate adults.

Trump’s appeal is purely emotional and has little to do with literacy levels. Tumpism is a cult of personality. This will be proven when Trump departs this life. His followers will be confused and lose interest in politics and return to lives of abject despair and failure. Literacy is not a solution to demagoguery. Rational thinking is.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Sadly, college grads are among the semi-literate these days. Appalling, but we've been referring to the "post-literate generation" for 20 years now at least. I've mentioned this before, but although I can't recall the year of publication--maybe just before or right after the turn of the century--I remember a Newsweek cover story on this. More than half the college seniors polled couldn't read a freaking bus schedule.

I am not at all surprised. At the same time it bothers me that semi-literate people are able to find certified colleges and universities that accept them.

With AI now available I can't even imagine how difficult it is to teach English, literature, poetry, history, philosophy and so many other subjects. It must be hell measuring actual student progress.

Would be interesting to run a poll here at DP on how many people read for pleasure. My bet is that we're a far, far more literate crowd that the average people on the street simply because we are choosing to communicate through writing and are actively learning here as we read and provide providing linked sources that support our arguments--theoretically, anyway.

That would be in interesting poll. Unfortunately, I suspect the semi-readers and readers will be the predominant responders.

We have seen it so many times here, non-readers quickly become non-posters if they post at all.

We're here for pleasure in a society in which "I hate to read" is now far more common than reading for pleasure.

Tell it!

I'm with our Miss Emily (Dickinson) here: A book is a frigate. https://poets.org/poem/there-no-frigate-book-1263

Was it as true for you as it was for me that growing up, we knew older folks who maybe finished only 8th grade or so but who were nevertheless got more out of those 8 years than far too many college kids get out of their 4?

Yes, growing up I knew a few older people who did not finish high school who found ways to excel in life as successful and happy people.

I'll honor your quote from Miss Emily with a paraphrased quote from Richard Pryor. : I know a lot of educated people dumber than an mother****er.

I'll take the joy of reading as many people here do. I am grateful when they challenge me with information to consider and learn. We learn more by our mistakes than by our successes.

Information is critical. It requires grunt work in this day and time. Deductive reasoning would be fairly difficult without reading.

And also there is the pure pleasure of reading. We can pick up a book and be transported to any time and any place. It is amazing that humans have the ability to communicate thoughts, memories and feelings in writing. Magic!

 

[bomberfox]

Because other colors and sexes need something different?

Not being property and not having their businesses firebombed in deadly air raids kinda helps….