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

[vanceen]

You are conflating my comment about AZ overall rating is lower than NM...with...spending PP.

Yes, that is consistent with what I said earlier.

Are you still on absolutes about teacher quality vs outcomes. Again, does Yale have better instructors than UNM? I have no doubt you can find exceptions to the general rule. Japan has high outcomes, but the teachers are criminally underpaid. Exceptions abound. But everyone understands that pay equates to the quality of the employee.

I have to disagree somewhat with your last statement. High pay does not equate to high quality employees. Selective hiring will give you high quality employees. But, of course, you will have to pay more to attract the best.

 

[aociswundumho]

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

My own pet theory is that adults hate reading because they were forced to read books they had zero interest in as kids. One thing my parents got right: they filled my room with books but never pressured me to read. I ended up reading all of them, usually when I was bored. On the flip side, they did force me to eat vegetables, which I hated. I remember choking down spinach by taking a bite, then immediately gulping water to minimize mouth time. To this day, I still don’t like vegetables.

This is purely anecdotal, and I have no idea whether it reflects any broader truth. It probably doesn't.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

I dont care what it costs the economy. There are more important things than the economy.

I care more about the idiocy that an uneducated populace spawns. Trumptardism, conspiracy theories, etc.

 

[L88]

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

Why? That's a bit of a pompous, rude thing for you to say.

 

[nota bene]

My own pet theory is that adults hate reading because they were forced to read books they had zero interest in as kids. One thing my parents got right: they filled my room with books but never pressured me to read. I ended up reading all of them, usually when I was bored. On the flip side, they did force me to eat vegetables, which I hated. I remember choking down spinach by taking a bite, then immediately gulping water to minimize mouth time. To this day, I still don’t like vegetables.

This is purely anecdotal, and I have no idea whether it reflects any broader truth. It probably doesn't.

I'm sure being forced to read is one reason, but it can't be the only one. (It's late, so I'm going to resist the urge to Google down a rabbit hole.) I read before I went to school, and both my little sisters did too. Our parents were readers. I don't know about my mother's folks but the grandparents I spent time with were readers too ((National Geographic and half-nekkid people!) So I don't get it.

I do know why people don't like to write, though. Maybe people don't like to read for the same reason: They don't do it well.

 

[L88]

Literacy is not a solution ........ Rational thinking is.

You should work on both.

 

[Carjosse]

My own pet theory is that adults hate reading because they were forced to read books they had zero interest in as kids. One thing my parents got right: they filled my room with books but never pressured me to read. I ended up reading all of them, usually when I was bored. On the flip side, they did force me to eat vegetables, which I hated. I remember choking down spinach by taking a bite, then immediately gulping water to minimize mouth time. To this day, I still don’t like vegetables.

This is purely anecdotal, and I have no idea whether it reflects any broader truth. It probably doesn't.

Thing is though you need to learn to read things you don’t like, written in different styles / formats, or things you may not understand.

 

[Ahlevah]

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.

Having another breadwinner helps. Sorry to say, but many women delude themselves into believing that having a kid and playing house before finishing school and getting married will somehow complete them. But they’re not planning and thinking ahead. At some point after the Pampers and formula start flowing, reality sets in which they realize there’s a good chance they’ll be struggling just to keep their heads above water and out of poverty. That’s when they start blaming capitalism for their problems.

 

[southwest88]

Focusing on the 10 commandments? Please explain how posting a copy of the 10 commandments is focusing on them?

This evil Conservative believes public schools need to do a better job of teaching fundamentals to compete with charters.

It's not a level playing field. Public schools have to take everybody - Special Ed, provide transportation within given boundaries, teachers/admin/staff must be certified or in progress. Space per child - classroom, play areas, # of bathrooms, water fountains, libraries, AV, handicap accessibility - must meet state requirements for public ed. & so on.

Charters may have to comply with some of these, it varies from state to state. The status of parochial schools also varies, but overall, more closely matches that of charters than that of public schools.

 

[southwest88]

Thats the kids who are actually taught facts. Lots of religious families prevent their kids from even learning evolutionary theory.

Then those kids are locked out of biology, medicine, veterinary, nursing, doctoring - & all related fields. A very high price to pay.

 

[CLAX1911]

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

It makes me wonder if money and resources that would have gone to public schools were diverted to the department of education which is a total failure and really just the money laundering scam.

But I'm willing to bet there are people that think that removing the department of education that during their tenure education has plummeted is a bad thing.

It's almost like they're more interested in big powerful centralized government than they are interested in actual literacy.

 

[southwest88]

OK, but this thread is about adult illiteracy.



Then it should be state funded.

TMK, Adult Basic Education &/or GED should cover any adult who wants to attend. GED may exclude anyone with a HS diploma - but ABE used to be open to any state resident.

 

[southwest88]

ROFL

So weak. Public education is a failure. The fundamental responsibilities of teaching reading, writing, and Arithmetic are clearly ignored in far too many cases.

If we MUST fund education, provide vouchers and let parents shop for the best schools for their children. Socialized education has failed - pure and simple.

& how would parents know which is the best school for their children?

Socialized education - meaning towns & cities setting up Independent School Districts? Establishing a board of directors, hiring a superintendent, hiring teachers, counselors, staff? Buying buildings, buses, furniture, books, writing curriculum, & on & on?

 

[BirdinHand]

Having another breadwinner helps. Sorry to say, but many women delude themselves into believing that having a kid and playing house before finishing school and getting married will somehow complete them. But they’re not planning and thinking ahead. At some point after the Pampers and formula start flowing, reality sets in which they realize there’s a good chance they’ll be struggling just to keep their heads above water and out of poverty. That’s when they start blaming capitalism for their problems.

Oh, I don’t disagree.

I think way too many people have children way too early in life or without properly planning for having children.

And I also think many of those people don’t tend to be very good parents…or involved parents…and that contributes to the problems we have with kids struggling academically, etc.

 

[southwest88]

...

While I highly question your claims of Canadian primacy in education, we must note that Canada is a virtually homogenous country from an ethnic standpoint.

40 million illegal aliens might alter the metrics a bit.

Yah. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada#Demographics

"Demographics​

"The 2021 Canadian census enumerated a total population of 36,991,981, an increase of around 5.2 percent over the 2016 figure. It is estimated that Canada's population surpassed 40,000,000 in 2023. The main drivers of population growth are immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by economic policy and family reunification. Canada leads the world in refugee resettlement; it resettled more than 47,600 in 2022.

...

"Ethnicity​

"Main article: Ethnic origins of people in Canada
"Respondents in the 2021 Canadian census self-reported over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins". The major panethnic groups chosen were: European (52.5 percent), North American (22.9 percent), Asian (19.3 percent), North American Indigenous (6.1 percent), African (3.8 percent), Latin, Central and South American (2.5 percent), Caribbean (2.1 percent), Oceanian (0.3 percent), and other (6 percent). Over 60 percent of Canadians reported a single origin, and 36 percent reported having multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100 percent.

"The top 168 ethnic or cultural origins self-reported by Canadians in the 2021 census
The country's ten largest self-reported ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Canadian (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English (14.7 percent), Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish (12.1 percent), French (11.0 percent), German (8.1 percent), Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian (4.3 percent), Indian (3.7 percent), and Ukrainian (3.5 percent).

Part 1

 

[southwest88]

Part 2

"Of the 36.3 million people enumerated in 2021, approximately 24.5 million reported being "White", representing 67.4 percent of the population. The Indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8 million people, grew by 9.4 percent compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by 5.3 percent from 2016 to 2021. One out of every four Canadians or 26.5 percent of the population belonged to a non-White and non-Indigenous visible minority, the largest of which in 2021 were South Asian (2.6 million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7 percent), Black (1.5 million; 4.3 percent), Filipinos (960,000 2.6 percent), Arabs (690,000; 1.9 percent), Latin Americans (580,000; 1.6 percent), Southeast Asians (390,000; 1.1 percent), West Asians (360,000; 1.0 percent), Koreans (220,000; 0.6 percent) and Japanese (99,000; 0.3 percent).

"Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population rose by 18.4 percent. In 1961, about 300,000 people, less than two percent of Canada's population, were members of visible minority groups. The 2021 census indicated that 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0 percent) of the population, reported themselves as being or having been a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada—above the 1921 census previous record of 22.3 percent. In 2021, India, China, and the Philippines were the top three countries of origin for immigrants moving to Canada."

(My emphasis - more @ the URL.)

 

[Uncensored2008]

& how would parents know which is the best school for their children?

Socialized education - meaning towns & cities setting up Independent School Districts?

Quite the opposite. Cooperative education worked. Communities pooled resources to educate children within community standards.

Socialized education was promoted and infected America due to the efforts of Dewey and the Prussian Nationalist education system.

Establishing a board of directors, hiring a superintendent, hiring teachers, counselors, staff? Buying buildings, buses, furniture, books, writing curriculum, & on & on?

Many of these are only relevant when creating behemoth bureaucracies. When schools are local, the need for massive bus infrastructure isn't necessary. Curriculum is already a purchased commodity - the federal and state governments offer nothing that enhances it. The key to quality is choice and competition - regardless of what the product is. Education in America shows the failure of the socialized model in K-12.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Yah. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada#Demographics

"Demographics​

"The 2021 Canadian census enumerated a total population of 36,991,981, an increase of around 5.2 percent over the 2016 figure. It is estimated that Canada's population surpassed 40,000,000 in 2023. The main drivers of population growth are immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. Canada has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by economic policy and family reunification. Canada leads the world in refugee resettlement; it resettled more than 47,600 in 2022.

...

"Ethnicity​

"Main article: Ethnic origins of people in Canada
"Respondents in the 2021 Canadian census self-reported over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins". The major panethnic groups chosen were: European (52.5 percent), North American (22.9 percent), Asian (19.3 percent), North American Indigenous (6.1 percent), African (3.8 percent), Latin, Central and South American (2.5 percent), Caribbean (2.1 percent), Oceanian (0.3 percent), and other (6 percent). Over 60 percent of Canadians reported a single origin, and 36 percent reported having multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100 percent.

"The top 168 ethnic or cultural origins self-reported by Canadians in the 2021 census
The country's ten largest self-reported ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Canadian (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English (14.7 percent), Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish (12.1 percent), French (11.0 percent), German (8.1 percent), Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian (4.3 percent), Indian (3.7 percent), and Ukrainian (3.5 percent).

Part 1

: European (52.5 percent), North American (22.9 percent)

So 75% white of European descent.

Just as I said.

 

[AZRWinger]

It's not a level playing field. Public schools have to take everybody - Special Ed, provide transportation within given boundaries, teachers/admin/staff must be certified or in progress. Space per child - classroom, play areas, # of bathrooms, water fountains, libraries, AV, handicap accessibility - must meet state requirements for public ed. & so on.

Charters may have to comply with some of these, it varies from state to state. The status of parochial schools also varies, but overall, more closely matches that of charters than that of public schools.

The public schools have to take everyone while charter schools pick only top students is a myth unless you're referring to ultra expensive private schools like Sidwell Friends in DC. One of Obama's first acts as President was to abolish the school choice voucher system for thousands of DC students effectively consigning the ones in poorer districts to low performing schools. Of course his kids went to Sidwell Friends. School choice for me but not for thee.

Evidently you have never heard of expulsion? When students have repeated behavioral problems the school will expell them. Given the option concerned parents enroll these children in a specialized charter school with a highly structured environment.

 

[Grand Mal]

Quite the opposite. Cooperative education worked. Communities pooled resources to educate children within community standards.

Socialized education was promoted and infected America due to the efforts of Dewey and the Prussian Nationalist education system.



Many of these are only relevant when creating behemoth bureaucracies. When schools are local, the need for massive bus infrastructure isn't necessary. Curriculum is already a purchased commodity - the federal and state governments offer nothing that enhances it. The key to quality is choice and competition - regardless of what the product is. Education in America shows the failure of the socialized model in K-12.

Education elsewhere shows the success of it.
Course, those other countries don't have people loudly expressing contempt for schools and teachers, doing their best to convince everyone who will listen that it's all a failure and must be scrapped.
In an average American third-grade class of, what, 25? students, how many come from homes where their parents beak off about what a waste of time their schooling is because the system doesn't work anyway? Is it possible that that's the biggest difference between American public schools and those in Canada and Ireland and Finland and Estonia?

 

[southwest88]

Quite the opposite. Cooperative education worked. Communities pooled resources to educate children within community standards.

Socialized education was promoted and infected America due to the efforts of Dewey and the Prussian Nationalist education system.



Many of these are only relevant when creating behemoth bureaucracies. When schools are local, the need for massive bus infrastructure isn't necessary. Curriculum is already a purchased commodity - the federal and state governments offer nothing that enhances it. The key to quality is choice and competition - regardless of what the product is. Education in America shows the failure of the socialized model in K-12.

If you look @ the history of Independent School Districts in the US - especially in more rural areas - it's a story of consolidation of districts, because the rural populations are shrinking, younger families (likelier to have school age children) tend to leave rural areas for work, the tax base shrinks, & so ISDs become larger, requiring busing to cover the distances involved in an equitable manner.

We need to work on boosting rural economies - maybe requiring universal high-speed Internet coverage, so that people can live in rural areas but still work. That wouldn't cover all the economy, but it would @ least facilitate people working from home, if they wanted to do so (& assuming that it's work that can be done from home).

 

[Cecil James]

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.

It's the main predictor and what you're citing is the low poverty rate due to Biden's child tax credits expiring as NO Republican voted to extend them.

 

[Cecil James]

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.

It's true that there are multiple causes for poor educational outcome. Childhood poverty is just ONE of those but accounts for 90% of the reason. If only the GOP cared about post-natal children.


"

 

[cpwill]

It's true that there are multiple causes for poor educational outcome. Childhood poverty is just ONE of those but accounts for 90% of the reason.

Corresponds with, certainly. It is not a coincidence that several of the items I outlined as improvements in childhood education also address childhood poverty.

If only the GOP cared about post-natal children.

 

[The Mark]

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

Education can inoculate a population against authoritarianism...

But it could also reinforce it, I'm wondering when they'll roll out the reeducation camps to retrain liberals into proper obedient citizens or something.