Posted on 01/11/2009 8:12:31 AM PST by presidio9
And I'm one of them! Oh... wait...
Article needs to define “U.S. Adults?” People living in the US or US Citizens?
After 16 years in school and they cannot read.
The world needs ditch diggers too.
Waht? Eye donut beleeve itz truw
Please break that number down a little and add catagories for inner-city blacks and illegal immigrants!
Wonder what the literacy rate of people who are/were homeschooled is? I’d love to find that out...
OK, lets write funny things about them. They will never look here!
While that is said this headline is even worse.
53% of Voting Americans Are Brain Dead.
While it gives a general overall picture of illiteracy in the U.S. I could not find on the site where it separates out native born literacy from immigrant literacy.
The **really** important statistic to know is literacy among the native born because that number would tell us how well our schools ( government, private, and homeschool) are functioning.
I found it interesting that only 15% of the population is considered to be reading on the most advanced levels. That would likely be nearly everyone here on Free Republic,
70 per cent of adults can read but don’t.. and most will never read.. it takes to much effort on their part..
My God, we sure have a lot of lazy Americans. I work on a floor with about 70 people, here in Los Angeles. We have folks who do nothing but watch TV shows, I not only do not watch, but that I have never heard of. And apparently, these are very popular shows.
And so you have folks who believe what they are told to believe by the television.. Orwell was spot on. Meanwhile my co-workers continue to wear their Obama and global warming T-shirts. hmmmm I don’t remember wearing a T shirt with a current President on it.. EVER...
total cult of celebrity. I guess I’m rambling..over and out.
But they know how to vote for a Democrat.
I’m more interested to know how many are recent immigrants from south of the border.
The report also makes clear, without straying too far from the PC plantation, that third-world immigration is driving this decline in literacy: that is, that we have our share of home-grown illiterates, but that the percentage of illiterates in our population would not be growing without third-world immigration.
You might want to differentiate between illegals alians and legal immigrants. I suspect that the literacy rate among legal immigrants approaches 100%.
I found it interesting that only 15% of the population is considered to be reading on the most advanced levels. That would likely be nearly everyone here on Free Republic,
You will, no doubt, be stuned to learn that that is not the case. Check your beeber.
the south is being kept intentionally uneducated.
............which explains why many voters had a lot of problems reading the Presidential election ballots. The “B” with the “D” word was higher on the list than the “J” with the “R” word........
Please? What is a beeber?
14% can’t read? Considering our illegal alien population that’s probably a pretty good number. The article further discusses how a large majority of the prison population is illiterate. And who is in prison? Well, that would be illigals and inner-city blacks.
Useless article. No real information.
53% cannot reason
Hey, I know those people. They show up on FR, post a really hugh and series thread, and then get attacked by viking kitties....and they electemated The One.
As we got older, We read and read and read...Comic books...every chance we got. There was such a mix of characters..we learned all the words. We also read the newspaper...comics first though.
My mom didn't know a word of English when she started school. She learned.
Make English the National Language!! Make the Citizenship test a reading test and a "History Lesson". Require a reading course similar to a GED for VOTERS.
There are illiterate people who do make good citizens...but a citizen and a voting citizen is two different things. It makes many "prey" to theatrical rhetoric...and that's where we are.
While the rest of us jump in the shower....
14%...I think that is hogwash. Some of these scientists are actually the stupidest people alive because they assume and think they know so much when they do not.
Legal immigrants from India and China, for example, certainly have a high rate of literacy; but third-worlders brought here by family reunification/chain migration aren't necessarily literate. Somali refugees, for the most part, aren't functionally literate. Anchor babies often grow up illiterate, and their status as citizens is perfectly legal.
We have plenty of illiterates coming here legally, courtesy of our government.
my father in law suggested that we are as a people headed back to a dark age of illiteracy.
Not to hijack this thread, but I wonder how many of the illiterates are illegal aliens?
I mean, our school systems are bad enough, but allowing the dregs of other countries to invade as well is a killer.
I would say stats on homeschoolers would be about the same as normal students who attend public school because there are numerous homeschoolers who have parents that allow them to play the WII all day long. The students who don’t have active parents who push them in the homeschool curriculum would drop the average as well. I would guess that the smart homeschoolers would be as smart regardless of whether they went to public or private school too. Although, I would bet that private school kids would beat the homeschoolers and public students averages.
14% that voted for Hussein.
I would believe that one after this last election.
BS, I would bet they are counting all the illegals and legals. I hear a tin cup rattle in the back ground.
It’s possible to both watch and enjoy TV and still be an intelligent, informed member of society.
That’s almost twice as many as approve of Congress, isn’t it?
If I could read that I’d be pissed.
the south is being kept intentionally uneducated.
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.
If 14% of adults can indeed not read sufficiently, it is NOT, I repeat, NOT because of the failures of the school system.
It’s because of the failures of THEMSELVES. Bad schools are bad because of bad students.
Go into any inner city classroom - the first thing you’ll notice isn’t the inept teacher, but the crazy ghetto trash kids that don’t give two sh*ts about learning, usually because their mother is a crack whore and their father is absent.
I’m not saying there aren’t bad teachers - but the problem lies in the students and the parents that “raise” them.
But smart, self-sufficient people are far less likely to vote for a democrat. So watch this number continue to grow.
What the hell does that mean?
Ask a kid to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
I told my 7-year-old grandson that I could do it when I was in the second grade. (True story)
It motivated him. He entered the third grade this year proudly being able to spell the word. Not uncoincidentally, he loves Mary Poppins too.
My co-worker keeps a picture of 0bama on his desk. It’s creepy as hell.
I have to agree with you there. I moved to the south 8 years ago. I don’t care who you know, doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, etc., in general, they are lacking in education and comprehension of vital issues. Sometimes I feel like I am in a sea of ignorance down here. No offense if you are from the south, there are exceptions to every generality.
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.
And the remaining 62% can't think too good neither.
It’s because of the failures of THEMSELVES. Bad schools are bad because of bad students.
The government schools are attempting to apply a model that works for intact and functional families. Well, Gee! This model probably isn't working for those children who do not fit the model. Duh!
Then the government does everything possible to see that these kids can NOT gain access to schools that DO have high rates of success. ( The KIPP schools are only one example.) Well! That is the teachers unions and government's fault!
It could be the academically successful child who is institutionalized for his education in government schools is actually succeed **IN SPITE*** of his government school, not because of it!
In interviewing parents ( homeschooled and institutional schooling) I have found that successful homeschoolers and parents with successful institutionalized children have almost **identical** home study habits. I conclude that 99% of what a child learns is due to his parents and his OWN efforts. The institutional school is merely sending home a curriculum and the child and parents are "afterschooling"!
So,.....The **only** way to reach children from dysfunctional families is to do one or both of the following:
*Teach the parents and child how to be better "afterschoolers". ( And, hold them accountable.)
* Duplicate in the institutional school what should be happening at home.
KIPP schools seem to be doing these two items above and having great success with even the most disadvantaged children imaginable. But the government teachers fight these schools with all the millions they've got!
As for the academically successful children ( who are doing 99$ of his real learning at home) maybe we should give them more freedom to do what they already are doing well. LEARN more independently.
Yes! It is the government school's fault for forcing children into a system that is guaranteed to fail, and at the same time retards the academically successful as well!
“Wonder what the literacy rate of people who are/were homeschooled is?”
100%. 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.
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