4 ms·

> It’s amazing that 54% of adults in the United States have a literacy below 6th grade level, AFAICT this is a mis-interpretation. IIUC the actual study says "

by nox101 3y ago

> It’s amazing that 54% of adults in the United States have a literacy below 6th grade level, AFAICT this is a mis-interpretation. IIUC the actual study says "54% of adults in the United States have a literacy IN ENGLISH below 6th grade level". They might be highly literate in some other language but that wasn't tested.

zamadatix 3y ago
This may be a misinterpretation in the study but even if every single multilingual person in the US was counted as not being proficient the number would not meaningfully change in context of the conversation (i.e. still above 1/3 in the extreme case).
throwup238 3y ago
Only 14% of the US is foreign born according to the last census so that’s not enough to make up the difference. The functional literacy statistics are bad no matter how you dice them.
- yorwba 3y ago
  How about dicing them this way: "Sixth-graders already read about as well as the median adult." Sounds pretty good to me. The shock value of the original statement derives from the idea that sixth-graders are basically illiterates who can barely function in society, but what if that's not the case and six years in school are actually enough to learn reading and writing? It's a pretty long time already. What further improvements are to be expected from another six years?
  - Maxatar 3y ago
    The shock value should come from the fact that the US scores very low among developed countries. The UK, Canada, and most of Europe score much higher on literacy tests. The US has exceptional universities and colleges, but its K12 education system leaves much to be desired.
    - yorwba 3y ago
      On which literacy test? The PISA 2022 reading scores for the US (504), Canada (507), UK (494) and OECD average (476) are not that far apart, and unlike what you said, the UK and most of Europe score slightly lower than the US. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/53f23881-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/53f23881-en#tablegrp-d1e1229-98114777d2 https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/53f23881-en/index.html?i...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  Someone can be US born but still have a higher fluency in another language. Many on the US/Mexico border fall into this category where they were born here but speak Spanish better than English.
  - Maxatar 3y ago
    That's an even tinier slice of a very tiny pie. You're talking about maybe 0.5 to 1% of Americans who were born near the US/Mexico border who speak Spanish better than English. According to the U.S. Census Data, only 18 million, or 5% of Americans even live along the U.S./Mexico border. Of that 18 million, 9 million or 2.5% identify as Hispanic. Of that 2.5%, about 70% identify Spanish as their native language. I can't find how many among the 2.5% who identify as Hispanic were born in the U.S., but even if we assume they all are, this is basically a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.
- refurb 3y ago
  Look at the same stat across other countries - it’s not any better. In Canada the adults with low literacy (below high school) is 49%.

by nox101 3y ago

zamadatix 3y ago

This may be a misinterpretation in the study but even if every single multilingual person in the US was counted as not being proficient the number would not meaningfully change in context of the conversation (i.e. still above 1/3 in the extreme case).

throwup238 3y ago

Only 14% of the US is foreign born according to the last census so that’s not enough to make up the difference. The functional literacy statistics are bad no matter how you dice them.

yorwba 3y ago
How about dicing them this way: "Sixth-graders already read about as well as the median adult." Sounds pretty good to me. The shock value of the original statement derives from the idea that sixth-graders are basically illiterates who can barely function in society, but what if that's not the case and six years in school are actually enough to learn reading and writing? It's a pretty long time already. What further improvements are to be expected from another six years?
- Maxatar 3y ago
  The shock value should come from the fact that the US scores very low among developed countries. The UK, Canada, and most of Europe score much higher on literacy tests. The US has exceptional universities and colleges, but its K12 education system leaves much to be desired.
  - yorwba 3y ago
    On which literacy test? The PISA 2022 reading scores for the US (504), Canada (507), UK (494) and OECD average (476) are not that far apart, and unlike what you said, the UK and most of Europe score slightly lower than the US. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/53f23881-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/53f23881-en#tablegrp-d1e1229-98114777d2 https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/53f23881-en/index.html?i...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
shepherdjerred 3y ago
Someone can be US born but still have a higher fluency in another language. Many on the US/Mexico border fall into this category where they were born here but speak Spanish better than English.
- Maxatar 3y ago
  That's an even tinier slice of a very tiny pie. You're talking about maybe 0.5 to 1% of Americans who were born near the US/Mexico border who speak Spanish better than English. According to the U.S. Census Data, only 18 million, or 5% of Americans even live along the U.S./Mexico border. Of that 18 million, 9 million or 2.5% identify as Hispanic. Of that 2.5%, about 70% identify Spanish as their native language. I can't find how many among the 2.5% who identify as Hispanic were born in the U.S., but even if we assume they all are, this is basically a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.
refurb 3y ago
Look at the same stat across other countries - it’s not any better. In Canada the adults with low literacy (below high school) is 49%.