From https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/14phpbq/how_is_it_possible_that_roughly_50_of_americans/

Question above is pretty blunt but was doing a study for a college course and came across that stat. How is that possible? My high school sucked but I was well equipped even with that sub standard level of education for college. Obviously income is a thing but to think 1 out of 5 American adults is categorized as illiterate is…astounding. Now poor media literacy I get, but not this. Edit: this was from a department of education report from 2022. Just incase people are curious where that comes from. It does also specify as literate in English so maybe not as grim as I thought.

  • TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    My girlfriend is a math teacher, the number of middle schoolers that can’t do basic multiplication before is surprisingly high. Yet the schools keep passing the kids. I remember learning multiplication as a 4th grader, if I hadn’t, I would’ve never passed.

    • Zerlyna@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      My niece from Florida came to live with me in December, just finished fifth grade and I was stunned that she doesn’t know her multiplication tables. My kids In Pennsylvania learned them in 3rd grade a few years ago.

      • yaaaaayPancakes@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Does she understand the concept of multiplication though? That’s ultimately the important part.

        Learning rote things like multiplication tables seems kinda silly in a world where Google can just do the math for you. But the important thing is to be able to recognize when multiplication is useful.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          There are still plenty of instances where doing arithmetic quickly in your head is useful (figuring out a tip at the cash register, for example) that memorizing it can have advantages.

  • amaryllisunicorn@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    As a school psychologist who completes academic assessments when identifying students with learning disabilities, COVID skyrocketed these numbers. There’s just not a lot of motivation for kids anymore. The future is here and is making our population slowly illiterate.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      The weird part is because a lot of people don’t know what illiterate means…

      They think these people can’t read a fast food menu and words just look like chicken scratch.

      • Hangglide@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        The definition of illiterate is “unable to read or write.”

        That pretty much sounds like what you just said. What do you think it means?

        There isn’t much nuance in the definition.

  • legion@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    If you don’t understand, start walking further away from the cities.

    If you still don’t understand, you’re not done walking.

  • Beowulf@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    My mom: “because you’re always on that damn phone!”

    I have coworkers that were in the last few years of high school when covid broke out. They spent all day playing video games or watching Netflix and when it came time to graduate, well… there wasn’t a ceremony or anything. They just got their diploma in the mail.

    Not saying covid is the absolute reasoning for it, but it did play a huge part in our youth having a hard time reading and writing