We’re always talking about how stupid people are in this country. Turns out, we’re right. Our education system is worse than a joke.
23% of people are illiterate. Good thing teachers in Chicago (and elsewhere) are making $160,000 per year to produce unemployable idiots.
And the most illiterate city in America? Washington D.C. Who would have guessed? We are doomed.
23% Of America Is Illiterate
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/13/2013
Following on the heels of the dumbing down of the State of the Union speech we noted yesterday, we thought a simple visualization of just how stunningly poor our nation’s reading skills really are would be useful. One in five Americans lacks the basic reading skills beyond a 4th grade level – are you one of them?
JuanDonJuan says:
Washington, DC was posted on the map as the most LITERATE city vs Bakersfield, CA
Socioeconomic breakdown on the data? Or perhaps literacy is correlated to the BS rate?
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14th February 2013 at 9:11 am
ThePessimisticChemist says:
My mother’s ex (abusive asshole) is level 1. Poor bastard could barely write out a simple note. 100% fonetik speller.
The only reason he completed high school is because he was the principal’s (free) mechanic.
Nearsighted. Dyslexic. Bipolar. ADD. Mild hearing loss in one ear.
As a child, I hated him. As a man, I’m still not a big fan of his, but at least I have some context for why he turned out as he did.
The shitty thing is that its only getting worse. Our schools are a government mandated joke.
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14th February 2013 at 9:18 am
Randa says:
Illiteracy in good ole freedom-loving USA is 3x worse than this. My understanding is that over 70% of the adult American population is functionally illiterate. I suppose “functionally” is the key word here, the point being that many get by with a profoundly limited ability to read and write.
What could one expect with a population that supports the Liar-in-Chief?
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14th February 2013 at 9:28 am
Randa says:
Which begs the question, since Obama cannot speak without the teleprompter, is he also functionally illiterate?
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14th February 2013 at 9:30 am
Stigmation says:
I would comment on this thread, but I can’t understand what you are saying…
Fuck it, I am going to get some lobster a drawn butter on my SNAP card.
Good thing I don’t need to read to get by gubbermint cheese
Peace out
Obama Rules
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14th February 2013 at 9:34 am
AWD says:
JuanDonJuan
You are correct, I screwed it up. I’m neuronally illiterate.
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14th February 2013 at 10:25 am
anotherjuan says:
why not make it DC vs Cali? native-born californians are morons. my boss used to mix capital letters into words without any reason, he would highlight words with quotation marks. i took one of my work buddies to texas once, he was amazed that they had a mcdonald’s in arizona, “just like in California”.
my co-worker asked me recently, what is Albany? i thought she was playing jeopardy, but the truth is that california graduates many, many functional illiterates.
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14th February 2013 at 10:32 am
anotherjuan says:
1/5 =.23? math is hard.
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14th February 2013 at 10:43 am
Gayle says:
I find it ironic that in this post from Zerohedge, complex information is presented in a format that requires a rather low level of literacy to comprehend.
I’m noticing that graphic organizers such as this one are becoming quite popular as a means to communicate concepts and data. It is much more challenging to gain the same knowledge from a traditional essay format with complex sentences and layers of interrelated ideas, but in our sound-bite, hurried i-world average people are losing the concentration needed to enjoy and comprehend the type of writing that has undergirded Western civilization for centuries.
Maybe it doesn’t really matter how I learn about the literacy levels of Americans, but I suspect it matters a great deal if I am asked less and less often to use my brain for thinking and comprehending at any kind of deep level. Not a problem on this site most of the time, thankfully.
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14th February 2013 at 10:44 am
DaveL says:
“And the most illiterate city in America? Washington D.C. Who would have guessed? We are doomed.”
Just think, DC wants to become our 51st state. That means they can be last in the most uneducated category and will qualify for 300 billion in extra funds to hire 75 new teachers and build one new school. And when Puerto Rico becomes a state, DC can become #52 in education and double their take. IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN.
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14th February 2013 at 10:51 am
Gubmint cheese says:
Don’t call me illiterate.
My parents were married before I was born!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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14th February 2013 at 10:53 am
Visitor from EU says:
In general ignorance is a virtue in the USA , just watch :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTZ_tgMUdo
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14th February 2013 at 11:15 am
KaD says:
Why aren’t the legal immigrants who can’t read being screened out? These people have nothing to offer the US.
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14th February 2013 at 11:47 am
anotherjuan says:
KaD says:
Why aren’t the legal immigrants who can’t read being screened out? These people have nothing to offer the US.
they followed the rules and came here to work in TV shows and on wall street. you, all you did was join the “lucky” sperm club by being born here, mr smuggy. lovin’ you on this friendship day.
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14th February 2013 at 12:06 pm
Eddie says:
From the graphic above (if I’m literate enough to understand it) it looks like the Bell curve peaks at the Level 3, which means the majority of Americans can “interpret instructions from an appliance warranty”.
Hell, have you seriously tried to read and understand an appliance warranty? We are therefore obviously a nation of fucking geniuses, for the most part. We are going to be just fine.
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14th February 2013 at 1:57 pm
anotherjuan says:
eddie, it’s a basic job requirement. whenever i had a problem with a piece of equipment, i’d call my boss and he’d come over and push a button and everything started up. he’d turn to me and say, “you just have to be smarter than (the toaster).
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14th February 2013 at 2:08 pm
Olga says:
Really – people are surprised by this?
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That erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all, it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.
That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else.
– H.L. Mencken
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14th February 2013 at 2:32 pm