this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 13 points 18 hours ago (3 children)
[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 33 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

The percentage of the population that's illiterate is way higher than it has any business being.

Like "can't read at an elementary school level".

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 15 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Wow, those figures are shocking. US of A, 1st economy in the world, 1st military power in the world and our space, 36th in literacy rate. I am sad for fellow Americans :(

[–] TunaCowboy@lemmy.world 15 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The US should be doing much better in all categories based on its wealth alone, but this is kind of an important factor.

34% of adults lacking literacy proficiency were born outside the US.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

With the two high stats being on the North East, and the low stats being in the south west near the border with Mexico.

So that makes me wonder what percentage of the 34% that were not born here are literate in another language

Because I know I have met a number of people who have moved here and haven't learned English yet, but if you pass a translation app between each other, they can read it in their native language.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

The US ranks 36th in literacy.

This is a deceptive statistic. It merely indicates that many countries like Uzbekistan and North Korea falsely report 100% literacy rates. Look here. The USA literacy rate is actually about the same as that of other wealthy Western democracies.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 9 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

North Korea probably does have high literacy so the people can read and understand all the propaganda.

[–] parody@lemmings.world 11 points 16 hours ago

Promoted to mod of and banned from c/Pyongyang in one comment

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

You are right. Very interesting link, thanks !

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

The percentage of the population that’s illiterate is way higher than it has any business being.

Like “can’t read at an elementary school level”.

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” - Mark Twain

Not in your link, but I found the same statistics as your link in another with a critical piece of information:

"According to researchers, 4 out of 5 Americans 18 and over possess medium to high proficiency in English reading and writing." source

These statistics, both your link and mine, may only be measuring literacy in English.

So looking to get a clue how many may have literacy in another language:

"Today, 13.8 percent of the nation's residents are foreign-born" source

So at least a percentage of those being counted as USA illiterate may indeed be literate in another language that isn't English.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Man, without a Department o'Education those numbers will get worse.

[–] Linktank@lemmy.today 30 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

He didn't know America had mountains.

[–] morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 48 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] FlightyPenguin@lemmy.world 23 points 18 hours ago

Insurmountable.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

That is willful ignorance, not illiteracy. People talk about the rocky mountains, they are mentioned in songs...

[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 3 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, he was going to take the Rocky Mountain Way. He's was assured it made up for the shortcomings of the previous way.

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

He just thought they were not real.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 2 points 17 hours ago

According to a third party on X

[–] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

Figuratively infigurate