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0 pointsthrowup2381y ago0 comments

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.

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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?

Maxatar1y 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.

yorwba1y 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?i...

shepherdjerred1y 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.

Maxatar1y 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.

refurb1y 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%.

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yorwba1y ago

How about dicing them this way: "Sixth-graders already read about as well as the median adult." Sounds pretty good to me.

Maxatar1y 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.

yorwba1y ago

shepherdjerred1y 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.

Maxatar1y 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.

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.

refurb1y 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%.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse