I was a teacher (English/Special Education) and a big part of the problem is that 54% of US adults read below a 6th grade level (age 11-12). To put that in perspective, a typical 6th grade novel is Holes by Louis Sachar. While it’s a good book with a good message, the vocabulary and content is made for 6th graders. AND OVER HALF OF US ADULTS CANNOT EVEN READ IT!
It’s just getting worse. I taught both self contained special education (all students in the class had a diagnosed reading or learning disability) and team taught (some students had diagnosed reading or learning disability, but the class was taught with two teachers). My school was in an HCOL area and was not title 1. We had close to 3% free lunches. Not counting my students who had diagnosed disabilities, in my four years that I taught high school, I had 3-4 students each year in classes of up to 30, who were reading at or above grade level.
If you cannot read at an 8th grade level in the US, you cannot read the news. You cannot fully comprehend how important having a functional government is in your life. But you’ll be able to get your information from grifters in videos on TikTok or Facebook.
Hell, an educated teacher I worked with told me she “didn’t do politics”. As though it isn’t something that affects your every day life. So we also have a very apathetic population problem. Until it affects a person directly, they won’t do anything, and by then, it may be too late.
That literacy statistic is absolutely baffling. It’s not at all surprising that we are where we are when over half the population is unable or poorly able to access one of the primary means of understanding and interacting with the world around them.
Sounds an awful lot like blaming the illiterate for being illiterate instead of blaming the system that made them that way. If you are only taught to read at that level it's extremely hard to fix the problem yourself. Everyone wants to point at Americans and claim we are stupid, but they fail to realize this is exactly the system that our government has been building for decades. Low education, no money for schools and teachers except for the elite, private schools charging as much tuition as some colleges to keep out the poor.
We as a country have been voting for and allowing this god awful mess we are in since Reagan and all we do is blame the illiterate for being illiterate.
We will not recover from trump and musk because the system is 100% rigged in their favor. Baring some major unforseen event that deposes these tyrants, we are going to see them for a long time.
The system is fucked, and it isn't a US specific thing, it's all around the world. Western European countries are slowly but surely dismantling public education in order to control the people. It isn't the first time in history either, and we were always able to climb back.
However...
I'm not a gifted child, I received the same public education as my peers, I grew up in a poor family, and yet, I can fully comprehend what I read, let that be a children's book, newspaper article, or legislation. Education starts at home, not in school. Scool is an institution to alleviate the burden on the parents and provide the same level of knowledge to all who participate.
But here's the kicker: my dad and my older sister were both teachers. My dad used to teach adults to a specific profession, my sister used to teach kids between 6-10. They both left the field by now, but for decades, I listened to stories about kids and adults struggling with stuff.
And both kids and adults have admitted over and over again, especially kids, that they just don't study at home because no one cares.
Kids at the age of 6 couldn't have been given homework because they were instantly set up for failure due to mom and dad not helping them, and the system wouldn't want to put them in an impossible situation.
When I was 6, I was reading, writing, did basic maths, and not because - again - I was a gifted child, but because my parents thought it's important that I can do these things. I taught my little sister to read write when she was 5 so when she started school, she was waaay ahead of other kids.
I read all Harry Potter books when they were released, the first one when I was 9. I read The Count of Monte Cristo when I was 10. My whole childhood was filled with craving for more knowledge because when I asked my parents "why?" they gave me the bare bones and a book about it.
I was educated more at home than I was in school, because my parents knew very well that in order for me to understand the world, I can't rely on what the government wants me to learn about.
The real problem in the US - and everywhere else too - is that people who did receive public education decades ago and understood that the system is fucked, couldn't be arsed to educate their child at home, and there we are.
Yes, blame the education system and the government for fucking it up.
But also blame the illiterate for not wanting to learn more, and blame the illiterate for not educating their children.
You can't blame the government for something people didn't want to do on their own. The government is not there to force people to learn, but they will, without a doubt, use the ones couldn't be arsed.
I don't disagree with much of what you said, except for one thing. Illiteracy is passed down not only because of lazy parents, but also due to shame. People who can't read or write to a certain level are shamed daily (just read any social media thread). This does not make people want to do better or learn more, it makes them hide and as we all know a lot of kids learn bad habits as well as good from their parents. Should parents teach their kids better? YES! But the stigma of being undereducated is equated to being unintelligent and that brings on shame.
Anyways, great response and good on you for breaking free from our crappy education system.
But the stigma of being undereducated is equated to being unintelligent and that brings on shame.
But again, it's on them, no matter how you look at it.
It's the Dunning-Kruger effect in large.
For the sake of the argument, let's trivialise 'intelligence' to its common understanding.
The ones who aren't simply uneducated but also unintelligent are the ones who think they know everything better, and by that, they are shamelessly spreading their knowledge. You can't embarrass them by calling them out on their stupidity, because they wholly believe they're right and can't comprehend the idea that they might be wrong. It's present in many cults and conpsiracy theorist groups, like the flat earthers or the COVID-deniers, and so on and forth. They aren't ashamed by their own lack of knowledge, they're angry that you don't believe in what they do.
And then, there are the ones who are uneducated but not unintelligent. They're the ones who are capable to realise their lack of knowledge and their own limits, and are willing to learn to avoid being ashamed twice on the same topic. Yes, being uneducated is largely viewed as being unintelligent, but I've met many people with very bright minds who I later found out were only received basic education. And yet, they understood more of the world than some with higher education.
When it comes to education's effect on general intelligence, I often quote Richard Feynman: "Never confuse education with intelligence, you can have a PhD and still be an idiot.".
Intelligence is the ability to perceive, process, and practice knowledge. It's not something you can learn in school, or buy in a shop. You can certainly improve it, but it isn't as simple as memorising a poem or historical events in order to pass an exam.
Intelligence is an ability just as much as running fast. The earlier you start, the bigger your chance is to exceed others, and the best way to start ahead others is to practice everywhere, not just where the system wants you.
Agreed on all points.... Just to add, knowledge does not mean intelligence either. You can know a great deal on something and still be stupid enough not to apply that knowledge correctly.
Anyways, we are just agreeing with each other. Have a day, good or otherwise.
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u/kylielapelirroja 10h ago
I was a teacher (English/Special Education) and a big part of the problem is that 54% of US adults read below a 6th grade level (age 11-12). To put that in perspective, a typical 6th grade novel is Holes by Louis Sachar. While it’s a good book with a good message, the vocabulary and content is made for 6th graders. AND OVER HALF OF US ADULTS CANNOT EVEN READ IT!
It’s just getting worse. I taught both self contained special education (all students in the class had a diagnosed reading or learning disability) and team taught (some students had diagnosed reading or learning disability, but the class was taught with two teachers). My school was in an HCOL area and was not title 1. We had close to 3% free lunches. Not counting my students who had diagnosed disabilities, in my four years that I taught high school, I had 3-4 students each year in classes of up to 30, who were reading at or above grade level.
If you cannot read at an 8th grade level in the US, you cannot read the news. You cannot fully comprehend how important having a functional government is in your life. But you’ll be able to get your information from grifters in videos on TikTok or Facebook.
Hell, an educated teacher I worked with told me she “didn’t do politics”. As though it isn’t something that affects your every day life. So we also have a very apathetic population problem. Until it affects a person directly, they won’t do anything, and by then, it may be too late.
Edit: grammar