9+M di persone funzionalmente analfabete nel Regno Unito. Com’è possibile?
https://i.redd.it/h1mo0xpldwqd1.png
di DrMelbourne
9+M di persone funzionalmente analfabete nel Regno Unito. Com’è possibile?
https://i.redd.it/h1mo0xpldwqd1.png
di DrMelbourne
27 commenti
Original source: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/mar/03/literacy-white-working-class-boys-h-is-for-harry
If the 9M number is even remotely true, this is a disaster of epic proportions. This should be an “all hands on deck” situation, but the government seems to take the “meh, whatever” approach.
What’s happening in the UK?
Love Island culture is taking its toll. But honestly, it’s taking its toll everywhere in the world. The rest of us just haven’t been checked, or checked properly.
How high are the standards in this case?
Isn’t that more than 10% of the population? I just cannot believe it
Unfortunately this is the case everywhere in Europe. A lot of kids leave the education system without learning to read.
In the old days it was explained by kids dropping out of school, but nowadays everyone finishes 12 years of schooling yet a lot go through this experience without learning anything.
It might be possible that this is a natural state for humanity. A fifth of the population is not interested in reading.
Edit: https://blogs.fasos.maastrichtuniversity.nl/EUS2516/lowliteracyineurope/
20% functional illiteracy is common in Europe.
from the topic and from the colorscheme I though this was a vicy3 sub post
Same reason only 50% of germans can speak/read/understand english, even tho we learn it pretty extensively in school.
People somehow get by never learning it properly. They avoid it wherever they can, and then after 5 years on not using it there is just nothing left. At that point they wont start from scratch, and thus 5 years turn into 50.
Exactly the same thing happens with reading. Everytime they have to do it they just avoid it by having someone read it for them etc.
a.e. “I dont understand this, can you explain this text to me?” or “can you double check this for me?”
No, no, no! My child cannot read because you are a bad teacher. My child is not sick. My child is not abnormal. We are pulling him out of school. Expect a complaint because you are a bad teacher. You Are A Bad Teacher!
I live in the UK. This doesn’t surprise me. There are a few people on this thread saying it’s a Europe wide problem, but as someone who has worked with lots of people from mainland Europe from different economic backgrounds and who has traveled extensively throughout Europe, I think the problem is far worse in the UK than anywhere else on the continent. There is quite a strong level of anti-intellectualism among certain classes and regions of the country, and tabloid culture has really dumbed down the population. Many people consider tabloids serious news sources.
The answer is right-wing austerity paired with their disdain for public education and ordinary people.
Romania: Hold my beer. 46% functionally illiterate.
You Brits have *nothing* on us!
Lack of discipline in schools and at home is my reckon
Assimilation is the answer for this problem. It will take at least ~500 years. Enjoy your ghettos until then.
Based on [this definition](https://www.readandspell.com/functional-illiteracy)
> The 1 in 7 figure is based on a 2006 World Literacy Foundation report but does not tell the full story. That’s because reading ability can differ significantly from one person to another. Literacy skills are measured by test tasks with passages and questions that assess comprehension skills, such as the ability to extract details, understand the gist of a text, recognize inferences, and make predictions based on a reading.
It’s still a lot but it sounds for me more like 1 in 7 people is… more challenged than the rest.
I think the number is so high because of the terminology “functional”. Those people can likely read signs, short sentences, etc. to get by in their daily lives. But they lack the ability to connect this to make complex decisions based on what they read. This includes writing longer texts/emails, understanding computers/technology, financial topics, etc. In an increasingly complex world, they are ultimately left behind.
Look.
The amount of people commenting here who are completely oblivious to the difference between “Illiterate” and “Functionally illiterate” is staggering.
If anything, this proves the OP point, sorry to say.
If anyone is interested in how that compares to other European countries, there’s a graph showing the percentage of adults with literacy difficulties.
https://mgciissn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/factsheet-literacy_in_europe-a4.pdf
Yeah, that’s not impossible. I work in pensions in the Netherlands. A minority of people can read, but not understand the letters or e-mails we send.
Some people learned how to read in elementary school and continued to read in high school. After that, they’d only had to read texts and messages in the context of their work. News they hear on the radio, communication with loved ones goes via face calling or telephone, for entertainment they turn on the television. Manuals for devices are searched for on ‘how to’ on YouTube.
They are not illiterate, but they are functionally illiterate. Information will be processed if presented (audio)visually, but information presented in texts of level B2 or higher simply cannot be processed. Some people don’t have the mental bandwidth.
Ah yes a five year old newspaper article that doesn’t cite any sources. Bound to be unbiased and correct and up to date.
Here’s a 12 year old criticism of similar claims that seem to get made on a regular basis
https://fullfact.org/news/are-one-five-british-adults-illiterate/#:~:text=This%20includes%20a%20direct%20challenge,adult%20population%20is%20functionally%20illiterate.
The fact is that “functionally illiterate” simply isn’t a well understood or standardised definition and everyone measures it differently.
Do these people writing comments even know what functional illiteracy means? it doesn’t seem so.
Still beats us Yanks. US literacy rate is 79%. I’ve encountered an astounding number of dumbs…way more than I have when visiting the UK.
Oh yeah my mother in law is like this but you’d never know. She’s a totally normal, fully functional person but when it comes to anything more complex than like an email or a recipe, she needs someone to verbally explain it to her. It’s so weird because my father in law can read, say, a contract to her word for word and she’ll understand but, if she tries to read the same contract herself, it’ll go over her head.
I think this is just a human thing and not really UK specific. This is 100% a phenomena in Germany, where something like 10%-15% of native speakers really struggle with, for example, official documents (Amtssprache).
A friend of mine is like this. He can read and write to a basic level but he depends on his wife to read documents and paperwork out for him and he really struggles with pronouncing most words.
In my job I help people with paper work and a lot of people can’t fill in a two page form it’s not just a UK problem
Been there. 14yo classmate couldn’t read. Wish I could say she was an immigrant or at least raised by them in a bubble, but nah. But at the same time, desoite somewhat knowing her, I didn’t realise that she can’t read untill two years later, when I’ve actually saw school helping her. It wasn’t much, but it looked like a start. How the fuck did she manage to go so far and have decent enough grades?
If the teachers knew about that, they kept it from other kids. Possibly to save her from bullying.
But her attitude wasn’t the best either. When asked about that, she was like “what do I need reading for. I’m gonna be a hairdresser”. Which also reminds me of another guy from one of my classes, who also couldn’t read and his plan was joining the Army, where he won’t need to read anyway, or so he thought.
This would definitely explain why so many employers are making candidates take reading comprehension tests.
tl;dr