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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(121,904 posts)
Tue Apr 22, 2025, 04:49 PM Tuesday

How did we get here? By not bothering to read.

By David Brooks / The New York Times

You might have seen the various data points suggesting that Americans are losing their ability to reason.

The trend starts with the young. The percentage of fourth graders who score below basic in reading skills on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests is the highest it has been in 20 years. The percentage of eighth graders below basic was the highest in the exam’s three-decade history. A fourth grader who is below basic cannot grasp the sequence of events in a story. An eighth grader can’t grasp the main idea of an essay or identify the different sides of a debate.

Tests by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies tell a similar story, only for older folks. Adult numeracy and literacy skills around the world have been declining since 2017. Tests from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that test scores in adult literacy have been declining over the past decade.

Andreas Schleicher, the head of education and skills at the OECD, told The Financial Times, “Thirty percent of Americans read at a level that you would expect from a 10-year-old child.” He continued, “It is actually hard to imagine; that every third person you meet on the street has difficulties reading even simple things.”

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/brooks-how-did-we-get-here-by-not-bothering-to-read/

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How did we get here? By not bothering to read. (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Tuesday OP
I totally agree with this....it is as obvious. I think the best statement in the article is ... walkingman Tuesday #1
I've Been Seeing This For Years. BBbats Tuesday #2
I guess that's Trump's 30%. tanyev Tuesday #3
When I was a young kid, reading was presented to me as an ideal... slightlv Tuesday #4
As chronicled in the movie Idiocracy. mdbl 21 hrs ago #5

walkingman

(9,106 posts)
1. I totally agree with this....it is as obvious. I think the best statement in the article is ...
Tue Apr 22, 2025, 05:06 PM
Tuesday
"Back in Homer’s day, people lived within an oral culture, then humans slowly developed a literate culture. Now we seem to be moving to a screen culture. Civilization was fun while it lasted. "


We are not doing our society an favors with our subpar education system.

BBbats

(192 posts)
2. I've Been Seeing This For Years.
Tue Apr 22, 2025, 05:22 PM
Tuesday

One of the things that shocked me going up & down the East Coast USA in the mid-80's was how many people couldn't read.
They cover it up well & I would make sure I didn't call attention to it once I figured it out. They usually seemed like intellegent people & not what you would expect.
But I was astonished how prevelent it was!

tanyev

(46,152 posts)
3. I guess that's Trump's 30%.
Tue Apr 22, 2025, 05:58 PM
Tuesday

He certainly sounds like a 10 year old when he talks and in his social media posts.

slightlv

(5,403 posts)
4. When I was a young kid, reading was presented to me as an ideal...
Tue Apr 22, 2025, 08:58 PM
Tuesday

learn to read and understand what you're reading, and the world will open up to you. I read everything I could get my hands on, even the back of cereal boxes. I had a huge library by the time I was 18, that I'd bought myself through a junior high book club. Before hitting the downward slide after I turned 65, my vocabulary, both oral and written, was excellent. In fact, one of the hardest things to accept as I grow older isn't the fact I can't run across the front yard, or move the sofa around anymore. It's that I'll pull up blank spots in my brain... where I know the word I'm searching for but it just won't come. That's the part that to me, is down right scary about this growing old thing. I'm still luckier than my hubby, who has much more trouble with it than I do right now, but I worry about the future when it becomes a more frequent stressor for me.

At 69, I will say the world did open up to me, thanks to learning to read above my grade level when I was a kid... and being curious enough to still read everything around me. But I'm also now convinced that just as much attention should have been put on math and age appropriate economics. I'm a poorer person (over all, and in fact) because that was never as important to me as reading and understanding concepts such as government, civics, religion, and politics.

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