Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> On 11/11/2016 10:00 AM, Dave Smith wrote:
>
> >>>
> >>> Do we know if Melania can read ?
> >>
> >> She went to university for a year.
> >
> > That would make her a drop out.
>
> But still better educated that 35% of Americans.
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >> It's not as if she's some moronic American who can barely speak
> >> and read English. 
> >
> > Ouch.
>
> According to a study conducted in late April by the U.S. Department of
> Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in
> the U.S. can't read. That's 14 percent of the population. 21 percent of
> adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level, and 19 percent of high
> school graduates can't read.Sep 6, 2013
>
> In Canada€¦ 42% of Canadian adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low
> literacy skills. 55% of working age adults in Canada are estimated to
> have less than adequate health literacy skills. Shockingly, 88% of
> adults over the age of 65 appear to be in this situation.
Thanks for this reminder, I am heavily involved in literacy advocacy (I'm a certified GED and ESL tutor), and these figures are simply staggering, in Chicago alone:
http://www.litworks.org/mission_and_history.html
€śNeed
Over 600,000 adults in the Chicago region cannot read or write well enough to meet the demands of todays economy or attain their own goals.
Half a million people in Chicago over the age of four cannot speak English well.
Nearly 25% of immigrants and refugees in Chicago have an 8th-grade education or below; among certain populations, as many as 45% have left school before the 9th grade€¦€ť
EVERYTHING springs from literacy, it's as essential as oxygen...
And to everyone reading, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider devoting a bit of time to literacy volunteering, it is pleasant work, and the rewards - for both learner and teacher - are MANY...
--
Best
Greg