Question above is pretty blunt but was doing a study for a college course and came across that stat. How is that possible? My high school sucked but I was well equipped even with that sub standard level of education for college. Obviously income is a thing but to think 1 out of 5 American adults is categorized as illiterate is…astounding. Now poor media literacy I get, but not this. Edit: this was from a department of education report from 2022. Just incase people are curious where that comes from. It does also specify as literate in English so maybe not as grim as I thought.
This disaster did not come about by accident. The whole country has allowed our public schools to decline, but the conservatives have been actively working to destroy them since the 80’s. They have been leveraging racism, fundamentalism, and other prejudice-based fears to undermine the curriculum. Meanwhile, they have cut school funding, made teaching a terrible job, and downplayed the value of formal education. Educated people are much harder to manipulate. A minority trying to hold onto power needs a public that is poorly educated and without critical thinking skills.
As the spouse of a teacher, I completely agree. Add to that the complete lack of authority the schools and teachers have. You can have a child that desperately needs assistance but if the parents say no or are just lazy, nothing can be done. I have repeatedly been exposed to just how gutless the school district is here and I assume it is the same in most US schools. They are terrified of parents being upset with the to the extent that classrooms become unmanageable because of one troubled student who is allowed to run amok because the school won’t do anything and their parents don’t care.
A trans teacher in my area literally got surrounded by an angry mob and quit her job. It was her first ever teaching job.
It’s evolving, just backwards.The US is going to be a 3rd world country in no time (or are they already?)