I knew it was bad. I didn't know it was THIS bad: "54% of adults in the US have prose literacy below the 6th-grade level."
Literacy in the United States - Wikipedia
So I'm literally surrounded by idiots.
:astronaut-1:
That number is only going to get lower with COVID
I've argued with plenty of people on the internet who so badly failed address anything I actually said that I figured they had to be arguing in bad faith. A lot of them probably were, but it's depressing how plausible it is that many of them were probably actually that stupid.
The scary part is the combination of declining education and the increasing illusion that all knowledge is available a mere click away. Prefect recipe for media saturation & propaganda
A ton of knowledge is a click away, it's just still mostly in books that you have to pirate instead of just out in the ether. My child's gonna get a degree from libgen.is
How do other industrial nations compare?
I'm not sure of the reading level, but America has a functional literacy rate of 87%. Functional literacy being the ability to read on a daily basis and do general literacy tasks without assistance (recipes, a bank statement, directions, etc). Most developed countries are around 99%. Former or currently socialist countries tend to be the most literate places.
my grandmother was born during the early depression era and only managed to finish 8th grade before dropping out to get some shit job to support the family.
so like, it's all falling apart still, but on a 100 year timeline, we're not down too much.
maybe in another hundred years, americans will still know primary colors and be able to count to like 10.
The year is 2122 and to get to a food distribution center - a brave American soul has braved the outside with its toxic atmosphere and skin burning UV rays due to the partial destruction of ozone layer by climate change mitigation efforts. It is 120 degrees outside. And it's much hotter inside her suit. She is at the center to get her monthly allowance of 10 units of food. "Food" is what it's called anyway.
"Hey, droid. You gave me 9 units."
"Incorrect. There are 10."
"Count them yourself: 9. A unit is clearly missing." Are even droids selling shit on the black market now?
"Dogs." Cyberdyne Systems cyberdogs are programmed to kill in 13 different ways. For control purposes there are 3 dogs in the room. There are dozens patrolling the center.
"Hey, you know what? 10. I made a mistake. There are 10 here! I am a happy citizen!" She doesn't want dogs escorting her home.
"Yes. Yes, you are. Next!"
Publish ebooks and you’ll become acutely aware in short order. Fortunately, people still like assonance so you can get a bit funky with it
assonance
cool, new favorite word
...
cause of the assonance with 'ass'
I told that teacher lady the only letters I need are u s and a
Y'know what you can spell with that? sus :amogus:
:stop-posting-amogus: