Fact vs. Fiction on Literacy in America

[Virgil Showlion]

Below are ten statements. Five are statistics sourced from the National Institute for Literacy, the National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, and U.S. Census Bureau via "The Burning Platform" (link will be provided later). Five are made up.

Statements:

1. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in America that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children.
   
   
2. 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read.
   
   
3. Approximately 50% of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels.
   
   
4. 44% of American adults do not read a single book in a year.
   
   
5. 50% of American adults cannot read a book written at an 8th grade level.
   
   
6. School dropouts cost America $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues.
   
   
7. According to the 2007 California Academic Performance Index, 57% of students failed the California Standards Test in English.
   
   
8. 50% of unemployed Americans between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.
   
   
9. 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
   
   
10. Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.
    

Which five statements are fact and which five are fiction?

[billisonboard]

Virgil Showlion, I don't get what you are asking. Could you explain it better please?

[Virgil Showlion]

Apr 10, 2016 9:58:53 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Virgil Showlion , I don't get what you are asking. Could you explain it better please?

Assuming this question isn't satire: Five of the ten listed statements are facts; five are fiction. It's your (the reader's) job to guess which five are which.

[billisonboard]

Apr 10, 2016 10:30:23 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

... Assuming this question isn't satire: ...

[haapai]

I'm lazy and impatient, please provide the link now.  I want to confirm my suspicion that every one of those statements is based on weak foundations, questionable extrapolations, or has been completely made up.  I don't wish to deny that illiteracy and low levels of literacy are a serious problem and a huge drag on our society but I also notice a serious lack of qualifiers and explanations in most of those statements.  They sound funny because they don't contain enough weasel words. 

I've worked with a lot of people who don't read.  Oh how I wish that I were complaining about the lack of books in their houses or the quality of their magazine and newspaper choices, but I'm not. I'm talking about people who pretty much cannot read or read at very low grade levels or have very weak reading comprehension.  I'm talking about the people who continually have trouble with small print, no matter what font is used.  I'm talking about the people who have a habit of staring at something written and claiming that they do not understand the most complicated word there and starting a discussion that way.  I'm talking about people who read very slowly and try to compensate for this disadvantage by focusing in on the most important words and shearing off all of the details even when the details are the parts that really matter. 

Some of the people that I have worked with for over a decade use these tricks.  I'm no longer surprised when they find an interruption or excuse when reading is required.  Heck no!  I play along and am always amazed by their ingenuity and foresight.  But I also see what not really knowing what is on the page costs them and it is huge.  I cannot imagine what life is like when you cannot write things down in order to remember them or to convey them to others.  I don't know what it is like to continually be confronted with written messages that you are expected to understand but you don't.   I notice that folks who cannot read tend to be pretty much stuck doing exactly the same job that they did ten years and they seem quite afraid that the job might someday require literacy or their trusted interpreters might not be there.  I cannot imagine how limiting that is. 

[haapai]

My quick scan detects only three statements that are possibly facts.  That is, only 3,7, and 10 contain enough qualifiers to possibly be worth checking out.  The other seven statement might be extrapolations of some sort of sample polling (since we know damn well that universal surveying is not being conducted) but don't seem to mention that they are estimates or extrapolations or disclose the source of their underlying logic.  I've been taught to dismiss statements like that.  In my book, those aren't facts.  That's how my BS detector has been programmed. 

[Deleted]

I'm going to go with 4 and 5 right off the bat.

Then either 6 or 10.

FInally... 2 and 9?

[djAdvocate]

i see no reason to doubt any of the OP statements.

i was at the gym on Friday, and two of the guys were talking about books.  one stated that he has NEVER read a book from cover to cover.  he got no flack for stating that fact whatsoever.

[mroped]

Beware of Virgil people!
He is bored today and just wants to get us going. 
Them Canadians never stop pointing out our shortcomings as a society. It is something that aparently makes them feel better about themselves.

As a result, here is a question for Virgil: Canada is a bilingual country therefore people should speak/read/write in a proficient manner either or or both. What's the percentage of Canadians that are proficient in all aspects of either of the languages and the percentage of people that are proficient in both?
Since you have both languages declared "official" it is safe to assume that these would be requirements. US on the other hand, has no official language and because of that any statistic that is made in regards to proficiency in English proves absolutely nothing.
Do these statistics take into account the fact that many US inhabitants don't even speak or care to learn English?

[tallguy]

I'm inclined to think that all are true.  Think about it....  Would an intelligent, thoughtful, well-informed citizenry end up with the Congress that we have now?  

[djAdvocate]

Apr 10, 2016 14:13:49 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I'm inclined to think that all are true.  Think about it....  Would an intelligent, thoughtful, well-informed citizenry end up with the Congress that we have now?  

wha?

(stoned gaze)

[Opti]

Well #4 could be true depending on how you define adult and when the stat was taken.

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/19/slightly-fewer-americans-are-reading-print-books-new-survey-finds/

I think Mr. Oped is correct. There must be something in the air or the sky which is making folks more combative or chain yankers.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Apr 10, 2016 9:47:30 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Below are ten statements. Five are statistics sourced from the National Institute for Literacy, the National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, and U.S. Census Bureau via "The Burning Platform" (link will be provided later). Five are made up.

Statements:

1. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in America that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children.
   
   
2. 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read.
   
   
3. Approximately 50% of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels.
   
   
4. 44% of American adults do not read a single book in a year.
   
   
5. 50% of American adults cannot read a book written at an 8th grade level.
   
   
6. School dropouts cost America $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues.
   
   
7. According to the 2007 California Academic Performance Index, 57% of students failed the California Standards Test in English.
   
   
8. 50% of unemployed Americans between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.
   
   
9. 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
   
   
10. Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.
    

Which five statements are fact and which five are fiction?

The ones I highlighted are the facts. I have not searched anything regarding this today.
Keep in mind, I've spent the last decade of my professional life as a language arts teacher and reading teacher (which are actually different), literacy instructional coach, and high school principal.

[Virgil Showlion]

I'll let a few more people chime in and then post the answers.

[billisonboard]

How many illiterate Americans does it take to change a light bulb?

SPOILER: Click to show

I don't know. We will have to wait until Virgil enlightens us.

When I was working with a student who were struggling to read, the only statistic that had significance was that 100% of that student was struggling to read.

[djAdvocate]

c'mon Virgil.  we have waited long enough.