Adult Illiteracy

Norbert666 · 2 Mar 2006 at 14:20

It's World Book Day today (in UK and Ireland, but not the rest of the world oddly enough - something to do with UK school term dates..)

Anyway, the UK is trying to raise the level of numeracy and literacy.

The amazing fact they gave on Five Live is that 12 million adults (over 18s) have severe difficulty with numeracy and literacy.

By this they mean that they cannot read bank statements or the instructions/dose levels on children's medicines!

wow! :eek:

Norbert666 · 2 Mar 2006 at 14:23

Mr Man said:
12 Million ?? blimey that is like 1 in 6 or so of the population

1 in 8 kids aparantly :eek:

Norbert666 · 2 Mar 2006 at 15:14

In today's society, there is very little need for purely manual labour.

Pretty much gone are the days when employees sat putting things in boxes.

And now, even if they do, they need to fill forms, read manuals and health and safety reports.

One report on the radio was of a warehouse facility where not one employee was able to complete a health and safety report following a near fatal accident.

Norbert666 · 2 Mar 2006 at 16:15

Oh that reminds me, the other definition of adult illiteracy is that they have a reading ability of lower than an "average" 11 year old.