So, the government can't even teach basic literacy, but they can handle the economy and run the middle east? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-08-adult-literacy_N.htm
Literacy study: 1 in 7 U.S. adults are unable to read this story

by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

A long-awaited federal study finds that an estimated 32 million adults in the USA — about one in seven — are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book or to understand a medication's side effects listed on a pill bottle.

ON THE WEB: Read the findings

Though many communities are making strides to tackle the problem, it's worsening elsewhere — in some cases significantly.

Overall, the study finds, the nation hasn't made a dent in its adult-literacy problem: From 1992 to 2003, it shows, the USA added about 23 million adults to its population; in that period, an estimated 3.6 million more joined the ranks of adults with low literacy skills.

LOCATION: Seattle, Minneapolis most literate big cities

How low? It would be a challenge to read this newspaper article or deconstruct a fuel bill.

"They really cannot read … paragraphs (or) sentences that are connected," says Sheida White, a researcher at the U.S. Education Department.

The findings come from the department's National Assessment of Adult Literacy, a survey of more than 19,000 Americans ages 16 and older. The 2003 survey is a follow-up to a similar one in 1992 and for the first time lets the public see literacy rates as far down as county levels.

In many cases, states made sizable gains. In Mississippi, the percentage of adults with low skills dropped 9 percentage points, from 25% to 16%. In every one of its 82 counties, low-skill rates dropped — in a few cases by 20 percentage points or more.

By contrast, in several large states — California, New York, Florida and Nevada, for instance — the number of adults with low skills rose.

David Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy, an adult-literacy organization, says Mississippi "invested more in education … and they have done innovative programming. We need much more of that."

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says efforts in adult literacy are inefficient and "scattered" across government agencies.

"We're not using research-based practices, broadly applied," she says.

Harvey cites undiagnosed learning disabilities, immigration and high school dropouts as reasons for the poor literacy numbers.

The findings are published online at nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx.

My child's school just received the 2009 National Blue Ribbon School Honor from the U.S. Department of Education.

The schools, 264 public and 50 private (nationally), received this honor out of 120,000 public and private schools.

My child's school received it because they were in the top 10 percent on nationally standardized academic tests.

Gud thang yu didint goe two won of dem guvmint skools, hevenly.

dat darn edukashun sistem

Hmpf. I went to a public school.

mae tu, mae tu

I agree. Most of the important learning I did was independently, from my parents, in college, etc.

We dids good.

Did you go to a private or public college?

An honest question.... Who's fault IS it if you don't learn to read? I know they teach it at school. I learned to read without much problem. I went to public schools. Is this really the school system's fault? Seems like it's more the fault of the parents.

ya had to go and make sense of this huh?

eye gwas laikin tawkeen fooni

we done sure nuff went and done it good

Some kids don't do well in public school. My oldest son had "learning disabilities" and the type of learning he needed was not offered at his high school. After many meeting, the state had to pay for a private school that would offer the type of teaching he needed.

I was told by the Head of the Department of Education (in a state where I was back east at the time) that there are 7 different ways to teach children and that they were only implementing 3.

So if your one of those kids that can learn with one of the 3 ways being taught your fine. If you fall into the other groups..well those are the kids who slip through the cracks and end up dropping out.

Bingo.

Partially true, the current school system is actually way to easy in USA, compared to Japan or Finland and so on and yet even this "very light" schooling (which is still capable to teach the basic reading/writing/math) seems to be too much.

oh give me a break..I have 3 sons. I raised them all the same. One had problems reading, one was an average reader and my youngest has been in the top 10% in the nation for readers since grade school..he is now in high school reading at an advanced level... how is it my fault one struggled..

It starts with reading to children when they are little and helping them with homework when they're bigger. Quiz them before they take tests. I taught my child that school is a priority. There's no playing unless the homework is all done.

Getting involved with the school is good too. Go to the parent-teachers meetings. I've done it all - the field trips, the school parties, etc. It lets my child know that their school is important to me and that makes it important to them too.

Too many children go without breakfast too. That's not a good way to start the day. Brains need fuel.

Ain't nobody can say any different.

Lady, you're talking about the exceptions. I certainly didn't mean to imply that a child doesn't learn to read that there might not be some underlying legitimate reason behind it. All I'm really saying is that in many (and I would wager most) cases if a child doesn't learn to read (learning disabilities aside) it's generally not the fault of the the school.

So I got an exceptional education in catholic school, thankfully it made me smart enough to get work to pay for the therapy I needed from the indoctrination..

Ok ok I'll quit...

I think there are a lot more factors than the schools themselves.