> more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.
This is framed as a bad thing, as if it is somehow self-evident that sixth-graders are intellectually deficient and illiterate. But if you turn it around as "sixth graders read about as well as the median adult," it doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it?
In any case, criticism of recent education policies based on the observation that the standards in school are higher than they are for adults is missing the point, unless you want to argue that the standards are too high.
It says that 54% read below a sixth-grade level, not at a sixth-grade level. So even if you were to genuinely think that sixth graders are impressive readers, that would matter little, because most of the country is worse. Presumably you need to be comparing them to 5th graders, maybe even 3rd or 4th graders.
When you learn a new domain, you obviously need to learn the specialized vocabulary for that domain, whether you're 12 or 21. But I'd expect 12-year-olds to have the general vocabulary and comprehension skills to learn this specialized vocabulary from an introductory text explaining it to them.
> But I'd expect 12-year-olds to have the general vocabulary and comprehension skills to learn this specialized vocabulary from an introductory text explaining it to them.
In the US how many sixth graders read at a sixth grade level though?
How does this compare to Finland which has essentially the same humans but a significantly higher literacy level all round (in multiple languages)?
As a world traveller my past impressions of the US was that mean education levels, the man on the Clapham omnibus conversations, weren't as high as other G20 countries.
That was a suprising observation an it's something that could be improved if people cared enough to change policies .. something that seems difficult in the US that appears to view social policy (health, education, work safety, etc.) as akin to satanic communism in some quarters.
This is framed as a bad thing, as if it is somehow self-evident that sixth-graders are intellectually deficient and illiterate. But if you turn it around as "sixth graders read about as well as the median adult," it doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it?
In any case, criticism of recent education policies based on the observation that the standards in school are higher than they are for adults is missing the point, unless you want to argue that the standards are too high.