from Hacker News

A Fifth of American Adults Can't Read

by harambae on 5/5/25, 1:07 AM with 5 comments

  • by jfil on 5/5/25, 4:51 AM

    I believe that many more adults than you'd expect are functionally illiterate, and that this explains many situations that superficially look to be caused by inability to follow instructions; distractability; apathy or a short attention span.

  • by watwut on 5/5/25, 6:57 AM

    > fundamentally, a battle between a progressive mindset and a traditional one. The former prioritizes the student’s inclinations, the joy of learning, and the teacher’s intuition. The latter wants strictness, structure, and an evidence-based curriculum.

    Can we stop these? Traditional mindset does not prioritize evidence based learning, especially not when evidence points toward proggressive being effective at something.

    They do value structness and structure and equate pleasant with ineffective.

  • by anenefan on 5/5/25, 1:36 AM

  • by cafard on 5/5/25, 4:57 PM

    I have tried teaching adult literacy, and can only say that it isn't easy. I learned on phonics, I used phonics in the teaching, but phonics isn't magic.

  • by reify on 5/5/25, 5:57 AM

    In Brave New World, the primary form of education is hypnopaedia. The World State uses hypnopaedia (sleep teaching) to condition its citizens to believe certain things.

    This form of teaching is as passive and depository as they come, as its recipients are literally unconscious.

    Professors Charles C. Bonwell and James A. Eison conducted a study in 1991 about the meaning of active education. They write, “students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems… Students must engage in higher order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation”.

    This is exactly the type of education that the World State seeks to combat through hypnopaedia. Due to this form of education, citizens never learn to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate. They learn only statements and facts—no skills or helpful mindsets. The banking concept of education ensures that its recipients lack the ability to think critically.

    This, however, is clearly of great use to the World State. It doesn’t want its citizens to analyze their situations. It only wants that they be able to repeat, like robots, what their government tells them. Active education is the opposite of banking education—such a type of learning would send the World State crumbling to the ground.