• Hyperreality
    2•9 months ago

    the average person reading at a high level is, past some sort of weird elitism?

    An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for the survival of a free people.

    People who can’t read well, can’t easily learn further skills, fact check, do proper research, and invariably lack the ability to do proper critical thinking.

    The end result is gullible stupid people, making stupid decisions. People who think research involves watching youtube/tiktok videos.

    also don’t particularly care how well the average adult has their multiplication tables memorised

    I don’t think memorising multiplication tables is a thing anymore, but if you can’t do basic calculations, you’re an easy mark for many businesses.

    Teaching people to read, write, and do basic maths is about making them self-reliant.

    • Primarily0617
      -2•9 months ago

      This kind of serves as a pretty good example, because despite the first part of this response reading like you were trying to hit a minimum word count, it conveys information no more effectively than the same text written more normally would.

      invariably lack the ability to do proper critical thinking

      this is elitism

      you could be illiterate and still have strong critical thinking skills

      • @TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.idEnglish
        1•9 months ago

        You could “still have strong critical thinking skills,” but you probably don’t, especially not in the information-dense and highly complex environment that is contemporary life.

        That’s why it’s smart to hedge our bets and try to make sure that everyone can read at least at a 12th grade level.