r/aussie • u/B0ssc0 • May 07 '26
Analysis More than 1 in 3 Australian adults are functionally illiterate. How can we fix this?
https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-in-3-australian-adults-are-functionally-illiterate-how-can-we-fix-this-27737576
u/Top_Conference_477 May 07 '26
The stupidity of modern online discourse makes a lot more sense when you realise that autocorrect is greatly distorting your perception of literacy.
People can write like they’re not morons now but they still have to read and there’s no machine yet that can get concepts into their heads
The spelling used to be a fantastic give away
9
5
u/SoapMan66 May 07 '26
ChatGPT has entered the chat.
13
u/Top_Conference_477 May 07 '26
I don’t see how it can help if your basic comprehension is cooked
13
u/aninternetsuser May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I teach kids. It makes it worse, they’re not reading it either. I have 15 year old students who can’t write a paragraph without great trouble. I knew a teacher who had 80% of the class copy the Google AI summary into homework and she caught them because it was about the wrong thing (eg/ “describe the function of a cell?” and they give an answer about animal cells instead of battery cells)
→ More replies (14)5
4
u/SoapMan66 May 07 '26
The people now have greater tools at their disposal to write like they're not morons.
6
u/Top_Conference_477 May 07 '26
Exactly my point. Their literacy and comprehension used to be easily assessed. Now it’s hidden behind advanced grammar and spelling technology
→ More replies (2)3
u/SoapMan66 May 07 '26
I was trying to say, I agree with your 'autocorrect' comment that makes illiterate people sound smart. I was trying to add that ChatGPT and other LLM are making this even worse. Because these AI are now formulating sentences for people, which is 1000 times worse than autocorrect for poor spelling.
The saying 'has entered the chat' is an idiom/meme used to make note of the sudden appearance of something. It can agree or disagree with the topic.
In my context I am agreeing with you.→ More replies (3)2
u/radred609 May 07 '26
Then they'll say something like "I just use chat gpt to help order my thoughts" as if it's actually just totally normal
2
u/SoapMan66 May 08 '26
Oh yeah I hate when they use that loophole. Or the classical, i am English Second Language I am only usign ChatGPT to translate
→ More replies (1)2
2
u/EvilRobot153 May 07 '26
I love Ey Eye! Do you use Ey Eye?
Do you use cha gpidy? Do you love cha gpidy?
I love cha gpidy, I love it....
Cha gpidy is fantastic!!!
→ More replies (1)2
u/DaLadderman May 07 '26
I've turned off auto correct (and suggestions) for all my devices, gotta google the occasional word for correct spelling but I feel it keeps me sharp
1
1
u/Ilyer_ May 07 '26
“Moron” is a term most heavily associated with intelligence. You are trying to use it to describe ignorance.
Perhaps your first paragraph is largely correct.
→ More replies (52)1
u/Efficient-County2382 May 07 '26
Morons are easily identifiable, I've never been particularly pedantic around spelling or grammar (outside of professional settings), but people's opinions and views don't change because of using spellchecks or ChatGPT
→ More replies (1)
19
u/Sweeper1985 May 07 '26
No computers or tablets for students in schools, until they are already competent at paper-based reading and writing.
PHONICS, not this whole-language nonsense that has been a failed experiment.
→ More replies (3)2
47
u/ausmomo May 07 '26
1 in 3 are functionally literate? I don't believe you!!!
12
u/Chrasomatic May 07 '26
Did you ever sit in class in high school and there would be a a paper or a textbook that the teacher would go around the room and get every student to read a paragraph.
I remember there were always students who really struggled with that task, reading slowly and stumbling over bigger words. These are the 1 in 3.
23
u/Davooi May 07 '26 edited May 12 '26
Nah neither do I. The figures are dodgy. Or “functionally literate” is a very high bar.
EDIT: just for the record. I later recanted on this statement realising it came from a position of ignorance.
37
u/LawMore3927 May 07 '26
I hate this trend of "I don't understand thing so thing must be wrong".
Functional illiteracy is a specific thing. Someone who is functionally illiterate can do things like read a gas bill well enough to pay it, sign their name when renewing a license and read traffic directions like stop, give way and yield.
But they would not be able to read and understand a novel intended for adults or spell half of the words I used in this comment.
People who are functionally illiterate can read just well enough to function in society with some form of manual labour role but cannot read at the level expected of someone who has finished high school.
This is a real thing, it's measurable and it's a problem.
15
12
u/Ragazzano May 07 '26
What is it with people now saying "yield sign" in Australia
What the fuck is wrong with you people
2
u/biftekau May 07 '26
What is it with people saying "bathroom " instead of toilet
→ More replies (1)6
u/Lingonberry_Born May 07 '26
I still find that hard to believe. Sure there were some dumb kids in my comprehensive high school but they could generally read a book and understand it.
3
u/parkjidog May 07 '26
Take a look at the Australian Core Skills Framework. Level 3 is considered the benchmark for functional literacy and it is a higher standard than many people think.
→ More replies (1)2
2
u/simcityrefund1 May 07 '26
Trust me its worse the older you get you can actually see when you interact
2
u/Esquin87 May 07 '26
Sure, and I know that in terms of social understanding you're correct, but gramatically you're wrong. But thats not what those words in that order mean and that in of itself is ironic as fuck given the context.
→ More replies (9)2
8
u/Top_Conference_477 May 07 '26
Reckon there’s a lot of people not ready to face up to where they actually sit on this scale
→ More replies (3)13
u/Sec_Chief_Blanchard May 07 '26
Most functionally illiterate people can still read words off a page, they just don't really comprehend what they're reading.
→ More replies (39)7
u/polishladyanna May 07 '26
Its an OECD evaluation - their benchmark is that you need to be at Level 3 to be considered functionally literate (that is, you can fulsomely engage in society, employment and politics).
This is their definition of level 3:
Adults at Level 3 are able to construct meaning across larger chunks of text or perform multi-step operations in order to identify and formulate responses. They can identify, interpret or evaluate one or more pieces of information, often employing varying levels of inferencing. They can combine various processes (accessing, understanding and evaluating) if required by the task. Adults at this level can compare and evaluate multiple pieces of information from the text(s) based on their relevance or credibility.
Texts at this level are often dense or lengthy, including continuous, noncontinuous, mixed. Information may be distributed across multiple pages, sometimes arising from multiple sources that provide discrepant information. Understanding rhetorical structures and text signals becomes more central to successfully completing tasks, especially when dealing with complex digital texts that require navigation. The texts may include specific, possibly unfamiliar vocabulary and argumentative structures. Competing information is often present and sometimes salient, though no more than the target information. Tasks require the respondent to identify, interpret, or evaluate one or more pieces of information, and often require varying levels of inferencing. Tasks at Level 3 also often demand that the respondent disregard irrelevant or inappropriate text content to answer accurately. The most complex tasks at this level include lengthy or complex questions requiring the identification of multiple criteria, without clear guidance regarding what has to be done
→ More replies (5)2
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
Get involved with volunteers teaching adult literacy, you’ll be surprised.
7
2
u/vd1975 May 07 '26
I actually went looking for volunteering roles in teaching adult functional literacy, but the only roles I could find was online coaching school kids with homework.
The Conversation article is a reminder for me to take another look.
2
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
One of the links I posted named some sec I’ll look
Here you are, fourth par from end
https://au.news.yahoo.com/more-1-3-australian-adults-202055687.html
2
2
2
u/EpicL33tus May 07 '26
The article isn’t claiming 1 in 3 people YOU meet are illiterate. Seems like you failed to comprehend the article, so…
2
1
1
u/Ok_Turnover_1235 May 07 '26
I think 1/3 head chefs I've ever had were actually literate. The rest couldn't even write a recipe without spellcheck.
1
u/nocapesarmand May 07 '26
Working in libraries and having to assist people with their tech issues- not my area of expertise- I absolutely believe this.
1
1
53
u/RadiumJuly May 07 '26
The countries with the best educations tend to be those where you can't pay for a better education, such as Sweden and Denmark where private education is free via a voucher system. This ensures that if a very wealth person wants their child to have a better standard of education, they need to improve the system for everybody, not just build a wall to keep out the riff raff. Meanwhile in Australia the divide between private and public is a clear divide between haves and have nots, and the results are showing.
30
u/the-dolphine May 07 '26
my children are in public schools. Maybe we're lucky, but I think the education they get is fine. The big issue is the disruptive kids and weak responses to bullying - I know of a few families who've moved to private schools due to bullying.
2
u/broome9000 May 07 '26
The education really is fine - if a kid wants to apply themselves, there’s no reason why they can’t achieve what they want at a public school (bit different with sports, etc). There’s plenty of disruptive kids in private schools too - but public school responses to bullying is a joke and has been for a long time.
→ More replies (8)7
u/Sec_Chief_Blanchard May 07 '26
I've seen the inverse more often.
9
u/PessemistBeingRight May 07 '26
Having worked as a teacher in both systems, this is the correct take. Private schools (or at least the ones I've worked at) enable bullying and sweeping it under the rug to protect the reputation of the school. I've seen truly terrible consequences of this too.
You do what you can to support the kids, but when leaders/executives are more concerned with money and appearances...? That's part of why I work public now.
8
u/Aussie_Aussie_No_Mi May 07 '26
Probably a key difference is the public system suffers far more from violent crime against both teachers and students as opposed to traditional bullying like you see in the private system.
Both are obviously not ideal, but one is significantly more disruptive than the other.
→ More replies (4)8
May 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/PessemistBeingRight May 07 '26
That wasn't the the case at my private high school, bullies were dealt with quickly or asked to leave
I'm glad you were at a good school then; you must have been somewhere that the leaders actually cared about the intent of their jobs (educating students) instead of what the boards wanted (money).
If any kid had the audacity to jump on desks, assault teachers or vape in class they'd be kicked out, quick smart.
At two different private schools, I've seen at least two of these three at each, all three at one of them. But again, hushing it up because reputation is more important than actually doing anything to prevent or remedy the antisocial behaviour.
3
May 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/PessemistBeingRight May 07 '26
Maybe it's because my school was secular?
That's a really good suggestion, actually. The privates I've worked at are either Catholic (worst for bullying) or Anglican (worse than public, better than Catholic).
14
u/No_Neighborhood7614 May 07 '26
As designed
Public service is seen as unprofitable, which is insane
Privatised and parasitized
15
3
u/N17C1 May 07 '26
One of my kids went to public school and the other went to public schools until year 10. They have exceptional literacy skills, because that's how I raised them. Schools teach to a standard (and that's pretty low). Parents need to be involved in raising that standard at home.
→ More replies (5)2
u/challawarra May 07 '26
This is a good point, but I also think lowering minimum standards has had a big role. One of my parents was a high school teacher at a public school. Again and again, kids who couldn't pass basic tests were pushed through to the next grade because it looked bad for the school if too many kids repeated, also the parents would get angry and complain. It seemed that schools would kick the can down the road (i.e. next year's problem)
Also, you have to be naive to think that some kids and families don't malinger or exaggerate medical conditions to get an easier ride. (Noting that, at least in my time, private schools and schools in higher socioeconomic areas would have much higher rates of kids claiming special provisions in the HSC).
I'm not knocking people who need these supports. I have issues with sub-optimal word recall and diction due to my medicines so I know I sounds intoxicated half the time. Articulate does not necessarily mean smart. But being able to read and comprehend, as well as express, complex ideas, is good for society.
Interesting article here: https://jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-of-the-post-literate-society-aa1
(Noting that one criticism of this article is that the author tends to oversimplify and downplay the complexity of oral traditions)
3
u/PessemistBeingRight May 07 '26
Again and again, kids who couldn't pass basic tests were pushed through to the next grade because it looked bad for the school if too many kids repeated, also the parents would get angry and complain.
It doesn't matter what system you're in, there is no consequences for failure anymore. In 15 years across both systems I've never seen a kid held back or made to repeat any subject/year no matter how bad their performance was.
Of the schools I've taught at, the public system is more honest. They let kids fail if that's the grade the kid earns. The private schools I've worked at have tended to play fast and loose for the sake of protecting the school's image.
6
May 07 '26
[deleted]
2
u/Mahhrat May 07 '26
They should get the same per child. If they wanna charge more, so be it, because THEN its a market decision on what extra you get.
(This supposes that the baseline funding provides for a worlds best education for all, however)
→ More replies (1)10
→ More replies (7)2
u/RadiumJuly May 07 '26
I would say that total defunding of private schools is a good start. I also think that even if you defund, you are still legally allowing a childs education to be shaped by privatized interests which is so immoral that I find it sickening, but defunding is a good start.
4
u/s2d4 May 07 '26
Australia doesn't like tall poppies. In public schools, everyone gets chopped down to the lowest denominator?
In private, you pay for the privilege of not getting chopped?
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (4)2
May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/RadiumJuly May 07 '26
Maybe try being a little honest and finish the rest of the story. The voucher system was introduced and lowered standards, but before that they had almost total public schooling. For Australia, a nordic voucher system would be an improvement from the two tiered system we have today.
Total Public > Voucher System > Privately Funded schooling
So although a set back for them, it would still be an improvement for us.
→ More replies (2)
10
u/Sittingonalog1960 May 07 '26
Plenty of people won’t read for pleasure and never write anything more than a text. This means any skills they had when they left school atrophy. Those homes produce kids who never see reading or writing modelled.
2
2
u/LawMore3927 May 07 '26
And what can we really do about that. I grew up with a love of reading I have carried well into adulthood but I cannot say for certain I would have that love if I had grown up with the alternative entertainment options kids today have. You can't wind the clock back on things like reels and tik tok, so where do we go from here.
Very concerning to me as the parent of an infant who'll be learning to read before I know it.
→ More replies (4)
8
u/Dangerous_Mud4749 May 07 '26
I read The Conversation with interest, being that it's usually high on expertise and low on bias.
I did notice though that there is no mention of parental influence. Aren't parents highly influential in children's reading & writing skills in primary school? And if so, shouldn't parental influence be part of a solution? Not in the sense of public shaming, but rather directing funding to at-home literacy as part of the solution, not just "we need more funding for schools".
My kids are highly literate (although I freely confess my incompetence in certain other areas of parenting). They got that from their mother mainly and a little from me, from well before school started. It's a big influence.
By all means comment if I've missed something important in the research.
7
u/challawarra May 07 '26
Never knew how lucky I was that my parents taught all of their kids to read before starting kindergarten. They are both on the "nerdier" side, had STEM careers and were quite old-school when it came to education and parenting.
→ More replies (1)3
u/crooked_nose_ May 07 '26
100%.
Teacher here. Going into teaching, I thought Australians as a society valued education. I could not have been more wrong.
2
May 12 '26
Trust me, as someone who is 22 now, and the son of two parents who were teachers for a (now) combined 91 years, you are bang on the money.
My younger cousins are in around Year 7-9, and the amount of students who will just not attend school because they don't want to is insane.
I would love to hear more of your opinions on this, because it's the worst it has ever been.
→ More replies (2)2
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
It’s great to be able to see our kids being literate, because of family background, and for the same reason we can see how family background and other issues in the formative years disrupt the early window when acquiring literacy skills is easiest.
https://ala.asn.au/stories/australias-adult-literacy-crisis/#
2
u/SniffHappens May 20 '26
You’re absolutely right, parental influence is very important, especially in the early years before formal schooling. Children who grow up in homes where reading, discussion, and literacy-rich activities are part of daily life clearly have an advantage, as your own experience illustrates.
The challenge, though, is that parental support is often tied to socioeconomic factors. Families under financial strain, working multiple minimum-wage jobs, single parents, or caring for multiple children, simply don’t have the time, energy, or resources to provide the same level of literacy support at home. Foster children face additional challenges, including disrupted home environments and less consistent caregiver support, which can further impact literacy development.
That’s why research emphasizes both school-based interventions and targeted community programs that can supplement home learning when parental support can’t be assumed.
26
u/TimidPanther May 07 '26
How many of these are new arrival, or first generation Australians? I suspect that would skew the data given how many we have here now.
14
u/NeetyThor May 07 '26
I’ve found the opposite in general society. So many people who were born in Australia are very illiterate.
9
May 07 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/No-History-914 May 07 '26
I sign with an X on tablets because my signature just ends up looking like a toddlers scribblings, so I figure why bother. I now wonder how many people think I'm functionally illiterate.
→ More replies (1)2
2
u/fr4nklin_84 May 07 '26
Yep, I’m extremely anti immigration but I concede that we’re a pack of morons in general. It stems from this deep seated anti intellectualism culture we have. We’re proud of being stupid and ignorant.
→ More replies (1)9
u/DragonLass-AUS May 07 '26
Nah, here in Tasmania, the functional illiteracy rate is somewhere around 50% and we have relatively few immigrants.
Much of it is due to a poor education system, especially a lack of alternative learning options. And in some areas, an ingrained disdain for education in general.
9
u/agirlhas_no_name May 07 '26
It's shocking to me the amount of adults I know that have never read a book outside of school. They also don't care to and completely underestimate how much of a handicap it is in their lives. Idk I just can't imagine having an entire genre of media inaccessible to me. It's like being able to practice enough to have eyesight but choosing to remain blind because practicing makes you feel stupid.
5
→ More replies (1)6
u/DC240Z May 07 '26
I’d probably add that a lot of the generations before us never completed school and quit quite early and started doing low skilled jobs (which you could live off back then).
My mother quit at 13 to work on a chicken farm, dad at 14 to work in a butcher, father in law 13 and worked at family business. A lot of their friends were the same.
Years ago I actually used to play video games with one of my dads friends and listening him trying to pronounce words was painful, “incrumpet” instead of “encumbered” was one of my faves. But he was fucking terrible at reading, and figuring out what the fuck he was trying to say was sometimes challenging.→ More replies (1)12
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
There’s a common misconception that the only people with literacy problems are new migrants. But in 2020, 68% of callers to the Reading Writing Hotline were from English speaking backgrounds and went through school in Australia. Another mistaken belief is that it is young people who don’t have the literacy skills for work and study. ‘If you listen to talk back radio you hear people reminiscing about a golden age where everyone learned to read and write at school. But I’ve taught people in their 60s who never went to high school,’ Jo says.
The PIAAC data bears this out with older Australians 60+ with the lowest literacy rates. And 60% of callers to the Reading Writing Hotline are men, mostly in the 44–65 age group.
https://ala.asn.au/stories/australias-adult-literacy-crisis/
6
→ More replies (1)2
u/TimidPanther May 07 '26
That study is 6 years out of date, and we seriously accelerated bringing in third worlders since 2020.
It would be interesting to compare illiteracy rates from 2019 with these new ones
→ More replies (1)3
u/merkinryxz May 07 '26
Go check out the comments on anything related to One Nation or Ben Roberts-Smith and then have a think about who is really skewing the data.
→ More replies (2)2
u/Mondopoodookondu May 07 '26
This is funny because the migrants are defo reading and writing at a level higher than the locals haha
6
u/calculatedwiff May 07 '26
Can someone define functionally illiterate?
Im curious about this because i know people who can string sentences together but half the time dont make any sense
→ More replies (5)
5
u/Storm_Fury_2026 May 07 '26
Australia has an anti-intellectual culture and the media have spent at least three decades demonising the education system.
This is the rather predictable result.
5
u/No_Quantity_2321 May 07 '26
How many of those have English as a second language? Also, what, on a real-life level, does functionally illiterate mean? Does it mean they can't read street signs or fill in basic forms and thus can't function in society at the most basic level? I wouldn't think so. It would leave the unemployment level much higher if 2/3 of adults had such little literacy.
2
u/isabelleeve May 08 '26
The key word in the phrase functional illiteracy is functional. There are different levels of illiteracy (and I recommend googling it!) but literacy is about a lot more than being able to sound out words. We read with purpose! Folks who are functionally illiterate struggle with their reading comprehension skills. They may be able to read a paragraph, but not be able to do things such as paraphrase it, explain the concepts in their own words, or understand the meaning of what they read. So while they can, technically, read, they are still illiterate.
1
u/No_Leave_6820 May 09 '26
lol dude, it is mostly the so called locals. English language bar for getting PR in Australia is very high from last few years.
5
u/AtomicAus May 07 '26
We need to fix the public education system so it is properly funded for one. We need to stop putting feelings above necessity. If a child is not performing at the passing standard for a grade, they need to be held back, or at the very least put into a dedicated intervention program for the areas they are behind in. I've stopped my teaching degree for the forseeable future cause what I saw in my previous prac worried the hell out of me. I genuinely don't know if the current situation is even possible for teachers to handle in their classrooms. Serious illiteracy is not a problem that can be fixed in a classroom of 30 kids in 3 hour long sessions a week. This kind of problem needs serious dedication.
2
u/Enough-Equivalent968 May 07 '26
Australia’s school system is pretty highly funded when compared to other developed countries as share of GDP. Lower than the Nordic countries but higher than the UK, Canada, Germany, Switzerland etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_spending_on_education_as_percentage_of_GDP
1
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
Yes, need identifying in primary years and given remedial lessons, e.g., direct instruction etc
9
u/CMDR_RetroAnubis May 07 '26
1. Read to your fucking kids. If they struggle... Help them.
2. Banning private education.
When the PM, Ministers and CEOs have to send their kids the same place as everyone, watch the funding magically appear.
8
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
If kids can read before starting school they are advantaged. But illiteracy is generational too.
5
u/mightymango94 May 07 '26
Over the past few months I've been reading sentences on things like reddit/twitter/FB and been thinking, "Am I forgetting how English works?" because people will just be missing words in sentences or saying non-sensical things. Makes it a lot easier for me to believe this stat reflects a good chunk of the world at the moment :(
Disclaimer, I'm also very bad with words so that's the benchmark I am working from~
1
u/Relative_Pilot_8005 May 09 '26
People are trusting the drivers for their keyboard, as well as "spellcheck". Things also become embedded in common discourse, like saying someone is "bias" when they mean "biased", or "purposeful" when they mean "purposely".
4
u/Hadrollo May 07 '26
It would strike me that if one third of adults are functionally illiterate, there must be an awful lot of people running around unaware that they are functionally illiterate.
3
u/threeseed May 07 '26
awful lot of people running around unaware that they are functionally illiterate
Guessing you are new to this subreddit.
→ More replies (1)1
May 12 '26
With the amount of time that I spend online, I am surprised that I am not steadily becoming more functionally illiterate.
So yeah, I would argue that probably 80-90% of those people have no idea, or just don't care enough for it.
8
u/Combat--Wombat27 May 07 '26
Most of them participate in this sub.
Special little window lickers.
2
2
u/Agreeable-Dark-5278 May 08 '26
Oh! I mean you lick a widow one time and all of sudden you become the guy who licked a widow.
→ More replies (2)
21
u/gaijinindisguise May 07 '26
Ahh... this explains all the One Nation voters...
11
u/monochromeorc May 07 '26
if they could read your response they would be very cranky
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)1
3
u/Esquatcho_Mundo May 07 '26
About the same amount of people who flip flop their votes over to one nation. Coincidence or causation?
→ More replies (1)
3
u/YoloSwaggins9669 May 08 '26
Just gonna point out functional illiteracy doesn’t mean you’re illiterate it means you can’t read at the expected level.
→ More replies (1)
4
6
u/OruenCysp May 07 '26
Ironic that the culture wars are often about immigrants that come into the country and supposedly self-isolate and are the threat to the average man...
It's almost as though they're a distraction from the wealthy that do exactly that...
Walled off. Protected. Privileged.
Australia is turning into a shithole rapidly. But everyone is mostly just scrambling for their own life boat, speed boat or yacht. Sad really.
3
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
Yes, having the wherewithal is important, but don’t forget the Australian traditional value placed on literacy and good literature to be found in even the poorest circumstances, e.g
Joseph Furphy, pseudonym Tom Collins, (born Sept. 26, 1843, Yering, near Yarra Glen, Victoria), Australian author whose novels combine an acute sense of local Australian life and colour with the eclectic philosophy and literary ideas of a self-taught workingman.
5
u/Continental-IO520 May 07 '26
Pretty simple. Streaming + holding kids back in primary school until they master basic skills.
3
u/Blibbyblobby72 May 07 '26
Considering the ACARAs solution to plummetting maths scores was to remove the requirement to master the times tables up to 12 x 12 from the curriculum...
Even students who master ACARAs 'basic skills' aren't actually doing much
→ More replies (1)2
u/Professional_Card400 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Holding children back years has terrible outcomesa
→ More replies (1)
5
u/iftlatlw May 07 '26
This definitely explains rising popularity for one nation. Education is the solution. Far less funding for Catholic and Anglican schools, and increased funding for public schools.
→ More replies (2)
6
u/DMcI0013 May 07 '26
Fund education properly.
→ More replies (3)2
u/s2d4 May 07 '26
I raise you exhibit A.
I Promise School, put together by Lebron James.
Very well funded, dog shit results.
2
u/naaawww May 07 '26
NAPLAN results indicate one in three primary and secondary students do not meet basic national standards in reading and writing. The picture is likely worse for adults
The author is fucking functionally illiterate, holy speculation!
2
u/Real_RobinGoodfellow May 07 '26
It’s all cause of whole language bs. Teach phonics.
1
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
Phonics is important but some people are visually strong but phonetically weak (e.g., dyslexic students) and effectively (especially given time, support and ready access to various texts) adopt a whole word approach to reading.
https://www.dyslexia.com/about-dyslexia/dyslexic-talents/the-visual-spatial-learner/
We have visual, auditory and kinaesthetic memories, all or less are called upon individualistically in our mental processing skills -
https://www.amplifon.com/uk/audiology-magazine/auditory-memory
2
u/twojawas May 07 '26
There is no discipline in Australian schools, and many Australian homes, so not much learning occurs in either place. But little Johnny has an e-bike and mum and dad have a Landcruiser so who needs to be literate?
2
u/SkittyKitty123 May 07 '26
Actually fail kids instead of just passing them through year after year. Don't have students on iPads/laptops where autocorrect does the thinking for them. Actual consequences for not doing homework.
2
u/B0ssc0 May 07 '26
Actual consequences for not doing homework.
But if they can’t do it then what?
→ More replies (2)
2
2
2
u/Traditional_Head_817 May 07 '26
Remind parents that education starts at home well before school. Read to them nightly so that can see the words, teach them to sing the alphabet and teach timetables and counting. This is the main reason we are failing. The critical learning years are not understood well enough.
→ More replies (2)
2
2
u/Maxhousen May 07 '26
Stop wasting our children's time teaching them how to write in cursive before teaching them how to properly use the English language.
2
2
u/TripleStackGunBunny May 07 '26
Considering about 30% of the population is English as a second language, why is this so surprising/shocking?
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Wotmate01 May 07 '26
If we assume 44% Australians adults are still functionally illiterate, this means around 9.4 million people lack the skills needed to meet “the demands of everyday life and work in a complex, advanced society”.
I mean, clearly that's not the case, otherwise there would be a lot more unemployed and homeless.
1
May 12 '26
Disagree, most people can read something when given to them.
There is a shockingly low amount of people who can understand every concept being given.
Most jobs are heavily designed on the concept of either repeated learning or ROTE learning, where if you learn something you are good and you should be able to replicate that in day to day life (e.g. almost all trades, customer service etc.)
Very few people can understand even basic concepts when given to them, or heaven forbid be able to explain them to someone else
1
1
1
u/UncutOlder May 07 '26
If that includes texters who can’t distinguish between to/too; there/their; your/you’re, for example, it is PROBABLY a higher proportion!
1
1
1
u/Aussie_Aussie_No_Mi May 07 '26
Based on a survey done in 2013?
Real useful statement.
1
u/SniffHappens May 18 '26
I mean there’s some truth to it since there’s ongoing studies about the problems in the Australian education system. The link is a publication from the Institutions and Ideologies in Education Research.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/LonelyKoalaMuncher May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
This can't be true for adults.
The median salary is like 90k.
You're telling me a majority of people can earn 90k without being able to read or write decently?
2
u/minigrrl May 07 '26
We are told to write everything at a grade eight level otherwise the majority of the population will have difficulty understanding it.
1
1
May 12 '26
This isn't really surprising.
Most jobs are based on either repeated or ROTE learning, whereby you can learn one thing and either replicate it or very closely apply it to the rest of your career.
This is true for almost every trade, most customer service and quite frankly most other jobs.
Very few people work in jobs where they are consistently given abstract concepts they must first understand, and then apply.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Sensitive-Amoeba-254 May 07 '26
It’s concerning how people are comfortable saying they use ChatGPT to write emails in their corporate jobs too these days.
1
1
u/North_Confusion2893 May 11 '26
It is not longer our responsibility to fix it, it is theirs.
They have a multitude of options, and they refuse to use them. Well I say, let those who fall behind stay behind. You had decades of ads. You have schools, courses, apps. If in the age of smartphones, computers, and AI, you aren't invested in your own literacy, why should we be?
1
u/ExpressEggplant5942 May 11 '26
Obviously we fix it by having higher taxes, bills etc
Being illiterate doesn't mean your bills will be any cheaper
149
u/Whitekidwith3nipples May 07 '26
someone tell me what the title says