Thread Article: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

I think you're view of how many illiterate children of prostitutes we have is a bit skewed...

You'd probably be shocked how many illiterate people there are. Although I suppose a teacher would not be. Most people who are actually illiterate try to find ways of people not finding out and getting round it. An acquaintance (well, two of them actually!) of mine for example pretends that he 'can't be bothered' to read his text messages and asks a trusted friend to reply to them. In reality this just covers for the fact they can't actually read at any kind of realistic adult level.

Regardless of numbers, these people exist, and they're part of the 'class' of people you like to feel better than.
 
We have adult reading programs, they can still turn their lives around. Takes a bit of effort.

I also bet a very small portion of our welfare recipients are illiterate. Kids are required to go to school (for free!) until they are 16. Something should get absorbed in that time.
 
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So, I think Enemy is just trolling us this morning, unless she honestly believes that all of us are Mitt Romney.

Fly & Plot from broken homes. I spend some time homeless and out of work. Ghost and myself accomplishing what we have without degrees.

All of us have worked, real work, to get what we have. We have earned it not from entitlement, but from going out and getting it. To call us 'privileged' shows how easily you bandy terms about to try and inflame.
 
We have adult reading programs, they can still turn their lives around. Takes a bit of effort.

I also bet a very small portion of our welfare recipients are illiterate. Kids are required to go to school (for free!) until they are 16. Something should get absorbed in that time.
According to current estimates, the number of functionally illiterate adults is increasing by approximately two and one quarter million persons each year.
http://www.nrrf.org/essay_Illiteracy.html

Yup, those 2.25 million people per year sure absorbed a lot!
 
So, I think Enemy is just trolling us this morning, unless she honestly believes that all of us are Mitt Romney.

Fly & Plot from broken homes. I spend some time homeless and out of work. Ghost and myself accomplishing what we have without degrees.

All of us have worked, real work, to get what we have. We have earned it not from entitlement, but from going out and getting it. To call us 'privileged' shows how easily you bandy terms about to try and inflame.

Equating this group to any reflection of the world on the whole is like polling 5 people living under the same roof.
 
Crazy. How many of those were born and raised in the US?

If you read the article

According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, 42 million adult Americans can't read; 50 million can recognize so few printed words they are limited to a 4th or 5th grade reading level; one out of every four teenagers drops out of high school, and of those who graduate, one out of every four has the equivalent or less of an eighth grade education.

According to current estimates, the number of functionally illiterate adults is increasing by approximately two and one quarter million persons each year. This number includes nearly 1 million young people who drop out of school before graduation, 400,000 legal immigrants, 100,000 refugees, and 800,000 illegal immigrants, and 20 % of all high school graduates.
 
You'd probably be shocked how many illiterate people there are. Although I suppose a teacher would not be. Most people who are actually illiterate try to find ways of people not finding out and getting round it. An acquaintance (well, two of them actually!) of mine for example pretends that he 'can't be bothered' to read his text messages and asks a trusted friend to reply to them. In reality this just covers for the fact they can't actually read at any kind of realistic adult level.

Regardless of numbers, these people exist, and they're part of the 'class' of people you like to feel better than.
There is no excuse for any adult in any first world country to be illiterate unless they are blind or simple. Your friend isn't trying, he is just comfortable being dependent on others which is a lot like some of "poor" we have here.

What I'm trying to say is that your friend is no better than a lazy American. :fly:
 
Doesn't quite say, but 1 million high school drop outs, and 20% of high school graduates. You'd have to dig into how many high school students were born and raised in the US

Yay for no child left behind.

That should be Fly's motto.
 
There is no excuse for any adult in any first world country to be illiterate unless they are blind or simple. Your friend isn't trying, he is just comfortable being dependent on others which is a lot like some of "poor" we have here.

What I'm trying to say is that your friend is no better than a lazy American. :fly:

I don't think there's a conceivable reason for your blind ignorance and lack of compassion, but then everyone's entitled to their opinion. Funny how people who say the world isn't fair and nobody is equal like to deny it when they want to pretend everyone has the same opportunities in life.
 
Well bully for you!!!!

Well done for being born white. I'm sure you had a hand in that.

So first finances were to blame, but now race is? Excuses excuses excuses. How many black people do you think were born into low income families and are now solidly middle or upper class?

It's interesting that when people pick apart the "self made" phenomenon they ignore the successes and focus instead on the failures. "Look at all of the people who have never tried to better themselves, still living in squalor! What about the obstacles they face?" They use those people as examples of how the system doesn't work. The failures face the exact same obstacles the others did, and yet somehow the others don't count. Why? What is it about the people who have struggled and worked and succeeded that makes them inappropriate examples of the state of social affairs in America?

The same thing that makes people ignore the successes of a president from the other party. No matter what Bush did well, Democrats will revile him. Same for Obama and the Republicans. People focus on the details that support their arguments and ignore the totality of the other position. It's basically what makes religion work.
 
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