this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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This can't be true..... 21% of Americans can't read?
Gives some perspective on american culture and problems compared to the rest of the world doesn't it?
Source: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp
I've heard nothing but bad things about American schools and they're said to revoltingly underfunded especially in poor and non-white communities. Seen from an outside perspective it seems like all American schools do is multiple choice tests, bullying, pledge of allegiance, school shootings, eat hot chip and lie.
Austerity and culture war has consequences, one of them is that students are not given then education they need.
Hey!! That's just NOT TRUE!!
...we call them french fries
The school shootings are statistically insignificant but magnified to enormous size by the media, but other than that yes.
I'm all for american self-depreciation but:
"34% of adults who lack proficiency in literacy were born outside the US."
https://www.thinkimpact.com/literacy-statistics/
I hate to extrapolate data as an idiotic internetter but being born in the US and being illiterate could also be because we have so many immigrants that aren't set up for success right away and aren't as concerned with education as they are with meeting their most basic needs.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country
So? Takes like six months to teach an adult to read, that's not an excuse.
Even if you excluded them (which seems like a very
approach) these people are only illiterate because they're from brown countries", you still have an education system where 13.9% of people are coming out illiterate.
I am not american
Nice of you to edit in the part that confirms you're not just a nationalist, but a racist too.
Lol damn you don't have to call me racist. I'm not, and just saw someone using a pretty general statistic to imply American education is terrible or something. I'm just someone who sees appropriation of incomplete information to create a half baked idea that makes people feel like they understand something complex when in reality we are all probably wrong in this thread. Such is the internet though.
And I was talking about my own opportunity to self depreciate, and wasn't assuming anyone elses nationality.
Yes I did edit my comment lol. We do have a lot of immigrants that may come from poorer countries in search of a better life. Whats wrong with that? How do you know I'm not specifically proud of that for my country? You are the one implying Americans are less-than because of some statistic.
When you are so militant with discussions, how will you ever come to an understanding? Why be so mean?
"Calling me racist for blaming immigrants is so meaaaaaaan!!!"
If I didn't want to be called racist, I would simply not say something racist.
If I thought it was failing of character to be illiterate then you could maybe say I was blaming immigrants. I think it's a lot harder to uproot your life and risk it all to bring your family where the grass is greener than it is to learn your ABC's.
Why do you assume immigrants are brown? Because you are probably right. That's okay.
It's okay to have a lower literacy rate if our country is helping people have better lives. It's okay that discussions of immigration and nationality sometimes involve ethnicities. It just makes sense that those qualities are discussed and related.
It's also okay if american school systems need to improve. I promise everything will be okay.
Can you stop filling my inbox with nationalist bullshit? Christ, I couldn't read past the first line. Grass is greener my ass.
Hope you find the help you need. Let me know if you want to talk.
Ableism, nice.
When you stop emotionally reacting to people criticising your government let me know? You owe as much loyalty to governments as you owe to your boss.
Not everything is political. All we have is each other and we can choose to be kind. There's a lot of anger here and I can't know where it's coming from so I won't try to assume anything about you. I just don't appreciate you telling me I'm racist for saying America has a lot of immigration. Its not okay. You are assuming more about me than is fair.
It's a nice graphic for sure. I think what I'm trying to say is that while we must practice vigilance to maintain equality and freedom, we carry out these obligations so that we can enjoy our lives.
I don't understand what I've done to be a target for your activism. I'm not a bad person. It's relevant to point out that lower literacy might not be a failing of our education system as the statistic implies.
Mate why are you talking like you're giving a presidential campaign speech? And what equality and freedom are you bloody talking about? In america? Equality and freedom? Are you having a fucking laugh?
Genuinely taking the piss. I'm going to defer to my man Albert Einstein:
We have some degree of equality and freedom to maintain, even if it's not utopian. I'm not sure what preferable alternative exists to vigilance.
You are continuing to attack me because I talk differently than you? I am trying to be diplomatic. This is me.
People failing to buy into your delusional nationalism is not an "attack". You don't get to demand that people agree with delusional nationalism and then claim you're under attack when they scoff at them. The very heart of every single one of your responses is the flag waving nationalist bollocks mate, and it's deeply deeply embarrassing behaviour that completely lacks self awareness.
I'm seeing the opposite ideology as destructive though. Working with each other and the system to affect change is surely better than entrenching and dividing? You are saying it's bad to believe we can make the world a better place? What is more effective than believing that your country can do better? Shouldn't we be talking to each other instead of downvoting and blocking each other?
I don't understand much about what you want because you aren't talking about it. You just insult me.
The working class can not work with the bourgeoisie. The two have completely opposing interests. Anything that benefits the bourgeoisie comes from exploiting the working class, and anything that benefits the working class comes from reducing that exploitation by the bourgeoisie.
"Let's work together" is either the political theory of a child that understands nothing or the intentionally subversive lies by someone that does understand but wants to mislead others. You may as well be telling people in africa to work together with the colonial masters exploiting them.
Hexbear doesn't even have downvotes.
This isn't what you want. You do nothing except defend against criticism from people that want to make things better. Because your brain is full of nationalism and you can't help but leap to the defence of the state whenever it is criticised. This behaviour isn't because you want it to be better, it's because you view criticism as a threat.
Thank you, but what option do we have except working with the system?
I don't disagree that exploitation exists. It's hard for me to focus on that when I am benefitting from the exploitation of others.
Constructing a new system minus the limitations of the existing one.
But that seems impossible.
Not impossible, merely very very difficult.
And the alternative is no change and a dying world. So there is no choice whatsoever.