Posted on Dec 15, 2015
Why is all research into illiteracy gender and racial-makeup biased?
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Literacy (Skill-based) : The knowledge and skills an adult must possess in order to perform prose, document, and quantitative tasks using printed and written information.
Related Term(s): Literacy (Task-based)
Related Link(s): Definition of Literacy
Literacy (Task-based) : (Conceptual) the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential (see Exhibit).
Related Term(s): Literacy (Skill-based)
Related Link(s): Definition of Literacy
A little over a year ago, and admittedly still to this day, I have had an interest in today's illiteracy rates, especially here in the US. I have written papers in college addressing the issue (I wanted to attach one of those papers, but it seems I am not allowed to attach documents), as well as what is being done to help, and ideas of my own to help; but, for some reason, with the exception of incarceration, all research (educational, peer-reviewed, DoJ, etc.) is very biased towards race and gender bias. I am curious if anyone can either shed light on this curious intellectual anomaly, or find non-biased research into the matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/illiteracy-rate_n_3880355.html
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=69
Related Term(s): Literacy (Task-based)
Related Link(s): Definition of Literacy
Literacy (Task-based) : (Conceptual) the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential (see Exhibit).
Related Term(s): Literacy (Skill-based)
Related Link(s): Definition of Literacy
A little over a year ago, and admittedly still to this day, I have had an interest in today's illiteracy rates, especially here in the US. I have written papers in college addressing the issue (I wanted to attach one of those papers, but it seems I am not allowed to attach documents), as well as what is being done to help, and ideas of my own to help; but, for some reason, with the exception of incarceration, all research (educational, peer-reviewed, DoJ, etc.) is very biased towards race and gender bias. I am curious if anyone can either shed light on this curious intellectual anomaly, or find non-biased research into the matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/illiteracy-rate_n_3880355.html
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=69
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Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
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The most common objective for this sort of testing is to identify demographics that require additional attention. There are often better metrics that could be employed such as economic/social status, however those metrics are far less actionable since there is no legal requirement that poor people have equal rights or equality of opportunity. There are laws in place to protect people based on gender and racial background.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Additionally, Socio-Economic spectrum is a HUGE indicator of "risk" for Illiteracy. The higher up the "ladder" you are, the closer you approach 0%, the lower the the higher the risk. I'm not saying it's linear, but there's correlation/causation.
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US History, and they are easy categories to quantify. We track them via data like the Census.
The US is most diverse Nation on the planet, and if you are going to make categories for something, the "easiest" way to do it is by large population segments. The two biggest "buckets" are Gender. Next is Age Bracket. Followed by Race, then Ethnicity.
We could do it via Socio-Economic Status, however with a Subject like Illiteracy, the issue is "shifted" heavily to one segment, so we use something that gives us a little better representation. Gender/Age/Race-Ethnicity.
Were this the EU, we would use Gender/Age/National Origin instead.
The US is most diverse Nation on the planet, and if you are going to make categories for something, the "easiest" way to do it is by large population segments. The two biggest "buckets" are Gender. Next is Age Bracket. Followed by Race, then Ethnicity.
We could do it via Socio-Economic Status, however with a Subject like Illiteracy, the issue is "shifted" heavily to one segment, so we use something that gives us a little better representation. Gender/Age/Race-Ethnicity.
Were this the EU, we would use Gender/Age/National Origin instead.
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I guess you would have to define non biased research. If that is defined as data and/or conclusions you don't like then you may have a poor definition of non biased.
The statistics are what they are. Without looking at a single piece of data I can tell you generally where to look for higher levels of illiteracy. Lower income, single parent homes. The cure for literacy is simple. Kids have to go to school, stay in school and have parental engagement in their schooling. We have the highest level of access to schools with fairly reasonable access to material, teachers etc than we have ever had and we continue to churn out high levels of illiterate students.
If you want to fix illiteracy you need to fix single parent families. Single parent families are more likely to end up in lower socio-economic levels and do not have the level of engagement in their children's life/schooling to ensure they are successful. That is not an absolute truth but if we fixed the single parent family issue many other ills would improve (not cured, improved), illiteracy is one of them, poverty is another. Nothing creates more poverty for children than single parent homes.
The road to prison is heavily influenced by illiteracy too. So when we fix single parent homes we improve literacy and reduce the likelihood of kids growing up and ending up in prison because they cannot function in society. Everyone wins. We didn't get here in a day, this is a generational issue created over the last 40 years of poor policy.
The statistics are what they are. Without looking at a single piece of data I can tell you generally where to look for higher levels of illiteracy. Lower income, single parent homes. The cure for literacy is simple. Kids have to go to school, stay in school and have parental engagement in their schooling. We have the highest level of access to schools with fairly reasonable access to material, teachers etc than we have ever had and we continue to churn out high levels of illiterate students.
If you want to fix illiteracy you need to fix single parent families. Single parent families are more likely to end up in lower socio-economic levels and do not have the level of engagement in their children's life/schooling to ensure they are successful. That is not an absolute truth but if we fixed the single parent family issue many other ills would improve (not cured, improved), illiteracy is one of them, poverty is another. Nothing creates more poverty for children than single parent homes.
The road to prison is heavily influenced by illiteracy too. So when we fix single parent homes we improve literacy and reduce the likelihood of kids growing up and ending up in prison because they cannot function in society. Everyone wins. We didn't get here in a day, this is a generational issue created over the last 40 years of poor policy.
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