[Al Arabiya] The Iraqi Ministry of Education issued a statement that almost one fifth of the population is illiterate and established a link between violence and the remarkable increase in dropout numbers.
Official figures of Iraqi illiteracy coincided with those issued by U.N. organizations and which estimated that one fifth of Iraqi adults, that is between the ages of 10 and 49, do not know how to read or write, the London-based newspaper al-Hayat reported Wednesday.
| Since when are ten-year olds counted as adults? |
| Can he carry an AK-47? If so ... |
| Restate the statistic as 18-45 and we'll have something to discuss. Back when I was an adult literacy tutor, we were told that 20% of American adults were functionally illiterate, ie with less than a sixth grade reading ability; only a very small percentage were completely analphabet. (I would expect both numbers to be higher now, given the increase in non-English speaking immigrants, especially the illegals.) Before reacting to the statistic quoted in the article, I would like to know how Iraqi illiteracy is defined: below a certain grade level, or analphabet -- completely without any grasp of letters and words. After all, one would expect 10-year olds to be unable to function at a sixth grade level, but that would through them into the functionally illiterate classification for adults. |
|