greenLED
Flashaholic
Source: American Institutes for ResearchTwenty percent of U.S. college students completing 4-year degrees – and 30 percent of students earning 2-year degrees – have only basic quantitative literacy skills, meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies, according to a new national survey by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The study was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Here's a link to the full news release:
New study of the literacy of college students finds some are graduating with only basic skills
A few snippets (emphasis mine):
Comparing interest rates a complex task? :huh2:More than 75 percent of students at 2-year colleges and more than 50 percent of students at 4-year colleges do not score at the proficient level of literacy. This means that they lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as comparing credit card offers with different interest rates or summarizing the arguments of newspaper editorials.
Students in 2- and 4-year colleges have the greatest difficulty with quantitative literacy: approximately 30 percent of students in 2-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in 4-year institutions have only Basic quantitative literacy. Basic skills are those necessary to compare ticket prices or calculate the cost of a sandwich and a salad from a menu.
No wonder, we're heading to McDonald's!! They have a $1 menu - no thinking required to order *that*
The good news:
"Despite the lackluster performance of many graduates on quantitative literacy, we should nevertheless be encouraged that current college graduates are not falling behind in terms of literacy when compared to graduates from earlier generations," says Emerson Elliott, a former Commissioner of Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education.
So we're only slightly less stupid than we thought we were??! I'm *really* encouraged by the news. Thank-very-much! That makes me feel much better in confident in our education and our future. No wonder the world looks on and laughs. :shakehead
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