What can governments do to raise literacy rates in Canada?

[Second-class Canadian]

According to Statistics Canada 2011, 49% of Canadians over 16 (and 60% on reserves) are functionally literate in neither official language. How do we improve this situation?

As a brainstorm, I can think of the following:

1. Increase funding for literacy education on reserves and increase transfer payments to ministries of education earmarked for literacy education.

This is assuming we can afford a tax increase or borrowing, both of which might be controversial.

2. Transfer funding to literacy. This would mean cutting other programs to do so, then have to decide which.

3. As an solution, revise English and French orthography. Though not impossible, it would require international agreement, which could be extremely difficult. Plus it would make pre-revision literature inaccessible to those who don't learn the old orthography.

Though there could be many other ways in which the government can help, how would you raise literacy rates in Canada?

Edited July 5, 2015 by Second-class Canadian

[TimG]

According to Staits tics Canada 2011, about 50% of Canadians over 16 (and 60% on reserves) are functionally literate in neither official language. How do we improve this situation?

50% illiterate? I don't think so. You need post some links explaining the basis for that claim.

[Second-class Canadian]

50% illiterate? I don't think so. You need post some links explaining the basis for that claim.

http://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/CanadaLiteracyAndNumeracyChallengeWorsens.pdf

49%, not 50%, bearing in mind that we are not referring to complete illiteracy but rather literacy below level 3, in other words below the OECD compulsory education completion standard, for those between the ages of 16 and 65.

[-1=e^ipi]

1. Increase funding for literacy education on reserves and increase transfer payments to ministries of education earmarked for literacy education.

You forget the option of just having teachers teach literacy instead of using our education system to spread their ideology be it social justice, environmental radicalism, religion, or ethnic pride.

3. As an solution, revise English and French orthography. Though not impossible, it would require international agreement

I don't think it requires an international agreement. Just have the Canadian government accept an alternate form of English; it would gradually spill over to other countries.

[Second-class Canadian]

You forget the option of just having teachers teach literacy instead of using our education system to spread their ideology be it social justice, environmental radicalism, religion, or ethnic pride.

I don't think it requires an international agreement. Just have the Canadian government accept an alternate form of English; it would gradually spill over to other countries.

Sorry, I overlooked your point one. As for your point 2., you're right, but even domestically resistance would be significant and even if reform were accepted, that would be a very long term strategy. You'd have to combine it with a short term strategy if you went that route.

[TimG]

I don't think it requires an international agreement. Just have the Canadian government accept an alternate form of English; it would gradually spill over to other countries.

Just like simplified Chinese has replaced traditional characters in Taiwan in Singapore? It is a silly idea. I agree with your first point. The school system should focus on teaching basic skills but the school system can't make up for a wider culture that does not encourage educational achievement. Edited July 5, 2015 by TimG

[-1=e^ipi]

Just like simplified Chinese has replaced traditional characters in Taiwan in Singapore? It is a silly idea.

I said gradually. You don't think people use simplified characters occasionally in Taiwan or Singapore?

[TimG]

I said gradually. You don't think people use simplified characters occasionally in Taiwan or Singapore?

I am sure they do. But the uptake has been pretty slow even with China behemoth behind it. Meanwhile Canada has trouble getting people to remember to spell "colour" correctly.

[Moonlight Graham]

http://www.td.com/document/PDF/economics/special/CanadaLiteracyAndNumeracyChallengeWorsens.pdf

49%, not 50%, bearing in mind that we are not referring to complete illiteracy but rather literacy below level 3, in other words below the OECD compulsory education completion standard, for those between the ages of 16 and 65.

I believe this is the quote you're referring to, page 3 of that link (sorry I can't fix the formatting):

As expressed in an earlier TD report on the 2003 survey,

“Literacy Matters: A Call for Action”, although the majority of Canadians have adequate literacy skills – too many

simply don’t. Little has changed in nearly 10 years. Not

only has the average score for adults fallen from its 2003

level, but the share of the population who scored below the

desired level (level 3) has increased to 49% – from 41%

in 2003 (see Chart 2). This result is worrying as it implies

that fewer Canadians have the skills needed to succeed in

a modern knowledge-based economy.

[cybercoma]

It's not the easiest way, but the best way is to address poverty. Children from lower SES backgrounds have reading scores that can be as depressed as 2 entire grade levels from their peers while controlling for other influences.

[TimG]

It's not the easiest way, but the best way is to address poverty. Children from lower SES backgrounds have reading scores that can be as depressed as 2 entire grade levels from their peers while controlling for other influences.

Except poverty is defined using relative measures so nothing the government does can do anything about it.

[Second-class Canadian]

It's not the easiest way, but the best way is to address poverty. Children from lower SES backgrounds have reading scores that can be as depressed as 2 entire grade levels from their peers while controlling for other influences.

That puts us in a vicious circle. To adress poverty, we must address jobs. To address jobs, we must address education, and to address education, we must address poverty.

[cybercoma]

Except poverty is defined using relative measures so nothing the government does can do anything about it.

Right. The government can do nothing whatsoever to address the ways poverty affects children's educations.

I guess they can also do nothing about the military or hospitals either.

[cybercoma]

That puts us in a vicious circle. To adress poverty, we must address jobs. To address jobs, we must address education, and to address education, we must address poverty.

Yes it does. That's what makes the problems so complicated.

[Freddy]

That puts us in a vicious circle. To adress poverty, we must address jobs. To address jobs, we must address education, and to address education, we must address poverty.

You need to address our culture of corporate hatred, Plus add that we are getting further away from being productive efficient humans. And add our hyper sensitivity and our entitlement to sue any companies we work for for micro aggression.

I think we can look at this and see a similar pattern in countries like Greece.

[-1=e^ipi]

Except poverty is defined using relative measures so nothing the government does can do anything about it.

As much as I disagree with relative measures used to define poverty, Cybercoma was referring to a relative difference in reading ability, so that suggests that absolute poverty affects reading ability.

[TimG]

As much as I disagree with relative measures used to define poverty, Cybercoma was referring to a relative difference in reading ability, so that suggests that absolute poverty affects reading ability.

If the difference in ability is relative and poverty is relative then the only way to eliminate the difference is either improve literacy rates without addressing poverty because relative poverty will always exist.

[-1=e^ipi]

If the difference in ability is relative and poverty is relative then the only way to eliminate the difference is either improve literacy rates without addressing poverty because relative poverty will always exist.

No but if you are concerned about absolute poverty, then addressing absolute poverty will help.

[Argus]

It's interesting that the OP is using a cite I gave him on another topic regarding poor economic performance of immigrants due to poor literacy levels to start a new topic which ignores the issue of immigrant illiteracy.

As the report details, immigrant illiteracy is a major factor in their economic failure, and their literacy levels are not improving over time in Canada, which is dragging Canada's literacy levels down.

Aboriginal literacy levels, of course, are due to poor education on the reserves, and the fact the reserves are mostly rural and so individuals see little advantage in having better literacy skills.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Argus

[Second-class Canadian]

Yes it does. That's what makes the problems so complicated.

So how best to address poverty? Social assistance always risks being bureaucratic and arbitrary, refusing a needy person or accepting a well-off one on a technicality.

The Green Party has proposed cutting much of the bureaucratic overhead by replacing the current system with a guaranteed income.

Though the simplicity of the idea attracts me, my concern with that is that money then being used to buy drugs, etc.

I'd once proposed some kind of coupon system, but others responded that this risked stigmatized the poor.

Anther possible idea would be the provision of a government-issued debit card to all Canadian adults regardless of income level that could be used only at companies (shops, landlord, real estate agents, etc.) that sell only approved categories of products, such as food, clothing, toiletries, transportation, whether a bus ticket or a car, etc., maybe even with quotas whereby so much money can be used only for shelter (whether rent, purchase, mortgage, or property tax, etc.), so much for food, etc. all programmed into the card.

Since the poor and the rich would be using this card, that would eliminate the problem of stigma while still making it difficult to use it to buy drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, escorts, etc.

[kimmy]

Right, Argus.

I have a hard time believing that anybody who completes 9 to 12 years in a Canadian public or Catholic school system is illiterate, and I think using this statistic as an argument for reforming the school system or changing the English language completely misses the point.

Canada's public and Catholic schools are excellent. The issue here is people who for whatever reason didn't attend Canada's major school systems, or didn't attend them for very long. That includes immigrants, as well as people who somehow fell through the cracks-- people on reserves without adequate education, perhaps children of incompetent parents, perhaps other factors.

-k

[-1=e^ipi]

my concern with that is that money then being used to buy drugs, etc.

It's too costly (bureaucratically) to try to prevent them from buying drugs via some sort of coupon system. It would be more effective to spread awareness campaigns to discourage drug use or put more money into law enforcement. Just have a guaranteed income system and be done with it.

[Second-class Canadian]

We can also include deaf, dyslexic (or at least severely dyslexic) and other Canadians suffering fetal alcohol syndrome, PTSD, etc. Though I don't remember the precise statistic, I remember reading that PTSD rates are extremely high among both children and adults on reserves.

[Second-class Canadian]

It's interesting that the OP is using a cite I gave him on another topic regarding poor economic performance of immigrants due to poor literacy levels to start a new topic which ignores the issue of immigrant illiteracy.

As the report details, immigrant illiteracy is a major factor in their economic failure, and their literacy levels are not improving over time in Canada, which is dragging Canada's literacy levels down.

Aboriginal literacy levels, of course, are due to poor education on the reserves, and the fact the reserves are mostly rural and so individuals see little advantage in having better literacy skills.

You seem to have a habit of confusing threads, don't you. But yes, requiring language tests to reside in Canada might raise the literacy rate in Canada. I say might because it could also result in literate Canadians leaving Canada, which would lower the rate. So depending on which is greater between literate emigration and illiterate immigration (always referring to official languages of course), such a policy could either raise or lower official language literacy rates.

Of course another way to raise literacy rates would be through a combination of measures. Prohibiting foreign nationals who don't know an official language from residing in Canada would raise literacy rates, but to prevent literate Canadians from leaving as a result (which would lower literacy rates), one hypothetical option would be to add an easy official language to the constitution, thus increasing the likelihood of the foreign partner learning that language as the official language. This would also raise literacy rates on reserves and the far north where many speak an unofficial mother tongue.

I say hypothetical because I don't see that happening within my lifetime, but still interesting as a hypothetical scenario.

[Second-class Canadian]

It's too costly (bureaucratically) to try to prevent them from buying drugs via some sort of coupon system. It would be more effective to spread awareness campaigns to discourage drug use or put more money into law enforcement. Just have a guaranteed income system and be done with it.

How could it be so bureaucratic if it's just all programmed on a debit card and an interactive machine? It would all be automated. To make sure the money is not blown all at once, make the deposits weekly rather than monthly