From https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/14phpbq/how_is_it_possible_that_roughly_50_of_americans/

Question above is pretty blunt but was doing a study for a college course and came across that stat. How is that possible? My high school sucked but I was well equipped even with that sub standard level of education for college. Obviously income is a thing but to think 1 out of 5 American adults is categorized as illiterate is…astounding. Now poor media literacy I get, but not this. Edit: this was from a department of education report from 2022. Just incase people are curious where that comes from. It does also specify as literate in English so maybe not as grim as I thought.

  • zepheriths@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s not just that. It’s not understanding words either. One example that Annoys me to no end is when I tell someone to flip a card over and they rotate it. This is in a upper middle class neighborhood. ( Just to be clear on the definition a card being rotated turns around the y-axis. Fliping a card rotates it around it’s z-axis) while the issue is clearly there it’s a bit more complicated than bad schools clearly.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Or it’s just a severe lack of understanding of how cards work. Someone who is clearly young and inexperienced with any card game.

      At that point it’s not an illiteracy thing. Anyone who knows the first thing about cards knows they are symmetrical so the instruction to rotate a card makes zero sense. Flipping only has a single meaning with cards.

    • Kyle@lemmywinks.com
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      1 year ago

      ( Just to be clear on the definition a card being rotated turns around the y-axis. Fliping a card rotates it around it’s z-axis)

      Ok professor, what if the card is in your hand and not laying on the table?

      • 0xD@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Then the card has changed it’s orientation in three dimensional space and the action needs to be adjusted accordingly ;)

        If you need it in easier language, student, then rotating it would mean turning it upside down, and flipping means turning it around. :)