Yesterday, I read "Illiteracy costs Canada, individuals" by Ellen Roseman, in the Toronto Star. It was reporting on a study done by the Canadian Council on Learning which said that 48% of adults have low literacy skills. They use a 5 level scale to grade literacy levels. The five levels with a brief description are as follows:
Level 1: Very poor literacy skills.
Level 2: A capacity to deal only with simple, clear material involving uncomplicated tasks.
Level 3: Adequate to cope with the demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society.
Levels 4 and 5: Strong skills.
I cannot believe that 48% of Canadians scored less than level 3. To score less than three that means that they did not have adequate literacy skills to cope with the demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society. A score of less than 3 means that they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life or work (I assume here that we consider Canada an advanced society). To state that half the country is unable to cope with life is laughable because they are coping with life.
I hate that I am probably demonstrating my poor literacy skills writing this. But I think that to have such a large portion of the population score so low on the test; they must be testing for something more than literacy skills to cope with life.
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Well I think the problem is in the description. I'd say level 2 is the level adequate to coping with life in our society. Also these levels are probably drawn up by intellectuals in office buildings that wouldn't know much about life outside their glassed in urban environments.
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