There was something on TV recently about the high proportion of people in this country unable to read or write. Do staff in roles which don't involve reading or writing really need to be literate? Or are we just trying to force our own standards on other people?
Hi.. can you tell me any job in modern society that does not require some level of literacy...?
reading a packet.. following safety instructions, reading a distribution list.. for almost every job there is some identification of product required - even learning to drive requires the ability to read...
being a labourer on a building site requires a CSCS card - this is nearly impossible to get without reading, studying and passing an online test.... this is just the world we like in
There are of course different levels of 'literacy', but I would say that being unable to read or write to any find of functional level of communication automatically puts a person right at the margins of participation in modern society as a whole - let alone at work.
Though I know that many people are adept at hiding their lack of ability - something that seems to me would take a very high level of skill in itself - I have to say that it is a shameful failure of our education system (in the broadest sense, not just schools) if significant numbers of people can reach adulthood without having some degree of functional literacy, whatever the cause of the difficulty might be.
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