Regarding your footnote, literacy rates depend on the definition of literacy used. Under minimal definitions, “pretty close to 100 percent of the population is capable of reading” is true, but under stricter definitions, “maybe 20 or 30 percent” seems closer to the mark.
“Current literacy data are generally collected through population censuses or household surveys in which the respondent or head of the household declares whether they can read and write with understanding a short, simple statement about one’s everyday life in any written language. Some surveys require respondents to take a quick test in which they are asked to read a simple passage or write a sentence, yet clearly literacy is a far more complex issue that requires more information.” http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/literacy
I’m not sure why you are so optimistic about people learning calculus.
Thanks for the information. My understanding was just based on my own experience, which is probably biased. I assume that most people can read headlines and parse text. I find it hard to believe that only 20 to 30 percent of people can read, given that more than 30 percent of people are on social media, which requires reading things (and usually responding to it in a coherent way).
I’m not sure why you are so optimistic about people learning calculus.
My own experience is that learning calculus isn’t that much more difficult than learning a lot of other skills, including literacy. We start learning how to read while young and learn calculus later, which makes us think reading is easier. However, I think hypothetically, we could push the number of people who learn calculus to similar levels as reading (which, as you note, might still be limited to a basic form for most people). :)
Calculus itself isn’t inherently more difficult to learn that earlier math, but it is where many math students hit a wall because it has a lot of prerequisites; if you were a mediocre student in algebra and trigonometry, there is a good chance that you will have trouble with calculus because you never completely mastered other skills that you have to use over and over again when doing calculus.
Regarding your footnote, literacy rates depend on the definition of literacy used. Under minimal definitions, “pretty close to 100 percent of the population is capable of reading” is true, but under stricter definitions, “maybe 20 or 30 percent” seems closer to the mark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy#United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_illiteracy#Prevalence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States
“Current literacy data are generally collected through population censuses or household surveys in which the respondent or head of the household declares whether they can read and write with understanding a short, simple statement about one’s everyday life in any written language. Some surveys require respondents to take a quick test in which they are asked to read a simple passage or write a sentence, yet clearly literacy is a far more complex issue that requires more information.” http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/literacy
I’m not sure why you are so optimistic about people learning calculus.
Thanks for the information. My understanding was just based on my own experience, which is probably biased. I assume that most people can read headlines and parse text. I find it hard to believe that only 20 to 30 percent of people can read, given that more than 30 percent of people are on social media, which requires reading things (and usually responding to it in a coherent way).
My own experience is that learning calculus isn’t that much more difficult than learning a lot of other skills, including literacy. We start learning how to read while young and learn calculus later, which makes us think reading is easier. However, I think hypothetically, we could push the number of people who learn calculus to similar levels as reading (which, as you note, might still be limited to a basic form for most people). :)
Calculus itself isn’t inherently more difficult to learn that earlier math, but it is where many math students hit a wall because it has a lot of prerequisites; if you were a mediocre student in algebra and trigonometry, there is a good chance that you will have trouble with calculus because you never completely mastered other skills that you have to use over and over again when doing calculus.