> "An increase in literacy of one percent would mean a $32 billion > increase in national income -- three times the returns on investment in > machinery," Craig Alexander, TD Bank deputy chief economist and author > of the report said. More dependence on service-based, rather than > industrial sectors, he explained.
I guess I'd have to see the report to figure this out. Does it mean $32 billion if everyone became 1% more literate or if an additional 1% of the population became more literate? Either way, a $32 billion doesn't really sound very plausible to me. And I wonder what boosting literacy really does for a society. When I was a kid, learning to read meant that I could now read comic books. With adults, it meant they could now read the stuff in the daily paper, mostly uncritically. In other words, learning to read doesn't always mean learning to think, a much harder process. In the case of the third world, learning to read and getting educated often means an increased chance of getting out of there. I know a couple from Rwanda. The husband has a Ph.D in math and the wife has a library degree, both from the U of Montreal. Would they ever go back to Rwanda? Not a chance. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darryl or Natalia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 2:05 PM Subject: [Futurework] TD pegs value of literacy > CanWest News reported today that the TD Bank recently arrived at a > dollar value to assign to literacy/numeracy skills based on a study of a > number of Canadian and international studies. The report found that > about 40% of youth lack literacy skills and and roughly half of adults > lack both literacy and numeracy. > > "An increase in literacy of one percent would mean a $32 billion > increase in national income -- three times the returns on investment in > machinery," Craig Alexander, TD Bank deputy chief economist and author > of the report said. More dependence on service-based, rather than > industrial sectors, he explained. > > He stressed that improving literacy improves civic engagement: "People > are more likely to vote if they can read the ballot." > > A 2003 report placed Canada 3rd in reading skills out of 41 nations, 7th > in math and 11th in science. There were disparities between provinces, > girls and boys, immigrants and Canadian born, and urban and rural divides. > > Natalia > > > > --- > avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. > Virus Database (VPS): 000773-1, 09/06/2007 > Tested on: 9/6/2007 11:05:57 AM > avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software. > http://www.avast.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca > http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
