Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Im a bit dubious. How did they account for internet based reading? And Non-english speakers(Who live in the two states that dominate this list)
Still. Kinda cool
http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/america-s-least-literate-cities-1393899752-slideshow/

A recent study by Central Connecticut State University ranked the nation’s largest cities by their reading culture -- how literate they are -- based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

Although the focus of the study was on reading culture, not test scores, cities that ranked as less literate were also less educated. The 10 cities with the poorest reading habits were also in the bottom 25 percent nationwide for people with a college degree and for people with a high school diploma.

Click on the photo above to see the nation's least literate cities. And to see its most literate cities, visit 247WallSt.com:



Methodology: Based on the report published by Central Connecticut State University, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the literacy ranking of 77 U.S. cities with populations of at least 250,000. The study reviewed city literacy based on six categories — library systems, bookstores, educational attainment, digital readership, and newspapers and other publications. Education metrics considered by Miller are from 2012, library system data is from fiscal year 2010, and circulation, publication, and bookstore figures are from 2013. To determine the availability of each reading material, the study measured circulation relative to the size of the population. 24/7 Wall St. also reviewed 2012 data from the Census Bureau, including income, and poverty.

Normally I wouldn't point out the two spelling errors in your title but given the subject matter....

Thats a result of just waking up and having no coffee :(

Is your city on the list hotsauce?

 Ouze wrote:
Normally I wouldn't point out the two spelling errors in your title but given the subject matter....

fething exalted!

I can't speak to the CA or other cities, but for the Texas cities: they each have a huge itinerant and/or Mexican illegal population which I assume is a contributing factor.

Wow. Yahoo got ugly.

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Is your city on the list hotsauce?

No but I live near several of them

Also, i'm sad that newspapers (a industry generally confirmed as dying) is considered a metric for literacy.

Might as well judge the number of drivers by buggy whip sales.

So, what cities are they?

 Easy E wrote:
So, what cities are they?

I had the same question.

The cities are:
10. Mesa, AZ
9. Aurora, CO
8. Fresno, CA
7. Chula Vista, CA
6. Anaheim, CA
5. San Antonio, TX
4. El Paso, TX
3. Stockton, CA
2. Corpus Christi, TX
1. Bakersfield, CA

based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

This seems like incredibly flawed methodology.

1) Bookstores. Given the falling away of printed media in favor of electronic media, or just purchasing books online, we shouldn't use Bookstores to gauge anything.

2) Educational Attainment. This is a little tricky. Its certainly a factor, but only to a certain point. Someone going to community college is likely just as literate as someone attending Harvard. Assuming we are using the basic definition of Literate, which is able to read and write.

3) Newspaper Circulation. Again, this totally disregards the switch to electronic media.

4) Use of online resources. Finally some sense.

5) The library system. Meh, you can be perfectly literate without using the Library.

6) Periodical Publishing Resources. Just because you don't read a scientific journal or something doesn't mean you aren't literate.

Corpus Christi, TX: "We're a beach resort town near the Mexico boarder that's 59.7% Hispanic! feth literacy! Come have some margaritas!

Edit: I bet they are very literate in Spanish. Too bad the 6 categories won't reflect that. (bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources)

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Is your city on the list hotsauce?

No but I live near several of them

How near? The suburbs?

 kronk wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
Normally I wouldn't point out the two spelling errors in your title but given the subject matter....

fething exalted!

I can't speak to the CA or other cities, but for the Texas cities: they each have a huge itinerant and/or Mexican illegal population which I assume is a contributing factor.

I can indeed speak about the CA cities and yep the certainly do.

Libraries denote literacy now? Do they still have libraries???

Do they mean literate as people who can read, or literate as people who are into reading?

They are talking about general physical evidences of access to literature.

Obviously you can get books off the internet, but that is equally available everywhere and can't be seen, so it isn't a physical evidence of people reading.

A library or bookshop will only be there if there is enough demand for books. Therefore a city with no bookshops has a lower demand for books than a city with lots of bookshops. Since people who don't want to read anything don't buy books, there is likely to be a smaller number of bookshops in places where they live.

Etc.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
They are talking about general physical evidences of access to literature.

Obviously you can get books off the internet, but that is equally available everywhere and can't be seen, so it isn't a physical evidence of people reading.

A library or bookshop will only be there if there is enough demand for books. Therefore a city with no bookshops has a lower demand for books than a city with lots of bookshops. Since people who don't want to read anything don't buy books, there is likely to be a smaller number of bookshops in places where they live.

Etc.

That could be true five years ago. In the age of Amazon and Kindle, that is not a true statement.

Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

Why would anyone go to bookshops. They're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy here.

 daedalus wrote:
Also, i'm sad that newspapers (a industry generally confirmed as dying) is considered a metric for literacy.

Might as well judge the number of drivers by buggy whip sales.

You should be more sad that newspapers are being used as a literacy metric at all when they're, for the most part, written at an 8th grade reading level.....


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

Why would anyone go to bookshops. They're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy here.

Don't make that argument in the Black Library news thread. It'll get you suspended for a month.

 cincydooley wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

Why would anyone go to bookshops. They're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy here.

Don't make that argument in the Black Library news thread. It'll get you suspended for a month.

Does the Frazz even leave OT these days?

 Platuan4th wrote:

Does the Frazz even leave OT these days?

Touche, sir. Touche.

 Grey Templar wrote:

based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

This seems like incredibly flawed methodology.

Flawed methodology? From THE Central Connecticut State University? Poppycock.

I lived in El Paso for a few years, and taught Army ROTC at UTEP for a couple. I had college freshmen who couldn't write a complete sentence let alone a paragraph, and sophomores in the same shape. It took a lot of patience but some were good kids that deserved the effort it took to get them on track. I taught a bit at EPCC (the community college) and it was worse. I swear at least 75% of the kids there were in really bad shape. Not just 'English as a second language' issues either, though that did contribute. Basic reading and writing skills were just awful.

 gorgon wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

based on six categories: bookstores, residents’ educational attainment, newspaper circulation, use of online resources, the library system, and periodical publishing resources.

This seems like incredibly flawed methodology.

Flawed methodology? From THE Central Connecticut State University? Poppycock.

Yeah, seems a little odd... all but two are in California and Texas, for some reason. I don't put much stock in this study.

Yeah. With no cities in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, or Louisiana, it's a little hard to believe.

I'm curious which of those cities also rate high on the missing teeth index?

 Frazzled wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

Why would anyone go to bookshops. They're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy here.

Probably because of all that rampant illiteracy.

-note that this is from someone in one of the top five most literate cities in the US, so .... smug.

I believe the Texas ones.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Do you think that a place with fewer bookshops is more literate than a place with a lot of bookshops?

Why would illiterate people buy books?

Why would anyone go to bookshops. They're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy here.

There are 3 thriving used book stores within 10 miles of me, as well as 5 Barnes and Nobles and several libraries. I see plenty of people at all of them when I go, and I go to book stores a lot. They are not teetering here. Well, maybe Barnes and Noble, but that's more of a chain bookstore management thing.