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Why is it that everything else that has to do with anything can evolve/change yet our political processes can't? Just saying.
If you are referring to the Constitution the answer is that our political processes can change. There is a procedure for doing just that. If I am not mistaken it has been done 27 times and the title of this thread is about people not knowing that number.
Article V of the United States Constitution states: "The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it neccesary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Leglislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Leglislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
If you want the Constitution changed - contact your state assemblyman or whatever the members of your state leglislature are called and get an application started.
If you are referring to the Constitution the answer is that our political processes can change. There is a procedure for doing just that. If I am not mistaken it has been done 27 times and the title of this thread is about people not knowing that number.
Article V of the United States Constitution states: "The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it neccesary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Leglislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Leglislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
If you want the Constitution changed - contact your state assemblyman or whatever the members of your state leglislature are called and get an application started.
The people we vote for never vote in our favor anyways but I meant elections. Sorry for going off topic. Shove your smugness up your a$$.
In 2011, the National Institute for Literacy estimated that 47 percent of adults in Detroit, Michigan are "functionally illiterate," meaning they have trouble with reading, speaking, writing and computational skills. According to findings by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, half of that illiterate population has obtained a high school diploma.
This government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information." Further, this study showed that 41% to 44% of U.S. adults in the lowest level on the literacy scale (literacy rate of 35 or below) were living in poverty.
Since 1983, more than 10 million Americans reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level. In the same period, more than 6 million Americans dropped out of high school altogether.
According to the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 37 percent of fourth graders and 26 percent of eighth graders cannot read at the basic level; and on the 2002 NAEP 26 percent of twelfth graders cannot read at the basic level. That is, when reading grade appropriate text these students cannot extract the general meaning or make obvious connections between the text and their own experiences or make simple inferences from the text. In other words, they cannot understand what they have read.
The number of illiterate adults includes nearly 1 million young people who drop out of school before graduation - 400,000 legal immigrants - 100,000 refugees - 800,000 illegal immigrants - and 20% of all high school graduates.
50% of American adults are unable to read a book at the eight-grade level. (Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America, United Nations)
$5 billion a year in taxes goes to support people receiving public assistance that are unemployable due to illiteracy. (Laubach Literacy Action)
2.2 million people each year (44,000 people each week) are added to the adult illiterate population in the Untied States. (U.S. Department of Education)
More than 20% of adults read at or below a fifth grade level- far below the level needed to earn a living wage. The National Adult Literacy Survey found that over 40 million Americans age 16 and older have significant literacy needs.
According to current estimates, the number of functionally illiterate adults is increasing by approximately two and one quarter million persons each year. This number includes nearly 1 million young people who drop out of school before graduation, 400,000 legal immigrants, 100,000 refugees, and 800,000 illegal immigrants, and 20 % of all high school graduates. Eighty-four percent of the 23,000 people who took an exam for entry-level jobs at New York Telephone in 1988, failed. More than half of Fortune 500 companies have become educators of last resort, with the cost of remedial employee training in the three R's reaching more than 300 million dollars a year. One estimate places the yearly cost in welfare programs and unemployment compensation due to illiteracy at six billion dollars. An additional 237 billion dollars a year in unrealized earnings is forfeited by persons who lack basic reading skills, according to Literacy Volunteers of America.
The literacy rates are alarming and aren’t limited to a specific marginalized group. For instance, 17.3% of high school graduates surveyed reported much or some difficulty reading labels on food items or medicines, and all groups responded with at least 19.5% saying they had difficulty dealing with government agencies, public companies, business and medical personnel.
NAEP test scores show that fewer than one in three of the nation's fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-graders are proficient in writing--that is, capable of composing organized, coherent prose in clear language with correct spelling and grammar. Only 24 percent of high school seniors achieved that goal.
We lose $17 billion annually on lost productivity and remedial education in post secondary institutions and the workplace for skills that should have been learned in high school.
76% of college students who take remedial courses in reading never earn a degree.
63% of college students who take remedial courses in math never earn a degree.
67% of prison inmates nationwide are high school dropouts.
More than 75 percent of students at two-year colleges and more than 50 percent of students at four-year colleges do not score at the proficient level of literacy. This means that they lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as comparing credit card offers with different interest rates or summarizing the arguments of newspaper editorials.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skoro
It tells me you're making up "statistics" and tossing them out like facts.
Ask your husband if 1/5 of the troops in his unit are illiterate.
He says yes, around 30% of them were functioning illiterate, he also added that those numbers might have changed in the past few years since he got out, but then yes; he said some operations would have gone smoother if the guys with him were better readers.
I know John Tyler was the 10th president and was the first one to become president by death. He was the VEEP. I was about to type that I don't remember who died to make him president, but the slogan Tippeecanoe and Tyler too just gurgled up in my mind. Wasn't Tipeecanoe a nickname for guy -- he was a military officer and ran as the "hard cider candidate"? I still don't know the era, but this all sounds pretty early post-Jacksonian ... 1830s or so?
(I only know this because I picked John Tyler for a report I had to do on presidents in third grade. I wanted to go with one of the minor ones.)
Did you know John Tyler has 2 Grandchildren that are still alive Today?
If you did not know this then this is why we have know hope. 15 out of 16 people do not know this.
Did you know John Tyler has 2 Grandchildren that are still alive Today?
If you did not know this then this is why we have know hope. 15 out of 16 people do not know this.
lol.. oh know... the humanity, we're all going to hell. I do happen to know it. I heard it on NPR a few years ago. Crazy story. It just goes to show that we're more connected to our pasts than we realize. The generation that fough the Civil War and settled the West is much closer to most of us than we realize. My grandpa remembered his grandpa vividly. His grandpa was a Confederate who took of for the West after the war. I didn't know this until I researched it. I don't think my grandpa realized it either. I have, however, seen the guns my ggrandfather carried. My grandpa had them and would show them to me as a kid. Now his grandpa's grandpa fought in the battle of Guilford Courthouse in the Revolutionary War against the British. So, if my family talked about history more, he could have relayed stories to my grandpa that his grandpa told him. I could have heard stories of the battle that were third hand account. Crazy to think about ... to me at least.
I couldn't name all of the Presidents off the top of my head. Would definitely have to make use of Google. Also, didn't know how many amendments they are. There is a lot of political/historical stuff I don't know. If it's not major, I probably don't know much about it.
Unless you're a history/PolySci buff, you're not going to know much of this. As long as folks know the issues and can make educated decisions and choices, that's good enough for me.
In fact, I'm almost convinced that the more you "know", the more tin-foil hat'ish you become.
You keep a copy of the Constitution at the ready? How...............nice.
I don't know why, but I just feel sad for you for some reason.
It's a little creepy. Agreed. Particularly next to the Bible. I mean the Bible is good for spiritual edification. It's nice to read and review it. The Constitution though? Really?
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My Bible and copy of the Constitution sit side by side on the bookcase.
