Detroit: 200,000 illiterates and a 20% unemployment rate

What do you get when 47% of your adult population can't read?

The answer is Detroit.

A recent Detroit Regional Workforce Fund report indicates that an estimated 200,000 adults in Detroit are functioning illiterates, or can't read at all.

Surprisingly, some of the people included in that scholastically challenged group, actually have a high school diploma or a G.E.D.; which is more proof that America's public school system is a joke.

According to a Detroit Free Press article, the Motor City received $3 million dollars from taxpayers to operate nine educational centers that are supposedly assisting an estimated 1,300 people. Detroit officials say current efforts simply aren't enough.

From the Detroit Free Press:

"Those most in need of help cannot perform such tasks as locating an intersection on a street map, reading and comprehending a short newspaper article or calculating total costs on an order form. (One) study discovered that many laid-off workers in (Detroit) could not enroll in federally subsidized job-training programs, because they could not read at a sixth-grade level."

Learning disabilities aside, money is not the answer. You cannot force someone to learn if they aren't interested in getting an education. Although, our current public school system is a disgrace, a motivated student with at least one involved parent, still has the potential to become a productive member of society.

The current force behind today's epidemic of illiteracy is a culture that celebrates ignorance and sub-human behavior; no amount of money can spin sewage into gold. The federal dollars funding adult education programs in Detroit would be better spent on more police, bigger prisons, morgues, and funeral homes.