MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'illiteracy'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:58:30 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789215&cid=t_108265_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FEFaJQNaw5CM%2F By Andrew J. CoulsonA study funded by 10 major foundations reported yesterday that 47 percent of Detroiters are functionally illiterate–unable to read a bus schedule, fill out a resume, or make sense of the directions on an aspirin bottle. When I checked back in 2008, Detroit public schools were spending $13,000 / pupil, which was then above the national average. The report notes that half of the illiterate population has either a high school diploma or a GED. That’s beside the point. Virtually the entire illiterate  population has completed elementary school, the level at which reading is theoretically taught. That’s seven years of schooling (k-6), at a cost of roughly $100,000, for… nothing. The study mainly calls for adult education services to remediate the pro... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789215 Thu, 05 May 2011 13:23:55 +0100 4789215 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3942775&cid=t_108265_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fnn5XaddC4Zw%2F By Malou InnocentOver at “The Skeptics” blog at The National Interest Online, I wrote a short piece detailing the abysmal state of the Afghan army and police — you know, the institutions that are supposed to take over responsibility for security and allow U.S. forces to being to come home? “From illiteracy and corruption to poor vetting and low pay, the current training effort has yielded a force of compromised caliber.” What’s more: “An AP reporter on patrol with Americans at Combat Outpost Ware in the Arghandab Valley found that when the Afghans go on patrol they are treated as outsiders. “When they see us, the old men say, ‘They are the sons of the British,’ ” Lt. Haskar said, explaining that the villagers equate both the Americans and the Afgh... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3942775 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:31:34 +0100 3942775 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3529763&cid=t_108265_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fb2MI8UL4AhE%2F By Doug BandowKabul, Afghanistan—Malou Innocent and I have been interviewing a range of people in Afghanistan’s capital.  Getting around isn’t easy.  The traffic is horrendous: automobile ownership has grown on roads built for a different era.  Street upkeep is not one of the city government’s strong suits.  Police checkpoints and traffic barriers dot Kabul. Arriving at your destination is merely the start.  Military bases, government ministries, Western embassies, luxury hotels, and large businesses are fortified with tall walls, barbed wire, concrete barriers, reinforced gates, and guard posts.  Armed personnel man entrances and patrol grounds.  As so often is the case, it quickly becomes evident on the ground that foreign conflicts are far more complicated than commonly ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3529763 Tue, 04 May 2010 12:50:42 +0100 3529763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2796403&cid=t_108265_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FZ4mBZ9cJNkc%2F Matt Yglesias has a lot of smart things to say about the pervasive illiteracy plaguing the Afghan National Army. Upwards of 75 to 90 percent (according to varying estimates) of the ANA is illiterate. As Ted Galen Carpenter and I argue in our recent Cato white paper Escaping the Graveyard of Empires: A Strategy to Exit Afghanistan, this lack of basic education prevents many officers from filling out arrest reports, equipment and supply requests, and arguing before a judge or prosecutor. And as Marine 1st Lt. Justin Greico argues, “Paperwork, evidence, processing—they don’t know how to do it…You can’t get a policeman to take a statement if he can’t read and write.” Yglesias notes: This strikes me as an object lesson in the importance of realistic goal-setting. The Afghan Nation... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2796403 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:52:50 +0100 2796403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1968774&cid=t_108265_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F11%2F18%2Flies-damn-lies-and-statistics%2F This report should be a must read for any health reporter, as well as for any treatment provider who relies on research to help inform their treatments. Read Gilles Frydman’s entry: Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics: Collective Statistical Illiteracy Read e-Patient Dave’s take on reading the report, too. (Source: World of Psychology) World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1968774 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:32:31 +0100 1968774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=509312&cid=t_108265_87_f&fid=34865&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecancerblog.com%2F2007%2F03%2F29%2Fas-illiteracy-stacks-up-patients-suffer%2F Filed under: All Cancers, Research, Environment, Daily newsIn 2003, 29 percent of the American population had only basic prose literacy skills and 14 percent had below-basic skills. Prose literacy measures the skills needed to understand texts such as new stories, brochures, and instruction manuals. People with basic skills can perform simple, everyday literacy activities. Those with below-basic skills are proficient in only the most simple and concrete literacy.How is it that these individuals, when they are diagnosed with a disease such as cancer, are able to understand the medical jargon thrown their way, the literature that piles up in front them, the complicated process we call the medical system?They aren't. And this leads to increased chances that people will be hurt, even killed, i... The Cancer Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=509312 Thu, 29 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0100 509312