If You Can Read This, You're Smarter than 52% of the Adults in Philadelphia!

To paraphrase what someone else once said, “If you're not angry about the state of Philadelphia, you're not paying attention!”

Today, Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board stated that more than 202,000 adults in Philadelphia are don't have a high school diploma, and 550,000 adults LACK BASIC LITERACY SKILLS! Can you believe that?! That's an insane amount of people! Basically, 52.2% of the adults in this city... are stupid. Literally. Over half the people in this city have no basic grasp of language! Over half the people in this city have no idea how to vote, go online, can read a book or newspaper... 52.2%!

What the hell?!

Its nothing short of astounding! I can honestly say, without fear, that as I write this, over half the people of the city in which I ran for mayor are stupid! I can say that because if you can't read and you're out of school, there is something fundamentally wrong!

I used to spend days upon days wondering how and why people didn't seem to understand the issues they were faced with, why they seemed so ignorant when I worked in retail, and why so many people don't seem to have the basic skills needed to function in life in this city!

So what do we do?

That's where it gets tricky. We have one major plus about the young people: They tend to use text messaging and Twitter, and to use them... you need to know how to read! No if's, and's, or but's, you need to read!

When it comes to adults, its a lot more tricky. Some of these people have made it even 50 years without having to learn how to read, so the real target should be 20 to 50-year-olds. These people are the lifeblood of our city, the ones who are able to work. How do we educate them? How do we get them to learn how to read?

I don't know, but I do know that if there is now choice but for them to learn, they will.

Thanks to Philebrity for the tip!