[JackG]

Originally Posted by Peer

Rob-00BoxsterS wrote:
> Why do you continue to generalize and insult (incorrectly I might
> add) the people from the country you choose to live in?

How's pointing to a well known fact insulting?

Your "fact" is in some dispute.

z12358 wrote:
> I still believe you didn't really mean this, and that your (US)
> university is one of those still good enough to teach you the
> pitfalls of generalization.

The "pitfalls of generalization"..? Well, among the nuggets I picked up from my statistics classes were that even a phrase like 'American people' is a general term. Hence, the following is a true & correct statement; the illiteracy level of the American people is among the highest in the industrialized world. If that feels like a "pitfall" to you, then I apologize also to you.
peer

No one blames you for repeating the fallacies that you've been taught. Here are some counter-points:

"When it comes to international comparisons, it's essential to remember that there is no standard definition of literacy and that many nations rely on self-reporting: in the census, people are often asked "Can you read and write" or even "Can you read and write your name", and the answer for this question is then simply accepted.

Many Europeans gleefully latch on to this figure about the US but then fail to critically examine how literacy numbers are generated in their own countries. Many European countries have sizeable immigrant populations from poor countries in which illiteracy is very common. It's surprising, therefore, that these populations apparently do no exceed 0.01% of the general population. When I've raised this matter in casual conversations with European friends, they tend to respond, "Ah, but those people are Somalis/Turks/Berbers/Pakistanis/Kurds/Nepalis, not real Swedes/Germans/French/Italians/Britons, so they don't count." Non-citizens, including those without legal papers, most certainly did count in the National Adult Literacy Survey (as they should have), and this also needs to be borne in mind."

You must question all data points. Maybe that's a class you didn't take?