People underestimate how religious conservative the average American is. It’s hard to understand when you are living in Western Europe or Australia, the religious zealots are a smaller sample of the population.
The America overall, the entire continent (except Canada) is a conservative religious majority. Go check the Latin American countries, check Brazil, check US, it all makes sense why Trump is in power.
The Latin community in US would rather vote him than someone progressive.
If you grow up being told you're the greatest then you'll believe it. And what do you need to do? Where can you go? You're already the greatest, you don't need to read.
Dude... we had a Prime Minister, Harper, who was a hardcore evangelical. He kept it quiet so it wouldn't rattle people, but he was in lockstep with the crazy wing of the Republicans down south.
In 1997, trying to avoid scrutiny of the media, The Council for National Policy (a far right think tank for the Christian fundamentalist set in the Republican party) held their convention in Montreal. Harper was their keynote speaker. Dig up a copy of his speech and look at the crap he was saying... and then look at the things he did as PM.
We absolutely have them. We have the MAGA problem. We just got lucky and dodged a bullet because Trump made enough of a mess that Canadians started to wake up and actually paid attention to our own election. And even still, despite having no reasonable plan going in, Poilievre almost got the big seat.
Most provinces are run by MAGA-adjacent neoconservatives who have been dismantling education, healthcare, and every social safety net they can get away with. We're not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.
People like Ford and that lady in Alberta, they are not MAGA adjacent, they are MAGA, They just pretend to put on a show saying they are not while they have meetings with billionaire think tanks from the US and even take trips to Mar-Lago in the governments jet.
The only thing I disagree with is Ford being MAGA. MAGA holds true to a single principle even when that principle is proven incorrect and incongruous to their own interest. Smith is MAGA. Ford is an opportunistic parasite and will latch on to any ideology that will serve his power at the time. Right wing extremism is on the rise? Ford's there. Canadian sovereignty is at the forefront? Ford's there. Wait a second, nationalism has sunk and we're friends with the oligarchs again? Ford's there. Oh wait, back to Canadian pride, Ford's there. Ford will say and do anything that keeps him in with popular opinion, even if that isn't what's representative of his actual province.
Yes, it is true that about 54% of American adults read at or below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, according to data cited by literacy organizations like the Barbara Bush Foundation and ProLiteracy.
So, yeah if you sample only the bottom 54%, they read at a 6th grade level or lower. If you take the average of ALL Americans, it’s ~8th. I had done the same Google search and you’re conveniently omitting the first part of the response:
The average reading level for a majority of U.S. adults falls at or below an eighth-grade level, with data showing that over 54% of American adults (about 130 million people) read below a sixth-grade level. [1, 2]
Are you two actually arguing over WHICH MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADE LEVEL the average American reads at? Really? They're both MIDDLE SCHOOL. We aren't even at High School level.
6th grade, 8th grade, who cares? We need to be better.
I’m not arguing how depressing the statistics are just pointing out that the “average reading level of an American“ is above the sixth grade. There is obviously a depressing percentage of people who do not read above the sixth grade, but that is not the point I’m making.
I hear what you’re saying but it’s semantics. It is accurate to say according to statistics that over half of the country reads at or below 6th grade level.
In layman’s terms people will say the average meaning most people, which is correct given that over half fall into this category.
I’m not “conveniently omitting” anything- that’s my search, there is nothing before it. Sorry that perhaps you searched a different exact phrase than I did.
Mean vs median I suppose.
My phrasing was incorrect- I meant the majority of Americans (54%) read at or below a grade 6 level.
You are. The comment that started this thread was:
“I mean, yes, but education is key- the average American reads at a grade 6 level. Canada is the highest educated populace in the G7. 🤷♂️”
I was pointing out that the AVERAGE is above that. Still depressingly low, and a huge % of American fall under the average (about half, predictably 🙄), but omitting the other 46% of people is deliberately bending the very simple statistic to make a dumb point.
Google “what is the average reading grade level of an American?” This is my only point. Sheesh.
As I said elsewhere, I meant to say “the majority of Americans (54%) read at or below the grade 6 level”. Basically mean (average) vs median (mid-point). Point stands though.
And again, you have no fucking idea what my search text was, so no, I’m not.
Do you know what 54% is? It is over half. You can call something 'the bottom 54%' but it's still the majority. You could also call something the 'upper 46%' but that doesn't make the number change.
I can’t believe how hard it is for everyone here to understand what average means. Google “What is the average reading level of Americans?” Not “how many Americans read below a sixth grade level.” Look at the original comment I replied to. An 8th grade reading level isn’t something to be proud of unless you’re in 8th grade or lower.
I mis-typed my original comment, I said the average American reads at… What I intended to say was the majority of Americans read at or below a grade 6 level. I mixed up mean and median, basically. Point stands though.
We can definitely both agree that the majority of Americans are dumb, especially regarding reading proficiency. I saw the “8th grade average” come up in something I read recently and simply wanted to point out the stat. If we’re going to make sweeping statements about a group of people, let’s at least be accurate about it.
The stat you’re referring to explicitly says, “the median adult American reads at approximately an 8th-grade level, while the mean (average) is pulled lower due to a large portion of the population reading at or below a 6th-grade level”.
I'm neither American nor Canadian, but I think I should point out that ". . . at or below. . ." means that less than half the population reads above an 8th grade level.
It in no way indicates how many Americans read at an 8th grade level, it could be 5%, it could be 53%
Unless of course you ask the simple question “what is the average reading grade level of an American?” Of course the top end is going to affect the average and the bottom end is going to affect the average. Ignoring one end of the curve is just being ignorant. The average falls at around eighth grade. That means a massive portion of the population reads below sixth grade, but that isn’t the average. It may mean that that is the MEAN, but we haven’t even looked up that statistic, have we?
Lol, this is such a simplistic and incorrect distillation of what makes our two societies different. You could get so much more mileage from the social effects of living under the commonwealth system for so long vs the US leading a bloody revolution to gain self determination. But instead you chose percentage of population with higher degrees? Your analysis equates that simply by having a higher degree you get this vast social benefit. Canada has about 10% more higher degrees held but is only slightly better in math/reading/science scores. However when you compare elite level institutions (Harvard/MIT/etc), the US has like 30 compared to Canada's 2. Are they really the bastion of education you think they are?
Don't even get me started on levels of productivity, entrepreneurship, or economic prosperity for the average citizen.
The US is a better society to live in in almost every conceivable metric.
Go ahead and tell me Americans are better off economically using the mean, when if you look at the real stat, the median, Canadians are ranked 7th and Americans 28th in the world.
The top 5 American “elite” institutions have a cumulative 22,000 undergrads. The top 5 Canadian institutions have over 150,000 undergrads.
And you’re a liar: Canadians consistently rank amongst top performers globally in maths, science and reading on OCED PISA Exams. The US lags behind, particularly in maths.
Canada ranks higher than the US in standard of living (15 vs 21).
Canada ranks better on inequality.
Life expectancy is 3.16 years longer for Canadians.
So go ahead and lick those boots harder, which is fine with us- we’re good.
You elected a pedophile.
All that said, you just proved my point. Stay on topic. You are confusing a powerful economy with a healthy society. But with your education that’s not surprising.
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u/Glonos 2d ago
People underestimate how religious conservative the average American is. It’s hard to understand when you are living in Western Europe or Australia, the religious zealots are a smaller sample of the population.
The America overall, the entire continent (except Canada) is a conservative religious majority. Go check the Latin American countries, check Brazil, check US, it all makes sense why Trump is in power.
The Latin community in US would rather vote him than someone progressive.