How well could an illiterate person do in today's society?

[furyshade]

lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[Kimbell175113]

Inability to use email, im, text messaging, etc. would be a big problem. On the other hand, if he can somehow get a high enough position to have underlings do that stuff for him, he could probably do surprisingly well if he had charisma and negotiation skills.

[kerowo]

If no one else is in on the game probably not much higher than dishwasher or fast food employee.

If he has someone in on it and is a born salesman probably pretty far in a sales heavy, high touch field, like car or house sales.

The not being able to write is going to be almost as big a problem as the reading.

[tame_deuces]

I've had a very large number of jobs and I don't think a single one of them could have been done without being able to read

[InTheDark]

[ QUOTE ]
lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[/ QUOTE ]

Why home schooled? A public school graduate is many times more likely to be illiterate than a home schooler. Also why white? Illiteracy is many times more likely amongst minorities.

Your PC pollution is showing.

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
Why home schooled? A public school graduate is many times more likely to be illiterate than a home schooler. Also why white? Illiteracy is many times more likely amongst minorities.

Your PC pollution is showing.

[/ QUOTE ]

god you suck.

[Henry17]

You could probably get a job in construction. My dad and most of his friends, while not illiterate, could not read English yet they managed to get construction jobs.

When my dad retired his income was about $65-70k.

He lives in a suburb of Toronto and has managed fine. Mind you he can read English now but for the first 10 years he couldn't yet had no major issues.

[dragonystic]

id look for an in with organized crime

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
You could probably get a job in construction. My dad and most of his friends, while not illiterate, could not read English yet they managed to get construction jobs.

When my dad retired his income was about $65-70k.

He lives in a suburb of Toronto and has managed fine. Mind you he can read English now but for the first 10 years he couldn't yet had no major issues.

[/ QUOTE ]

The first financially successful illiterate person I knew was around 40 years old, worked at a small factory and bought, repaired, sold/rented residential property. He was a millionaire by age 30 or so. Worked very hard on finding and improving the properties.
Welders, loggers, fishermen etc can do ok also, especially if they have a spouse or good friend to help with specifics. It's not that unusual in fields like those. Once they catch on to the cycle of 'save some money, put it to work in a hands-on project' they can do very well.
$100K+ would be common in hot labor markets like western canada.

luckyme

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[/ QUOTE ]

Why home schooled? A public school graduate is many times more likely to be illiterate than a home schooler. Also why white? Illiteracy is many times more likely amongst minorities.

Your PC pollution is showing.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, you are hilarious. You arent a human poster so much as an automated agenda machine. Its kind of impressive, someone get Mr. Turing on the phone.

[hitch1978]

[ QUOTE ]
lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[/ QUOTE ]

Well in the UK, if someone worked hard at it, within 6/7 years in the trade they could earn ~£42,000(~$84,000)/anum in construction. (I am a builder, not self employed (Any more) and that's what I earned last year after just 6 years in the business)

I have worked with tradesmen in the past that cannot read at all, and they do fine.

[furyshade]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[/ QUOTE ]

Why home schooled? A public school graduate is many times more likely to be illiterate than a home schooler. Also why white? Illiteracy is many times more likely amongst minorities.

Your PC pollution is showing.

[/ QUOTE ]

it appears you are a troll, but i will respond anyway. he is home-schooled because he is otherwise intelligent so if he were in a public school he probably would have learned to read. the idea is that he has never been exposed to the written word other than it being read to him. he is a white male because if he were a female/minority it would add in other variables, and by scientific method i want the only variable to be the one im examining

[Iconoclastic]

http://www.visitingdc.com/images/george-w-bush-picture.jpg

[Jack of Arcades]

Jacques Demers (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/hockey/nhl/11/03/demers/index.html)

[vhawk01]

I think I could get by without being able to read. Honestly, the most important skill in succeeding in life, charisma/charm, would also be the most important skill here. I think a lot of people could get by pretty close to normally.

[furyshade]

[ QUOTE ]
Jacques Demers (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/hockey/nhl/11/03/demers/index.html)

[/ QUOTE ]

you win.

[Pokerdemic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
lets say someone is 18 now, was home schooled and learned everything orally. he has had every book read to him and such and has had a normal education aside from the fact that he cannot read. assuming he is a white male living in the U.S say growing up in a small town in montana and isnt an athlete, what is the best job this person could hold? how much do you think he could make annually and would he be able to function in a city? if my questions are too vague feel free to interpret them however you feel is most interesting to you

[/ QUOTE ]

Why home schooled? A public school graduate is many times more likely to be illiterate than a home schooler. Also why white? Illiteracy is many times more likely amongst minorities.

Your PC pollution is showing.

[/ QUOTE ]

it appears you are a troll, but i will respond anyway. he is home-schooled because he is otherwise intelligent so if he were in a public school he probably would have learned to read. the idea is that he has never been exposed to the written word other than it being read to him. he is a white male because if he were a female/minority it would add in other variables, and by scientific method i want the only variable to be the one im examining

[/ QUOTE ]


Focusing on a white male won't reduce literacy to the only variable. How tall is he? How good looking? How strong? How much of a smooth talker? These are variables that will also determine the success he has in the workplace.

As for being able to function in a city, I don't think it would be a problem. What I have seen suggests people who have trouble reading set up strong networks to help them accomplish things that need to get done by print, similar to the ways in which immigrants who don't speak English negotiate tasks with the help of friends and family who translate.

This is an interesting topic, primarily because far more people than you think have trouble with even mildly complex literacy tasks e.g., inferring information from a newspaper article. And this issue is going to heat up as manufacturing jobs get shipped overseas, and more and more people are going to need to perform complex reading and writing for jobs in the "knowledge economy."

[blackize]

He could make a good salary by learning a trade or doing construction work. Barring contruction and related trades, he'd probably top out at $15-25 per hour doing some sort of maintenance or janitorial work.

[pokerchap]

he could play online poker, no?

[furyshade]

[ QUOTE ]
he could play online poker, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

he could also be an astronaut, but doesn't mean he will

[pokerchap]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
he could play online poker, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

he could also be an astronaut, but doesn't mean he will

[/ QUOTE ]

not true. you cant become an astronaut or any other intense job like this without a great education. becoming an online poker pro and make 50-300k a yr is very realistic

[furyshade]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
he could play online poker, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

he could also be an astronaut, but doesn't mean he will

[/ QUOTE ]

not true. you cant become an astronaut or any other intense job like this without a great education. becoming an online poker pro and make 50-300k a yr is very realistic

[/ QUOTE ]

i think being a live pro is way more plausible. i think the internet as a whole is out of the question

[CrayZee]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
he could play online poker, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

he could also be an astronaut, but doesn't mean he will

[/ QUOTE ]

not true. you cant become an astronaut or any other intense job like this without a great education. becoming an online poker pro and make 50-300k a yr is very realistic

[/ QUOTE ]

i think being a live pro is way more plausible. i think the internet as a whole is out of the question

[/ QUOTE ]

It still goes w/o saying that you're at a disadvantage if you can't study texts. Time savings = money. A lot of poker is about knowledge.

Social skills are more important to someone that can't read.