Illiteracy

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Duece

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Mar 11, 2004
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Based on data from the 2010 Census, the National Statistical Office (ONE) has revealed that 1,105,643 people over the age of six cannot read or write. This is about 13% of the Dominican Republic's population. In the 2002 Census, the percentage of people who were illiterate was placed at 16%.

Dear Dominican friends, I haved lived in the DR for 12 years and I have always said that the situation with education is very sad. Several things bother me. The funding for maintenance on the Metro exceeds the entire budget for education. I wonder why? Just an example of the priorities the government has opted for. Another thing that strikes me as odd is that it appears the rich and powerful don't want the younger generation to become smarter or prosperous. Of course the rich and powerful control most of everything in the DR including lucrative government contracts that are rife with theft and corruption. The saddest thing of all though is the failure to realize that if 13% of the population as of 2010 are illeterate, it means these people, fellow Dominicans, have to survive any way they can. How many window washers and shoe shine jobs exist? Other alternatives seem to dismal to consider.

The only hope at the most fundamental level is to educate the populus. Domincans are very creative, good business people, inventive and caring. However, there are many Dominicans that don't have much to look forward to. A fundamental and revolutionary change in education must take place. It's time for the rich and powerful to say enough is enough and do the right thing.

I'm proud to live here and proud to call the Dominican Republic my home, but I truly hope that change will come sooner than later.
 
R

Redscot

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Dec 10, 2004
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Well said Deuce. Not sure if you are aware of a major literacy campaign that has been started by Danilo Medina. There are also dozens of schools being built or replacing outdated ones (In the community where I have some land in La Vega they broke ground 2 weeks ago). The plan is also to gradually implement a full school day instead of the 2 tandas currently in use, in which breakfast and lunch will be provided. Definitely a bold plan, and with all the corruption etc. you mentioned we will have to wait and see how much success will be seen. Undoubtedly though, however small, there will be some success, and that is a start.
 
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dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i think a change can be done. after the second world war nearly half of polaks were illiterate. the government introduced a literacy campaign in 1948 or so. as a result the illiteracy rate dropped to just above 1%.
 
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Criss Colon

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When people can't read or write, they have to work for a VERY LOW amount of money!
THAT, is just what the government/Ricos, and yes, even all the rest of us want !!!!
We like having maids,gardeners,laborers,and all the "Service" workers making low wages.
Not "PC" to say that, but it's true!
That 13% doesn't include the vast number of "Functionally Illiterate".
I'd put the total at 50%, or more!
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I gave a fruit seller a 100 peso note for 25 pesos of bananas yesterday.
He gave me back a 100 pesos in change!
And "NO!", I didn't give him back 25 pesos!
 
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dv8

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i saw it in the pharmacy too. have not seen one client who could calculate what would be a 10% discount from 100 pesos bill.
 
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Criss Colon

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I was told twenty years ago, that when you buy gasoline here, never say "Fill It Up", but give an exact amount.
They can NEVER get the change right!
Pharmacies are always fun!
You get a 10 or 15 % discount for "cash".
I usually end up doing the math!
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dv8

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our system did automatic discount but i had to show our workers how to calculate percentage based on the total and the discounted amount. this is the formula i learnt in primary school.
but... being math dumb i could understand, i normally need a calculator for even simple tasks. not being able to read and write is another story altogether. imagine what life must be like when you completely do not understand the writing around you... it's like being in china or japan where even the letters/symbols do not make sense. how lost one must feel?
 
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flyinroom

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Aug 26, 2012
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dv8 said:
our system did automatic discount but i had to show our workers how to calculate percentage based on the total and the discounted amount. this is the formula i learnt in primary school.
but... being math dumb i could understand, i normally need a calculator for even simple tasks. not being able to read and write is another story altogether. imagine what life must be like when you completely do not understand the writing around you... it's like being in china or japan where even the letters/symbols do not make sense. how lost one must feel?
Click to expand...

Think of all the simple joys that literacy bring.........So basic that we hardly ever take stock and yet there are so many that are deprived of this basic human right...e.d.u.c.a.t.i.o.n.......
The 3R's......
Reading
'Riting
'Rithmatic
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Criss Colon said:
I was told twenty years ago, that when you buy gasoline here, never say "Fill It Up", but give an exact amount.
They can NEVER get the change right!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Click to expand...
Some truth there.

I've taken bills and change from a gas pump guy to make change for him...
 
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MerengueDutchie

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to be perfectly honest... the examples of the gas-jockeys are the same the world over :)

but yes - a lot of people here have serious deficiencies in their learning.

re the 10% discount - did you know that students are required to only 'know' (and that in the loosest possible way) the multiplication tables up till 9? Their knowledge by the way doesn't go as far as that - they are actually counting it out on their fingers most of the time...
 
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Criss Colon

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"To Be Perfectly Honest", I have never had a problem getting exact change when paying for gasoline anywhere in the world except here!
Here, they sometimes know the exact change, but try to rob you with incorrect change.
A DR taxi driver said that taxi, and "Moto" drivers always ask for an exact amount when buying gas. Many do so , because they can't count the exact change either!
I don't think I paid "cash" for gas in the US for over 25 years,and now, you just, "Pass your card near the reader and go!"
CC
 
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flyinroom

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MerengueDutchie said:
to be perfectly honest... the examples of the gas-jockeys are the same the world over :)

but yes - a lot of people here have serious deficiencies in their learning.

re the 10% discount - did you know that students are required to only 'know' (and that in the loosest possible way) the multiplication tables up till 9? Their knowledge by the way doesn't go as far as that - they are actually counting it out on their fingers most of the time...
Click to expand...

It's not only in the D.R.......In the U.S. and in Canada many student (and parents and yes even teachers) think that math in your head is "Sooo last century":glasses:. That's what calculators are for, n'est-ce pas?
Man, I used to love those multiplication tables. Except for one that I still have problems with to this day.
6 x 7 or it's twin sister 7 x 6.................I revert to [ 5x7=35+7= 42 or 6x6=36+6= 42 ].......
Go figure. :classic:
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Remember when TI calculators were banned in class...and slide rules weren't?

I think I still have a slide rule somewhere...
 
C

Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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MerengueDutchie said:
to be perfectly honest... the examples of the gas-jockeys are the same the world over :)

but yes - a lot of people here have serious deficiencies in their learning.

re the 10% discount - did you know that students are required to only 'know' (and that in the loosest possible way) the multiplication tables up till 9? Their knowledge by the way doesn't go as far as that - they are actually counting it out on their fingers most of the time...
Click to expand...

They wouldn't 'get' Spinal Tap then.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EbVKWCpNFhY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'll say it again for about the eleventy seventh time. Two books that can help you cope with life in the Dee Ah are Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland an Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (which contains the nonsense poem Jabberwocky).

Jabberwocky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
F

flyinroom

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Celt202...............Thank-you.
Now that I have had my first guffaw of the day, i feel almost human.
 
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MerengueDutchie

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Criss Colon said:
"To Be Perfectly Honest", I have never had a problem getting exact change when paying for gasoline anywhere in the world except here!
Here, they sometimes know the exact change, but try to rob you with incorrect change.
A DR taxi driver said that taxi, and "Moto" drivers always ask for an exact amount when buying gas. Many do so , because they can't count the exact change either!
I don't think I paid "cash" for gas in the US for over 25 years,and now, you just, "Pass your card near the reader and go!"
CC
Click to expand...

I always ask for a fixed amount - and always have the amount on hand
 
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