Actually literacy is necessary but not sufficient.
It ought to be combined with individuals having a better sense of
- who they are
- how they react emotionally to situations
- how they deal with peers, especially peer pressure

these assist to being thoughtful and making thoughtful decisions.
Remember impulse buying is not connected to literacy per se

Wow, thank you for posting this. It is so true and profound.

John, are you not referring the current progressive definition of critical thinking?

I am not a fan of the current critical thinking models, and maintain it does nothing for the person to discern an inference, a lie, or a truth in verbal and written speech. The current critical thinking models promotes the thinking always connecting the emotions, without catching the inferences, the lies, the irony, the truths, and the contradictions. That is left up to the student to be sorted out, and in my opinion is wrong. It should be taught and not allow students to sort it out on their own. The other day, a student reading the book Night, a very emotional and difficult book to read but simple in its writing, got it all wrong, by stating the Jewish people were killing the Germans. The book Night, is a prefect example of students getting the wrong end of the stick, due to the current practices of literacy in the public education system.

” Literacy is not, as it is considered in our schools, a portion of education. It is education. It is at once the ability and the inclination of the mind to find knowledge, to pursue understanding and, out of knowledge and understanding, not out of received attitudes and values or emotional responses, to make judgments.
“Literate people are not easy prey. They know an inference from a statement of fact, and they are not easily persuaded by pretended authority. Literacy is like the kingdom of Heaven. Those who attain it will find that other things are added unto them.”

The above I believe what literacy should be. To get there, students must be taught. How? Many different ways.

“Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true.[1] The conclusion drawn is also called an idiomatic. The laws of valid inference are studied in the field of logic.

Human inference (i.e. how humans draw conclusions) is traditionally studied within the field of cognitive psychology; artificial intelligence researchers develop automated inference systems to emulate human inference. Statistical inference allows for inference from quantitative data.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inference

I am not referring to any of the nearly dozen definitions of critical thinking. In my experience most of those models DO NOT make connections to the emotions, unless they involve some form of metacognition. I am referring to the work on Social and Emotional Learning pioneered by Daniel Goleman and others.

So in reading Night- high for literacy though i would also want to promote some sort of emotional connections- empathy and caring.

Financial literacy is also emotional since advertising plays on this. FL requires BOTH emotion and literacy including some critical thinking. My message to my kids, “Do you really need it”? That is not a literacy question.

Don’t really know enough about the work of Goleman….
http://danielgoleman.info/admin/press/

http://casel.org/

I would think empathy and caring is a given dealing with humans, unless one has psychopathic tendencies. Night, to me comes with the message how awful humans can become, towards one another. If it is not taught, the empathy and caring that is the desire goal, will go unheard.

I don’t know enough about Goleman’ s work and others, to form a solid opinion. But I do know it is difficult to start from emotions, to obtain knowledge. Too many consequences of where morals and values are squeezed, to make the novel Night, acceptable behaviour, as well as other types of human behaviour.

As for financial literacy, that also has a little profit margin that is growing as an expenditure in the public education sector, could very well do with a few modifications telling students the message that others never do have your best interests at heart. Look at the small print of any contract. Than open up 101 propaganda theory, and how people are manipulated into doing things against their best interests. The message, do you really need it, becomes connected to the values of the individual.

High levels of literacy, would help put an end to the daily manipulation of human beings on this earth, and an end to the terrible things that human beings are capable of.

“High levels of literacy, would help put an end to the daily manipulation of human beings on this earth, and an end to the terrible things that human beings are capable of.”

The historical evidence does not support this.
Case #1 Germany from 1880s-1940s
Case #2 US in the McCarthy Era

Cases 3-? All the little acts of inhumanity sponsored by educated people.
I rest my case.

By the elite, but if the general population had high literacy levels, less likely to be manipulated by the likes of the fan clubs of whole language. Less likely, to be manipulated by those who imposed values unto others, against their own best interests. Events such as a parent requesting reading help for their child, but are denied because the problem will go away. Nothing to worry about, and other such lines to denied services, are lines used often to take advantage of parents who do not have the background knowledge, but are operating on instinct that there is something wrong with their child’s reading. The important knowledge on reading, is never communicated at the school level, and is of the stuff that parents can take effective action. A parent has to look elsewhere, to find the Children of the Code site, or to the local library to confirm the instincts of the parent was correct.

Often used within the public education system, where instincts of parents are ridicule and mocked at, by those within the education system. The public education system often is seen as the experts in education, and is pushed often when parents opposed them, in some fashion or another.

Does not matter, all previous examples used all have one thing in common, taking advantage of people and their literacy levels. The lower the literacy level, the less likely the person has the ability to discern a lie from a truth, and is very likely to make decisions on their emotions. In turn, operating on emotions, often works against their own best interests. Hitler, and his horrid ideas would not have occurred, if the general population had higher literacy levels, as well as writing and numeracy. levels.

The public education system is the main driver of keeping literacy levels low for a percentage of the population, because it is good for the economy, and governments no matter what stripe it happens to be. When everyone is on the same level more or less when it comes to high literacy and numeracy, than the world will be a better place to live in, and ordinary people will be far less porn to the ravings of mad men and the behavioural modifications to act on emotions, and not on logic and reason.

“Cases 3-? All the little acts of inhumanity sponsored by educated people.
I rest my case. “

The public education system and the acts of inhumanity within the system. Major one, is having parents and children working against their best interests, and have them working for the best interests of those who work within the education system. How many times was I manipulated to act against my best interests of my LD child?  Lost track of it a long time ago, but I do know why it kept happening and the solution to put a stop to it. The lack of knowledge was my problem, and an education system unwilling to share knowledge that would help me to act for the best interests of my child. The cure was, to gain and learn the knowledge, so I was no longer susceptible to the manipulation of educrats. Good thing I had will power and persistence, because it turned out that I was correct, and my child is a honour student today. Or otherwise, she be sitting in a basic classroom, hearing the messages of the education system that they must read through their emotions, rather from their knowledge base.

Humans are a messy lot, and it should be taught in a public education system.