Why should reading the Iliad be our standard for literacy? Our standard should be can they apply for jobs, understand bills, understand basic contracts for housing and jobs, read food and drug packaging etc. Those are the things that allow people to successfully navigate modern life.

If the goal is just to pump out functional proles, then sure, we only need the absolute basics.

If the goal is to provide meaning and purpose to life, to build creative thinkers capable of pushing humanity forward, then reading the high points of human civilization is probably important.

I don't disagree that they're important but they're clearly of secondary importance to the literacy skills that allow people to function in society.

We don't need just the absolute basics but we definitely need the absolute basics first. And atm it seems like we're putting a large emphasis on the skills you're promoting but largely failing on the basics.

This exacerbated due to many people who (understandable) struggle with the 'high points of society' thinking that they're stupid and thus dismissing their own abilities before they master the basics.

Are you suggesting that this is what John Lewis is looking for, someone who read the classics? It may be true, but that is not what I understood from the article.

You, and not OP, are mistaken. Literate here means C+ grade in English language, not literature.

These are linked. Students don’t have basic language skills because they don’t engage with exemplary works. If your only input is “Twitter speak and memes” then it’s not surprising that no one can communicate intelligently.

Being able to read "exemplary works" is a really strange and narrow definition of literate.

I also have to disagree that "twitter speak and memes" is not intelligent communication -- just because something is new, doesn't mean it's less intelligent.

Engaging with exemplary works mostly improves your ability to appreciate exemplary works. Children don't start out with that ability, so unsurprisingly they are not keen on reading them. There's an argument that we should force them to read them anyway, but that's for promotion of culture, not functional literacy.

If we want them to read safety notices correctly then we're better off teaching J. K. Rowling than Shakespeare.

> Engaging with exemplary works mostly improves your ability to appreciate exemplary works.

No, it helps you gain a richer understanding of the universe and your human place in it.

When I was in school, they taught astronomy in physics class.

Another benefit of artistic/literary courses is that you learn about concepts like "metaphors" and "figures of speech."

This is for John Lewis sales assistants. I don't think they're expecting people well versed in Greek literature.

It also means "read Harry Potter". I wonder how many of these kids got to that stage.