The notion of - If you don't have great writing skills you will work at McDonalds- is a joke. Tell that to doctors, lawyers and many other professionals that writing is just general labor they hire people for.
I get that. But these are basic life skills we are talking about. It's not rocket science. Learning to speak is one of the first things you will ever do. It's not something easily forgotten. Maybe Superman was studying to be a doctor, learnt too much, and forgot which order his underwear is meant to go on. That would explain so many things for me.
Ah, so now you're changing it to "great" writing skills? We're not talking about that, we're talking about teenagers who can't fill out a job application without resorting to txt spk. There are millions of people who cannot write with any special skill or flair, but they can at least form sentences in their native language and express their opinions clearly. In order to be successful in this world, the vast majority of people absolutely need to be able to read and write. We are not seeing that in younger generations. Whether it's through their own laziness, or a failure in educational standards, there are potentially millions of young people who will be filling out application forms with txt spk, and remaining in low wage jobs because no one wants to promote them over the person who CAN read and write properly. They will stay at that lower level until they finally realize their failing and go back to higher education to learn the core principles of reading and writing, the things they should have developed in their younger years. You seem to believe that being able to read and write is a special skill, it's not.
Finally!.....One of the great mysteries of life has been solved. Thank you @Cone Man for clearing that up for us.
Jobs that require a application are usually a "lower level" why would you strive to stay there and function at that kind of a level ? Most decent jobs require a resume and 90% + of people usually hire someone to write one. If you are going to go back to school and train your time will probably be better spent learning a trade or other skills besides writing and filling out applications.
We are talking about basic literacy which is an integral part of education and learning skills. How can you learn trade or any other skill without literacy? You can learn washing dishes and sweeping floors, yes, but not coding, designing, administrating and managing. I have yet to see a lawyer without higher education. Even sales, the ever popular trade, requires a lot of self-education which is impossible without literacy. Lawyers, doctors and other professionals that you use as an example are far from illiterate. In fact, they process so much literature they are above the average literacy level. Becoming a success without literacy makes an exception and it takes a genius, or at least a talent. It is not how it works for the majority of people. You might as well experiment that approach on your children. Somehow, I anticipate you do not understand we are talking about different things, even though other contributors already pointed it out. You must have hated school, or your language teacher, but do not project that irrational emotion on the overall importance of basic education for the masses.
From the OP- Which lead to - ^ Yeah, nothing to do with the economy, must be because they forgot the proper punctuation ? If only the the western civilization had proper English classes the unemplyment rate would be 0 and they would all have jobs ? I Just found it ignorant to go from poor punctuation and spelling to worthless people good for nothg besides "taking orders at McDonalds".