used to work for a municipal library program teaching literacy and basic professional skills to adults (like how to use a computer or apply to a job). It was pretty common for students to have absolutely no awareness of other countries existing other than Mexico and even then a few of them believed Mexico was a US state. A common thing to teach in the first few lessons was how to read a map and at no point did I have a student who knew which continents were which or even which continent they lived on. I say this with no derision or smugness by the way. I found it horrifyingly depressing, not funny or annoying. The students I met were absolutely destroyed and left behind by the USA. It was a tragedy that they were illiterate, a complete tragedy how unaware of the world they were, a complete nightmare how they had lived in a constant state of poverty and anxiety their whole lives. The education system failed them, employment failed them, social services failed them. A bunch of the students were being forced to take literacy classes as part of their parole. We're so bad at taking care of people that a common way of getting adults to learn how to read is to do it as part of the criminal justice system.

I think the difference here is the students most often did feel shame at their lack of education and literacy. They wanted to know things, wanted to get a GED or certificate. It was probably the most depressing thing I've ever done.