Inability to read and write, but more specifically the inability to read and write so as to operate effectively in our information-packed society—reading signs, filling out forms, calculating figures, and dealing with words and numbers in all of their many aspects. Adults who cannot read, write, or calculate beyond eighth-grade level are often considered functionally illiterate and are the focus of many adult-education or continuing-education classes, sometimes attended by parents wishing to gain the skills they need to work with their own children in school. Many functional illiterates received automatic promotion while in school, but failed to learn the basic skills, sometimes because they had undiagnosed handicaps, such as learning disabilities or ear and hearing problems, that hindered learning.