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Keyword: illiteracy

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  • THE YEAR 1907

    05/13/2007 3:07:47 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 33 replies · 5,036+ views
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    Share this with All your Friends... And SHOW this to your children and grandchildren !!!! THE YEAR 1907 This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1907. One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. Statistics for the Year 1907: ************************************ The average life expectancy in the U.S. Was 47 years old. Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. Had a bathtub . Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City Cost eleven dollars. There...
  • Can't Blame White People

    03/22/2007 9:37:06 AM PDT · by shortstop · 70 replies · 2,923+ views
    email ^ | Bill Cosby
    I did a search and didn't find this posted in the past on FR. I also checked Snopes and found this is TRUE. They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be.. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. Everybody knows it's important to speak English... except these knuckleheads. Mushmouth is what they speak! You can't be a doctor with that...
  • College Graduates Dumber than Ever

    10/31/2006 10:19:19 PM PST · by John Semmens · 10 replies · 321+ views
    AZCONSERVATIVE ^ | 27 Oct 2006 | John Semmens
    The American Institutes for Research assessed the literacy of graduating seniors from two- and four-year colleges and universities. The findings indicate that many college graduates are only semi-literate. 20 percent of U.S. college students completing four-year degrees have limited quantitative skills. For example, they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gas to get to the next gas station or to calculate the sum of a list of purchases. The study also finds that more than 50 percent of students at four-year colleges have limited literacy skills. For example, they can’t understand the arguments in a newspaper editorial....
  • FDA Approves Nonprescription Sales of Plan B

    08/24/2006 7:37:11 AM PDT · by markomalley · 470 replies · 6,281+ views
    CNS News ^ | 8/24/2006 | Susan Jones
    The Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of the "morning-after pill" on Thursday, but only for girls over the age of 18. The hormone pill, until now available only with a prescription, prevents implantation of a fertilized egg if it is taken within a few days of unprotected intercourse. Easier access to the drug known as Plan B has drawn strong opposition from conservative groups, who say it will end up in the hands of young girls, regardless of what the rules say. Focus on the Family is among the many groups that have argued against over-the-counter sales of...
  • Our Candy Ass Military

    08/09/2006 11:07:42 AM PDT · by rider237 · 359 replies · 8,477+ views
    14 august 2006 | rider237
    this weeks "navy times" came out. it had the usual articles in it. one very touching one about the last carrier operations of the f-14s. then.....
  • Push for easier spelling persists despite lack of public interest

    07/06/2006 9:29:22 AM PDT · by WestTexasWend · 78 replies · 1,130+ views
    WASHINGTON (AP) - When "say," "they" and "weigh" rhyme, but "bomb," "comb" and "tomb" don't, wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound? Those in favor of simplified spelling say children would learn faster and illiteracy rates would drop. Opponents say a new system would make spelling even more confusing. Eether wae, the consept has yet to capcher th publix imajinaeshun. It's been 100 years since Andrew Carnegie helped create the Simplified Spelling Board to promote a retooling of written English and President Theodore Roosevelt tried to force the government to use simplified spelling in its...
  • Language gap adds to storm danger: Key data missed by non-English speakers

    06/05/2006 5:08:41 AM PDT · by Ellesu · 19 replies · 595+ views
    nola.com ^ | 06/04/06 | Russ Henderson
    BAYOU LA BATRE, ALA. -- The afternoon before Hurricane Katrina arrived, Vo Loan, 11, who like other Asian-American children in Bayou La Batre serves as English translator for her parents, was out with her mother when the police rapped at their door. Her father, Vietnam-born Nguyen Hung, answered. The two officers warned Nguyen in English that flooding from the major hurricane could be deadly and that his family should evacuate. He didn't understand, he explained to a reporter last week, speaking through his daughter at their small white house. "My van was broken, but I could have found another way...
  • Emergency Classroom

    03/16/2006 2:14:22 PM PST · by JSedreporter · 4 replies · 530+ views
    Accuracy in Academia ^ | March 16, 2006 | Julia A. Seymour
    Imagine taking a teaching position with no training at one of the worst urban schools in Philadelphia. Now imagine that the building was crumbling and rat infested, your 6th grade class was struggling with illiteracy, you had no textbooks, curriculum or guidance, and violence and obscenities were daily phenomena. Christina Asquith doesn’t have to imagine those things; she lived them. In 1999, with burning questions about why inner-city Philadelphia schools (and those in other cities) were failing, Asquith joined the ranks and became a teacher with no formal training at a time when the schools were desperate for them. Before...
  • What are your rights? 'D'oh' (Constitutional illiteracy)

    03/03/2006 6:25:03 PM PST · by sully777 · 23 replies · 975+ views
    Reuters ^ | Thu Mar 2, 2006pm ET
    CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most Americans have an easier time naming members of the cartoon Simpson family than listing the five freedoms granted by the nation's founders, a survey by a museum released on Wednesday said. Here's a hint: one of them is not the right to own and raise pets, an error committed by one in five respondents. Half of 1,000 Americans randomly surveyed by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum could name at least two of the five members of Fox Television's Simpson family, the stars of the network's long-running show. But just 28 percent of respondents could name more...
  • School Competition Remains "Unproven" (sarcasm)

    02/08/2006 8:35:21 AM PST · by FreeKeys · 19 replies · 872+ views
    Real Clear Politics ^ | February 8, 2006 | John Stossel
    When Mark and Jenny Sanford moved from Charleston to Columbia, S.C., they had a big concern: Where would their kids go to school? They wanted to send their kids to public school, but the middle school near their new home was not particularly good. But it turned out that this wouldn't have been a problem for the Sanfords because the reason they had moved to Columbia was Mark had just been elected governor. While students are normally assigned to schools based on where their house is located, Gov. Sanford's family was offered special options: People from better school districts invited...
  • South's Problems Breed Illiteracy

    11/27/2005 6:11:34 AM PST · by mcg2000 · 61 replies · 1,645+ views
    The Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | November 27, 2005 | Emily Wagster Pettus
    SOUTHERN IDENTITY Fourth of five parts Thursday: Are Southerners losing their distinct identity? Maybe, maybe not. Friday: Black and Southern, a label of pride, tinged with pain. Saturday: So, did your mama raise you in a barn? Today: Oxford — where literature and illiteracy collide. Monday: Turning the ‘Southern’ accent off, or on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OXFORD, Miss. -- From front-porch rocking chairs to the dog-eared pages of novels, the South boasts a rich legacy of storytelling. A complex brew of poverty and racial strife has inspired writers as diverse as William Faulkner, Richard Wright, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Pat Conroy and...
  • Parliament Declares Venezuela Free of Illiteracy

    10/28/2005 5:08:16 PM PDT · by Honcho Bongs · 24 replies · 537+ views
    Prensa Latina ^ | Oct 28, 2005 | Prensa Latina
    Parliament Declares Venezuela Free of Illiteracy Caracas, Oct 28 (Prensa Latina) The National Assembly (Parliament) has officially declared Venezuela territory free of illiteracy thanks to a two-year campaign aimed at teaching people how to read and write. At the ceremony held at the Congressional quarters, Speaker Nicolas Maduro thanked Cuba for its contribution to Mision Robinson that helped almost one million Venezuelans to learn to how to read and write. He also highlighted the role played by President Hugo Chavez as a key promoter of the campaign. The ceremony was attended by Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, several other ministers,...
  • Ebonics suggested for district

    07/18/2005 10:25:14 AM PDT · by 45Auto · 413 replies · 6,964+ views
    San Bernardino County Sun ^ | 17 July 2005 | Irma Lemus
    Incorporating Ebonics into a new school policy that targets black students, the lowest-achieving group in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, may provide students a more well-rounded curriculum, said a local sociologist. The goal of the district's policy is to improve black students' academic performance by keeping them interested in school. Compared with other racial groups in the district, black students go to college the least and have the most dropouts and suspensions. Blacks make up the second largest racial group in the district, trailing Latinos. A pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing...
  • Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red

    06/14/2005 10:25:35 PM PDT · by Happy2BMe · 34 replies · 1,157+ views
    With states straining under gaping budget shortfalls, public schools throughout the country are facing some of the most significant decreases in state education funding in decades. In some states, drastic cuts mean lay-offs for teachers, larger class sizes, fewer textbooks, and eliminating sports, language programs, and after-school activities. Nearly two-thirds of the states have cut back or proposed reductions in support for childcare and early childhood programs. Some are even shortening the school week from five days to four. While these massive budget deficits cannot be attributed to any single source, the enormous impact of large-scale illegal immigration cannot be...
  • Spelling Errors Mar Blast (Letz Awl Selebrayte Diversitee Now!)

    04/29/2004 2:50:24 AM PDT · by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle · 11 replies · 167+ views
    New York Post ^ | 4/29/04 | Stefan C. Friedman
    <p>A City Council member who was blasting the Bloomberg administration's social-promotion policies sent out two press releases containing spelling and grammatical errors.</p> <p>The first release - sent Tuesday afternoon from the office of Councilwoman Margarita Lopez - asked, "Why is [sic] Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein ignoring the fact that the test is flawed and discriminatory?"</p>
  • Israeli Arab Intellectual and Poet on Illiteracy in the Arab World

    03/30/2004 11:45:02 AM PST · by knighthawk · 4 replies · 156+ views
    Israeli Arab Intellectual and Poet on Illiteracy in the Arab World, "Backward-Looking" Islam, and the Complex of Arab Secularists In an interview with the Jerusalem weekly Kol Hair on the occasion of the publication of his first book of poetry in Hebrew, Salman Masalha, an Israeli Arab intellectual and poet, speaks of what he sees as the problem of illiteracy, and thus thought, in the Arab world, of the fixation with the past in the Arab world, of the importance of educating women, and of the role of doubting and asking questions in the development of society and culture. Masalha,...
  • Paypal scam is almost believable, but not quite

    02/18/2004 8:19:48 PM PST · by logician2u · 70 replies · 1,464+ views
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    To: "logician2u" <logician2u@myisp.com> From: service Subject: Confirm Your Information! Reminder: Confirm Your Information Dear Customer, This is a reminder that we need you to confirm your information. This is a recent measure to protect our customers. How To Confirm Your Information PayPal always keep in touch with it's customers. Please use instructions below. Step 1:  Follow this link located at PayPal server to fill needed information. Step 2:  Log in to your PayPal account. Click on the "Profile" link in the "My Account" menu and check information that you submitted. Why Confirm Your Information? It increases security Keeping your information up...
  • Columnist Charley Reese's "Idle Thoughts On The Road To Understanding"

    08/08/2003 8:15:49 AM PDT · by Theodore R. · 3 replies · 201+ views
    King Features Syndicate ^ | 08-08-03 | Reese, Charley
    Idle Thoughts On The Road To Understanding Here are a few random thoughts that might help you to figure out the world in which we are currently living: The U.S. dollar is backed up by nothing and is convertible to nothing. It is a medium of exchange, and compared with the Euro, the currency of the European Union, it has lost 30 percent of its value since 2001. This is bad news for those of us whose investments, savings and life insurance are denominated in dollars. These dollars are exchangeable for less and less in goods and services. If the...
  • Phyllis Schlafly on "Teaching History: Fact or Fiction"

    08/02/2003 8:54:32 AM PDT · by Theodore R. · 11 replies · 253+ views
    Human Events ^ | 08-01-03 | Schlafly, Phyllis
    Teaching History: Fact Or Fiction? by Phyllis Schlafly Posted Aug 1, 2003 In rare moments when Congress isn’t preoccupied with the war, taxes or prescription drugs, Congress is worrying that American students don’t know any American history. Congress is right to worry because this is true, but it doesn’t follow that the federal government is capable of remedying the problem. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, reported that less than half of high school seniors demonstrate even a basic grasp of history. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, in a report called Losing...
  • Israeli children's literacy is sinking....GUESS WHY....(Whole Language Alert)

    03/29/2003 4:46:58 PM PST · by Lizavetta · 9 replies · 295+ views
    Haaretz Daily ^ | March 30, 2003 | Aviva Lori
    Educators are worried by a general decline in reading skills among Israeli youth, and blame a teaching method imported from the U.S. Is the remedy a back-to-basics approach? Y. a 16-year-old girl from Jerusalem, was sent to see Dr. Nurit Elhanan-Peled, a psychologist and literacy expert, for some remedial help after the school system determined that she had great difficulty reading. Y., who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union, was referred to Elhanan-Peled after her teachers noticed, for example, that she didn't immediately catch on that the word malta'i refers to someone from Malta or that the word...