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"No matter how much money is spent, literacy rates plunge and SAT scores fall. General knowledge throughout the society becomes more scant. Our better students can’t compete against better foreign students. The depressing statistics are all around us. Everyone admits the public schools are doing a lousy job. The question is, why can't we do more to improve them?"

The recent announcement by the New York Times that it might close down the venerable Boston Globe, unless the paper can cut costs and begin to make money, came as a shock to many Bostonians. The Times bought the Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion because it assumed that in an area with Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Boston College and other schools of higher learning, they would have lots of readers and make lots of money. But this much-touted Athens of America, which prides itself on its intellectual history, has become, like the rest of America, a victim of...

Professor Joe Elliott, from Durham University, believes many parents with children who have difficulty in literacy lessons push for them to be diagnosed with dyslexia so they can get the extra support they need. Prof Elliott says this leads to children being falsely labelled and ignores the fact there are simply many children who struggle to read and should be given help at an early age. The academic, a director of research at the university's School of Education, said: "Many of the messages that I have received from parents have pointed out that the system has forced them to use...

Books left on the shelf: A fifth of pupils only read blogs and magazines By LAURA CLARK 04th April 2009 The National Literacy Trust is backing an initiative to encourage reading - using footballers as role models One in five youngsters never picks up books outside school, a poll has found. Instead, websites and blogs have become children's reading matter of choice. Pupils ranked social networking sites, blogs, general websites and magazines above books in a major survey of their reading habits. A quarter did not believe that being a proficient reader would help them achieve success in future. A...

The First Lady has excited the fashion world, but like Diana she would rather champion the less fortunate than be a mere clotheshorse. Michelle Obama’s flair for fashion has captivated Washington and set the hearts of glossy magazine editors aflutter. She has already eclipsed Carla Bruni, the super-model chanteuse and wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the hyperactive French president. Not since Diana, Princess of Wales, has there been such a glamorous role model at the apex of society. In her white, one-shouldered chiffon gown, she boogied to Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours and slow-danced with her husband at a...

At 23 percent, California leads the nation in residents 16 and older at the lowest level of literacy. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy, released this month, is calculated by the U.S. Department of Education from 2003 data. Its estimate for California: 6 million of its 26 million adults can, at best, read and understand only “short, commonplace prose text.” At worst, they cannot read and comprehend any information written in English. Behind this eight-point increase in below-basic literacy since the last assessment in 1992 is primarily immigration. One in eight U.S. residents is an immigrant, the highest percentage in...

A solution for the reading gap between black and white children was discovered four decades ago. So, why aren't we taking advantage of it?One does not expect to see New York's school Chancellor Joel Klein on the same stage as Reverend Al Sharpton. Klein is infamous for his emphasis on test scores and shutting down schools that fail to measure up. Not so long ago, Sharpton was in the barricades with Russell Simmons protesting mayor Michael Bloomberg and Klein's plan to cut New York City's education budget. Yet these days the two are teaming up for the Education Equality Project,...

About 14 percent of U.S. adults won't be reading this article. Well, okay, most people won't read it, given all the words that are published these days to help us understand and navigate the increasingly complex world. But about 1 in 7 can't read it. They're illiterate. Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills. The figures are for 2003, the latest year available. State and county results are available here. "The...

About five years ago, San Juan High School teacher Shirley Bowers realized that half her students had no idea what she was writing on the board. "I had a student remark that he couldn't read my notes," Bowers said. His fellow classmates fessed up, too. Bauer's notes were hard to read. They were in cursive. Over the past decade, teachers and secondary students across the country have reported a trend that their parents and grandparents could scarcely imagine: The millennial generation is increasingly cursive illiterate. The digital age has pushed to the periphery a penmanship skill used for generations. The...

Only 17% of 8th Graders Can Read at Grade Level in Chicago Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Chicago Schools Chief Arne Duncan smiles as President-elect Barack Obama announces his selection to be Education Secretary, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at the Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago.(CNSNews.com) – In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001. President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped Duncan to become secretary of education in the upcoming administration. Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer,...

The Bell Curve, an excellent book more maligned than read, pointed out a trend seldom noticed. The authors called it “cognitive stratification,” not a phrase Byron would have chosen but serviceable enough. It means the concentration of the intelligent. In 1850 people of high intelligence were dispersed through the population. If the child of a cowboy had an IQ of 160, he would probably remain in the geographical region with cowboys. He might be more successful than most, and might choose as friends the quicker wits thereabouts. Yet he would be part of the community. A cowboy could be intelligent,...

How’s this for noche buena? Mother, father and sister carry packed food in plastic containers and then alternate between walking and taking public transportation, seemingly off to a special mission. Just outside a building, they prop up a table with a few chairs. They set the dishes they have brought. Brother, a call center agent, is in the graveyard shift; there are no holidays in his job. But when he sees his family outside, waving at him, he puts down his headset, turns away from his computer and walks out the door of his office for a little break. Of...

One highlight of the Bush Administration has been that the first lady, Laura Bush has made literacy a pivotal part of her work with the American people. There are a lot of areas of interest that a first lady can use her power and influence to draw attention to but will Michelle Obama also make literacy an important part of her agenda? With literacy rates on the decline, and educational facilities being last on the list of priorities for many government agencies, Michelle Obama has unique opportunity to use her influence to turn the state of literacy around in the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE RUSTAMIYAH, Iraq, Dec. 10, 2008 – One hundred Iraqi women became the first class of graduates of an adult literacy course near here that officials say is a sign of more good things to come from the partnership between Iraq and the United States. The first female graduates of an adult literacy course at the Sharquia Secondary School for Girls take pictures and celebrate before a graduation ceremony at the Baghdad school, Dec. 4, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremy Todd  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “This is a monumental day for these women,”...

We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth. It is informed by simplistic, childish narratives and clichés. It is thrown into confusion by ambiguity, nuance and self-reflection. This divide, more than race, class or gender, more than rural or urban,...

Hezekiah 3:16 The book of Hezekiah is one of the most significant books of the Old Testament. This book is often quoted in the press, cited by bloggers, and many people refer to it in daily conversation. One of the most significant passages in the book of Hezekiah is Hezekiah 3:10-16 where the author speaks about the Antichrist and the Beast. Hezekiah 3:16 reveals that the number of the Beast is 666. Anyone who knows the Bible and reads the paragraph above will know that what is written above is a bunch of nonsense. Hezekiah does not mention the number...

HAWIJAH, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2008 – The first graduation of a pilot literacy program was held yesterday at the soccer stadium here in Iraq’s Kirkuk province. The program, which began June 15 as a pilot program for the National Literary Campaign, graduated nearly 500 students. The four-month course covered basic reading, writing and math skills for employment marketability, officials said. Students attended classes four hours a day, five days a week, for completion of the National Literary Campaign's requirements. "I have worked closely with the local government leaders and watched them develop this program, through the execution of the program,...

Link only - AP

NEW ORLEANS: Marsha Williams always hesitated when mail arrived from the government, but after Hurricane Katrina she began to fear the letters. One notice warned that her apartment building could be shut down because the landlord had not repaired storm damage. She worried: What did all the legal forms mean? Was there more paperwork she needed to send in? But at age 51, Williams was embarrassed that she could not read much more than her own name and address. "I didn't get a lot of school when I was a child. I guess they didn't have enough to go around,"...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 28, 2008 – Iraq is targeting more than 6 million illiterate adults through a national literacy campaign. Iraqi policemen submit applications for modified security badges, May 22, 2007, in Salman Pak, Iraq. Literacy is a requirement for members of the Iraqi security forces. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Shawn Weismiller  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that more than 60 percent of the adult population in Iraq cannot read or write. This was not always the case, U.N. officials said. At one time, Iraq...