Posted on 03/03/2022 5:11:24 AM PST by EBH
I dont think this number is correct or a 6th grade level is functional. Having worked with the poor, having friends who are Social workers, nobody has heard anyone over the age of 8 say they cannot read in over 20 years. Hard to read, Need text to speech to write, not enough attention span, to violent, to drugged up to read sure, but cannot function at a 6th grade level (remember suburban kids all read lord of the rings or harry potter at that age) Sure spanish speakers need help, but most all can fill out the forms for public aid really well. They also write long form sentences very well when it toy donation time around christmas. I read well over a hundred of donation requests last year, as someone LD I recognize the items that probably get graded down by pencil necks, but the population to 80% can function. 90% can function to get paid, 97% can function to get the next fix. 3% need help to get by, they already have that for some other need classified as a handicaps.
“Why are the teachers not completely embarrassed by this? How much of this is due to people not knowing English. Not caring about using it. Americans not caring”
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Mrs fatboy is an elementary school reading specialists. I’m not defending the education establishment, far from it but a good chunk of the problem lies with the now non-existent nuclear family. Grandma has become mommy, mommy’s boyfriend has become daddy, all three siblings have different last names, none of them the same as mommy.
No one works full time, the kids healthcare is paid for by the taxpayers, the supervising parent has a nice car and watches a lot of TV and facebooks on the phone while the kids wear clothes from Goodwill. No one goes to church or back to school night.
Because the schools have abandoned reading, writing and rithmatic for CRT training in “intersectionality” and study of the 53 genders.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink
You can force an urban kid to school, but you can’t make him think
The administration in the school; district office; and state department dictate what they do. Getting back to the basics is not an option- which is one reason so many are leaving the classroom. I agree with the fellow Freeper who stated the dangers of “Whole-language” instruction. It does not focus on teaching the basics of reading (letter-sound relationships/blending, etc). IMHO that one program caused too many children to become illiterate. Why was it implemented- because someone in government who holds the purse strings thought it was a good idea and needed to be implemented.
The average kid walking into my high school reads at 4.5 grade level and does math at a 4.3 grade level. Most of them have had extensive reading programs done in the schools that feed into our high school district (Reading Foundations, Wilson Reading, Read 180, Sylvan, etc.). Transiency is a serious problem and in the middle schools that feed into us, their transiency rates are over 94% (e.g., of the kids that start in 6th grade, 94% of them will not be there at 8th grade graduation). The elementary schools in the surrounding districts are no better. Parents in chaos, moving constantly (”where you stay?”) does not lead to stability in school and learning. Those numbers in the study are probably correct, depending on where you sample them. I do agree with you that they have some functional literacy skills to game the system. They learn those because they matter in their getting their bennies.
Ya. I hear you. It is a huge problem. What are the the teachers and the schools doing about this?
They are asking for more money, of course.
I wish the public understood how many “students” are not only disinterested in education - but hostile to the education process itself.
Many students told me they “just don’t like to read.” I taught 11th and 12th grade for over 30 years. The vast majority entered the 11th grade reading at a 3rd grade level - one with a 6th grade level of reading comprehension was considered a “genius.”
The majority of teachers I worked with were hard-working, dedicated and exasperated at all of this. They want kids to succeed, when they don’t, we teachers know we are blamed.
Kids and their dysfunctional families are never, ever held responsible for their poor academic progress - not doing homework, ever, not doing assignments, spotty attendance, not paying attention in class or disrupting others who ARE trying to learn.
How do teachers make up this incredible deficit in reading skills and comprehension? Especially with students who didn’t care, whose families didn’t care? They did the minimum to get by. Passing or failing didn’t matter to them.
There is no curiosity factor, no thirst for knowledge or education beyond the immediate - that and making sure the welfare money continues to roll in.
In my high school, we implemented a reading curriculum. All freshman who scored below grade level on entrance tests are placed in reading classes. We have Freshman Reading, Sophomore Reading and Reading Foundations for those whose skills are really low. We also have EL Reading for second language English speakers.
I review the grades and statistical reports and see that for first semester the average grade in reading classes was 64%. Think about that. To get an “A” in a reading class, you must read and then answer some simple questions. You have to read books appropriate to your reading level and then answer some questions. You also take progress monitoring tests every two weeks to help monitor progress. None of it is particularly hard as all of it is at your level and geared toward increasing reading speed, fluency and comprehension — if you do it.
It is extremely discouraging to see that most of the students don’t care to take advantage of the support to improve their reading. Texting trash to you friends (”girl, did you see her weave?”), making TicToc videos, and coordinating getting to fights in the halls on your phone is much more interesting that learning to read.
In 2017, the state of New York passed a law requiring prospective school teachers to take a literacy test to get their license, but repealed it the following year because 36 percent of whites, 54 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of blacks failed on the first try.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-regents-teacher-exams-alst.html
Teachers and teacher unions should be embarrassed. Instead they would likely argue it’s racist to define literacy.
That’s one way to put it. Stupidity costs money. Money that is earned by the non-stupid people. Enough said.
The Frankfurt School wins again.
Many teachers are indoctrinators and not teachers anymore. Look who has run education.
As long as the kiddies are taught the agenda that is all that matters.
How about “pandering to unwarranted self-esteem” costing trillions of dollars.
Honestly, I think it has always been this way. Most instructional manuals and public discourse (magazines, news, journals) are pitched at about the 4th grade level.
Replace the public schools!
No. The teachers are cracking the heads open and pouring in garbage.
That is, replace those public schools producing the illiterates. They tend to be concentrated in urban systems.
And non-native illiterates of course need to go home. Let them become literate in their own language!
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