Posted on 09/26/2002 7:12:41 AM PDT by Tancred
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (Reuters) - High school students who graduate without passing literacy tests will receive special diplomas that say their reading skills aren't up to scratch, officials from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia said on Wednesday.
The "buyer beware" diplomas for the Atlantic province are part of a new learning program that includes regular reading tests for several grades. They aim to encourage literacy in a province which lags the rest of Canada in nationwide tests.
"We are responding to the concerns of parents, students and teachers," said Nova Scotia Education Minister Jane Purves.
The new plan will include special learning programs to help children who perform poorly in the tests.
But students who do not pass the final literacy exam will, from 2010, receive a graduation certificate making that fact clear. Local media has already dubbed it an "adjusted diploma" or a "buyer beware" diploma.
Provincial officials say they expect two to three percent of students to fail the test, or up to 300 students a year.
Stephane Robichaud, of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said he hoped the program would encourage students to work harder.
"Literacy is a fundamental element," he said. "Who would want to graduate under a red flag? Perhaps we'll see a real effort on the part of students over time to improve their literacy."
"Functional Illiteracy: Culture Is Part Of The Problem
"By Charles W. Moore
"© 2000 Charles W. Moore
Just before Christmas Nova Scotia's Education Minister Jane Purves released literacy statistics cited by a government task force suggesting that up to 50 percent of adult Nova Scotians are functionally illiterate, which means that they may be able to read road signs, write their name, and perform other simple reading and writing tasks, but beyond that are pretty helpless in the world of the written word.
Not that Nova Scotia is in notably worse shape literacy-wise than the rest of the country. According to a Statistics Canada report, the general Canadian illiteracy rate is about 46%-48% per cent. "More than 10 million Canadians can't read or write well enough to succeed in their day-to-day lives, let alone in our current information age," says Christine Featherstone, Executive Director of ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation.
A 1997 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report bluntly told Canadians that our future competitiveness depends on raising literacy and learning levels in our society. Close to 33% of Canadian employers complain of training problems because of functionally illiterate staff.
"This is a case of a really large number of people who actually have been graduating from high school, in a lot of cases, having literacy problems, and it seems pretty clear to me that where you correct this problem is in the school," Ms. Purves said. She identified at least part of the problem as being the widespread practice of 'social grading' where students are promoted to the next grade for 'feel-good' reasons rather than on educational merit. "Kids are graded, put through school and graduate with less than the optimum skill levels. Everyone knows this in the education community; it's just not publicly discussed," said the minister, adding that standardized testing would be a step in the right direction, and that a curriculum review may also be needed.
That the concept of setting objective standards in education is even controversial indicates how desperately addled the current "progressive education" philosophy that afflicts the education establishment has become. People simply should not graduate from high school without being able to read and write reasonably well. However, several university professor friends of mine attest to the fact that the product high schools across Canada are turning out is, with few exceptions -- pathetic -- and they see what is presumably the 'cream of the crop.'
The rote objection to standard testing parroted by 'progressives' is that teachers will "teach for the test." This argument is essentially hogwash. In terms of basic literacy skills, you can't "teach for the test." Students will either be able to read and write coherently or not -- whatever the content.
"When you say 'back to basics' people think you're a fascist or something, but there is a real problem there and we have to deal with it, because it's a disservice to the kids," Ms. Purves commented.
Indeed, the Nova Scotia Teacher's Union and some school boards have lashed back harshly at Ms. Purves, one contrarian assertion being that Nova Scotia spends less per capita on education than other provinces. I am reminded of the late Malcolm Muggeridge's comment that "the more money the government spends on education, the more illiterate the population becomes." "At the point where the entire gross national product is spent on 'education,'" Muggeridge asserted, "everyone will be illiterate, except for a few old folks hanging around the library."
Teaching basic literacy (and numeracy) by establishing a proper curriculum and testing to ensure that standards are being met are not especially expensive objectives theoretically, but a big part of the literacy problem is cultural. A teacher friend of mine observes that when teachers have to also serve as ad hoc social workers, security guards, and special needs councillors in the classroom, often precious little time is left for actual teaching.
My teacher friend relates routine incidents of rude and disrespectful behavior that in my school days would have resulted in strappings, expulsion or both. The solution here is to reintroduce standards of politeness and order, and enforce them. Regrettably, the strap is another victim of political correctness, but expulsion is still an option.
Last fall, Louisiana's school system introduced a "Respect Bill," stipulating that students must address teachers and other school employees as "sir" or "ma'am," or by their surname preceded by the appropriate honorific: "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Ms.," or "Miss." Bravo. We could use some of that in Canada. Also last fall, the Halifax School Board discussed making school uniforms mandatory. I don't think this idea has gone beyond the discussion stage, but it should.
Schools ought to be setting high cultural and academic standards -- not blindly aping the distempered trends and follies of popular culture. Until that paradigm becomes policy once again, Canada's public school systems will continue graduating bumper crops of functional illiterates.
Nova Scotia is socialist economy; however, lest we suffer from an over-dose of superiority, it is important to review our own statistics.
The National Center For Education Statistics (a federal government entity) published The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2000. This is a nation-wide assessment of fourth graders. They divided reading into basic, proficient and advanced. Essentially, below basic meant the child could not read at the fourth grade level and was, for the most part, illiterate. The findings were that between 29% and 63% of students (sorted on race)could not read at the basic level. This report is on the web for those who wish it. Put NCES 2001-499 in your search engine.
One can only imagine the future for those who cannot read in this "age of information." Bill Bennett wrote an excellent editorial in the WSJ on this subject with the remedy --return to phonics in reading.
There is even an option to have it direct deposited into your bank account
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