WHY AMERICANS CAN’T READ

Accuracy in Media ^ | December 4, 2001 | Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

..another OBE Bump !!

[pubmom]

Think of the pledge of allegiance to the flag:

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[k2blader]

Thought I'd mention that I've noticed folks who cannot read nor spell right here at FR. Of course, in terms of the latter, I claim occasional guilt when the keyboard trips my fingers. ;-D

[Looking4Truth]

Whoa! Hold on their, Hoss. Kids are spending inordinate amounts of time on the internet, which is nearly all text; if they could not read they could not surf the web.

You do have a point, but I'd be willing to bet that the kids that are on the internet are playing stupid computer games or trying to download porn rather than engaging in political discourse at FR.

[Junior]

You do have a point, but I'd be willing to bet that the kids that are on the internet are playing stupid computer games or trying to download porn rather than engaging in political discourse at FR.

You've still got to be able to write to type in the search parameters for porn or games (fun 'n games?) and you need to be able to read to peruse your search results. Me, I think this article is nothing more than a fundraising scare-a-thon.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Don't need to read. I jus' need to know when dey is passing out da Gubmint cheese.

[Redcloak]

i can be reedin an ritin jist grat. is even gud at punkuateshuning thins idont no wi shees all bentd an stuff abaut thiz

[Cleburne]

My youngest brother spends hours on the 'net, and he's four years old (my parents spaced us out). He tends to play games or look at pictures on websites we put him on, or he types in himself (he has memorized the spelling to lego.com). But he obviously isn't reading, and relies on multi-media content for entertainment. My middle brother, nearly thirteen, is also an avid Internet user, but again, while he can read, his reading skills are limited, and he too uses mostly multi-media websites. I doubt that many children are going to launch into "educational" or reading intensive websites-there is enough material that requires little reading skill to pacify them.

[Cleburne]

Hey! Stop talking abot me! I cann spel just fin, most of the time...

[Thoeting]

I am a teacher of special education students in Virginia. Since I was originally certified in a state with no reciprocity, I was required to pass all of the Virginia's requirements for teacher certification. From DAY ONE I was warned about taking the Praxis I. Teacher after teacher complained of the difficulty of the math test in particular.

So I purchased a prep book and studied and studied.
.
.
.
Then I took the test.
I kept going through it simply aghhst at the utter ease! Question after question required nothing more than the four basic functions PLUS I HAD AN ON SCREEN CALCULATOR!
The hardest questions involved ratios/percentages -- such as this beauty
If I teacher has 20 students and 4 walk to school and twice that ride the bus, how many are brought by their parent?
I kid you not that I spent about 2 minutes reading that question, because I was positive it couldnt be that easy!
I finished the test with a perfect score and trust me I am simply not talented in the field of math.

The reading and writing tests were also easy, and I did very well on those also.
My point?
I know mininumly 20 people who failed 1, 2, or 3 parts of this test. Some of them teach in the high school, one teaches "Math fundamentals"

If the children can't read, it's because the teachers can't teach.

If someone want's to flame me, go ahead, I got my asbestos suit on tonight, but it's the truth!

[Thoeting]

hmmmm... take that (') out of wants

**sigh** long day

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

and twice that ride the bus

Is that supposed to say "two that ride the bus"? If not, I'm totally confused.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

hmmmm... take that (') out of wants .

Thanks for removing that. It's one of my biggest pet peeves, lol! Dontcha just hate when you make a typo or grammatical error when you are discussing the subject?

[k2blader]

Think we both need new keyboards for Christmas. :-D

[Cleburne]

Indeed! I cin spel reel good, its the ty'ping; part i have trouble with! Well, actually, to be honest, I can't spell very well, but my punctuation on paper rarely includes these here things:; where I meant one of these:'. Funny how that happens;

[Thoeting]

sorry, left out a word--
The problem went something like this.

A teacher has 20 students. 4 ride the bus. Twice that number walk. How many are brought to school by their parents.

4X2=8

20-4-8=8

4 ride the bus, 8 walk, 8 are brought by parents.

[rollin]

You are absolutely correct. There are way too many accredited individuals who have no idea of the subject matter that they are supposed to teach.

I am appalled at the level of understanding of basic English grammar possessed by many high-school English teachers.

If they don't know what a dangling participle is, how do you expect their students to recognize the problem?

[billbears]

Ever wonder where federalized education came from? Hmmm..

The original U.S. Department of Education was created in 1867. It collected information on schools and teaching that would help the states establish efficient school systems. This emphasis on promoting educational excellence by collecting and sharing information remains an important role for the Department. Dept of Education website

And don't even go to the Northwest Ordinance. You know that only applied to Indians. No, federally funded education came from the ideals of one man and one man only. Another thing we have him to thank for

the central regulatory part of that union has overgrown itself

Don't blame us. We tried to stop it!!