It’s disturbing to hear that more than half of American college graduates are not able to handle complex, real-life literacy tasks, such as being able to follow the argument of a newspaper editorial or compare competing credit card offers, according to a new study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. And it’s no consolation that adults in general showed an even more glaring lack of math and reading literacy skills.
The literacy deficit is not only dangerous to a democracy, which depends on voters’ ability to decipher complex policy issues and debates, but it’s also bad news for efforts to create a highly educated work force for the 21st century information economy.
The study found markedly higher skills in students who had taken classes that emphasized critical thinking skills and applying theory to real-world problems. State education leaders need to ensure students are getting such course work.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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28 Comments
Most of the country is run by these people too.They are a large and powerful group that I like to call idiots.Be nice to them. You’re probably going to work for them, if you don’t already.
Ain’t affirmative action a wonderful thing? rotflmosao
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
Ian, I agree with you, but not for the same reasons.Blacks and minorities who have integrity don’t want it either.But how easily I stray from the subject, which is institutionalized stupidity, not racism or affirmative action.
Liberal education for ya!
The half who fail are the people who vote Republican.
You are wrong proud liberal, most minorities vote for the Demorats! Why do you think that Hillary wants to give the vote to felons and illegals? lol
V.L.R.B!!
ian – when did Hillary state that she wants to give the vote to illegals? LIE!
Ben Huie,
Read on:
“Now let us add another issue liberals love into the mix, illegal immigration. Currently liberals and some other groups are up in arms over House Republicans adding the “Right ID Act” as a rider into the new Congressional appropriations measure to fund the War on Terror and Tsunami relief efforts. With Pavlov like predictability, Senate Minority Leader Bill Frist has promised to fight the measure on grounds that it is racist, discriminatory, sexist, and so forth. How dare Republicans try to actually do something to make the country safer from international terrorists! The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission where supposed to be talking points for John Kerry to use to criticize the President, not actually enact. But the Right ID Act does more than just make it harder for international terrorists to infiltrate our country, it also makes it less likely that illegal aliens, in general, can register to vote.
Under the Motor Voter Act, all you need to register to vote in many states is a valid drivers’ license. That does not seem so bad on the surface until you realize that there are currently 10 states that allow illegal aliens to attain valid state issued identification identical to that of any United States citizen. There is no way to prevent an illegal alien from registering to vote when there is no way to differentiate them from anyone else. The Real ID Act would put an end to this conflict by requiring states to distinguish between the identifications of citizens and immigrants. If you do not have the proper ID, then you are not a United States Citizen, therefore, ineligible to participate in our elections.
Seems pretty simple, but it is not. Despite the fact that Mohammad Atta could have voted for Al Gore in Florida in the 2000 Election, Democrats have refused to enforce this basic of national sovereignty. In fact, many liberal groups, such as the ACLU, have actively worked against any effort to verify the citizenship requirements of suspect registered voters calling it “intimidation.”
So Democrats and liberals work against a much needed measure that would prevent voter fraud, and then lead the charge in hurling voter fraud allegations. In the end, the Democrats want to have their cake and eat it too. They obstruct any effort to reform the flawed Motor Voter Act because they are trying to protect the “oppressed.” Then when something happens that they do not like, such as losing another election, they have a ready made, prepackaged, “voter irregularity” excuse to once again claim that they are protecting the “oppressed.” The Democrats are trying to protect nobody but themselves. Their only goal is the reacquisition of political power and any price, even the destruction of out national sovereignty, is well worth paying.”
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/darr/050428
Here is more treason for you:
Voter fraud, again!
——————————————————————————–Posted: November 6, 20001:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Stop the presses! I mean it. Stop the election!
Something is going on in Washington and California that will have a great impact on tomorrow’s election — and it stinks to high heaven.
Let me start by telling you how I found out about it.
A very good friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, has a long-time live-in housekeeper from Guatemala. The housekeeper has a daughter who just turned 18. The immigration status of both mother and daughter has been pending for years. Papers have been filed with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Hearings have been held. But they are not citizens.
This is very important: The daughter has not registered to vote.
But, a few days ago, the 18-year-old got a very attractively packaged “Dear friend” letter from Bill Clinton, paid for by the California Democratic Party.
Here’s what it said (on one side in Spanish and on the other side in English): “While every election is important, the November 7th election will determine our future for the next decade, and beyond. The stakes are high for America’s Latino families. And California is the critical battleground.
“That’s why I’m writing. We need your help to elect a Democratic Congress….
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=15082
This is what happens when the school system pass students along to the next grade no matter how poorly they perform. It used to be called “social promotion” when my kids were in school and it should have been thrown out long ago. When there are no expectations and kids don’t have to try, often they won’t.
forced integration+massive third world immigration+dumbed down curriculum for low iq minorities=the destruction of our education system
How can students or even graduates be expected to rank high in literacy or be able to use critical thinking when many teachers aren’t any better off? This isn’t a new situation. It’s been going on for several decades. The number of those who can’t reason or read well or have poor basic math skills has grown, nurtured by programs like No Child Left Behind. We’ve become a nation whose teachers are more concerned with bruising a child’s psyche than pointing out spelling and grammar errors.
Over twenty years ago the HR department heads of our major employers here in Wichita (Boeing, Raytheon, Cessna, Leerjet and Coleman) were saying they were finding more and more college graduates with poor communication skills. These kids had great ideas, but they weren’t able to communicate them verbally or through writing.
And, yes, these are the idiots who are running the show. Take a good look at our illustrious president, who asks, “Is our children learning?”
No kidding, RD. And if we think the education system is failing now, wait’ll those NCLB kids who spent years “being taught to the tests” hit the streets. . .
Umm! No Child Left Behind has been out for only a couple of years. So to blame this all on NCLB is a farse. These kids were already in college before Bush was President.
Liberals who run the education system are not teaching proper education, is because they are still in their hippy stance of “turn on, tune in, and drop out”
Also! They make it too easy to pass school. Not challenging enough. Let China takes us over! It’s going to happen and the liberals will just wave the white flag to let it.
Joe, you seem to have a real bug up your @ss lately.
I do XXX, and that bug is called Leftist Liberalism.
And when they do fail a student their mommies and daddies come to school and b!tch out the principal and teacher because THEIR child couldn’t possibly fail. It MUST be the teachers fault. Everyone wants to put the blame on some one else regardless if it belongs there. You can blame the teachers all you want but in the end it is the students’ responsibility. They are responsible for preparing for class. They are responsible for paying attention in class and asking questions to clarify vague points. They are responsible for doing their homework and turning it in on time. They are responsible for learning the material. The teacher is there to present the material and help them comprehend the ideas and to answer their questions. And the parents’ responsibility is to make sure their children fulfill their responsibilities.
But instead we put more and more responsibilities on the teacher and fewer on the student. And then the public has the nerve to piss and moan when teachers ask to be paid more! I would too. How would any of you like to be paid the salary of a machinist at Boeing but have the duties and responsibilities of the CEO?
We need to distribute the blame where it belongs, and most of it belongs with the students and parents.
And that is not to say the teachers and education system doesn’t have any blame of it’s own. Certainly the ‘boost their self esteem’ idea is a crock. Their self esteem will be boosted when they put in the effort, learn the material, and pass the test.
Funny joe, I would have expected it to be your head :)
Shall we get back on topic?It is apparent that most of you do not have to deal with these young bloods.None of you have to deal with tomorrow’s journalists, the ones who are supposed to be the guardians of the First Amendment and our right to know.What has happened in the 31 years I’ve been in and out of this business?Government is now “boring”. Brad and Angelina resonate more than possibly illegal wiretapping.You send a cub reporter to cover a County Commission meeting, and they wander aimlessly around City Hall for 30 minutes…then wonder why the boss is slapping himself in sheer frustration.And it’s not just the reporters.When I grew up, you sat down, shut up and watched the 6:00 news as a family (at least you did in Northeast Kansas).A recent Pew study pointed out that nearly 7 in 10 Americans under 55 are in another room doing other things while the news is on.
The other shoe on that one, MrC, is the “respectable” news has become more tabloid and content-free, consistent with the monetary needs of their corporate masters. Yes, I remember Walter Cronkite–and he has properly indicted modern “journalism”–and many of these suckers have graduated from good schools.
The information explosion may temporarily slow the threat of media consolidation, but the fact is the bloggers who are touted as our saviors are not investigative journalists (well, maybe Billmon, to a degree–but the good ones will readily admit they are not original sources). When independent journalism becomes mouthpiece–as in the run-up to Iraq war (NYT, Washington Post, anyone?), democracy is in peril.
None of which can neccesarily be blamed on the education system alone, or the increasingly diverse media distractions. Yes, we are dazzled by sounds and images in ever-increasing variety, but we should still know how to change the channel, frequency or URL–or to turn the damned thing off.
Sorry for the extended rant. I’m just a computer geek–but my dad was a journalist for 50 years.
I suppose it is funny to be writing this on a printed news blog, but I think more important than watching the 6 o’clock news is reading the newspaper. I agree that the quality of newspapers is in serious decline. However, I remember reading that the transcript of the 6 o’clock news could fit on 1/4 of the front page of the New York Times (just an example, probably would fit on less of the WSJ). But, print news is gaining momentum in its downward slide as fewer people have subscriptions causing quality to go down, etc. I agree that blogs and internet news are not the salvation; they are just more opinion and bias without even the ethical standards of traditional journalism.About kids educational difficulties – I was a hs teacher a few years ago, and it was more than a little discouraging. I think for one thing education is not valued as its own good. A good education is only supposed to get you a good job not help you become a more interested and informed person. You can call that a practical approach and real world skills; but if the kids don’t care, they will only ever do the minimum. My students had very little genuine interest in any subject, even the good students. I don’t think most classroom teachers actually want to engage in social advancement. I was personally pressured to engage in social advancement. A colleague was forced to pass a student who didn’t ever turn in the major term paper for her history class. Involved parents are encouraging the education for status not learning. They will do anything to get their kid into a good college, except help their kids be interested in the world around them, set limits and hold them to their responsibilities. They are often the ones pushing for the ADHD meds and testing accommodations. It isn’t about learning; it is about an SAT number. Then, the student goes to college, where there are no more parents around and our culture believes that college is a big 4 year party not an educational activity. Universities on the market model don’t help. They encourage teachers to teach classes that students want to take (easy and on topics like sexuality) because they have large numbers in those classes. The universities don’t feel any responsibility for their students coming out with a quality education, since the student has the right to choose the classes they want to take. Required classes don’t help much, because they are usually so large as to be almost a total waste for things like critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. The demands in college and high school are different. I understand that failing a hs kid makes them more likely to drop out, but, well, how is that worse than giving them a meaningless degree? Universities should definately make sure that students are actually given challenging work that measures their thinking and writing skills (instead of multiple choice in a 1,000 person class) and failing the kids that are just there for a binge.
The study found markedly higher skills in students who had taken classes that emphasized critical thinking skills and applying theory to real-world problems. State education leaders need to ensure students are getting such course work.
Randy, you must think you are living in a blue state. Since when do “theories” get respect in pragmatic Ks? Since when did Kansas leaders value critical thinking? It causes them way too many problems at the polls. Just sit still and they will tell you what to think. Kansas as a whole has a distinctly anti-intellectual attitude?
In fact, someone asked me recently at an economic development meeting “what are you, some kind of damned intellectual?” In his mind, that was way worse than me being a lesbian :)
Rage, I worry about the segmentation of the news. When I was a kid, in nw kansas, we only got one tv station, and that was channel 7, CBS. Back then, the networks took objectivity seriously and made an attempt, at least some times, to present both sides. There were few alternative sources of news.
Now, we only listen to the news with which we agree. All these channels just mean we never get all the sides, just “our side”.
I think it is great that all these news sources are available, but I would feel better if people actually listened to the other side once in a while instead of just re-inforcing their existing biases.
McNews.
It starts when the kids are in elementary school. If they don’t learn the discipline and study skills and are not held to expectations, then they will not do what they need to do in high school and beyond. Parents are the ones to make this happen, but our lifestyles have become overburdened with too many activities and work. Parents want teachers to do what they’re too tired to do and teachers can’t do it without the proper support from the parents.
I agree about the value of in-depth coverage newspapers used to provide. But out here, behind the prairie curtain, we only get our news from the tv, and that is usually satellite.
Did you know that west of Hays, the only daily newspaper you can get the same day it is published is the Hays Daily? In some instances, you can get the Salina Journal, but both are Harris publications so if you dont like the gospel according to Harris, ya better move out of western kansas.
Dont you all ever wonder why so many of us westerners are reading this paper on line? For some, it is the only word from beyond the prairie curtain. I bet it upsets John Montgomery to no end that we can now get our daily news from somewhere other than Hays.
It’s capitalism, Farmgrrl. It’s Western Kansas’s own damn fault they won’t support a same-day daily. Never blame corporations when you can blame the victim of corporations . . .
LOL lib, with media consolidations out here (think Jack Krier) and the population decline (which I agree is our own fault) we couldnt support a daily anymore if every one of us paid for two subscriptions.
Seriously though, it makes it hard to organize and get anything but the party line to the internet illiterate. (would that be the illiterati?) We also have to advertise with people we find heinous, but I somehow think that is not unique!