This is PATHETIC

It’s this sort of stuff that gets put out there distorted and everyone eats it up. The problem is, this isn’t new, it’s not shocking, and it’s completely normal. It’s been shown through various research that to communicate effectively with a general audience you only need to read/write at a 6th to 8th grade level. Beyond that you start to improve on specifics (aka “more sophisticated”). It’s not that these kids are dumb, in-fact, they’re right on par with their parents. What!? No way! Yep, the average reading level of American parents is 7th to 8th grade. Uh oh, I guess everyone needs to go back to school! (Hmm, sometimes I wonder actually…) So I don’t know what the big fuss is all about. And nothing bothers me more than people who know twenty different words that mean the same thing and think they’re smarter than everyone else all because they felt the need to waste time using words that the average person will NEVER need to know except for when people want to make themselves feel smarter. Could you imagine if I went around speaking “techie” to everyone? The average person wouldn’t know half the stuff I’m saying and those words are clearly in the dictionary but I guess that makes me so much smarter… right?! No! Graduating at that level is normal and as they mature they’ll improve their reading and writing abilities. Some will go off and become experts/writers and who knows what else but many will be happy with what they know. I didn’t realize we all had to be experts at everything and know and understand every possible word in the dictionary to be considered educated. If that’s what someone wants to do, then all the power to them, but don’t call me stupid because you’re using a word I don’t know. Instead, just teach me the new word so I’ll know next time, no biggy.

Now I have to be honest, if there’s one form of reading/writing that I would have loved to have been taught in school is Early Modern English because I can’t understand half the stuff written for the founding of this country. That or the tax codes…

I’m curious as to who you think is at fault and what you think should be done. I agree it’s terrible, but repeating “it’s terrible” over and over doesn’t solve the problem.

Also, I always thought that reading level number on the back of books was BS.

Sean, having a large vocabulary and being able to read above an 8th grade level aren’t necessarily in the same ballpark.

I don’t accept mediocrity and simply letting our youth off with a “well everyone else does it” is unacceptable to me. I love to read and it REALLY bothered me in High School when my Senior English class spent two days out of the week on actual lessons and the rest of the week was a massive gossip corner. I spent that time reading as much as I could. Reading is looked at as stupid and boring by a LOT of kids these days and it drives me crazy.

It’s not about wether or not they can simply “read” a book, it’s about comprehension skills in real life. I find it unacceptable for a graduating high school student to have the comprehension level of a JUNIOR HIGH student. Sure you can “get by” at that level but how many people in your daily life are making a decent amount of money or are in a high level role in their job with an 8th grade comprehension level?

David, I really don’t think it’s ONE person or groups fault, I would have to say it’s pretty much everyones fault. The administration in the school district has a job to ensure that their staff is educating the students at the highest level possible, they failed. The Educators have the job of educating the students to the highest level possible and THEY failed. The PARENTS of the students have a job to make sure their kids are as educated as possible to be as capable as they can to go on to higher education or real life and not fall on their faces… THEY failed. You put your child in the hands of a government and leave the system unchecked and your kid will come out in a state of mediocrity… you HAVE to stay involved as much as possible.

The problem I see is that our “public” education system is SO damaged that I’m at a loss to say what exactly needs to be done… mainly because so MUCH needs to be done that even fixing a dozen issues, I feel it would still be a failure.

I completely agree with you James and you’ve made some very good points. It surely is a failure on both the education system and parenting side. Personally, I think a huge factor in the dumbing down of everything has come from those standardized tests which are just made to be generic “everyone will pass this test because we made it so pointless” tests. Then all the teachers end up having to teach the requirements with no time left for real world education. I remember my school days (I’m 22 so it wasn’t too long ago) as having to constantly do fake questions of our MCAS test in practically every class. I was never actually taught how to UNDERSTAND what I was doing either, simply how to do it and what would be on those tests. A big change will come when the education system realizes that every child is DIFFERENT and that being different is okay, then we can begin teaching children and not a blob. I find it appalling that everything has been turned into a one size fits all approach along with the “everyone’s a winner and deserves a prize!” notion. That folks, is the best way to leave children in the dust. Oh, but wait, it’s okay, little Timmy can’t learn the math as fast as everyone else? Well, I guess he’s stupid and needs to be placed in a “special class” (where everything is just dumbed down further rather than helping). Gah! Our public education system should really be called public assimilation system.

/end rant

Standardized testing is a HUGE peeve of mine.

Students spend more time taking tests and memorizing test material than they do ACTUALLY learning…

If I tell you that you will be taking a test next Monday and give you a practice test for it, WHY should it be a measure of my teaching abilities when the test was identical to the practice. All you did was regurgitate the learned answers without KNOWING the material.

If I was to manage standardized testing I would make it COMPLETELY random and unpracticed. Once a year the teachers simply hand out a test like any other day and the schools assessment is taken from this test that has not been “rehearsed” beforehand.

“We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause.”

– Horace Mann, father of common (government)school movement.

We’re experiencing an “inflation” of education. A BA is what a high school diploma was a decade ago, and a MA is what a BA was a decade ago.

If people want to see the quality of education rise, we’ll have to fund education more. And that’s a proposition most people will agree on, but when it comes to the taxes necessary to more appropriately -fund- education, people will vote no. So we have a disconnect to deal with here, if you ask me.