Illiteracy: An Incurable Disease or Education Malpractice?
gue_barium
Posts: 5,515
Illiteracy in America is still growing at an alarming rate and that fact has not changed much since Rudolf Flesch wrote his best-selling expose of reading instruction in 1955. Illiteracy continues to be a critical problem, demanding enormous resources from local, state, and federal taxes, while arguments about how to teach children to read continue to rage within the education research community, on Capitol Hill, in business, and in the classroom.
http://www.nrrf.org/essay_Illiteracy.html
http://www.nrrf.org/essay_Illiteracy.html
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I can tell you that teachers alone cannot solve it....for it to really change, the child must see reading at home...parents/grandparents must glorify reading for enjoyment....PARENTS: sell those fancy computer games and put away those cell phones....let's get back to basics.
I have heard more times then I care to from more people then I want to admit that it is the school's that need to teach the children. F'd up I know.
"What a stupid lamb."
"What a sick, masochistic lion."
wait... you want parents to educate and play a role in their children's lives??? that's just crazy. It's not like the first 5 years of life are formative at all. The teachers of today just must not be very good if kids can't read; there is no other reason. Parental responsibility for teaching and reading??? HA! what's next...do you want parents to teach their kids to respect others and help the students with homework??? That's what teachers are for. I mean, a parent may actually have to tell their child "no" or tell their child they can't play outside b/c the work isn't done.
this is a huge problem. kids today and on the way have too many toys to distract them. I didn't have my first computer until I was 18, cell phone when I was 20. getting back to basics is a difficult challenge for parents today.
Exactly!!
"What a stupid lamb."
"What a sick, masochistic lion."
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Well, like any social malady, illiteracy tends to move from one generation to the next. I disagree that it cannot be remedied with good early age schooling.
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all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
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The primary requirement for reading comprehension is the appropriate brain function. A function that develops through neural training. Typically infants begin their training early, with books with large graphics depicting an object and a single word, "Duck" for example. If this development is postponed or neglected, it may hinder the humans ability to learn reading comprehension.
This part of the development is most directly related to the home environment and the primary caregivers. However, extending this ecological perspective, let's look at the factors that might influence the primary caregivers. Modern families have two working parents, often children are left at daycare services, which will also be a strong influence on child development. Parents are stressed by society, working, paying bills, etc.. as well as the chores common to raising children, dentists, haircuts, school supplies, etc.. These stresses affect the parent-child interaction. Parents are less apt to devote quality time to constructive parenting within our modern society. Sometimes under the impression that it's the duty of daycare services and public school teachers to support the development of their child.
By extension, the ecological systems perspective implies that we all play a part in the development of 'our' children. There are things all of us can do to help, it starts with a less selfish approach to the issue. Parents can spend more time with their children, assisting in their child's development and offering compassion, love and constructive learning assistance. Teachers can help by rewarding children for their efforts, not rating them against other children and not prescribing hundreds of hours of homework. Children are often overwhelmed by school, especially if they already feel inadequate. The rest of us can help by respecting each other as human beings and supporting social programs like federally funded daycare and legislation like maternity/paternity leave. I hear good things about the Swedish system, perhaps we could learn something from them.
Peace
couldn't you have said, "read to your children early" and "it takes a village to raise a child?"
It can be remedied with early age schooling, but a part of that still falls back on the child and/or their upbringing. You can't force someone to learn, so if a kid has no desire to learn how to read, and isn't taught by their upbringing about the importance of reading, in some cases a teacher can't do a whole lot.
That being said, there is no excuse for a student to be able to get passing grades through school all the while not being able to read. That just shows a lack of engagement on the teacher's part in my opinion.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
I don't know man, I don't want to sound dictorial or too opinionated and not learned enough. But this way, I always come across as arrogant. But ultimately that's something that's up to the reader. So, yea, I could have said that, but I said it my way.
I can't recall ever knowing a grade-schooler who didn't want to learn.
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no worries, just havin a little fun while i'm working on a presentation. I think you're mantra should be...Why use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice.
"I can tell you that teachers alone cannot solve it....for it to really change, the child must see reading at home...parents/grandparents must glorify reading for enjoyment"
I didn't appreciate reading until about 9th grade when I got into reading the dictionary. Afterwards I tried The Hobbit and House of Cain but quickly became bored of fiction. I refound my love of reading around 23 when I picked up a textbook. I've mostly found an implicit negative association with reading though, and I find television or video easier to follow. I think it's a sign of our culture, our society, something we are collectively responsible for.
Ultimately, I can't change the way MarylandTeacher teaches, or the way Mr. Doe raises his children. The only thing I can change is how I interact with MT, Doe, Doe's child and my government. Those are my responsibilities that I need to focus on to help with child development.
Arrogant or pompous?
You got to spend it all
Either way. I get my share of both. Interestingly, when someone calls me either arrogant or pompous, they come across to me as being arrogant or pompous.
You lead a very boring life if that is interesting to you.
You got to spend it all
Depends, boring and interesting are subjective catagories.
i dont think anyone out there doesnt know this is important, but if people already clearly arent doing it, how do you get them to do so? you mention the miriad of stressors that deprive or interfere with this quality time. how do you reduce them?
Well, maternity leave is one way, the U.S. has poor maternity leave compared to other nations.
Perhaps though, we should reevaluate our standards of living. 50 years ago a single income couple could raise 9 kids, now it takes two incomes to raise one child. What's going on here?
Do you have children? And are these opinions based on fact?
How about the ones that support your opinions.
For example:
54% of children in female-headed homes, and 10% of children in two-parent homes are living in poverty (Eggebeen & Lichter, 1991) Most African-American children live at some point in poverty (Brooks-Gunn, Klebanov, & Duncan, 1996) 65% of whom spent time in single-parent homes. (Teegartin, 1994).
Recent studies on the impact of economic hardship on children have demonstrated that some of the negative effects are mediated through changes in the parent-child relationship. Elder, Van Nguyen, and Caspi (1985) found that economic hardship increased children's socioemotional distress by increasing punitive and arbitrary parenting behaviors, especially of the father. Harold-Goldsmith, Radin, and Eccles (1988) found that, although unemployed fathers had more time for child care, they displayed fewer nurturing behaviors than did other fathers. Lempers et al. (1989) observed that under economic hardship, parental nurturance decreased and inconsistent discipline increased. Conger et al. (1992, 1993) showed that economic pressure had an effect on adolescent adjustment by increasing parents' depression, which was associated with less involved parenting. Findings by Galambmos and Silbereisen (1987), Flanagan, 1988), and Larson (1984) all have indicated that parents facing economic hardship felt more depressed about the future of their children, felt less competent in helping their children choose future careers, tended to lower their expectations for their children's education, and were less likely to encourage them to finish college. These lowered parental expectations were associated with decreased academic aspirations in the children, who expected to undergo vocational training instead of attending a four-year college (Isralowitz & Singer, 1986; McLoyd, 1990). Flanagan (1990) showed that adolescents in families experiencing job loss reported more conflict with their parents.
In the current study, depression and loneliness were selected as indicators of adolescent distress because of the previously documented effects of economic hardship on the parents and the parent-child relationship. Parents who, because of financial pressure, become more depressed, more irritable, and/or more self-preoccupied might be less nurturant and supportive in their daily interactions with their children, and perhaps more distant, uninvolved, and rejecting on a daily basis (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Patterson, 1982). These stress-induced parental moods and behaviors, and the resulting negative parent-child interactions, may be related to their children feeling depressed, less wanted, and more lonely. Further, as Jones (1988) reported, children from economically deprived families tended to feel isolated, to have had conflictual relationships with peers, and to be suspicious of children from social classes different from their own. Hook (1990) found that adolescents lacked identification with peers as a result of their inability to discuss with 'anyone in their communities their families' financial status, for which they felt partly responsible.
Research also documents the negative effects of economic hardship on marital quality and stability (Voydanoff & Majka, 1988). Studies have noted the effects of the quality of the marital relationship on child outcomes (Emery, 1988; Reid & Crisafulli, 1990). Most studies have tended to support the generalization that a decrease in the quality of the marital relationship is correlated with an increase in child disturbances (Dadds, 1987). Several studies have indicated that the marital relationship mediates the effect of economic hardship on child outcomes (Conger et al., 1992, 1993; Ge et al., 1992). According to McLoyd (1989, 1990), financially pressed parents might be less likely to be affectionate with and respectful of each other and even be more hostile.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619414
Some guy
You got to spend it all
Sounds like Alex Jones.
This topic isn't about how you hate ghetto folk parenting.
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